Endocrine Abstracts

Inhibiting cortisol regeneration by 11β-HSD1 is a promising therapy for type two diabetes. In obesity, 11β-HSD1 activity is increased in adipose tissue but decreased in the liver, the latter putatively mediated by hyperinsulinaemia. We tested whether insulin sensitisation with metformin regulates 11β-HSD1 activity in whole body and in liver in obesity.Five obese men (age 48±5 years, BMI 39.8±3.6 kg/m2) participated in ...

Laboratory rats are commonly used to study energy homeostasis. To accurately record food intake or energy expenditure it is necessary to house rats individually, which can be stressful for social animals. Environmental enrichment may reduce stress and improve welfare in laboratory rodents. However, the effect of environmental enrichment on food intake and thus experimental outcome in rats is unknown. We aimed to determine the effect of environmental enrichment on food intake, ...

Aims: Prior to 2007, there was no agreed guideline at our hospital for the management of adrenal incidentalomas and referrals to our endocrine service were rare. Following evidence-based guidelines, we have developed a local protocol for the assessment of adrenal incidentalomas. We now report clinical outcomes of adrenal incidentaloma patients referred to our endocrine service since its implementation.Methods: Using a retrospective analysis we collected ...

Objective: The past 2 decades have seen advances in the surgical management of Cushing’s disease (CD). Our aim was to meet the need for current data on clinical features, long-term outcomes, and prognostic indicators.Patients and methods: We conducted a retrospective study of 71 patients treated by trans-sphenoidal surgery (TSS) for CD. All patients were operated on by the same surgeon in a single centre between 1988–2009. Diagnosis was confirm...

Cannabinoids are known to exert effects throughout the endocrine system, including in the anterior pituitary. Whilst cannabinoid receptors (CB1 in particular) are expressed in numerous tissues, expression and function of an endocannabinoid system within specific anterior cell types has not been investigated. We have used well-characterised gonadotroph (LβT2 and αT3-1) and somatolactotroph (GH3) cell lines to establish the expression and functional role for cannabinoi...

Context: Hyperandrogenemia in polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) represents a composite of raised serum concentrations of testosterone, androstenedione, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), and DHEA sulfate (DHEAS). In patients with PCOS, testosterone and androstenedione are primarily derived from the ovaries and DHEAS is a metabolite predominantly from the adrenals. It has been shown that atorvastatin reduces testosterone levels in patients with PCOS.Objective:...

Introduction: One in 700 children of school age have diabetes. Children spend on average a quarter of their waking lives in school. It is important that children receive adequate support and supervision in school for the effective management of diabetes.Aim: To evaluate the support given by the schools for lunch time insulin injections, from the perspective of parents of children with diabetes.Methods: Questionnaire completed by di...

The hypothalamus regulates multiple homeostatic systems, and is essential for the regulation of appetite and energy balance. Neuropeptide Y, a 36 amino acid peptide and member of the PP-fold family, is a key hypothalamic neuropeptide involved in the regulation of energy balance, potently stimulating food intake following central administration. NPY is expressed in the arcuate nucleus (ARC) and NPYergic neurones project to multiple hypothalamic nuclei and extra-hypothalamic sit...

Hyperthyroidism in Graves’ disease is due to TSH receptor (TSHR) autoantibodies (TRAb) directed against the TSH binding pocket. Detection of TRAb in clinical rou-tine is performed by 2nd gen assays using human or porcine TSHR. Such TSH bin- ding inhibition immunoglobulin (TBII) assays determine the ability of TRAb to inhi- bit the binding of labelled TSH to immobilized TSHR. TRAb are present in low con- centrations and mostly recognize conformational epitopes. The conform...

Pituitary tumor transforming gene (PTTG) is a multifunctional oncogene implicated in the pathogenesis of pituitary and thyroid tumours. In breast cancer, PTTG expression is a prognostic marker for lymph node invasion and tumour recurrence. PTTG expression is regulated in vitro and in vivo by oestrogen treatment. PTTG binding factor (PBF) is also a transforming gene, and was isolated due to its functional interaction with PTTG. In the current study, we examined PB...