Endocrine Abstracts

Phil Lowry, School of Animal and Microbial Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, UK AbstractProfessor Phil Lowry is best known for his research on pituitary hormones, corticotrophin-releasing factor (CRF) and the involvement of neuropeptides in pre-eclampsia. A peptide biochemist by training, his preparations of purified corticotrophin (ACTH) and growth hormone (GH) became standards of the World Health Organisation...

People living with diabetes face the daily burden of managing their disease. The ongoing challenge of administering insulin, testing heir glucose and adhering to recommended lifestyle can be overwhelming. Diabetes technology can alleviate some of this burden. However, the technology should be chosen wisely upon preferences and competences of affected people. Insulin pump use has been increasing over the last decades. Insulin pumps re considered a comfortable way to deliver ins...

Background: Hyperemesis gravidarum is a rare condition with multiple causes. Diagnosis is based on clinical examination and measurement of urine ketones, serum electrolytes, and renal function. Hyperparathyroidism during pregnancy can rarely be manifested with clinical presentation of hyperemesis gravidarum with substantial maternal and fetal complications. In most cases adequate hydration, with or without forced diuresis, as well as with low calcium content diet is treatment ...

Dopamine agonists (DA), mainly cabergoline, are nowadays recommended as the treatment of choice for patients with prolactinomas of any size to lower PRL levels, decrease tumour size, and restore gonadal function. However, some patients do not adequately respond to DA, and resistance to DA may occur in 20-30% of patients treated with bromocriptine and nearly 10-20% of those receiving cabergoline. In these patients, multimodal therapy, including surgery and/or radiotherapy, may ...

Background: The treatment of choice for symptomatic primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) is surgery, however in many cases patient choice or medical comorbidities preclude this treatment modality.Aim: This audit examines the use of cinacalcet in management of primary hyperparathyroidism in a district general hospital to determine if it is in accordance with the National institute for health and care excellence (NICE) guidance (May 2019).<p class="abste...

Background and aims: Diabetic foot osteomyelitis (DFO) is a well-recognised complication and a risk factor for lower limb loss. Its effective treatment can reduce the risk of minor and major amputations. Our aim was to compare the yield in cultures from the proximal and distal segments of bone excised intraoperatively as part of the management of DFO and the impact on antibiotic choice and duration.Materials and methods: Patients attending the diabetic f...

Background: Patients with adrenal incidentaloma (AI) and autonomous cortisol secretion (ACS) show a high prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors and an increased prevalence and incidence of cardiovascular events. Furthermore, some recent data suggest that in these patients, the cardiovascular mortality is also increased. Unfortunately, to date, the diagnosis of ACS is still a matter of debate, and, therefore, it is still not possible to reliably predict the effect of the rec...

Background: Real-time reverse transcription quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) has become the method of choice for quantification of gene expression changes. Inappropriate data normalization and inconsistent data analyses are some limitations of RT-qPCR. Pituitary adenomas are frequent tumours and the interpretation of increasingly published data within this field is hindered by the lack of a proper selection and validation of stably expressed reference genes.Ai...

The androgen receptor (AR) is a major therapeutic target once prostate cancer has progressed. Even invasive cells remain initially responsive to androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) but ultimately become ADT-recurrent, which is lethal. Aggressive ADT-recurrent cells nonetheless retain active AR signaling, but in a distorted form as a result of the actions of transcription factor co-regulators, including the corepressors, for example as revealed by the TCGA consortium. We have ex...

After establishing a biochemical diagnosis, pheochromocytomas and paragangliomas can be localized using different imaging modalities. Appropriate imaging is critical for primary tumor localization, the detection of multiple primary tumors and the detection of metastases. This will guide the optimal choice between curative surgery and palliative treatment options.First line anatomical imaging modalities for pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma imaging inclu...