The Belgian Diabetes in Pregnancy Follow-Up Study (BEDIP-FUS): A Multi-Centric Prospective Cohort Study on the Long-Term Metabolic Risk across Different Degrees of Gestational Glucose Intolerance: Methodology and Design.

The Belgian Diabetes in Pregnancy follow-up study (BEDIP-FUS) aims to investigate the impact of body mass index (BMI), adiposity and different degrees of glucose intolerance on the metabolic profile and future risk for type 2 diabetes (T2D) in women and offspring five years after delivery in the BEDIP study. The BEDIP study was a prospective cohort study to evaluate different screening strategies for gestational diabetes (GDM) based on the 2013 WHO criteria. The aim of the BEDIP-FUS is to recruit 375 women-offspring pairs, stratified according to three different subgroups based on the antenatal result of the glucose challenge test (GCT) and oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) during the BEDIP pregnancy.

Ten years of fertility treatment experience and reproductive options in transgender men.

Background: Up to 2018, the Belgian law stated that transgender people who wanted to change their legal sex had to undergo physical gender affirming treatment. This included gonadectomy to a medically possible and justified extent, which entailed that they had to accept the fact that they could no longer reproduce. However, research has shown that many transgender people desire to have children.

Neural and Hormonal Correlates of Sexual Arousal in Transgender Persons.

Background: Whereas mounting work has begun to document the neural correlates underlying sexual arousal (SA) in humans, the associations between gender identity and the brain correlates of SA as well as their hormonal contributions remain unknown.

Aim: This study investigated neural activation to sexual arousal in transgender and cisgender persons.

Methods: 20 transgender men and 19 transgender women (TW) already living in their identified gender were compared to 21 cisgender men (CM) and 19 cisgender women.

Adrenal insufficiency, be aware of drug interactions!

Summary: A 42-year-old man with complaints of muscle soreness and an increased pigmentation of the skin was referred because of a suspicion of adrenal insufficiency. His adrenocorticotropic hormone and cortisol levels indicated a primary adrenal insufficiency (PAI) and treatment with hydrocortisone and fludrocortisone was initiated. An etiological workup, including an assessment for anti-adrenal antibodies, very long-chain fatty acids, 17-OH progesterone levels and catecholamine secretion, showed no abnormalities.

Neural correlates of ostracism in transgender persons living according to their gender identity: a potential risk marker for psychopathology?

Background: Stigmatization in society carries a high risk for development of psychopathology. Transgender persons are at particularly high risk for such stigmatization and social rejection by others. However, the neural correlates of ostracism in this group have not been captured.

A Structural Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study in Transgender Persons on Cross-Sex Hormone Therapy.

Background: To date, research findings are inconsistent about whether the neuroanatomy in transgender persons resembles that of their natal sex or their gender identity. Moreover, few studies have examined the effects of long-term cross-sex hormonal treatment on neuroanatomy in this cohort. The purpose of the present study was to examine neuroanatomical differences in transgender persons after prolonged cross-sex hormone therapy.

Circulating androgens correlate with resting-state MRI in transgender men.

Despite mounting evidence regarding the underlying neurobiology in transgender persons, information regarding resting-state activity, particularly after hormonal treatment, is lacking. The present study examined differences between transgender persons on long-term cross-sex hormone therapy and comparisons on two measures of local functional connectivity, intensity of spontaneous resting-state activity (low frequency fluctuations, LFF) and local synchronization of specific brain areas (regional homogeneity, ReHo). Nineteen transgender women (TW, male-to-female), 19 transgender men (TM, female-to-male), 21 non-transgender men (NTM) and 20 non-transgender women (NTW) underwent a resting-state MRI scan.

Prevalence of Gender Nonconformity in Flanders, Belgium.

Gender nonconformity refers to the extent to which a person's gender identity, gender role and/or gender expression differs from the cultural norms prescribed for people of a particular sex, within a certain society and era. Most data on gender nonconformity focus on the prevalence of gender dysphoria (which also includes a distress factor) or on the number of legal sex changes. However, not every gender nonconforming individual experiences distress or applies for treatment.

Cross-sex hormone therapy in trans persons is safe and effective at short-time follow-up: results from the European network for the investigation of gender incongruence.

Introduction: Data on the effects of cross-sex hormone therapy (CHT) are limited due to the low prevalence of gender dysphoria, small number of subjects treated at each center, lack of prospective studies, and wide variations in treatment modalities.

Aim: The aim of this study is to report the short-term effects of CHT on hormonal and clinical changes, side effects, and adverse events in trans men (female-to-male gender dysphoric persons) and trans women (male-to-female gender dysphoric persons).

Methods: This was a multicenter 1-year prospective study in 53 trans men and 53 trans women.

A critical evaluation of salivary testosterone as a method for the assessment of serum testosterone.

Unlabelled: Although salivary testosterone (T) is often used in clinical studies accuracy is mostly questionable. State of the art data for men is sparse and for women absent. Our objective was to perform a critical evaluation of salivary T (Sal-T) as a method for indirect assessment of serum T using state of the art methods.

Clinical review: Breast development in trans women receiving cross-sex hormones.

Introduction: In trans women (male-to-female transsexual persons), cross-sex hormone therapy is administered to induce feminization. Breast development is an important part of feminization for most trans women.

