The role of the receptor activator of nuclear factor-kappaB ligand/osteoprotegerin cytokine system in primary hyperparathyroidism.

Context: The mechanisms of action of PTH on bone in vivo remain incompletely understood. The objective of this investigation was to examine changes in serum levels of receptor activator of nuclear factor-kappaB ligand and osteoprotegerin (OPG) in primary hyperparathyroidism and their relationship to bone loss.

Patients And Methods: Twenty-nine patients with primary hyperparathyroidism had baseline circulating soluble receptor activator of nuclear factor-kappaB ligand (sRANKL) and OPG measured.

Filling a void: thyroid cancer surgery information on the internet.

Background: Thyroid cancer incidence is increasing, making it an important public health issue. Many patients use the Internet for health-related decisions. Our purposes were to measure the quality of thyroid cancer surgery information on the Internet, and to identify quality predictors.

Outdated and incomplete: a review of thyroid cancer on the World Wide Web.

Objective: To evaluate the most frequently searched thyroid cancer websites for completeness, accuracy, and consumer friendliness.

Design: The 50 most popular thyroid cancer websites were evaluated using a novel instrument developed by a Delphi panel of endocrine experts and based on practice guidelines. Each website received independent scores for disease-specific information and a final quality score.

Well differentiated thyroid cancer.

Cancers of follicular cell origin are the most common of the endocrine malignancies. Thyroid cancers are seen with increased frequency after radiation exposure and in some familial syndromes. Interestingly, the prognosis of thyroid carcinoma is highly dependent on the age of the patient at the time of examination: several clinical staging systems facilitate appropriate treatment planning.

Circulating levels of interleukin-6 soluble receptor predict rates of bone loss in patients with primary hyperparathyroidism.

It remains unclear whether mild primary hyperparathyroidism results in accelerated bone loss, with recent studies reaching different conclusions. This could be due to intrinsic differences in disease activity not captured by the classical biochemical markers of the disease. Because circulating levels of IL-6 and IL-6 soluble receptor (IL-6sR) are reportedly elevated in patients with hyperparathyroidism, we sought to determine whether measures of this cytokine axis could be helpful in determining the risk for bone loss in hyperparathyroidism.

Assessment of RET/PTC oncogene activation and clonality in thyroid nodules with incomplete morphological evidence of papillary carcinoma: a search for the early precursors of papillary cancer.

Noninvasive thyroid nodules that exhibit borderline morphological signs of papillary cancer are difficult to diagnose and we do not know if they represent papillary carcinoma precursor lesions. Forty-six such nodules were analyzed for RET activation by immunohistochemistry and, in selected cases, by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction performed on RNA extracted after laser capture microdissection (LCM) of the tumor foci with and without papillary carcinoma features and positive RET immunoreactivity. RET immunoreactivity was identified, at least focally, in 30 of 46 (65.