Endocrine Abstracts

The reawakening of hypothalamo-pituitary-gonadal axis at puberty is influenced by a number of hormonal and genetic factors along with certain environmental cues. In boys, puberty is initiated at around 9 years of age as plasma concentrations of luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and testosterone (T) begin to rise leading to development of secondary sex characteristics. The absence of signs of sexual maturation at the age of 14/15 years is regarded as ...

Background: Acromegaly (Acro) is associated with adverse psychopathological and personality outcomes despite being in remission for over a decade. We hypothesised that persistently poor psychological outcomes may be associated with morphometric changes experienced by Acro patients.Methodology: We compared 60 consecutive non-functioning adenoma (NFA) and Acro patients who had undergone pituitary surgery and/or radiation therapy (RT). A gender-specific vis...

We recently developed a visual scale to assess the extent of morphometric changes in Acromegaly (Acro) patients which is strongly predictive of adverse psychological outcomes. We sought to identify if there was any association between the self-drawing test and the visual morphometric scale and if there was any correlation with psychological outcomes.We compared 60 consecutive non-functioning adenoma (NFA) and Acro patients who had undergone pituitary sur...

Although the vast majority of thyroid nodules are benign, evaluation by ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration (FNA) biopsy is usually necessary to exclude underlying malignancy. Partially in recognition of reported variability in FNA sensitivity and specificity, the 2007 British Thyroid Association (BTA) guidelines recommended two benign results 3–6 months apart to exclude neoplasia. The 2014 BTA guidance states that a second FNA is not required for nodules with benign...

The acceleration in linear growth at puberty is attributed to the combined physiological effects of both somatotropic and gonadal axes. In synergy, growth hormone (GH) and gonadal steroids (testosterone (T) and estradiol (E2)) stimulate longitudinal bone growth through direct stimulation of chondrocytes and osteoblast. Nutrition such as sufficient amount of nutrients including calcium, phosphate, sodium, potassium and iron and vitamins like vitamin D, vitamin A and vitamin C p...

The short children have lower social competence and show more social problems than children with normal stature. The physical appearance has consequences in terms of how short stature children are judged and treated by others as they can be teased or bullied due to short stature, which may affect future prospects of finding a job or a spouse. These psychosocial stressors are risk factors for the psychological adjustment for children of short stature. Stress responses are activ...

A 28-year-old female presented to the optician with visual disturbance, lethargy and headaches, which were initially attributed to long hours of IT work. Despite a trial of eye exercises she experienced worsening colour vision and acuity in the right eye, hence a further consultation with an optometrist. Examination did not reveal a visual field defect. Visual acuity was 6/6 with 9/17 ishihara plates in the right eye and 5/6 with 17/17 ishihara plates in the left. A further re...

Background: There is uncertainty regarding the selection of obese patients for metabolic procedures, how to define a successful outcome and pre-operative predictors of success. Our aim was to explore the influence of obesity on preoperative quality of life in patients awaiting bariatric surgery.Methods: Pre-operative data were accrued for morbidly obese patients (n=70) at the University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW) during the last ...

Background: Pre-operative predictive measures of post-metabolic surgery success would facilitate a more refined evidence-based selection of patients. This study aimed at identifying those clinical and psycho-social predictors of success (defined as weight-loss) following metabolic surgery.Methods: Pre-operative data including IWQOL-Lite questionnaire (a validated self-reported 31-item measure of physical function, self-esteem, sexual life, public distres...

Background: Calculation of a urinary steroid metabolite ratio (uSMR) may be a useful method of improving diagnostic yield when investigating disorders of steroid hormone synthesis.Objective & HypothesisTo investigate the range of uSMR in children with suspected disorders of steroid hormone synthesis.Population / MethodsTen ratios were calculated on steroid metabolite data analysed b...