Endocrine Abstracts

Ligands have different binding affinities for mammalian and non-mammalian GnRH receptors. We have investigated whether this is due to differences in ligand contact sites and/or configuration of the receptors.The majority of residues that are contact sites in the mammalian receptor are conserved across species and are located in the extracellular loops (ECL's). The different binding affinities of ligands to non-mammalian receptors may be due to different ...

Gonadotrophins such as luteinizing hormone (LH) and human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) exert their actions on progesterone (P4) synthesis, at least in part, by regulating luteal cell phosphorylation via ser/thr kinases particularly cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA). Hence the aim of this study was to identify changes in P4 secretion and PKA expression during luteinization of human granulosa cells (GCs) in vitro. GCs, obtained from follicular asp...

Introduction: Assessing cortisol status is a key endocrine investigation, to identify those who need glucocorticoid replacement or emergency sickness cover either due to primary or secondary cortisol deficiency or after long-term/high dose steroid treatment causing Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal axis (HPAA) suppression. A short synacthen test (SST) measuring cortisol levels after administration of Synthetic ACTH at time zero, 30 and 60 minutes is commonly used. A normal respon...

Ovarian cancer is one of the major cause of death among women worldwide with high incidence. Ovarian cancer can be categorized into epithelial, non-epithelial (germ cell and sex cord-stromal cell), and metastatic (usually develop from surrounding cancerous organs). Recently, several approaches have been studied to control ovarian cancer at the transcriptional or post-transcriptional levels using small non coding RNAs including microRNAs. We carried out a meta-analysis of previ...

Introduction: Hyperparathyroidism (HPT) during pregnancy is rare but requires a specific approach for its diagnosis HPT is associated with a high incidence of associated maternal, fetal and neonatal complications, including miscarriage (3,5x-fold higher than expected), IUGR, prematurity and pre-eclampsia(1,2,3). The severity of complications is proportional to degree of maternal calcium level.Case report: We report the c...

Background: Type 2 diabetes (T2D) and obesity have been linked with sleeping disorders in general and obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) in particular; both are highly prevalent amongst Emirati patients. However, little information is available in this population regarding the prevalence and symptomatology of OSA, its relationships with T2D and obesity, and its impact on health outcomes.Objectives: This study aims to investigate the risk of OSA based on the ...

Background: There is uncertainty as to whether glucocorticoid receptor (GCR) polymorphisms play a role in the development of glucocorticoid-related side-effects in individuals receiving hydrocortisone replacement for Addison’s disease.Method: One-hundred-and-forty-seven Addison’s patients were age, gender, ethnicity and body mass index (BMI) matched with 147 control subjects. Genotyping was performed using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for th...

Seventy six-year-old man was referred to our hospital for examination of hypertension and hypokalemia. His blood pressure was uncontrolled although he was taking amlodipine besilate, spironolacton and candesartan. In addition, he suffered from atrial fibrillation and chronic heart failure. His serum potassium was low (2.8 mmol/l) and bilateral adrenal glands were found swelling. Hence, we investigated him thoroughly on the suspicion for primary aldosteronism.<p class="abst...

Aim: Vitamin D insufficiency is associated with an increase in PTH, which might be critical for an increase in bone fragility. However, the role of endogenous PTH in vitamin D insufficiency-induced increase in fracture risk still remains unclear. The present study was performed to examine the relationships among vitamin D insufficiency, bone fragility, PTH and sclerostin, which is produced by osteocytes and inhibits bone formation by inhibiting the Wnt pathway.<p class="ab...

The activation of local renin–angiotensin–aldosterone system (RAAS) plays a pivotal role in the overall pathophysiology of the cardiovascular and renal diseases. Aldosterone can activate local renin and angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE). However, the effects of blockade of aldosterone on tissue RAAS including (pro)renin receptor and ACE2 are unclear in obese hypertensive rats induced by high-salt diet. Obese Zucker rats (ZOR) were fed with normal or high-salt diet ...