Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UNIPROT:P01189 (beta-endorphin)
 21,003 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Upper airway obstruction resulting from a paratracheal abscess developed insidiously and led to the death of a 43-year-old woman with multiple sclerosis. Repeated nasogastric intubation, required by an exacerbation of bulbar symptoms, may have initiated this unusual infection. Corticotropin and corticosteroid therapy may have impaired immunologic competence and masked fever and other symptoms of inflammation. Hoarseness and inspiratory stridor should not be attributed to laryngeal paresis in patients with multiple sclerosis unless other causes of airway obstruction have been excluded by appropriate diagnostic studies.
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PMID:Fatal paratracheal abscess in multiple sclerosis. 718 36

Gastroesophageal reflux and pulmonary disease have become causally associated owing to reports of improved pulmonary function in patients with asthma or stridor following antireflux pharmacotherapy or surgery. Mechanisms by which reflux causes pulmonary disease include direct aspiration and neural reflex arcs. A novel additional mechanism for acute life-threatening episodes implicates increased beta-endorphin levels resulting from acid-mediated esophageal pain in the depression of respiratory drive. Diagnostic modalities used in the evaluation of reflux have often been inadequate to demonstrate a cause-and-effect relationship between reflux and pulmonary disease. Recent studies using multiple site pH-metry have attempted to provide evidence for cause and effect but have achieved mixed results. Aggressive antireflux pharmacotherapy and, sometimes, surgery help those patients with chronic pulmonary disease mediated by gastroesophageal reflux.
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PMID:Evaluation and management of gastroesophageal reflux and pulmonary disease. 881 96

A 10-year-old uncastrated male Dalmatian dog was referred for gait abnormalities consisting of chronic progressive stiffness and rigidity. Other symptoms were polyphagia associated with weight gain, polyuria and polydipsia, excessive panting, and an inspiratory stridor. The owner had noticed progressive thickening of the skin and enlargement of the tongue over the last 3 years. Physical examination revealed thickening of the skin, redundant skin folds, and enlargement of the tongue. The only remarkable abnormalities found on routine laboratory examination were mild anaemia and an increased serum fructosamine concentration. Circulating concentrations of total thyroxine, free thyroxine, and cTSH, and the results of an ACTH stimulation test were all within reference ranges. The basal serum growth hormone (GH) concentration was markedly elevated (23microg/l) and did not decrease during a glucose tolerance test or after somatostatin administration. The serum insulin-like growth factor-1 concentration was also markedly elevated (1254microg/l). Basal serum insulin concentration was high (95mU/l) and insulin concentrations increased considerably after glucose loading, consistent with insulin resistance. Abdominal ultrasonography showed no abnormalities. Survey radiographs of the vertebral column showed severe spondylosis deformans extending from the cervical to the lumbosacral spine. CT scanning of the skull showed an enlarged pituitary gland with normal enhancement pattern. On post-mortem examination, the entire vertebral column appeared as a single and inflexible structure due to the presence of multiple fused osteophytes. The pituitary gland contained an acidophilic adenoma that immunostained positively for GH (and negatively for ACTH and alpha-MSH). In conclusion, this Dalmatian dog with acromegaly and insulin resistance represents the first case of GH hypersecretion proven to be due to a somatotroph adenoma.
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PMID:Acromegaly due to a somatroph adenoma in a dog. 1647 61