Endocrinology News and Research

Latest Endocrinology News and Research

Prostate cancer updates

Scientists have found that genetic variations for an enzyme involved in cell energy metabolism may increase the risk of prostate cancer. This variation in genes may impair the enzyme phosphodiesterase 11A (PDE11A), which helps regulate cells' responses to hormones and other signals, according to the U.S. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development researchers and colleagues.

8 Oct 2010

Parkinson’s disease pathology breakthrough

Researchers have found that brain cells of people with early Parkinson's disease have damaged powerhouses. In a new study they have identified 10 groups of gene sets related to the energy production problems in the brain cells of these people.

8 Oct 2010

Study finds no association between gene variant and risk of coronary disease

A genetic marker touted as a predictor of coronary artery disease is no such thing, according to a study led by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

7 Oct 2010

First Edition: October 7, 2010

Today's headlines include stories on waivers given some companies that offer only minimal health insurance coverage, insurers' political efforts during this campaign season and efforts in New York to bar the use of food stamps to buy soda.

7 Oct 2010

IMS launches new Recommendations to manage postmenopausal vaginal atrophy

To mark World Menopause Day on 18th October 2010, the International Menopause Society (IMS) is launching new Recommendations for the management of postmenopausal vaginal atrophy, a distressing condition that will affect up to half of women after menopause.

7 Oct 2010

Study finds link between language barriers and diabetes-related health outcomes

Patients who cannot discuss their diabetes with a doctor in their own language may have poorer health outcomes, even when interpreter services are available, according to a new study by researchers at UCSF and the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research.

7 Oct 2010

CCAW program launched at Baltimore County Department of Aging Senior Expo

In a unique partnership with sanofi-aventis U.S., the Baltimore County Department of Aging, and the John A. Hartford Foundation, the National Council on Aging is launching a pilot program to help physicians connect older patients with diabetes to evidence-based education and wellness support, right in their local community.

7 Oct 2010

Soy germ-based nutritional supplement helps to manage menopausal symptoms

A new women-s health, whole soy germ-based nutritional supplement containing Natural S-equol reduced the frequency of moderate to severe hot flashes and reduced muscle and joint pain in the first study of its kind among postmenopausal U.S. women, according to peer-reviewed data presented as a poster presentation at the North American Menopause Society (NAMS) Annual Meeting.

7 Oct 2010

Louise A. Villejo recognized with 2010 Julie and Ben Rogers Award for Excellence in Education

Louise A. Villejo, executive director of the Patient Education Office at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, is the recipient of the 2010 Julie and Ben Rogers Award for Excellence in Education.

7 Oct 2010

Surgeons create novel matrix to control insulin dependent diabetes

Surgeons from Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, are reporting on a whole new strategy for controlling insulin dependent diabetes without daily injections of insulin. The surgeons have bio-engineered a novel matrix that serves as a scaffold for seeding supportive stem cells as well as pancreatic islets (the cells that produce insulin in the pancreas).

7 Oct 2010

Endocrine Society urges physicians to apply new insights into the role of beta-cells in type 2 diabetes

A new consensus statement published in the September, 2010, issue of The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM) finds that the increasing recognition that beta-cell failure occurs much earlier and severely than commonly believed suggests that regular glycemia screening, early identification of patients at metabolic risk and prompt and aggressive intervention deserves greater emphasis.

7 Oct 2010

Gymnemic acid nanocrystals could help develop soluble drug compounds

Researchers in India have demonstrated that producing nanoscopic crystals of a pharmaceutical product can allow the medication to be absorbed by the gut even if the drug is not soluble in water.

7 Oct 2010

American Cancer Society awards 94 national research, training grants to 70 institutions nationwide

The American Cancer Society, the largest non-government, not-for-profit funding source of cancer research in the United States, has awarded 94 national research and training grants totaling $46,633,000 to 70 institutions nationwide in the first of two grants cycles for 2011.

7 Oct 2010

Cincinnati Children's Hospital receives $12 million grant to create IBD registry

Building on the success of previous efforts among researchers and caregivers to improve the care of chronically ill children, a $12-million grant to Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center will allow creation of a registry system unlike any before it, providing information in real time on thousands of cases around the country – and eventually the world.

7 Oct 2010

Waist size can predict diabetes risk

A higher rate of diabetes seen among adult Americans when compared to peers in England is explained primarily by a larger waist size rather than conventional risk factors such as obesity, according to a new study by researchers from the RAND Corporation, University College London and the Institute for Fiscal Studies in London.

7 Oct 2010

NIH grants $3.7 million to develop more accurate algorithms for tracking fetal development

Fetal growth is used as a marker of health and well-being in unborn babies as well as children. But, the tools that are currently available to differentiate between a small, healthy fetus and a fetus that is small due to pathologic causes have significant limitations. What if they were improved. Would it save the health care system resources spent monitoring women who might need medical intervention because their fetuses might just be small and healthy. Would it help some women avoid the anxiety such intervention brings.

7 Oct 2010

'The Pittsburgh Protocol' enables reduction of multiple anti-rejection drugs after transplantation

The Pittsburgh Protocol is unique in utilizing bone marrow cells to enable reduction of the need for multiple anti-rejection drugs after transplantation. The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center is currently the only transplantation center in the world to offer it. An early report of the initial experience with the "Pittsburgh Protocol" in three recipients of upper extremity transplants was presented during the 2010 Annual Clinical Congress of the American College of Surgeons.

7 Oct 2010

Researchers discover mechanism of body fat accumulation

Using ice cream, candy bars and energy drinks to help volunteers gain weight, Mayo Clinic researchers have discovered the mechanisms of how body fat grows. Increased abdominal fat seems to heighten risk for metabolic disease, while fat expansion in the lower body as in the thighs seems to lower the risk. The findings, appearing in today's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), help explain why.

6 Oct 2010

Interim data from HyQ Phase III clinical study in primary immune deficiency presented at 26th ESID

Data from interim analyses of a Phase III clinical study in patients with primary immune deficiency (PID) who received Baxter's HyQ were presented at the 26th meeting of the European Society for Immunodeficiencies (ESID) in Istanbul, Turkey. HyQ is an immune globulin (IG) therapy facilitated subcutaneously by recombinant human hyaluronidase, a dispersion and permeation enhancer.

From Baxter International Inc. 6 Oct 2010

MEPs organizes joint meeting to improve policies for tackling chronic diseases

In an unprecedented effort to bring prevention of chronic diseases to the top of the EU agenda, the MEP Heart Group , the MEP Group for Kidney Health , the EU Diabetes Working Group and MEPs Against Cancer organise a joint meeting today in the European Parliament, together with representatives of health professionals and health activists at European level.

6 Oct 2010