Endocrine Abstracts

Aim: The current focus for the treatment of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) is lifestyle intervention with the aim of significant weight loss. NAFLD is tightly associated with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and obesity. In patients with T2D, glucose lowering agents that promote weight loss have shown a beneficial impact on NAFLD. However, it remains unclear as to whether glucose lowering can improve NALFD in patients with T2D, independent of weight loss.<p class="abstext"...

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the hepatic manifestation of metabolic syndrome, ranging from simple steatosis to the necro-inflammatory disease, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Development of NASH subsequently increases risk of hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC). Alongside the impact on the liver, NASH is associated with other clinical features, including insulin resistance, hyperlipidaemia and sarcopaenia. We demonstrate that mice fed the American lifestyle i...

Introduction: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) affects up to 20% of a Western population and is associated with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and type 2 diabetes (T2D). OSA is characterized by intermittent episodes of hypoxia (IH) that occur during sleep. It is not yet known if IH is directly linked to insulin resistance within key metabolic target tissues (adipose; liver and skeletal muscle) and what the potential underlying mechanism may be. It has been suggested that indiv...

Primary human hepatocytes are considered the ‘gold standard’ to explore metabolic phenotype within the liver, however they come with limitations, such as donor variability, lack of proliferation and rapid phenotype loss. The human hepatoma cell line, HepG2, has been used extensively in cell-based metabolic studies but there are significant limitations including their malignant origin and inherent low rates of triglyceride secretion. The aim of this study was to inves...

Background: Structured education should be appropriate to the learning styles of participants. Health professionals and experts in education worked together to develop KICk-OFF for 11–16 year olds and similar experience has now been used in the development of Junior KICk-OFF for Key Stage (KS) 1 (4–7 years) and KS2 (7–11 years).Method: The KICk-OFF team developed the curricula with input from teachers and an academic educationalist. Sectio...

Aim: To evaluate the recovery rate, characteristics and factors that might help predict the HPA axis recovery of patients with glomerulonephritis (GN) and GC-induced AI.Study Design: A retrospective study involving all GN patients referred from January 2014-December 2016 with a confirmed diagnosis of GC-induced AI with a planned weaning from conventional Prednisolone (Pred) immunosuppression and switch onto Hydrocortisone (HC). Data collected up to Novem...

Hypercortisolaemia (Cushing’s Syndrome) is characterised by abdominal fat accumulation and gluteofemoral fat loss. The mechanisms underpinning this fat mass redistribution are unknown. Adipose tissue blood flow (ATBF) and net fatty acid release rate (lipolysis) are important determinants of depot-specific fat mass. We hypothesized that hypercortisolaemia may result in increased femoral ATBF and lipolysis promoting gluteofemoral fat mass loss. We recruited nine healthy mal...

Insulin resistance and androgen excess are the cardinal features of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). The severity of hyperandrogenism and metabolic dysfunction in PCOS are closely correlated but the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. Aldoketoreductase type 1C3 (AKR1C3) is an important source of adipose androgen generation (converting androstenedione to testosterone) and we have postulated that it may have a critical role linking androgen metabolism and meta...

Introduction: We present the contrasting cases of two siblings diagnosed with Wolfram’s syndrome aged 2 and 10 years old. We discuss several family factors which have made management of this rare condition even more complex, emphasising the importance of holistic medicine.Case: The older sibling was diagnosed with diabetes mellitus age 4. Parents struggled to cope with the diagnosis, however, and emotional and psychological support was offered. She ...

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a clinical triad of anovulation, hyperinsulinaemia, and androgen excess. Adipose androgen generation of testosterone from androstenedione by aldo-ketoreductase type 1C3 (AKR1C3) may contribute to hyperandrogenism. We hypothesised that insulin may upregulate adipose AKR1C3 expression in vitro in a human differentiated preadipocyte cell line.We analysed AKR1C3 expression in the SGBS human preadipocyte cell line....