Endocrine Abstracts

A 58-year-old gentleman who was otherwise well presented with urinary symptoms. As part of his investigation for this he underwent a CT scan which showed an incidental 6 cm right adrenal mass compressing the inferior vena cava and superior pole of the right kidney with a 6-mm pulmonary nodule. He was subsequently found to have a raised urinary normetanephrine of 48.81 (normal range 0–3.3) suggestive that the mass was a pheochromocytoma. Retrospectively he reported episode...

Type 1 diabetes is a significant condition affecting school aged children with an increasing incidence in the UK. The effects of a chronic condition such as diabetes on a child can be dramatic and are particularly evident within the school setting. The impact of this condition can also be seen on parents, affecting their career, income and quality of life. Hence, this audit aims to identify the difficulties encountered by children in mainstream education, the impact of school ...

Background: Sex-steroid feedback regulates gonadotropin (LH and FSH) secretion. Kisspeptin, a novel hypothalamic neuropeptide, stimulates gonadotropin secretion by stimulating GnRH secretion, and has been shown in animal models to play a central role in mediating sex steroid feedback.Hypothesis: As estrogen feedback occurs at both the hypothalamus and the pituitary in women, we hypothesized that the stimulatory effect of kisspeptin-10 would be dependent ...

Previously we have demonstrated up-regulated expression of COX-2 and enhanced synthesis of PGE2 in cervical carcinomas. (Sales et al. 2001. J. Clin. Endocrinol Metab. 86(5):2243-2249). Enhanced PGE2 synthesis as a consequence of COX-2 overexpression has been associated with various carcinomas and is regarded as a promoter of neoplastic cell proliferation and angiogenesis. In sexually active women growth and invasiveness of neoplastic cervical cells may be...

Ligands have different binding affinities for mammalian and non-mammalian GnRH receptors. We have investigated whether this is due to differences in ligand contact sites and/or configuration of the receptors.The majority of residues that are contact sites in the mammalian receptor are conserved across species and are located in the extracellular loops (ECL's). The different binding affinities of ligands to non-mammalian receptors may be due to different ...

Background: The rapid progression in diabetes related technology should in theory make it easier to self-manage diabetes. Previous studies have shown an improvement in glycaemic control and reduced disease burden. However young people show less sustained use of technology, with potential barriers hypothesised as body image difficulties, perception of standing out from peers and not wishing to have devices attached. This study aims to explore the reasons young ...

Background: Endothelial dysfunction may have deleterious effect cardiovascular pathology in diabetic patients.Atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) exerts beneficial effects on the cardiovascular system in part by exerting antioxidant activity. Recently it was reported that ANP is able to exert an antihypertrophic effect in myocitos at least in part due to inhibition of NADPH oxidase and superoxido generation.It seems that hyperglucemia...

Background: Diabetes mellitus leads to endothelium dysfunction and an accelerated progression of atherosclerosis. Vascular complications of diabetes mellitus can affect not only large and medium arteries resulting in coronary heart disease and peripheral arteries diseases, but also small vessels leading to retinopathy and nephropathy.Endothelin-1 is mainly synthesized by the vascular endothelial cells and acts on the vascular smooth muscle. Because of it...

Introduction: Expression of murine CSP-1/Dcpp secretory proteins was first identified in sublingual salivary glands and subsequently in secretory epithelia of several other tissues, including the mouse female reproductive tract where expression is regulated by oestrogen. Preliminary studies indicated that HRPE773, the human CSP-1/Dcpp orthologue, displayed a similar pattern of expression to its murine counterparts. We therefore hypothesized that HRPE773 might be expressed in h...

Background: Metformin is an established treatment of polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) but patient-reported outcomes with respect to its effects and tolerability have not been widely reported. About 68 patients with PCOS treated with metformin in our clinic were surveyed by questionnaire.Results: a. Demographics: 42/68 patients were currently, and 26 previously treated with metformin for PCOS. Median age and BMI was 31 years (range 16–49), and ...