Endocrine Abstracts

A 33-year-old woman was referred to endocrinology outpatient for preoperative evaluation of a pituitary tumour and galactorrhoea. She was asymptomatic one and a half years ago when she developed bilateral galactorrhoea. She was on oral contraceptive pills (ethinyloestradiol and gestodene) for last two and a half years. She had no other complaints. Menarche was at the age of 15 years. Clinically she was found to be normal, except for bilateral expressive galactorrhoea. Serum pr...

An 18-year-old male came to medical attention for complaints of non-healing ulcers on right medial aspect of lower leg and left medial malleolus of two years duration. His mother had noticed that he had put on weight particularly around breasts, hips, and thighs for last three years.On examination his height was 196 cm and weight 106 kg. The upper segment to lower segment ratio was 0.82 (mean 0.92 in white adults, 0.85 in black adults), and arm span 207 ...

A 24-year old male was referred to endocrinology outpatient with absence of hair on scalp, eyebrows, eyelids, and body since birth, short stature, bone pains, proximal muscle weakness, and recurrent fractures of long bones. He was a product of second degree consanguineous marriage. He was eldest of two siblings. His younger brother aged 16-years was suffering from similar complaints.Clinical examination revealed alopecia universalis, short stature, hypot...

A 35 years old male, automobile factory worker was brought to emergency room with suddden onset rapidly progressive flaccid quadriparesis of 12 hours duration. He was unable to stand or use his upper limbs. There was tingling in distal aspects of all four limbs. There was no loss of sensation, respiratory muscle, cranial nerve, or cerebellar involvement. He reported no other symptoms. There was no history of alcohol use, drug use, or exposure to sexually transmitted diseases. ...

Diabetic ketoacidosis [DKA] is known to be precipitated by number of clinical situations which lead to increased production of counter regulatory hormones Substance abuse has recently been highlighted as a risk factor in DKA. Cocaine has not received sufficient emphasis. We report a case of multiple admissions for DKA associated with cocaine use.A 23 year old male student was brought to emergency room for altered sensorium of ten hours duration. He was a...

A 34-year-old woman with seasonal allergic rhinitis was poorly controlled with fexofenadine. She began to use beclomethasone nasal inhaler, 42 ug of drug per nasal pump unit, 2 sprays in each nostril twice daily. There was no history of substance use or drug intake. Two months later she complained of easy fatiguability, and pain in her thighs and arms, on walking distances and climbing stairs which were easily tolerated earlier. There was no history of proximal muscle weakness...

A 49-year old woman presented with four months history of drowsiness and weakness. She had twelve years history of intermittent menorrhagia, and was treated with iron and folic acid tablets, with partial relief. Clinically she was dehydrated, drowsy, pale and had pedal edema. Pelvic examination revealed a uterine mass 16 centimeter in diameter. Investigations- hemoglobin 9.0 gm/dl, peripheral smear microcytic, hypochromic anemia,serum albumin- 2.8 g/dl (3.6–4.7 g/dl), ser...

A 21-year old woman was referred to endocrinology outpatient with sparse hair on scalp, eyebrows, eyelids, and body since birth, short stature, bone pains, proximal muscle weakness, and recurrent fractures of long bones. She was a product of second-degree consanguineous marriage and was eldest of two siblings. Her younger brother aged 16-years had similar complaints.Clinically she had alopecia universalis, short stature, hypotonia, proximal muscle weakne...

Background: Accurate diagnosis of an underlying cause of thyrotoxicosis is critical for targeted therapy. Thyroid radionuclide uptake scan is a useful second line investigation in patients who lack TSH receptor antibody. The uptake scan patterns identify patients who can be preferentially treated with anti-thyroid drugs (diffuse pattern - Graves’ disease) or radio-iodine treatment (patchy uptake - multinodular or localised uptake – toxic adenoma) or simple monitoring...

Regulation of hepatic gluconeogenesis by insulin and glucagon is central to blood glucose homeostasis. It has been proposed that the members of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK)-related kinases, the salt inducible kinase (SIK) isoforms, may play a role as signalling mediator in the control of insulin- and glucagon-regulated hepatic gluconeogenesis. However, the exact regulation and contribution of SIKs in hepatic gluconeogenesis is largely elusive. Here we employed selective...