US ENDOCRINOLOGY VOLUME 13 – ISSUE 1 – SUMMER 2017

Welcome to the latest edition of US Endocrinology, which features a diverse range of articles covering several therapeutic areas. Diabetes represents a growing health burden worldwide, and this is reflected in a number of articles focusing on various aspects of the disease. Diabetes self-management and education is an essential component of the therapy on this […]

Diabetes self-management education and support provides the foundation for helping people with diabetes to be able to navigate decisions and activities related to managing their life-long disease. Here, Linda Siminerio of the School of Medicine and Nursing, University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US discusses psychological factors affecting people with diabetes, self-management and the multiple benefits of […]

Estimated glomerular filtration rate Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a major public health problem throughout the world. A large body of literature demonstrates that estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) is a powerful predictor of adverse clinical outcomes such as overall mortality, cardiovascular events and progression to kidney failure. Most studies, however, have focused primarily on […]

Insulin, over its 95 years of existence, has revolutionized the management of diabetes. Previously limited to use in type 1 diabetes, extensive evidence supports its benefit in type 2 diabetes as well.1 In spite of this, insulin is not used as often as it should be. Multiple factors, both biomedical and psychosocial, discourage the timely […]

From glucose homeostasis to hyperglycemia Glucose homeostasis is maintained by a complex neurohormonal system, which modulates peripheral glucose uptake, hepatic glucose production, and exogenous glucose utilization following food ingestion.1,2 This allows the maintenance of plasma glucose concentrations within normal range, with average values of around 90 mg/dl throughout a 24-hour period, postmeal concentration below 140 […]

Thyroid carcinoma is one of the most common solid tumors worldwide. The incidence of thyroid cancer is increasing, with an estimated 57,000 newly diagnosed cases in the US in 2017. Approximately three-quarters of these patients are female, with the majority being between 20 and 34 years of age. Though five-year survival rates are greater than […]

Ever since thyroid surgery has been described, there is ongoing evolution in the surgical techniques of thyroidectomy. The development aims at increasing safety and improving cosmesis. To achieve safety, surgeons have adopted a number of new technologies such as intraoperative neuromonitoring of recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN), postoperative parathyroid hormone (PTH) assay, and alternative energy devices […]

Muslims represent 18–25% of the global population, which is approximately 1.1–1.5 billion people.1 There are about 50 million Muslims worldwide with diabetes who fast during the holy month of Ramadan each year.2 All healthy Muslims aged from late childhood or early adolescence or puberty (which ranges from 10–14 years and over) are commanded to fast […]

Case presentation A 32-year-old woman presented to our clinic while three months pregnant, with a left-sided neck mass that she had felt about 10 months prior to presentation. She noticed that the mass had grown slightly over that period. She denied symptoms of dysphonia, dyspnea, and dysphagia. A neck ultrasound showed an absent right thyroid […]