Endocrine Abstracts

Background: The so called “big-big” prolactin, also known as macroprolactin is formed by prolactin-immunoglobulin complexes, and is considered to be biologically inactive. Nevertheless, macroprolactin may cause elevation of serum prolactin (Prl) concentrations measured by standard assays. In women presenting with oligo- and/or amenorrhoea the cause of menstrual irregularity needs to be explained even in the setting of concomitant macroprolactinaemia. We have therefor...

Macroprolactin is formed by prolactin-immunoglobulin complexes and may cause elevation of prolactin (Prl) concentrations, potentially leading to unnecessary investigations and/or treatment. We have endeavoured to assess the prevalence of macroprolactinaemia in euthyroid women with non-toxic goitre and to assess whether autoimmune thyroid disease may result in an increased prevalence of macroprolactinaemia.Material & Methods: We measured serum Prl in ...

Objective: There is no universal consensus as to the criteria of PCOS (i.e. Rotterdam ESHRE/ASRM versus Androgen Excess Society (AES) criteria). Furthermore, androgen measurements within the female range are fraught with several methodological problems. As GnRH stimulation can reveal a relative LH excess, caused by an increased frequency of hypothalamic GnRH pulses, then we have endeavoured to assess gonadotrophin response to GnRH in women with PCOS and healthy controls...

A 32-year old Caucasian was admitted with at 14 weeks of gestation with hypotension and weight loss. Family members noted that she appeared ‘tired’ prior to pregnancy. Past medical history included primary hypothyroidism treated with thyroxine (100 μg/day). Her mother had also been hypothyroid. She had a healthy daughter aged 2.5 years who had been born small for gestational age.At about 8 weeks of gestation she started to vomit several ti...

Background, subjects & methods: Dexamethasone increases visfatin synthesis in vitro, but it is not clear, whether it is reflected in the changes of serum levels of this cytokine. We have therefore assessed fasting serum concentrations of visfatin, glucose, insulin and cortisol in 20 subjects (4 males, 5 subjects with type 2 diabetes) age (mean±S.D.) 42.1±17.2 years, BMI 36,7±8.38 kg/m2 before and after 48 hours of administrat...

Background, subjects & methods: Visfatin, also known as pre-B cell colony enhancing factor (PBEF), is a cytokine that is highly expressed in visceral fat, and exerts insulin-mimicking effects in rodents through activation of an insulin receptor, though in a manner distinct from insulin. Visfatin levels do not change in response to acute hyperinsulinaemia in mice, but it is not clear whether this also applies to humans. In order to investigate this we measured serum visfati...

It is recognized that a substantial proportion of patients found to have raised prolactin (PRL) level on a single testing is subsequently found to have normal PRL levels. Though this is often attributed to stress or medication factor, it should be noted, that PRL secretion displays diurnal variation with a nocturnal peak in the late-night/early morning hours. In our study we tested the hypothesis, that in some patients raised PRL levels in the morning may reflect individual di...

Many patients with Turner's and Klinefelter's syndromes develop osteoporosis. We present the cases of three patients with osteoporosis and chromosomal abnormalities.Case 1: A 65 year old women requested evaluation of osteoporosis because of multiple fractures of hip, elbow and vertebrae. She was kyphoscoliotic, having lost 6 cm from her peak height o 1.76 m. Aged 12 she was told that she lacked female reproductive organs and underwent surgery including v...

Back groundBoth pregnancy and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) constitute insulin-resistant states, while gestational diabetes (GDM) is associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes. Though screening for GDM is typically performed later in pregnancy, some women demonstrate significant insulin resistance (IR) and develop GDM even in 1st trimester. We have endeavoured to compare surrogate IR indices in 1st trimester pregnant women and in...

Background: Copeptin (pre-proAVP) secreted in equimolar amounts with vasopressin (AVP) closely reflects AVP release. Previously it was shown that copeptin is stimulated in standard pituitary function tests acting through hypothalamic centres. Furthermore, copeptin has been shown to subtly mirror stress potentially mediated via CRH. To further test a potential direct interaction of CRH with copeptin release which could augment AVP effects on pituitary function, we investigated ...