Aim: The aim of this study is to assess the effect of cross-sex hormone therapy on breast development in adult trans women.

Cardiovascular disease in transsexual persons treated with cross-sex hormones: reversal of the traditional sex difference in cardiovascular disease pattern.

Objective: The incidence of heart disease increases with age, but is lower in women than in men up to 75 years. A protective effect of female sex hormones or, alternatively, acceleration in male heart disease by testosterone at younger ages, could explain this sex difference. In contrast with the above, male-to-female transsexual subjects (MtoF) treated with estrogens (+anti-androgens) show more cardiovascular pathology than female-to-male transsexual subjects (FtoM) receiving testosterone.

Transgenderism and reproduction.

Purpose Of Review: The development of new reproductive medicine techniques creates opportunities for preserving fertility in transgender persons. Before, losing fertility was accepted as the price to pay for transitioning.

Recent Findings: The desire for children is present in many trans persons, as in the general population.

Short- and long-term clinical skin effects of testosterone treatment in trans men.

Introduction: Our knowledge concerning the effects of testosterone (T) therapy on the skin of trans men (female-to-male transsexuals) is scarce.

Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the short- and long-term clinical effects of T treatment on the skin of trans men.

Methods: We conducted a prospective intervention study in 20 hormone naive trans men and a cross-sectional study in 50 trans men with an average of 10 years on T therapy.

Sexual desire in trans persons: associations with sex reassignment treatment.

Introduction: Sex steroids and genital surgery are known to affect sexual desire, but little research has focused on the effects of cross-sex hormone therapy and sex reassignment surgery on sexual desire in trans persons.

Aim: This study aims to explore associations between sex reassignment therapy (SRT) and sexual desire in a large cohort of trans persons.

Methods: A cross-sectional single specialized center study including 214 trans women (male-to-female trans persons) and 138 trans men (female-to-male trans persons).

Voice in female-to-male transsexual persons after long-term androgen therapy.

Objectives/hypothesis: The aim of the present study was to 1) document voice in a large sample of female-to-male transsexual persons (FMT), 2) compare their vocal characteristics with those of heterosexual biological males, and 3) determine hormonal factors with impact on their fundamental frequency.

Study Design: This was a controlled cross-sectional study. It is the largest study to date on voice and voice change in FMT, and the first to include a control group and FMT who were under long-term androgen administration.

Bilateral non-arteritic ischemic optic neuropathy in a transsexual woman using excessive estrogen dosage.

We present a case report on a 53-year-old transsexual woman who developed acute painless vision loss in both eyes during cross-sex hormone treatment. After 10 months of cross-sex hormone treatment, she experienced total vision loss of the right eye and, 6 months later, vision loss to 20/63 in the left eye. After a full ophthalmic exam, bilateral sequential non-arteritic ischemic optic neuropathy (NA-ION) was diagnosed.

Long-term evaluation of donor-site morbidity after radial forearm flap phalloplasty for transsexual men.

Introduction: Phalloplasty using the radial forearm flap is currently the most frequently used technique to create the neophallus in transsexual men (formerly described as female-to-male transsexual persons). Although it is considered the gold standard, its main disadvantage is the eventual donor-site morbidity in a young, healthy patient population.

Aim: The study aims to examine the long-term effects of radial forearm flap phalloplasty in transsexual men and to evaluate aesthetic outcome, scar acceptance, bone health, and daily functioning.

Long-term evaluation of cross-sex hormone treatment in transsexual persons.

Introduction: Long-term effects and side effects of cross-sex hormone treatment in transsexual persons are not well known.

Aim: The aim of this study is to describe the effects and side effects of cross-sex hormone therapy in both transsexual men and women.

Main Outcome Measures: Hormone levels were measured by immunoassays.

Reproductive wish in transsexual men.

Background: Hormonal therapy and sex reassignment surgery (SRS) in transsexual persons lead to an irreversible loss of their reproductive potential. The current and future technologies could create the possibility for female-to-male transsexual persons (transsexual men) to have genetically related children. However, little is known about this topic.

Value and pitfalls in iodine fortification and supplementation in the 21st century.

Although the number of iodine-deficient countries has been reduced by almost 50 % over the last decade, it still remains a frequently misunderstood health problem. The most devastating effects of iodine deficiency occur during fetal development and childhood, periods in which sufficient iodine delivery remains critical. Besides the determination of thyroid size, the concentration of urinary iodine, serum thyroid-stimulating hormone and serum thyroglobulin are useful biomarkers to assess iodine status.

Quality of life and sexual health after sex reassignment surgery in transsexual men.

Introduction: Although sexual health after genital surgery is an important outcome factor for many transsexual persons, little attention has been attributed to this subject.

Aims: To provide data on quality of life and sexual health after sex reassignment surgery (SRS) in transsexual men.

Methods: A single-center, cross-sectional study in 49 transsexual men (mean age 37 years) after long-term testosterone therapy and on average 8 years after SRS.

Sexual desire in female-to-male transsexual persons: exploration of the role of testosterone administration.

Objective: To describe sexual desire in female-to-male transsexual persons post sex reassignment surgery (SRS). The associations between serum androgen levels and sexual desire are examined.

Design: Single center cross-sectional study.