Circulating endogenous sex steroids and risk of differentiated thyroid carcinoma in men and women.

Thyroid cancer (TC) is substantially more common in women than in men, pointing to a possible role of sex steroid hormones. We investigated the association between circulating sex steroid hormones, sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) and the risk of differentiated TC in men and women within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and nutrition (EPIC) cohort. During follow-up, we identified 333 first primary incident cases of differentiated TC (152 in pre/peri-menopausal women, 111 in post-menopausal women, and 70 in men) and 706 cancer-free controls.

Comparison of a fluorometric assay kit with high-performance liquid chromatography for the assessment of serum retinol concentration.

Background: Although high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) is the commonly used method for the analysis of retinol in biological samples, simple and rapid test kits are available.

Objectives: This study compared a rapid test kit (ICHECK Fluoro®) to HPLC for the assessment of serum retinol concentrations.

Methods: For the analysis by HPLC, sample preparation included standard deproteinization and extraction phases.