Endocrine Abstracts

Background: In vitro fertilisation is an effective therapy for infertility, but can result in the potentially life-threatening complication, Ovarian Hyper-Stimulation Syndrome (OHSS). We have previously reported that a single injection of kisspeptin results in an LH surge of ~12–14 hrs duration, sufficient to safely induce oocyte maturation, but eliminate OHSS. However, the physiological LH surge in a normal menstrual cycle has a plateaux lasting 24–28 hrs. ...

Introduction: Although hCG is an important determinant of gestational thyroid function, it is unknown to what extent hCG is a risk factor for thyroid disease and we also lack knowledge on which characteristics influence the thyroidal response to hCG stimulation.Methods: hCG, TSH, FT4 and TPOAbs were measured in 5435 pregnant women (<18 weeks) in a prospective cohort. Subclinical disease entities were defined according to P2.5-P97.5 in TPOAb negative ...

Context: Suboptimal thyroid function in pregnancy is associated with adverse obstetric outcomes but it is unclear whether levothyroxine treatment, initiated during pregnancy is beneficial.Design & Participants: Retrospective analysis of the Controlled Antenatal Thyroid Screening (CATS) study with obstetric outcomes obtained through data-linkage in the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage (SAIL) databank. We studied 13,224 pregnant women; 12,608 had ...

Background: A re-emergence of mild iodine deficiency in the United Kingdom (UK) has been reported. A recent UK study suggested a dose dependent relationship between mild maternal deficiency and a number of childhood cognitive scores. The World Health Organisation defines sufficiency in a population as a median urinary iodine concentration (UIC) of ≥100 μg/l in non-pregnant women and infants and ≥150 μg/l during pregnancy. It also recommends a daily intake...

Introduction: The placenta interchanges nutrients, oxygen and waste between mother and fetus, acts as a gate-keeper to protect the fetus and creates an optimal endocrine environment to maintain the pregnancy. Placental insufficiency underpins common pregnancy complications (e.g. intrauterine growth restriction, preterm birth). Perturbed expression of molecular transporter proteins in the placental syncytiotrophoblast will affect fetal exposure to harmful drugs/xenobiotics such...

Endometriosis is a chronic oestrogen-dependent incurable inflammatory disorder, defined by the presence of endometrial-like tissue outside the uterine cavity that affects 6–10% of women of reproductive age. It is associated with debilitating pelvic pain and subfertility with a significant impact on quality of life and estimated annual costs to the UK of £11.7 billion. Recent findings from our laboratory have shown that there is a shift in cell metabolism from mitocho...