Endocrine Abstracts

In recent years, there is increased interest in using maggot debridement therapy (MDT) for ulcer treatment. MDT has shown beneficial effects on ulcers’ rate of healing, need for surgical intervention, and number of antibiotic-free days. In this retrospective study, we looked into the effects of MDT on the length of inpatient stay and need for surgical intervention.Data were collected from 33 randomly selected patients admitted into hospital with pri...

Background: Primary aldosteronism (PA) is now recognised to account for 5–10% of all cases of hypertension (and 20–25% of refractory hypertension). For patients with a demonstrable unilateral cause, adrenalectomy offers the potential for cure of PA, although resolution of hypertension occurs in only ~50% of patients. We have examined histological appearances and radiological features in patients with APAs undergoing adrenalectomy in an attempt to further our understa...

Research question: Are there ethnic differences in foetal growth patterns in GDM?Methods: Retrospective data collection was undertaken for all women with GDM between 2008 and 2012 at University Hospital Coventry. Foetal biometric data was obtained at 28, 32, and 36 weeks gestation for 125 South-Asian (SA) and 142 WC.Results: Compared to WC, SA had had lower BMI (28.5±6.1 kg/m2 vs 32.2±7.4 kg/m2), hei...

Introduction: Humans with glucocorticoid receptor (GR) deficiency and global heterozygous GR knockout (GR+/−) show compensatory activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, resulting in salt-sensitive hypertension due to increased mineralocorticoid activity. Previous studies suggest renal mechanisms, including changes in cell proliferation, gene expression and electrolyte transport, may contribute to this phenotype but underlying adaptive adrenal responses have...

Background: Hypothalamic damage caused by craniopharyngioma (CP) is related to memory deficits, disturbed attention, and impaired processing speed. This is the first study that aims to establish a structure to function relationship by assessing cognitive function in adult patients with childhood-onset (CO) CP along with volumetric analysis of the hypothalamus.Method: Forty-one (24 women) surgically treated CO-CP patients (median age at diagnosis; 11 year...

Context: Several specific transcriptional factors, in view of their important role in thyroid organogenesis and thyroid specific gene expression, would be strong candidate genes for the etiology of TD. The homeobox transcription factor NKX2.5 was thought to be only required for the organogenesis of the heart tube. However, NKX2.5−/− embryos also exhibited a smaller outgrowing thyroid bud. Indeed, several loss ...

Primary aldosteronism caused by aldosterone-producing adenoma (APA) or bilateral adrenal hyperplasia is the most prevalent cause of secondary hypertension. Somatic mutations of KCNJ5, ATP1A1, CACNA1D and ATP2B3 have been shown to be involved in the formation of APA. We studied the immunoexpressions of CYP11B2 and HSD3B2, the rate-limiting enzyme for aldosterone production and the prevalent isoform of β-HSD found in APA respectively, and...

Introduction: The Cushing’s syndrome associated bilateral adrenal tumours comprise a wide area of diagnosis; the therapeutic approach is challenging since unilateral intervention might involve persistent hypercotisolemia, and bilateral adrenalectomy induces chronic adrenal insufficiency. The adrenal vein catheterism is not available in many countries.Case report: 50-year old non-smoker female has the following medical history: 2 years ago she presen...

Objective: Somatic mutations in the GNAS1 gene, which encodes the alpha-subunit of G stimulatory proteins (gsp), are frequently detected in somatotroph pituitary tumors and have been associated to specific clinical-smaller and less invasive tumors occurring in older patients- and histopathological-densely granulated adenomas- characteristics. However, the question whether the presence of a somatic gsp mutation affects the response to somatostatin analogue treatment remains unr...

Prolactinoma predominantly occurred in young women of reproductive age. But there are limited data about the effect of pregnancy and lactation on prolactinoma progression. We evaluated the safety of dopamine agonists including bromocriptine and cabergoline and pregnancy outcome in prolactinoma patients. Patients diagnosed with prolactinoma who experienced pregnancies were included. Sellar MRI and serum prolactin levels were performed before and after pregnancy and lactation. T...