Endocrine Abstracts

One of the most important but as yet unanswered questions in inflammation research is not why chronic inflammation occurs but why is does not resolve. Current models of inflammation stress the role of antigen-specific lymphocyte responses and attempt to address the causative agent. However recent studies have begun to challenge the primacy of the lymphocyte and have begun to focus on an extended immune system in which stromal cells, such as macrophages and fibroblasts play a r...

BackgroundUse of Evolocumab as a monotherapy or in combination with other lipid lowering drugs reduces LDL-C by up to 60% in patients with or without familial hypercholesterolemia (FH), diabetes mellitus (DM), or coronary artery disease (CAD). Data regarding the efficacy of PCSK9 inhibitors in MENA populations is lacking.MethodRetrospective case review of all patients initiated on Evolocumab treatment at Impe...

Autonomous cortisol secretion (ACS), a term that refers to biochemical evidence of excess cortisol, but without the overt Cushing’s syndrome in people with adrenal adenomas. Prevalence of adrenal tumours is 5-10%. Up to 50% of benign adenomas present with some degree of cortisol excess. There is little guidance for investigating and managing these patients leading to different standards of care. Cortisol secretion here is in wide range although post dexamethasone suppress...

Background: Inclisiran is the first clinically available small interfering RNA (siRNA)-based treatment, has been shown to reduce pro-atherogenic lipoproteins in patients with or without familial hypercholesterolemia (FH), diabetes mellitus (DM), or atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD), but has not been evaluated in Middle Eastern populations.Methods: Retrospective review of patients initiating inclisiran treatment for any indication at our cent...

Background: Acanthosis nigricans (AN) is a cutaneous condition characterised by pigmented hyperkeratosis of the skin flexures and neck and occurs most commonly in association with hyperinsulinaemia and insulin resistance (IR). A high prevalence of hyperinsulinaemia and abnormal glucose intolerance has been reported in the Emirati population. Current knowledge of AN suggests that it is a strong visible cutaneous marker associated with IR and can precede the onset of hyperglycae...

Background: Interest is rising in the use of traditional food as potential treatments for diabetes. In some arid regions camel milk is believed to have special health promoting properties. Some studies have linked consumption of camel milk to diabetes prevention in addition to describing hypoglycaemic effects in those with diabetes. The potential mechanism is incompletely understood.Aims: To investigate the impact on glucose metabolism after a mixed meal...

During early life, the majority of cardiomyocytes exit the cell cycle and undergo terminal differentiation, becoming binucleated. This establishes the number of cardiomyocytes for the remainder of the lifetime, with subsequent consequences for cardiac resilience in adulthood. Activation of the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) is important for heart maturation: fetal mice lacking GR in cardiomyocytes (SMGRKO) show structural and functional cardiac immaturity. Young adult male and f...

A sixty-four year old man presented for investigation of mild hypercalcaemia (2.68 mmol/L) incidentally discovered during preoperative workup for elective removal of a testicular cyst. He had no family history of renal stones. His younger brother had undergone a parathyroidectomy at the age of 60. His father died in a road traffic accident aged 54. His mother was 84 and had no history of endocrine disease. Urine calcium:creatinine excretion ratio was 0.0207, excluding familial...

Introduction: The presence of Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) may be associated with increased cardiovascular risk. The International Diabetes Foundation (IDF) has recently published new diagnostic criteria for MetS. Thus, we sought to compare IDF-defined MetS, the previously defined Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III (ATPIII) and the European SCORE risk stratification model as predictors of the presence of Ischaemic Heart Disease (IHD) within an asymptomatic po...

Tissue inflammation is usually transient but in diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA) inflammation persists. It remains unclear why inflammation persists in some tissues and not in others. Recent studies have shown that stromal cells such as fibroblasts play a pivotal role in determining this persisitance. We have hypothesized that glucocorticoid (GC) activation via the enzyme 11beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (11beta-HSD1) within fibroblasts plays a key role in ...