Mitral valve prolapse in autoimmune thyroid disease: an index of systemic autoimmunity?

A coexistence of mitral valve prolapse (MVP) with autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD) has been described, but there are not sufficient data to explain this association. The aim of the present study was to investigate the prevalence of MVP in patients with AITD and to evaluate whether any correlation between MVP and certain immunological parameters exists. M-mode, two-dimensional Doppler echocardiography was performed in 29 patients with Graves' disease (GD), 35 with Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT), 20 with nonautoimmune goiter, and 30 normal controls.

Dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate and testosterone are independently associated with body fat distribution in premenopausal women.

To evaluate the relative importance of androgen and insulin concentrations in predicting body fat distribution, we measured their association with waist-hip ratio in a sample of 151 consecutively enrolled healthy premenopausal women age 18-24 years, after controlling for potential confounding variables. Dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS) and total testosterone were independently associated with waist-hip ratio, whereas insulin and free testosterone did not appear to play a role of comparable importance. Differences in concentrations of circulating DHEAS and total testosterone are independently associated with the waist-hip ratio in premenopausal women, providing epidemiologic support to the "neuroendocrine dysregulation" hypothesis for the pathogenesis of central obesity.

Treatment of endemic goitre with iodine and thyroid hormones, alone or in combination. (Preliminary report).

108 patients with endemic nontoxic goitre have been treated in the field with thyroxine (T4), triiodothyronine (T3), and potassium iodide (KI), singly or in combination, or with placebo. After 6 months of continuous treatment, goitre size decreased significantly in the 7 actively treated groups, but not in the one treated with placebo. The combination of 150 micrograms T4 + 150 micrograms KI daily seemed the most effective treatment, both clinically and by its suppression of the 131I uptake and the TSH response to TRH, followed by 100 micrograms T4 + 25 micrograms T3 or 200 micrograms T4, but the difference from the other groups was not statistically significant.