Metabolomic heterogeneity of ageing with ethnic diversity: a step closer to healthy ageing.

Introduction: Outside of case-control settings, ethnicity specific changes in the human metabolome are understudied especially in community dwelling, ageing men. Characterising serum for age and ethnicity specific features can enable tailored therapeutics research and improve our understanding of the interplay between age, ethnicity, and metabolism in global populations.

Objective: A metabolomics approach was adopted to profile serum metabolomes in middle-aged and elderly men of different ethnicities from the Northwest of England, UK.

Standardising the biochemical confirmation of adult male hypogonadism: A joint position statement by the Society for Endocrinology and Association of Clinical Biochemistry and Laboratory Medicine.

Background: Inter-assay variation between different immunoassays and different mass spectrometry methods hampers the biochemical confirmation of male hypogonadism. Furthermore, some laboratories utilise assay manufacturer reference ranges that do not necessarily mirror assay performance characteristics, with the lower limit of normality ranging from 4.9 nmol/L to 11 nmol/L.

Standardising the biochemical confirmation of adult male hypogonadism; a joint position statement by the Society for Endocrinology and Association of Clinical Biochemistry and Laboratory Medicine.

Inter-assay variation between different immunoassays and different mass spectrometry methods hampers the biochemical confirmation of male hypogonadism. Furthermore, some laboratories utilis eassay manufacturer reference ranges that do not necessarily mirror assay performance characteristics, with the lower limit of normality ranging from 4.9 nmol/L to 11 nmol/L.

Testosterone and atherosclerosis.

Hypoandrogenemia in men and hyperandrogenemia in women are associated with increased risk of coronary artery disease but also with visceral obesity, insulin resistance, low high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, elevated triglycerides, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI-1). These gender differences and confounders render the precise role of endogenous androgens in atherosclerosis unclear. Exogenous androgens, on the other hand, induce both apparently beneficial and deleterious effects on cardiovascular risk factors by decreasing serum levels of HDL-C, PAI-1 (apparently deleterious), Lp(a), fibrinogen, insulin, leptin and visceral fat mass (apparently beneficial) in men as well as women.

Androgens and coronary artery disease.

A significant and independent association between endogenous testosterone (T) levels and coronary events in men and women has not been confirmed in large prospective studies, although cross-sectional data have suggested coronary heart disease can be associated with low T in men. Hypoandrogenemia in men and hyperandrogenemia in women are associated with visceral obesity; insulin resistance; low high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (HDL-C); and elevated triglycerides, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and plasminogen activator type 1. These gender differences and confounders render the precise role of endogenous T in atherosclerosis unclear.