Early intensive treatment improves outcomes in patients with glomerular hyperfiltration and type 2 diabetes.

Background And Objective: Approximately 24-40% of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) develop kidney damage. Our objective was to evaluate the long-term evolution of renal function using isotopic determination of GFR and urinary albumin excretion (UAE) in patients with T2DM undergoing intensive treatment for renal and cardiovascular risk factors.

Patients And Methods: This was a single-center, prospective study of 201 patients with T2DM and UAE who initiated intensive treatment.

Regulatory T cells and other lymphocyte subpopulations in patients with melanoma developing interferon-induced thyroiditis during high-dose interferon-α2b treatment.

Context: One of the side effects of interferon-alpha therapy is interferon-induced thyroiditis (IIT). The role of lymphocyte subpopulations in IIT melanoma patients remains to be defined.

Objective: Our objective was to assess different peripheral blood lymphocyte subpopulations, mainly regulatory T cells (Tregs), in melanoma patients who developed IIT.

[Healthcare impact of introduction of thyroid ultrasound in a thyroid nodule pathology unit].

Introduction: Worldwide incidence of thyroid cancer has increased in recent decades.

Objective: To provide evidence of the diagnostic and care efficiency of a monographic thyroid nodule clinic integrating clinical examination, ultrasound examination, and cytology with on site evaluation.

Patients And Methods: Patients attending the monographic thyroid nodule clinic from January 2004 to June 2010.

Pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A is related to gender and to adipocytokine levels: results of the Health Survey of Catalonia.

Objective: Pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A (PAPP-A) is a protease promoting IGF1 tissue availability and considered as a new biomarker of cardiovascular disease.

Aim: To evaluate the relationship between PAPP-A concentrations and anthropometric variables, physical activity, smoking status, glucose homoeostasis and adipocytokines in healthy adults.

Design And Methods: One hundred and forty-nine subjects (77 women; mean age 39·7 ± 14 years; mean BMI 23·7 ± 1·9 kg/m(2) ) were randomly selected from 8000 adults of The Health Survey of Catalonia.

A prospective study of lymphocyte subpopulations and regulatory T cells in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection developing interferon-induced thyroiditis.

Objective: One of the side effects of interferon-alpha (IFN-α) therapy is interferon-induced thyroiditis (IIT). The role of lymphocyte subpopulations in IIT remains to be defined. The aim of this study was to assess different peripheral blood lymphocyte subpopulations, mainly CD4(+) CD25(+) CD127low/-FoxP3(+) regulatory T cells (Tregs), in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection who developed IIT.

Non-detectable Chlamydophila pneumoniae DNA in peripheral leukocytes in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients with and without carotid atherosclerosis.

Background And Objective: To study Chlamydophila pneumoniae DNA (CP-DNA) in leukocytes measured by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) with different degrees of atherosclerosis, a cross-sectional protocol was performed.

Patients And Methods: We included 135 patients with DM2. Clinical, metabolic and inflammatory variables were measured.

Bone mineral density and bone fracture in male patients receiving long-term suppressive levothyroxine treatment for differentiated thyroid carcinoma.

Studies on the effect of exogenous subclinical thyrotoxicosis on bone mineral density (BMD) in male patients treated with suppressive doses of levothyroxine for differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC) are not conclusive. In order to evaluate BMD (in femoral neck, lumbar spine, and distal radius) and bone fractures in men under long-term suppressive treatment with levothyroxine for DTC, we conducted a cross-sectional, retrospective study in 33 Caucasian men (mean ± SD age: 56 ± 14 years) under treatment for DTC. The control group comprised 33 healthy age- and body mass index-matched male volunteers.

[Comparative study of historical series of differentiated thyroid carcinoma in two tertiary hospitals in Spain versus North American series].

