Endocrinology News and Research

Latest Endocrinology News and Research

Pegloticase can improve clinical outcomes of patients with chronic gout

Injections of pegloticase, a modified porcine enzyme, can produce significant and sustained clinical improvements in 2 out of 5 patients with chronic gout that is resistant to conventional therapies, researchers report in the August 17, 2011, issue of JAMA.

17 Aug 2011

Study: Vitamin D directly terminates production of MS-causing protein

While for years scientists have noted an association between levels of vitamin D in a person's body and the person's ability to resist or minimize the effects of multiple sclerosis (MS), the mechanism involved has not been established.

17 Aug 2011

Moderate alcohol intake on a regular basis may increase risk of obesity

A paper from Spain provides an extensive review of the association between alcohol consumption and body weight. Based on the fact that the energy content in 1 gram of alcohol is 29 kJ or 7.1 kcal, excessive alcohol consumption can lead to weight gain.

17 Aug 2011

Inflammation linked with RA increases patients risk of heart disease

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) sufferers are at an increased risk of dying due to cardiovascular disease. A new five year study published in BioMed Central's open access journal Arthritis Research & Therapy showed that the risk of cardiovascular disease for people with RA is due to disease-related inflammation as well as the risk factors which affect the general population.

16 Aug 2011

New insights into causes of rheumatoid arthritis

Scientists at Mount Sinai Hospital, in collaboration with researchers at the University of Toronto, University Health Network and McGill University have obtained significant new insights into the causes of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and other autoimmune disorders including type 1 diabetes, lupus and Graves disease.

16 Aug 2011

Prolonged TV viewing linked with reduced life expectancy

Watching TV for an average of six hours a day could shorten the viewer's life expectancy by almost five years, indicates research published online in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

16 Aug 2011

New pathway for type 2 diabetes

Newly diagnosed type 2 diabetics tend to have one thing in common: obesity. Exactly how diet and obesity trigger diabetes has long been the subject of intense scientific research.

16 Aug 2011

Research: Decoding infidelity may increase risk of type 2 diabetes

Type 2 diabetes is an extremely common chronic condition characterized by high levels of sugar in the blood as a result of either insufficient production of the hormone insulin or an inability of cells to respond to insulin.

16 Aug 2011

An hour of TV a day shortens lifespan by 22 minutes: Study

Researchers have found that watching too much TV is as dangerous as smoking or being overweight, and that the “ubiquitous sedentary behaviour” should be seen as a “public health problem”.

16 Aug 2011

Toclizumab for juvenile rheumatoid arthritis

The arthritis drug Toclizumab could be a boon for hundreds of children suffering from severe arthritis. It has been re-launched in children after being already licensed for the treatment of adults. At least two thirds of children taking tocizilumab have been able to return to a normal life, after many were bedridden or forced into wheelchairs by the disease, the clinical studies reveal.

16 Aug 2011

Fat interferes with body's sugar sensors to trigger type 2 diabetes

Researchers from the United States have identified how a high-fat diet can trigger type 2 diabetes, in experiments on mice and human tissue. They reveal in their study published in the journal Nature Medicine that fat interferes with the body's sugar sensors. The authors add that deeper understanding of the processes involved could help them develop a cure.

15 Aug 2011

Thorne acquires global rights to Q-Cell, an advanced formulation Coenzyme Q10

Thorne Research, Inc., a leader in developing and manufacturing pure, high quality nutritional supplements marketed through licensed healthcare practitioners, has acquired exclusive global rights to market Q-Cell, an advanced formulation Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) supplement formerly marketed under the brand name Q-Best.

12 Aug 2011

Fibrate drugs may not prevent heart attacks in diabetes patients with elevated cholesterol

Type 2 diabetes patients, who face higher risk of cardiovascular disease, often take a combination of medications designed to lower their LDL or "bad" cholesterol and triglyceride levels while raising their HDL or "good" cholesterol because doctors long have thought that taken together, the drugs offer protection from heart attacks and improve survival.

12 Aug 2011

Metabolic profile reveals need for gender-specific therapies

Analyses of the metabolic profile of blood serum reveal significant differences between men and women. From their tests, scientists at the Helmholtz Zentrum München have concluded that there is a need for gender-specific therapies. The study was financed by the German Centre for Diabetes Research and was published in the current edition of the internationally renowned peer-reviewjournal PLoS Genetics.

12 Aug 2011

Pregnant women lack enough vitamin D despite use of prenatal supplements

Pregnant women taking prenatal supplements may not be getting enough vitamin D, shows a new Vancouver-based study led by the Child & Family Research Institute at BC Children's Hospital that was published in the Canadian Journal of Public Health.

12 Aug 2011

La Jolla Institute's new RNAi Center to focus on genetics behind myriad diseases

A major Center that will propel scientific efforts to pinpoint the specific genes involved in causing immune diseases, cancer and other diseases will be opened today at the La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology.

12 Aug 2011

Study examines link between spirit consumption and risk of acute pancreatitis

A study on the effect of different alcoholic beverages and drinking behaviour on the risk of acute pancreatitis was conducted, using the Swedish Mammography Cohort and Cohort of Swedish Men, to study the association between consumption of spirits, wine and beer and the risk of acute pancreatitis.

12 Aug 2011

State roundup: Debt deal and states; Ariz. judge appoves Medicaid plan

Many expensive programs are exempt from the trigger cuts, including most that are considered "mandatory," which means that some of the largest joint state-federal programs aren't vulnerable. Those include Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (welfare) and the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program.

12 Aug 2011

Women with depression at higher risk of stroke

A new study published this week shows that depression puts middle-aged and older women at significant risk of suffering potentially debilitating strokes.

12 Aug 2011

Study finds increase in amount of brown fat among lean children

Researchers at Joslin Diabetes Center and Children's Hospital Boston have shown that a type of "good" fat known as brown fat occurs in varying amounts in children - increasing until puberty and then declining -- and is most active in leaner children.

12 Aug 2011