Insulin resistance as a risk factor for gallbladder stone formation in Korean postmenopausal women.

Background/aims: The objective of this study was to determine whether insulin resistance is associated with gallbladder stone formation in Korean women based on menopausal status.

Methods: The study included 4,125 consecutive Korean subjects (30-79 years of age). Subjects who had a medical history of diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, other cardiovascular disorders, or hormone replacement therapy were excluded.

Coexistence of Hashimoto's thyroiditis with papillary thyroid carcinoma: the influence of lymph node metastasis.

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of coexistent Hashimoto's thyroiditis with papillary thyroid carcinoma on lymph node metastasis.

Methods: The coexistent Hashimoto's thyroiditis group was defined by the presence of thyroid autoantibodies or pathologic confirmation. The control group did not have autoantibodies, disease, or ultrasound findings of Hashimoto's thyroiditis.

Benign cystic nodules may have ultrasonographic features mimicking papillary thyroid carcinoma during interval changes.

It had been observed that some cystic nodules change morphologically with ultrasonographic (US) features suspicious for malignancy. The aim of this study was to evaluate the US characteristics of benign cystic nodules mimicking papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) during interval changes. Between January 2009 and October 2009, 26 patients with benign cystic nodules showing marked hypoechogenicity in US during the follow-up period were enrolled.

Cystatin C as an early biomarker of nephropathy in patients with type 2 diabetes.

This study was done to evaluate clinical usefulness of cystatin C levels of serum and urine in predicting renal impairment in normoalbuminuric patients with type 2 diabetes and to evaluate the association between albuminuria and serum/urine cystatin C. Type 2 diabetic patients (n = 332) with normoalbuminuria (n = 210), microalbuminuria (n = 83) and macroalbuminuria (n = 42) were enrolled. Creatinine, urinary albumin levels, serum/urine cystatin C and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR by MDRD [Modification of Diet in Renal Disease] and CKD-EPI [Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration] equations) were determined.