Endocrine Abstracts

In humans, glucocorticoids (GC) are implicated in the pathogenesis of obesity and insulin resistance. In adipose tissue, GCs are regulated at the prereceptor level by oxo-reductase activity of 11beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenases type 1 (11β-HSD1). The hexose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase null mouse (H6PDH/KO) has shown that H6PDH is required for generating NADPH within the endoplasmic reticulum which determines the direction of 11β-HSD1 enzyme. We have shown that mRNA f...

Background and aims: The most outstanding cardioprotective potential has been demonstrated for GLP-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RA) and SGLT-2 inhibitors (SGLT-2i). But only long-acting GLP-1RA dulaglutide (DULA) and semaglutide decrease stroke incidence, while data concerning the influence of any drug on stroke severity are lack. At the same time, ischemic stroke remains one of the leading causes of death in type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2). The aim of our study was to investigate...

A 16 year old boy presented to his GP with a two month history of polyuria and polydipsia. He was reviewed by his GP and diabetes mellitus was ruled out. At the time of presentation three months later, he had a three week history of headache and vomiting. His glasses prescription had changed and he had increasing diplopia. The optician found bilateral papilloedema and he was referred to the eye clinic for further assessment. Due to abnormal gaze palsies, he was admitted to the...

Hypopituitarism is a potential complication of trans-sphenoidal adenomectomy (TSA). Prediction of pituitary function (PF) recovery would inform hormonal replacement strategies. However, the frequency of re-testing of PF is variable across centres. The aim of this study was to determine rates, time and predictors of 6-weeks (6 w) recovery of hypothalamo-pituitary adrenal (HPA) and gonadal function after TSA.Methods: We performed a single-centre, retrospec...

Background and aims: Diabetes currently affects 425 million people worldwide. Pancreatic β-cell failure is central in the development and progression of type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Diabetes research is slowed by the difficulty to study the diseased tissue, i.e. human islet bcells: these are only available in a few donor organ transplantation centers worldwide. β-cells differentiated from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) represent a novel cell source. Cur...

Introduction: In the UK alone, diabetes affects nearly 4 million people and an additional 13.6 million people are estimated to be at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes (T2DM). Diabetes is associated with vascular complications which path the development of cardiovascular diseases such as strokes and heart attacks. Previous studies have shown various pathways in which hyperglycaemia leads to endothelial dysfunction and insulin resistance. However, current reports of <e...

Case: An 89 year old gentleman was admitted to hospital following a collapse at home. His capillary blood glucose was found to be 1.4 mmol/l by the paramedics. The patient had experienced multiple collapses at home in the preceding 2 weeks. Each time, he had been found to be hypoglycaemic but treated and discharged from A&E. He complained of reduced appetite, weight loss and change in bowel habit. The patient’s past medical history included a large fibroma of the left...

An increasing number of transgender adolescents seeks medical care. After careful assessment and in the absence of contraindications, adolescents who have entered puberty, wish treatment and can provide informed consent can be treated with a GnRH analogue (GnRHa). This prevents further development of secondary sex characteristics incongruent with gender identity and provides the adolescent time to consider the option to undergo further gender affirming treatment. Studies on th...

Introduction: The uterus develops during puberty and increases not only in length but also in width and depth, to achieve a mature shape. Pubertal induction with exogenous oestradiol aims to mimic this. Research to date shows variable results for the attainment of an adult uterine configuration in females with hypogonadism. Suboptimal uterine development is hypothesised to be a contributing factor for adverse reproductive outcomes in females with hypogonadism undergoing egg do...

Aim: Dose corrected for thyroid gland size is one of the methods used to determine radioactive iodine (RAI) activity for patients with Graves disease (GD). This study was aimed to investigate the real-world success rate of this method and the predictors of success after first treatment.Methods: This is a retrospective study of 80 patients with GD treated between 2014 and 2020 in a tertiary referral hospital in Almada, Portugal. The successful group was d...