Background And Objective: There is little national literature on descriptive series of patients with differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC) and long-term monitoring in Spain. The aim of our study was to describe the DTC series in two tertiary hospitals [Hospital Clínic de Barcelona (HC) and Hospital Germans Trias i Pujol (HGTiP)] and compare these series with those described in the National Cancer Data Base (NCDB) and the Mayo Clinic, the leading international series by number of patients and length of follow-up.

Material And Methods: We performed a retrospective review of the medical records of patients diagnosed with DTC in two tertiary hospitals in the Barcelona area.

[Clinical endocrinologists' perception of the deleterious effects of TSH suppressive therapy in patients with differentiated thyroid carcinoma].

Objective: To explore the opinion of clinical endocrinologists as to the deleterious effects of thyrotropin (TSH) suppressive therapy in patients with differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC).

Materials And Methods: A self-administered survey was sent by e-mail to a group of endocrinologists with expertise in the treatment of patients with differentiated thyroid carcinoma. The questionnaire consisted of three questions related to: 1) the possible adverse effects of this therapy on different organ systems, 2) the clinical significance of these effects and 3) the usefulness of treatment guidelines for DTC.

[Usefulness of pulse oximetry in screening of carotid atherosclerosis in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus].

Background And Objective: Pulse oximetry of the toes has been suggested in the screening of peripheral arterial disease. We studied the uselfuness of pulse oximetry in detection of type 2 diabetic patients with carotid atherosclerosis.

Subjects And Methods: 105 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) without previous clinical peripheral arterial disease were enrolled.

Polymorphisms in platelet glycoproteins Ia and IIIa are associated with arterial thrombosis and carotid atherosclerosis in type 2 diabetes.

To determine the genotype distributions of the polymorphisms in platelet glycoproteins (GP) Ib-alpha, Ia/IIa and IIb/IIIa and their association with clinical arterial thrombosis and preclinical carotid atherosclerosis in type 2 diabetes we studied 229 patients with type 2 diabetes and 229 controls matched by age, gender and ethnicity. Biochemical and haemostasis analyses were performed. The GP Ib-alpha VNTR, GP Ia 807 C/T and GP IIIa Pl(A) polymorphisms were determined by PCR.

Regulatory T cells in diabetes and gastritis.

Patients with Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1D) have an increased prevalence of associated organ-specific autoimmune diseases such as pernicious anemia whose histological substrate is a chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG). Latent pernicious anemia precedes clinically-manifest pernicious anemia and may be difficult to detect solely on simple analytical grounds. We recently described an increased prevalence of clinically-latent pernicious anemia in T1D using low concentrations of pepsinogen I, a zymogen of pepsin present in gastric mucosa, as a useful additional diagnostic marker, besides parietal cell antibodies, for screening latent pernicious anemia in T1D.

Association of the IGF1/pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A system and adipocytokine levels with the presence and the morphology of carotid plaques in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients with stable glycaemic control.

Objective: Pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A (PAPP-A) has been implicated in the atherosclerotic process through regulation of local expression of IGF1. In type 2 diabetes mellitus, glycaemic control has been involved in PAPP-A expression. We compared PAPP-A, IGF1, inflammatory markers and adiponectin concentrations in type 2 diabetic patients with and without carotid plaques and evaluated the relationship between these serum parameters and ultrasound carotid markers of atherosclerosis.

Regulatory T cells in type 1 diabetic patients with autoimmune chronic atrophic gastritis.

Type A chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG) is increased in type 1 diabetic patients (DM1). To address this issue, we determined and analyzed the number of peripheral blood regulatory T cells (Tregs) in 15 DM1-CAG patients, 15 DM1 patients without associated autoantibodies (DM1) and 15 healthy controls by flow cytometry and compared gastric Tregs expression (CD4+Foxp3+/CD4+) in DM1-CAG patients with that observed in 10 control Helicobacter pylori CAG-infected biopsies. The percentage of peripheral Tregs was higher in DM1-CAG patients compared to DM1 and controls (CD4+Foxp3+: 7.

