Endocrine Abstracts

Epidemiological and clinical studies provide evidence for sex differences in the incidence or severity of certain neurological conditions. For example Parkinson's disease, which is characterised by a progressive degeneration of dopaminergic (DA) neurones in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) and a reduction in DA levels in the striatum, is more prevalent in men than women. Therefore, our work aimed to establish whether physiological levels of sex steroid hormones confer ...

While it is generally acknowledged that hyperthyroidism and Paget's disease are states of increased bone turnover and that treatment reduces this, whether treatment entirely corrects or reverses abnormalities has not been established. A variety of biomarkers for bone formation which include serum levels of bone alkaline phosphatase (BAP), osteocalcin (OC) and amino terminal procollagen type 1N propeptide (PINP) and resorption biomarkers which include urinary excretion of deoxy...

Objectives: The extent and mechanisms of the diurnal variation in insulin sensitivity are poorly described. This study set out to assess the relative contributions of diurnal rhythm and length of fast to insulin sensitivity in normal healthy human subjects.Methods: Nine healthy women (age 25.3±1.2 years, BMI 22.4±0.8 Kg/m2) ate a standardised meal before each of the four fasts, two ten-hour fasts ending at 0900 and 1700 and two thirteen-hou...

There is evidence from animal studies that 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1,25-(OH)2D3) is essential for normal reproductive function. Vitamin D deficient rats have reduced fertility, and VDR null mutant mice demonstrate impaired folliculogenesis. We have recently demonstrated that 1,25(OH)2D3 suppressed the production of oestradiol (E2) independently of progesterone (P) in luteinised, but not in non-luteinised human granulosa cells, suggesting that 1,25(OH)<s...

Our recent studies have localised 11 beta hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (11 beta HSD1), which activates cortisol from cortisone, to the human ocular non-pigmented ciliary epithelium, and in an open blinded study conducted on healthy male volunteers, systemic inhibition of this isozyme with oral carbenoxolone (CBX) resulted in a 17% reduction of intraocular pressure (IOP). The aim of this study was to evaluate whether CBX reduced IOP in patients with ocular hypertension (...

Childhood survivors of cancer are prone to a number of adverse sequelae related to the therapeutic interventions used. Growth hormone deficiency (GHD) is common after cranial irradiation, and it is unclear to what extent GHD contributes to the abnormalities observed in adult survivors of childhood cancer, and whether GH replacement can reverse these anomalies. We compared 27 GHD survivors of childhood cancer with 27 adult age- and sex-matched controls, and went on to replace G...

Thyroid hormones are evolutionarily conserved iodine-containing regulators of metabolism and development (reviewed by Mullur et al. (2014)). A key process in synthesis of the effectors thyroxine and tri-iodothyronine is the uptake of iodide from the bloodstream into thyroid follicular cells by the sodium-iodide symporter channel (NIS) encoded by the solute-carrier gene SLC5A5. Perturbation of NIS activity by environmental chemicals can lead to rapid and potent changes...

Objective: Arthropathy is the commonest morbidity in acromegaly and the main determinant of quality of life in these patients. Most of current knowledge is derived from studies using conventional x-rays. This study aims to characterise acromegalic arthropathy using modern imaging techniques.Methods: Case control study comprising of 60 acromegaly patients (29 males, mean age 54.8± 12.9yrs) and 300 age/gender-matched controls from the publicly availab...

Case history: A male patient presented to the Endocrine clinic age 64, with an 18-year history of erectile dysfunction. He was treated under Urology with phosphodiesterase inhibitors and Nebido injections for hypogonadism. Notably the cause of hypogonadism had not been established. The patient was concurrently reviewed by Oral Medicine due to a 2.5-year history of xerostomia, and Dermatology for a non-healing, erythematous, pruritic lesion on his right lower leg and several wh...

Heavy menstrual bleeding (HMB) is common and debilitating but it remains a taboo subject. Hence its cause remains undefined, resulting in non-specific hormone therapies with intolerable side effects.Over 70 years ago it was proposed that progesterone withdrawal caused intense vasoconstriction and a transient endometrial hypoxia that resulted in menstruation. Subsequent research confirmed that inflammation initiated menses and disputed the role of hypoxia...