Endocrine Abstracts

Obesity (excess adipose tissue generated by hypertrophy and hyperplasia) predisposes to poor health. Adipogenesis (hyperplasia) involves the differentiation of adherent preadipocytes into non-adherent adipocytes and is accompanied by alterations to the extracellular matrix of which hyaluronan (HA) is a component. Used in vitro to promote lineage specific differentiation, little is known of HA’s role in adipogenesis. We hypothesise that HA modifications must occur d...

A 67 year old female presented with hypertension, oedema and cough. A CT scan of her abdomen showed an enlarged left adrenal gland. Urinary free cortisols were grossly elevated and low dose dexamethasone suppression testing confirmed Cushing’s Syndrome. 24 hour catecholamines were also elevated consistent with a diagnosis of phaeochromocytoma. ACTH levels were high (690 pg/ml) but pituitary MRI was normal. She was commenced on alpha and beta blockade in preparation for su...

Background: Women with epilepsy may be at risk of developing PCOS, but it is unclear whether this is due to the disease or sodium valproate (VPA) therapy. We sought to determine androgenic status and cardiometabolic risk in women taking VPA monotherapy and compared these with subjects taking lamotrigine and healthy controls.Methods: Patients with epilepsy (age 18–43) with no known vascular risk were divided into 3 groups: VPA monotherapy (n=1...

Background: The Controlled Antenatal Thyroid Screening II (CATS) study, a large randomised trial of thyroxine supplementation for suboptimal gestational thyroid function (SGTF), reported a higher prevalence of elevated attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) scores in 9 year-old children exposed to higher thyroid hormone (TH) in utero. Here we investigated if this was accompanied by altered neurodevelopment.Methods: 85 children aged 11-1...

Background: NEQAS data demonstrate a divergence in bias of cortisol immunoassays over the last 10 years. Despite this, a serum cortisol of 50 nmol/l has been universally applied as the cut-off for the overnight dexamethasone suppression test (ONDST), the commonest screening test for Cushing’s syndrome.Aims: To assess the effect of assay bias on interpretation of the ONDST and determine the necessity for a method-specific cut-off.<p class="abstex...

Introduction: The effects of mild subclinical hypothyroidism (SH; TSH <10 mU/l) on metabolic outcomes are unclear. This may relate to differences in aetiology, including thyroid autoimmunity or genetic factors such as TSH-receptor mutations (TSHR-M) and FOXE1 polyalanine tract length (FOXE1–PTL) polymorphisms, which are associated with altered thyroid function. We hypothesised that the metabolic manifestations of SH may depend upon its aetiology.<p class="abstext"...

Background: Treatment of congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) in childhood focuses on growth and development; however the relationship of childhood treatment with adult health outcomes is not established. We explored this by examining relationships between final height (FH) and cardiometabolic risk in CAH adults.Methods: Cross-sectional analysis of 65 men (80% salt wasting (SW) and 20% non-SW) and 134 women (74% SW and 26% non-SW), aged 18–69 years....

Background: Women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) may have increased cardiovascular (CV) risk but the mechanisms are unclear. Microparticles (MP), small circulating vesicles released from platelets, monocytes and endothelial cells, are elevated in patients with CV disease, and may increase CV risk through altered cell content and/or increased surface exposure of procoagulant phosphatidylserine (PS).Aims: To compare MP characteristics between women ...

Background: Serum prolactin levels at presentation can be useful in distinguishing between non-functioning pituitary macroadenomas and prolactinomas in order to guide appropriate therapy. Although thresholds have been suggested to distinguish between the two tumour-types, there remains some debate regarding discriminatory levels.Objective: To assess the baseline serum prolactin levels in a series of patients with histologically-proven non-functioning pit...

Introduction: The Controlled Antenatal Thyroid Screening II (CATS) study, a large randomised trial of thyroxine supplementation for suboptimal gestational thyroid function (SGTF), reported higher attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) scores in 9 year-old children exposed to higher thyroid hormone (TH) in utero. We investigated if this was accompanied by altered myelination.Methods: Eighty-five children...