Is the new Mayo Clinic Quadratic equation useful for the estimation of glomerular filtration rate in type 2 diabetic patients?

Objective: To test the Mayo Clinic Quadratic (MCQ) equation against isotopic glomerular filtration rate, compared with the Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD) and the Cockcroft-Gault formulas, in type 2 diabetes.

Research Design And Methods: Based on values obtained with iothalamate, 118 type 2 diabetic patients were divided into three groups according to renal function: hyperfiltration (26), normal function (56), or chronic kidney disease (CKD) stages 3-4 (36). ANOVA, the Bland-Altman procedure, and Lins coefficient (Rc) were performed to study accuracy.

Plasma ghrelin concentrations in type 1 diabetic patients with autoimmune atrophic gastritis.

Objective: Type 1 diabetes mellitus patients (DM1) show increased prevalence of pernicious anaemia, the histological substrate of which is type A chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG) in the stomach corpus, the main source of ghrelin. We aimed to compare plasma ghrelin concentrations in DM1 patients with type A CAG (DM1-CAG), DM1 patients without type A CAG and healthy controls and in DM1-CAG group, to ascertain a possible relationship between ghrelin and biochemical markers of gastric mucosa atrophy and/or neuroendocrine (NE) cell hyperplasia and histological gastric biopsy findings.

Design And Methods: Fifteen DM1-CAG patients were matched for age, sex and body mass index with 15 DM1 patients without type A CAG and 15 controls.

Ghrelin, glucose homeostasis, and carotid intima media thickness in kidney transplantation.

Background: Abnormalities in glucose homeostasis (AGH) frequently occur in kidney transplantation and favor vascular lesions. The purpose of this study was to analyze whether C-reactive protein (CRP), adiponectin, and ghrelin are markers of AGH and indicators of carotid atherosclerosis in kidney transplant patients with fasting plasma glucose below 126 mg/dL.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of 85 kidney transplant patients (59 men; mean age: 52.

Serum IGF-I measured by four different immunoassays in patients with adult GH deficiency or acromegaly and in a control population.

Background: IGF-I is a useful tool in GH disorders diagnosis, however, the use of commercially available kits needs to be validated.

Objective: To validate the use of serum IGF-I concentrations measured by four immunoassays in the diagnosis of adult GH deficiency and acromegaly.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Postpartum thyroiditis: long-term follow-up.

Objective: To determine the incidence of persistent hypothyroidism (PH) after a long follow-up in 45 patients with postpartum thyroiditis (PPT) from a nonselected population of 641 pregnant women (PPT incidence 7.8%) and the clinical and biochemical factors associated with PPT evolution.

Design And Patients: The 45 women who developed PPT were followed for 8.

Frozen section in a cytological diagnosis of thyroid follicular neoplasm.

Objective/hypothesis: Fine-needle aspiration biopsy is the most accurate diagnostic test for thyroid nodules, its only limitation being the diagnosis of follicular neoplasm that does not distinguish between benign and malignant follicular lesions.

Study Design: To determine the utility of intraoperative frozen-section analysis in cases of a cytological diagnosis of follicular neoplasm, a retrospective review of 66 patients with a solitary thyroid nodule and follicular neoplasm who underwent thyroid surgery was carried out.

Methods: Fine-needle aspiration was classified following the Papanicolaou Society of Cytopathology Classification, and frozen section was defined as malignant or "deferred.

Growth hormone release after glucagon as a reliable test of growth hormone assessment in adults.

Objective: To investigate the GH response to glucagon in adult patients with GH deficiency and in controls compared with the GH response to the insulin tolerance test (ITT) in patients with GH deficiency and to determine whether the use of glucagon results in a diagnostic utility test.

Patients And Design: Seventy-three patients with adult GH deficiency and organic hypothalamic-pituitary disease were recruited, along with 46 controls. The patients were divided into five groups according to the number of associated hormone deficiencies present.