US ENDOCRINOLOGY – VOLUME 7 ISSUE 2 – WINTER 2011

Clinical endocrinology has witnessed many surges in activity over the past year. Many events have been exciting and responsive to innovations and discoveries destined to improve healthcare, but many events have also posed tough challenges to the way patient care can be practiced. For instance, the recent UN resolution 64/265 drawing attention to global problems […]

Type 2 diabetes is a key public health issue, affecting over one in 10 US residents aged 20 years or more.1 People with diabetes are twice as likely to die at any age than the non-diabetic population of similar age, although the range of antidiabetic therapies now includes over 10 drug classes.1 Despite much progress, […]

Hypoglycemia in patients with type 2 diabetes is not often recognized as a risk with potential health consequences. Although the risk of hypoglycemia in patients with type 2 diabetes is not as great as that of patients with type 1 diabetes, the prevalence of type 2 diabetes is much greater, making it a clinically significant […]

Type 2 diabetes is a progressive disease of the beta cells characterized by declining insulin secretion and varying degrees of insulin resistance resulting in hyperglycemia. It is a chronic progressive disease of increasing incidence. In the USA, 25.6 million people aged over 20 years have type 2 diabetes1 and the prevalence is projected to increase […]

Many patients with type 2 diabetes require insulin therapy during the course of their disease, either as monotherapy or as an addition to existing oral glucose-lowering therapy.1–3 However, this might not always be sufficient to maintain adequate glycaemic control and additional therapies might therefore be required.1–3 The oral glucoselowering drug pioglitazone is one of several […]

Hyponatraemia is by far the most common electrolyte imbalance found in hospital inpatients,1 and patients with symptomatic hyponatraemia have a vastly increased mortality compared with normonatraemic controls.2 Therefore, it is essential that hyponatraemic patients receive effective and targeted therapy. However, hyponatraemia has many pathophysiological causes, each of which needs to be managed differently, making accurate […]

Acromegaly is an uncommon disorder that, in the vast majority of cases, is the result of a growth hormone (GH)-secreting pituitary adenoma.

Congenital hypothyroidism (CH) screening was introduced in 1974 and has become common practice, preventing the devastating neurological and developmental outcomes of untreated CH. Thyroid hormones are essential for normal brain development during early years.

Functions of B Cells and Their Role in Autoimmune Disease

At the outset, it is important to understand that the 2011 Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommendations for vitamin D1,2 can be taken at three levels of applicability. The first is the level of my own decision, for my own intake, informed not just by whim, but by my reading of the appropriate science. The second […]

Osteoporosis is a significant health concern that currently affects more than 10 million Americans, with an additional 34 million Americans at risk due to low bone mass. Osteoporotic fractures can lead to disabling pain, and nearly 30 % of patients with hip fractures require nursing home admission. In addition, 20 % of patients with hip […]

The impairment of vascular endothelium is an early event in the development of diseases that may later become clinically overt, such as local and systemic atherosclerosis, myocardial infarction, cerebral ischaemia and erectile dysfunction. Normal vascular endothelium is essential for the synthesis and release of substances affecting vascular tone, cell adhesion and the homoeostasis of clotting […]