Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Growth hormone (GH) and Insulin like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) discordance in patients with acromegaly is a well-recognised phenomenon. It is unclear whether this is associated with increased mortality and morbidity compared to patients with concordant normal results.Methodology: A retrospective study was conducted on the United Kingdom Acromegaly Registry (UKAR). A comparison of mortality and morbidity was performed among four groups categoris...

Aims: Women with gestational diabetes (GDM) who deliver large-for-gestational age (LGA) infants have subtle (1-1.5mM) differences in temporal maternal glucose control detectable by continuous glucose monitoring (CGM), compared to women who deliver appropriate-for-gestational-age (AGA) infants. It is unclear how these subtle changes cause LGA, but LGA has been linked to placental dysfunction. We aimed to develop an ex-vivo human placental model to mimic subtle differences in te...

Background: In a sub-group of patients with newly diagnosed pituitary adenomas, conventional MRI will fail to confidently localise the tumour. The role of molecular imaging for these patients is increasingly being recognised, both in terms of confirming diagnosis and in guiding targeted therapy; 11C-Methionine PET co-registered with volumetric MRI (Met-PET/MRCR) can enhance decision making in this group of patients. However, in some cases distinguishing t...

The anterior pituitary gland is a critical endocrine organ responsible for many important physiological processes including puberty, fertility, metabolism and the stress response. It is derived from, and maintained by, a population of SOX2+ progenitor/stem cells which become more quiescent with age until their direct contribution to tissue turnover becomes negligible. Previous research has demonstrated that the postnatal SOX2+ population exhibits heterogeneity in terms of mark...