Endocrine Abstracts

Increased use of abdominal imaging has resulted in vast numbers of adrenal incidentalomas being identified (Bovio et al., 2006). Guidelines exist for identifying hormone excess and diagnosing malignancy but there is little evidence about how to manage phaeochromocytoma in patients who are poor surgical candidates. We present the case of a frail 88 year-old lady who was found to have a right adrenal incidentaloma during assessment for abdominal pain. Mrs R is able to m...

Innate immunity contributes to inducing functional inhibition and apoptosis of pancreatic beta-cells in the pathogenesis of both Type 1 diabetes (T1D) and Type 2 diabetes (T2D). The past four decades has provided overwhelming circumstantial evidence from in vitro studies and animal models that innate immune cells and cytokines are key effectors in beta-cell killing. Pro-inflammatory cytokines activate signaling pathways that reprogram the beta-cell transcriptome and proteome, ...

Antithyroid drugs can cause hepatic dysfunction, from mild derangement to severe, fulminant failure. It is well known that propylthiouracil may cause fulminant liver failure yet we present an exceptionally rare case of this type of adverse drug reaction with carbimazole.A 75 year old woman presented to hospital with a fall and a two day history of jaundice. Six weeks earlier, she had been diagnosed with both congestive cardiac failure and G...

Antithyroid drugs can cause hepatic dysfunction, from mild derangement to severe, fulminant failure. It is well known that propylthiouracil may cause fulminant liver failure yet we present an exceptionally rare case of this type of adverse drug reaction with carbimazole.A 75 year old woman presented to hospital with a fall and a two day history of jaundice. Six weeks earlier, she had been diagnosed with both congestive cardiac failure and G...

Case History: 16-year-old fit and well lady was referred to endocrinology clinic by GP due to severe hypercalcaemia. She is being investigated for secondary amenorrhea. She is not taking any regular medication. There is a history of hypercalcaemia in the family, her mother has hypercalcaemia and paternal grandfather had hypercalcaemia. She had no signs and symptoms of hypercalcaemia.Investigations: Corrected Calcium: 3.28 mmol/l, Phosphate: 0.60 mmol/l, ...

This case highlights the importance of investigating for secondary causes of hypertension especially in young people. The patient was referred to exclude Conn’s disease, this case outlines the limitations one may face when interpreting the results of subsequent tests. Miss K was 24 years old when she was initially admitted under the Nephrologists with headache, palpitations and significant hypertension with systolic blood pressure (BP) of 275.Her ec...

Hirsutism is one of the most common clinical features encountered in women attending endocrine clinics. It can also be extraordinarily difficult and challenging to manage well. In this brief presentation I will discuss management of hirsutism, using three major challenges as a scaffold:Challenge 1: diagnosing the underlying cause: Hirsutism, the presence of terminal hairs distributed in a male-like pattern in women, affects between 5 and 10% of women. Po...

Metabolic and inflammatory insults contribute to beta-cell failure and apoptosis, in part via the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). The pancreatic β-cell acquires sensitivity to the damaging actions of pro-inflammatory cytokines during differentiation, but the mechanisms underlying the differentiation-dependent sensitisation is unknown. By mRNA microarray of a cell-model of β-cell differentiation exposed to cytokines we identified a cluster of tra...

Somatostatin and dopamine receptors are the major Gi-coupled receptors in somatotrope cells that inhibit hormone secretion from the anterior pituitary. Here, we adapted a novel fluorescence-based screening assay to characterize somatostatin and dopamine receptor signaling in a time-resolved manner. This minimal-invasive technique provides a robust and reliable read out for ligand-induced receptor activation in permanent cell lines and primary pituitary culture. The ...

Introduction: Vitamin D deficiency is increasingly recognised as an important cause of neonatal hypocalcaemia. In this case report, we discuss the impact of co-existing vitamin D deficiency on the diagnostic process in a preterm infant who had refractory hypocalcaemia due to hypoparathyroidism resulting from a homozygous GCM2 mutation.Case report: A 33-week gestation male infant of Pakistani extraction was found to be profoundly hypocalcaemic with seizur...