Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Gigantomastia is a rare condition characterised by excessive benign breast tissue growth that is thought to be a result of elevated physiological levels of circulating hormones (e.g. pregnancy), or an increased sensitivity of the breast tissue to such hormones. Isolated reports describe some medical conditions as precipitants (e.g. systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE)) or drugs (e.g. cyclosporine). Many will proceed to surgical intervention to improve physical and/...

Objective: In humans insulin-induced hypoglycaemia activates the autonomic nervous system and provokes counterregulatory hormonal responses, the magnitude of which is lower in healthy non-diabetic females and in women with type 1 diabetes compared to male counterparts, although the glycaemic thresholds at which these responses are triggered are similar in both sexes. The Edinburgh Hypoglycaemia Score (a validated method of symptom assessment) was used to examine symptoms to as...

Regulation of many pituitary-specific genes involves calcium signalling, yet the mechanisms and signalling molecules involved have yet to be established. CaMK's are expressed in a wide variety of tissues, and are known to modulate transcriptional regulators such as MAPK's and CREB. It is unclear as to which anterior pituitary cell types express CaMK's, or which isoforms are present. We have examined the presence and localisation of type II and IV CaMK's in alphaT3-1, LbetaT2 (...