Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: In the year 2010, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has published a normative data for mone mineral density (BMD) measured by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scanning. However, its impact on the diagnosis of osteoporosis when compared to currently used Caucasian database has not been analysed.Objectives: To study the effect of the newly generated ICMR database (ICMRD) on the diagnosis of osteoporosis compared with the Hol...

Introduction: Osteoporosis is a silent disease and fractures pose enormous medical and financial burden on ageing individuals. Also subjects of younger age are at risk for subnormal bone mineral density when they have systemic disorders like rheumatoid arthritis or on long-term medications like corticosteroids. Preventive measures can be initiated if osteoporosis is diagnosed and treated before any fracture occurs. Even after the first fracture has occurred, there are effectiv...

Introduction: Glycaemic variability has been proposed as a contributing factor for development of diabetes related complications. This concept originated from Epidemiology of Diabetes Interventions and Complications (EDIC) study, in which, although the HbA1C was similar in conventional and intensively treated groups, the incidence of retinopathy was higher in the conventional group. This was attributed to glycaemic variability. Studying glycaemic variability in prediabetes wou...

Cushing’s syndrome can be caused by adrenocorticotropic hormone-secreting solid tumors. We report a rare case of an ileal endocrine carcinoma that produced ACTH and induced hypercortisolism. A now 47-year-old male patient presented at the age of 41 with perspiration, weight gain, tremor and general fatigue. Diabetes mellitus and hypercortisolism was diagnosed by laboratory testing. Further examinations revealed ectopic Cushing’s syndrome. The search for the location ...

Objective: To assess the metabolic characteristics, body composition, Insulin resistance and energy expenditure in young South Indian males with low and normal birth weight.Methodology: A population based cohort of 43 low birth weight (<2.5 kg) and 41 normal birth weight (>2.5 kg) subjects born at term was taken from a rural part in the South Indian state of Tamilnadu. Young healthy males aged 18–22 years were recruited. Following informed c...

The malignant phenotype of small cell lung cancer (SCLC) cells critically relies on the autocrine stimulation of G12/13- and Gq/11-coupled neuropeptide receptors. By this means, G12/13- and Gq/11-dependent signalling pathways are constitutively activated in these cells. While Gq/11-dependent signalling has been shown to promote proliferation of SCLC cells, the role of signalling pathways via G12/13 is still elus...

3-iodothyronamine (3-T1AM) and thyronamine (T0AM) are novel endogenous signaling molecules that exhibit great structural similarity to thyroid hormones but apparently antagonize classical thyroid hormone (T3) actions. Their proposed biosynthesis from thyroid hormones would require decarboxylation and more or less extensive deiodination. Deiodinases (Dio1, Dio2 and Dio3) catalyze the removal of iodine from their substrates. Since a role of deiod...

The cytoplasmic domains of EGF-like ligands have important biological functions. Stable transfectants of the human follicular thyroid carcinoma cell line FTC-133 over-expressing the cytoplasmic domain of proEGF (FTC-133-proEGFcyt) demonstrated a transcriptional up-regulation of the lysosomal hydrolases cathepsin- (cath-) B and -D and alterations in the processing of cath-L protein. Cath-L has strong elastinolytic activity and was the only of the three cathepsins to be secreted...

The cytoplasmic domain of the membrane-anchored human EGF proform is encoded by exons 22–24 and the function of this proEGFcyt is largely unkown. Stable transfectants of the human thyroid carcinoma (Ca) cell line FTC-133 were generated over-expressing (a) proEGFcyt, (b) truncated peptide version encoded by exons 22 and 23 (proEGF22.23), and (c) a natural splice version with a deletion of exon 23 and 24 (proEGFdel23). ProEGFcyt and proEGF22.23 transfectants, but not proEGF...

Background: Pituitary apoplexy is a neurological emergency, whose prevalence is generally underestimated. The overall prevalence ranges from 0.6 to 27.7% of all pituitary tumours.Methodology: Retrospective analysis of hospital medical records of 274 patients with pituitary adenoma who presented to us between 1996–2006 was done.Results: Of the 274 patients analysed, 84 had features of pituitary apoplexy (31%) Mean age was 44.7 ...