Endocrine Abstracts

ObjectivesTo compare our practice, at Sunderland Royal Hospital, to the recommendations of NIH Consensus Development Programme (February 2002) and BAES.MethodRetrospective audit of patients who had adrenal mass on imaging studies done between 1996–2004.Patients who had incidentally detected adrenal mass were included. Patients with symptoms and / or signs suggesting adrenal mass pr...

Replacement mineralocorticoid(MC)therapy in patients with primary hypoadrenalism is titrated according to clinical and /or biochemical criteria. No single objective assessment is adequate for monitoring,though targets for plasma renin and serum electrolyte concentrations and blood pressure(BP)have been proposed.Plasma renin concentrations within the middle to upper normal range would suggest adequate MC replacement. We reviewed the case notes of 18 patients in order to identif...

Hormonal therapies in the form of oestrogens, anti-androgens and progestogens are often used in the treatment of male-to-female transsexuals. We present the case of a 36 year old phenotypic male with karyotype 46XY who presented with normoprolactinaemic galactorrhoea likely to be related to prior oestrogen administration. He had been self-administering oestrogen and progesterone preparations continuously for 7 years (aged 26 - 33 years) in an attempt to develop female phenotyp...

Advanced glycation end products modify protein structure and function in type I diabetes. Glycoproteins may be potentially modified through other mechanisms, particularly changes to insulin-dependent oligosaccharide components. We have assessed the use of immobilised lectins, characterising the oligosaccharides of a serum glycoprotein, human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG). We wish to test the hypothesis that glycoprotein glycosylation may be modified in type I diabetes.<p ...

Calcitonin assays remain a key requirement for the diagnosis and monitoring of medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC). Until recently calcitonin assays were mainly competitive radioimmunoassays (RIA) but there are now more specific immunometric assays (IMA) available. Cost and staffing pressures are emcouraging routine clinical chemistry laboratories to perform easier kit methodologies rather than refer samples to specialist centres. However, endocrine tumours are known to secrete ...

Aspergillus infection of the paranasal sinuses is an unusual phenomenon but is the commonest fungal infection of these structures. A 67 year-old man was admitted with six months' lethargy, vomiting, and weight loss. Past history included sinusitis. On examination he was well but dehydrated. BP 100/60. No other abnormal findings. Routine blood results were normal.A provisional diagnosis of upper GI malignancy was made but gastroscopy was normal. The thyro...

In neonates, cardiomyocytes exit the cell cycle thus establishing cardiomyocyte number for life. Further growth is through hypertrophy. Factors that advance the timing of the switch from hyperplastic to hypertrophic growth may increase risk of cardiac disease in adulthood. Early life administration of glucocorticoids is known to increase risk of cardiovascular disease. We hypothesized that dexamethasone, a synthetic glucocorticoid, causes precocious cell cycle exit of neonatal...

Background: During fetal development, the heart switches substrate preference from glucose to fatty acids, such that in the adult heart, 50–70% of ATP is derived from fatty acid oxidation. What triggers this switch is currently unclear. In vivo, the late gestation rise in glucocorticoid levels is essential for structural and functional maturation of the fetal heart. Glucocorticoid treatment of fetal cardiomyocytes induces express...

Background: During fetal development, the heart switches substrate preference from glucose to fatty acids, such that in the adult heart, 50–70% of ATP is derived from fatty acid oxidation. What triggers this switch is currently unclear. In vivo, the late gestation rise in glucocorticoid levels is essential for structural and functional maturation of the fetal heart. Glucocorticoid treatment of fetal cardiomyocytes induces express...

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...