Endocrine Abstracts

Background and Aims: Phaeochromocytoma and paragangliomas are neuroendocrine tumours arising from chromaffin cells. These tumours express somatostatin receptors (SSTRs), which has five different main subtypes (SSTR1, SSTR2, SSTR3, SSTR4 and SSTR5). The differential expression of the different receptor subtypes in these tumours has previously been reported with a small series of tumour samples. Our study examined the expression of SSTR subtypes in a larger series of benign and ...

Background: Branched-chain amino acids (BCAA) are elevated in morbid obesity and decreases significantly following bariatric surgery. This decrease is associated with the post-surgical improvement in insulin resistance (IR) and may be secondary to the reduction in BCAA flux from proteolysis or an increase in BCAA catabolism. Presently, the underlying mechanism is unclear.Aim: To investigate the changes in BCAA metabolism in morbidly obese individuals fol...

Hypercalcaemia in pregnancy is a rare but important finding, given the associated potential risks to mother and baby. These include hypertension, pancreatitis, nephrolithiasis and renal failure in the mother and intrauterine growth restriction, neonatal hypoparathyroidism/hypocalcaemia and stillbirth in the baby (1). We present the case of a 26-year-old female with a background of PTH-independent hypercalcaemia of unknown aetiology. This was initially detected at age 6 months ...

Introduction: The short synacthen test (SST) is used in clinical practice to assess adrenal insufficiency (AI). However, the suggested threshold varies according to the patient cohort studied, assay variation and prevalence of the condition relative to the size of population tested. This study aimed to identify a threshold cortisol value to determine adrenal sufficiency in a Southeast Asian population and to investigate the utility of a stimulated 60-minute cortisol level in t...

Background: Thyrotoxic periodic paralysis (TPP) is a rare complication of thyrotoxicosis, characterized by recurrent hypokalemia, episodic muscle weakness and paralysis. It is potentially fatal in serious attacks with occurrence of life-threatening cardiopulmonary complications. Currently, lack of large cohorts comprising individuals with TPP history restrict the conduct of relevant epidemiology study.Methods: Clinical data from a population-wide electro...

Background: The Short Synacthen test (SST) is commonly used in clinical practice to evaluate adrenal function. Appropriate patient selection for SST is needed to ensure accurate interpretation of the results and to mitigate increased healthcare costs associated with unnecessary testing and inappropriate glucocorticoid (GC) steroid replacement. This study aimed to investigate the indications of inpatient SSTs over a one-year period, to determine the accuracy of testing.<p c...

Objectives: During prenatal neurodevelopment, maternal-to-fetal thyroxine (T4) transfer is critical, particularly during the first half of pregnancy when the fetal thyroid gland is immature. Transcellular transport of thyroid hormones (TH) is facilitated by TH transporters. Monocarboxylate transporter 8 (MCT8) is a specific TH transporter that is crucial for transport of TH with a prominent expression at the blood-brain barrier. MCT8 deficiency is a rare disorder consisting of...

Background: There is emerging evidence that kisspeptin, a hormone with well-established reproductive effects, may also have important metabolic effects. Acute kisspeptin administration enhances insulin secretion under hyperglycaemic conditions in male rodents and men, and kisspeptin receptor agonism improves steatohepatits in male mice in a rodent model of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. However, the metabolic effects of kisspeptin may exhibit sexual dimorphism as female (b...

Background: Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) leads to effective and sustained weight loss whereas a Very-Low-Calorie diet (VLCD) is normally plagued by weight regain over time. Changes in gut hormones following each intervention may play a role. The aim of this study was to investigate gut hormone responses after 4 weeks of RYGB and VLCD.Methods: We prospectively recruited 21 volunteers with obesity and type 2 diabetes undergoing RYGB, and a matched cohor...

Objective: Bariatric surgery is currently the most effective treatment for weight loss and diabetes remission. There are conflicting reports in the literature regarding the glucagon levels after RYGB surgery, likely due to cross-reactivity with oxyntomodulin and glicentin. The aim of this study was to characterize the proglucagon peptide family responses post-RYGB surgery in obese patients with type 2 diabetes using validated assays.Method: Nineteen obes...