Endocrine Abstracts

Lawyers need doctors. When the work of the legal profession leads into areas of clinical medicine it is important that expert clinicians are there to explain and advise on the clinical issues. A good clinician can give valuable advice to the parties involved, and can also assist the courts in reaching a just and equitable conclusion.In endocrinology an expert is most commonly asked to advise in matters relating to an allegation of clinical negligence. So...

Lawyers need doctors. When the work of the legal profession leads into areas of clinical medicine it is important that expert clinicians are there to explain and advise on the clinical issues. A good clinician can give valuable advice to the parties involved, and can also assist the courts in reaching a just and equitable conclusion.In endocrinology an expert is most commonly asked to advise in matters relating to an allegation of clinical negligence. So...

A 45 year old female with Type 1 DM for 12 years presented with malaise and frequent episodes of hypoglycaemia. Thyroxine was titrated to 150 mcg once daily over 2 months because TSH was 94 mIU/L [0.2–5.50 mIU/L]. However, her malaise and hypoglycaemia deteriorated, she also developed dense hyperpigmentation in the skin.Primary hypoadrenalism was confirmed by lack of response to 250 mcg IV Tetracosactide (Serum Cortisol at Time 0 min: 98 nmol/L; Ti...

Despite their nature of being clinically inapparent, subtle laboratory abnormalities are sometimes detected in patients with adrenal incidentalomas and the question arises whether these changes justify surgical intervention in a patient with an otherwise benign adrenal tumour. Therefore, we aimed at finding further expressions of adrenal hormone excess that reflect net glucocorticoid action.Since glucocorticoids are potent immune suppressants we studied ...

Introduction: Vitamin D insufficiency (D-INSUFF) has been associated with impaired immune response in human inmunodeficiency virus (HIV) patients and a worse prognosis in patients with liver fibrosis. Nevertheless, few studies have explored the influence of D-INSUFF in immunological response and liver parameters in HIV and hepatitis C virus co-infected patients (HIV/HCV) on long term highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) with successful immune and virological response. ...

Introduction: Alzheimer disease (AD) is the leading cause of dementia. While impaired glucose homeostasis has been shown to increase AD risk and pathological loss of tau function, the latter has been suggested to contribute to the emergence of the glucose homeostasis alterations observed in AD patients. However, the links between tau impairments and glucose homeostasis, remains unclear.Objective: In order to better understand the links between tau and gl...

Estrogen, through its receptors, plays an important role in regulation of spermatogenesis. The importance of estrogen is highlighted with the reports that environmental estrogens have deleterious effects on spermatogenesis and have been associated with declining sperm counts in men. Although estrogen receptors (ERα and ERβ) have been localised in the seminiferous epithelium; their precise roles are yet unclear as in vivo estradiol treatment would signal thro...

Glucocorticoids are known to exert a stimulatory action on white blood cell precursor proliferation but little is known on erythrocyte counts in patients with Cushing’s syndrome.Aim: Of the present study was to assess red and white blood cell parametres in a large series of patients with Cushing’s syndrome and follow the blood cell changes after postsurgical remission or persistence of hypercortisolism.Methods: Of 84 pati...

Graves’ disease (GD) is a common cause of hyperthyroidism. Associated hematological complications rarely occur. Most review articles describe it as a rare manifestation and often reported as isolated cases or series. These disorders in hyperthyroidism may stem from the primary thyroid pathology or its treatment. In untreated primary hyperthyroidism, effects on hematological parameters range from mild single lineage involvement to pancytopenia. The most feared treatment re...

Introduction: Graves’ orbitopathy (GO) is a rare autoimmune inflammatory disease occurring in 25–50% cases of Graves’ disease (GD). It is associated with poor clinical outcomes, impaired quality of life and socio-economic status. Genetic, environmental and immunological factors are considered to play a role in the pathogenesis of GO, but the effects of neutrophil, lymphocyte counts as well as neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio on the pathophysiology of GO are still ...