Endocrine Abstracts

Long-acting somatostatin analogues normalize serum IGF-I levels in about 65% of acromegalic patients. Somatostatin analogs reduce GH secretion but also induce GH resistance of the liver because of low portal insulin levels; i.e. patients have a relative high GH level and a GH resistance of the liver which results in a relative low IGF-I action because of high IGFBP1 levels, but the other tissues still have normal GH sensitivity. One might predict that long-term follow-up of tr...

Lipodystrophy (LD) is a well-recognised clinical syndrome of peripheral fat atrophy and central adiposity, often associated with laboratory abnormalities such as dyslipidemia and glucose intolerance, and probably linked to insulin resistance. The long-term consequences of LD and its potential association with cardiovascular disease remain unknown. The visceral fat accumulation is characterised by the increased, abundant secretion of a number of peptides such as leptin, insulin...

Thyroid hormone is required for normal brain development from early fetal life onwards. Maternal transfer of thyroxine (T4) constitutes a major fraction of fetal serum T4 in the first half of pregnancy. Early in gestation thyroid hormone receptors with T3 bound to it have been found in different human tissues, while type II deiodinase activity is present in human cortex.In case of fetal and maternal hypothyroidism, severe mental retardation, combined wit...

Background: Alongside various physical symptoms, patients with high levels of cortisol, such as typically found in Cushing’s disease, often display a wide variety of neuropsychiatric symptoms such as depression, psychosis, mania and cognitive impairments. This indicates involvement of the central nervous system in hypercortisolism.Methods: Various neuroimaging approaches can be used to examine the effects of hypercortisolism on the brain. The freque...

Thyroid hormones play an important role in all stages of life, including old age. Several differences have been observed in thyroid function parameters with age, including an increase in circulating thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) levels gradually increase with age. In order to identify determinants of human longevity, the Leiden Longevity Study (LLS) included 421 families with at least two long-lived Caucasian siblings fulfilling the age criteria (men ≥89 years and wo...

Circadian rhythms are a ubiquitous feature in living organisms. They are not just a passive response to daily cyclic fluctuations in the environment, but are instead driven by endogenous and self-sustained clocks. More than 40 years ago, the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) of the hypothalamus was identified as the location of an endogenous circadian clock driving internal rhythmicity and this SCN oscillator was long thought to be the only mammalian clock, functioning as a master...

The last year has definitely not been the most easy one for research in general as the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in limitations on how basic research could be performed. Despite this, it is definitely worthwhile to look back on the data that has been published over the last year. During this presentation, I will highlight some publications that, for one or another reason, can be considered of major importance for or impact on the bone field. This selection was made by searchi...

BackgroundAdrenal crisis (AC) is a life threatening medical situation caused by an absolute or relative cortisol deficiency. A biological predisposition may be of importance, because some patients never experience an AC, whereas others are admitted repeatedly to the hospital for an AC. Differences in cortisol pharmacokinetics (PK) and/or pharmacodynamics (PD) may underlie this vulnerability.ObjectiveTo study ...

Background: Adrenocortical carcinomas (ACC) are rare and aggressive endocrine tumours with an annual incidence of 1 to 2 per million.(1) Frequently, patients present with signs of hormonal excess. The majority are cortisol excreting carcinomas, followed by aldosterone or androgen excess.(2) Estrogen secreting ACC are extremely rare. We present a case of estradiol and progesterone excess in primary infertility caused by an ACC.Cas...

Background: Our department cares for 273 children with type 1 diabetes (T1DM). All T1DM patients are issued with an uploadable glucose meter from diagnosis. 101 patients (37%) use insulin pump therapy and 126 (46%) use a continuous glucose monitoring device. Anecdotally we noted many patients were not uploading their data prior to coming to clinic. This contributed to reduced patient flow through diabetes clinics and also to reduced patient and carer engagement with their diab...