US ENDOCRINOLOGY – VOLUME 10 ISSUE 2 – WINTER 2014

It is my pleasure to provide a foreword for this issue of European Endocrinology, which coincides with a landmark 50th annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) in Vienna. This meeting promises to be a comprehensive international update on the pathophysiology and treatments of type 1/2 diabetes and its complications. […]

In recent years, a variety of innovative solutions have been introduced that are designed to improve adherence to blood sugar testing among patients with diabetes, lower glycated Hemoglobin (HbA1c), and decrease complications associated with diabetes mellitus. The value of lowering HbA1c in preventing long-term complications of diabetes is broadly recognized. The purpose of this review […]

In 1977, the select committee on nutrition and human needs of the US Senate recommended increasing carbohydrates intake to 55–60 % of the total caloric intake, while reducing fat consumption from approximately 40–30 % of the total daily calories.1 The aims of these recommendations were to reduce health care costs and to maximize the quality […]

Atherosclerosis continues to be the number one cause of death in the US. Annually, 1,000,000 people will suffer a myocardial infarction (MI): one-third of those will occur in people who have already suffered an event.1 Despite treatment of major modifiable risk factors proved to reduce CVD,2,3 the high recurrence rate raises serious questions that the […]

There is no greater honor than recognition by your peers, and it was a career highlight for me to serve as President of the American Thyroid Association (ATA) in 2014. The Mayo Clinic has always had a very strong thyroid group, beginning with Henry Plummer, who described toxic multinodular goiter (also known as Plummer’s disease) […]

The purpose of life is to reproduce. One purpose of physicians is to make sure this happens safely. In the developed world this has been pretty successful. And so we do not want to spoil things: we just want the results to continue improving and to involve more countries in such success. We certainly do […]

Congenital hypothyroidism (CH) is one of the most common preventable causes of mental retardation. Obvious manifestations of hypothyroidism are not typically present at birth, meaning that clinical diagnosis is usually delayed until 3 months of age or older. Unfortunately, by the time the diagnosis is suspected, the effects of thyroid deficiency on the developing brain […]

Thyroid nodules are a common clinical illness. Neck ultrasonography identifies at least one nodule in 20–76 % of adults, the majority of which are benign.1–3 Cytopathologic evaluation by ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration (FNA) has emerged as the principal means to evaluate malignancy risk, and is recommended for most nodules greater than 1–1.5 cm.4–6 However, in […]

Acromegaly is an uncommon disorder that, in the vast majority of cases, is the result of a growth hormone (GH)-secreting pituitary adenoma. Because tumors are often macroadenomas at the time of diagnosis, there may be a number of signs and symptoms related to local mass effects, including headache, visual field loss, ophthalmoplegia, and hypopituitarism. Chronic […]

Pituitary tumors are the most common form of intracranial neoplasms. Their prevalence in autopsy series was reported as 5–20  %.1 However, clinically relevant pituitary tumors presenting with disturbances of hormonal secretion or mass effect are rare, with an estimated prevalence of 200/1,000,000 and an incidence of 2/100,000 per year.2 Therefore, they only represent about 10 % […]

Type 2 diabetes is a progressive disease, therefore, an escalation of therapy is often needed during the course of this chronic and incurable condition in order to prevent late complications associated with poor metabolic control.

Insulin Use – Trends and Barriers

Hypothyroidism is usually a progressive disease that impacts the entirety of bodily functions. As the heart is the main target of thyroid hormone activity, hypothyroidism may precipitate or aggravate heart failure, influencing heart rate and blood pressure (BP) while increasing cardiovascular (CV) stiffness and also cardiomegaly.1,2 Overt hypothyroidism (OH) is therefore associated with heightened CV […]

Arterial Stiffness and Cardiovascular Risk Recently, much emphasis has been placed on the role of arterial stiffness in the development of cardiovascular diseases. In fact, increased arterial wall rigidity has been acknowledged as a major independent risk factor for cardiovascular pathologies,1,2 and is frequently correlated to the onset of adverse cardiovascular events.3,4 Representing a physiological […]