Endocrine Abstracts

Aim: To assess hormonal function of cortex of adrenal glands in patients (pts) after cardiac arrest (CA) and its role for survival.Material: CA-pts- 52 pts after CA in the age 62±13 years. 26 pts died after CA (CA-D-pts), 26 pts survived and were discharged from hospital (CA-S-pts). H-pts- 22 pts in the age 60±11 years with stable coronary artery disease.Methods: In CA-pts concentrations(conc) of adrenocorticotropin (ACTH...

Without adequate treatment patients with acromegaly die prematurely from cardiovascular disease (CVD); however the contribution of atherosclerosis in this process is controversial. Increased carotid IMT is an early morphological marker of atherosclerosis and predictor of subsequent cardiovascular events. Contradictory data exist regarding IMT in patients with acromegaly.We measured carotid IMT in 79 patients with acromegaly (47 male, mean age 55±14 ...

Background: Clinical manifestations of hyperthyroidism resemble those of hyperadrenergic state. Previous studies of linear analysis of heart rate variability (HRV) revealed cardiac autonomic dysfunctions in hyperthyroidism. In recent years, increasing attention is being directed to the nonlinear analysis of HRV to gain insight into neural modulation of heart rate dynamics. Based on the chaos and fractal theory, an attractor in phase space can characterize the dynamics of a cha...

Background Somatostatin has many putative biological effects in the kidney such as influencing renal blood flow and urine volume, tubular transport and cell regulation. It exerts these effects via five identified G-protein linked receptors. However, only somatostatin receptor proteins 1 and 2A have been described in human kidney so far. In this study, we examined the distribution of somatostatin receptors (SSTRs) in normal human adult kidney. Methods Formalin fixed paraffin em...

Hypopituitarism has been reported in 28-65% of long-term survivors of traumatic brain injury (TBI). We attempted to define the natural history of post-traumatic hypopituitarism in order to devise guidelines for the optimal timing of patient assessment and hormone replacement.Fifty consecutive patients with severe or moderate TBI were enrolled in a prospective study of pituitary function during the acute phase, at 6 months and, at 12 months following TBI....

IntroductionAntithyroid drugs are widely used in the therapy of hyperthyroidism. This review (update of Cochrane review: Antithyroid drug regimen for treating Graves' hyperthyroidism. In: The Cochrane Library, Issue 4, 2003; with 4 additional trials) assesses the effects of dose, regimen and duration of antithyroid drug therapy for Graves' hyperthyroidism.MethodsThe Cochrane Controlled Trials Register, MEDLIN...

While iodine deficiency goitre is common worldwide, it is rarely described in the U.K. Vegan diet is the only real way for this deficiency to occur in the U.K. A MEDLINE search from 1966 revealed 1 reported case (Shaikh et al. Transient neonatal hypothyroidism due to a maternal vegan diet; Journal of Pediatric Endocrinology & Metabolism Jan 2003). We have identified 3 cases, which we will describe here.Case 1A 21-year-ol...

Antithyroid drug (ATD) resistant thyrotoxicosis raises difficult management issues. We describe three recent cases of apparent refractory thyrotoxicosis.Case 1: A 31 year old woman presented in July 2003 with thyrotoxicosis. Despite treatment with carbimazole (CBZ) 20 milligrams tds, serum free thyroxine (FT4) concentrations remained around 60 picomoles per litre (11-20). In October, CBZ dose was increased to 40 milligrams bd and dexamethasone 2 milligra...

The CRF-related ligand Urocortin 3 (Ucn 3) is expressed in discrete subcortical areas with highest mRNA levels in the medial amgydala (MEA), hypothalamic median preoptic nucleus (MePO) and the rostral part of the perifornical hypothalamic area (PFN). Close anatomical association between major Ucn 3 terminal fields and the type 2-CRF receptor in hypothalamus, lateral septum and medial amygdala suggest it is well placed to modulate physiological processes including behavioural, ...

IntroductionThe process of ovulation is believed to contribute to the majority of ovarian cancers that derive from the ovarian surface epithelium (OSE). The OSE is known to be important for successful ovulation and more recently was shown to be sensitive to inflammatory cytokines such as interleukin-1alpha (IL-1alpha; Human Reproduction: 17:2300-2306).MethodsNormal OSE cells were obtained, with informed conse...