The relationship among serum lipocalin 2, bone turnover markers, and bone mineral density in outpatient women.

Purpose: We aimed to investigate associations among serum levels of LCN2, bone resorption marker carboxy-terminal cross-linking telopeptide of type-1 collagen (CTx), bone formation marker osteocalcin (OCN), and bone mineral densities (BMDs) in ambulatory healthy women.

Methods: This cross-sectional study analyzed 1012 previously enrolled outpatient Han Chinese women. BMDs of the lumbar spine and femoral neck were measured using dual energy X-ray absorptiometry.

Serum Sema3A is in a weak positive association with bone formation marker osteocalcin but not related to bone mineral densities in postmenopausal women.

Context: The chemorepellent semaphorin-3A (Sema3A) was shown to favor bone metabolism in mice, but its bone effects in humans are not described.

Objective: The aim of the study was to investigate the associations between serum Sema3A, bone biochemical markers, and bone mineral densities (BMDs) in women.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This was a cross-sectional study involving 1012 pre- and postmenopausal women.

The changing clinical patterns of primary hyperparathyroidism in Chinese patients: data from 2000 to 2010 in a single clinical center.

Context: In Western countries, most patients with primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) are asymptomatic. The incidence of parathyroid cancer is as low as 1% but is trending upward. The clinical outlook for Chinese patients with PHPT is unclear.

The influence of the genetic and non-genetic factors on bone mineral density and osteoporotic fractures in Chinese women.

To investigate the effects of genetic and non-genetic factors on bone mineral densities (BMDs) and osteoporotic fractures. This was a cross-sectional study to investigate the relationships between 18 SNPs and non-genetic factors with BMDs and osteoporotic fractures in 1012 Chinese Han women. Five SNPs in genes GPR177, CTNNB1, MEF2C, SOX6, and TNFRSF11B were associated with L1-4 or total hip BMDs.

Post-genome wide association studies and functional analyses identify association of MPP7 gene variants with site-specific bone mineral density.

Our previous genome-wide association study (GWAS) in a Hong Kong Southern Chinese population with extreme bone mineral density (BMD) scores revealed suggestive association with MPP7, which ranked second after JAG1 as a candidate gene for BMD. To follow-up this suggestive signal, we replicated the top single-nucleotide polymorphism rs4317882 of MPP7 in three additional independent Asian-descent samples (n= 2684). The association of rs4317882 reached the genome-wide significance in the meta-analysis of all available subjects (P(meta)= 4.

Interactions of osteoporosis candidate genes for age at menarche, age at natural menopause, and maximal height in Han Chinese women.

Objective: Age at menarche (AAM), age at natural menopause (ANM), and maximal height are closely related to bone mineral densities and osteoporosis. It is still unclear whether osteoporosis susceptibility genes are also associated with AAM, ANM, and maximal height in Chinese women.

Methods: In this relatively large cross-sectional sample of 722 Han Chinese postmenopausal women, 22 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within 12 osteoporosis candidate genes that were identified from genome-wide association studies and replicated in our previous study were studied.

PTH inhibition rate is useful in the detection of early-stage primary hyperparathyroidism.

Objective: This study was to establish biochemical thresholds for the intravenous calcium suppression test in the early diagnosis of primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT).

Design And Methods: One hundred and thirty-three patients were divided into three groups: Group 1: surgically proven hypercalcemic PHPT, Group 2 surgically proven mild PHPT, and Group 3: normocalcemia with elevated serum PTH levels. Intravenous calcium suppression tests were performed in Groups 2 and 3 as well as in 20 controls with normal serum calcium and PTH concentrations.

Relationships between serum levels of thyroid hormones and serum concentrations of asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) and N-terminal-pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) in patients with Graves' disease.

Endothelial dysfunction as well as abnormal thyroid hormone levels may be responsible for increased cardiovascular risk in Graves' disease (GD). Asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) and N-terminal-pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) are new markers of endothelial and myocardial dysfunction, respectively. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship among the serum levels of ADMA, NT-proBNP, and thyroid hormones in GD patients.

Lymph node uptake of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose detected with positron emission tomography/computed tomography mimicking malignant lymphoma in a patient with Kikuchi disease.

[18]F-Fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (18F-FDG PET/CT) is sensitive in detecting a variety of malignancies; however, the specificity is low in differential infections or inflammatory diseases from tumors. We present the case of a female with right cervical lymphadenopathy and fever for 3 weeks who underwent an 18F-FDG PET/CT scan. The imaging showed multiple lymph node enlargement and agglomeration with increased metabolic activity even with the involvement in the abdomen, giving the impression of malignant lymphoma.

F-18 FDG PET/CT in primary tonsillar lymphoma.

Non-Hodgkin lymphomas quite often present in the head and neck but primary tonsillar lymphomas of extranodal non-Hodgkin lymphomas are far less than 1% of head and neck malignancies. Reports of F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (F-18 FDG PET/CT) related to primary tonsillar lymphoma are seldom. A 59-year-old man suffered from painful swelling of the bilateral tonsil.

Analysis of recently identified osteoporosis susceptibility genes in Han Chinese women.

Background: In Europeans and populations of European origin, several osteoporosis susceptibility genes, including ZBTB40, RANK, RANKL, OPG, MHC, and ESR1, were recently identified. However, none of these has been fully investigated in Han Chinese populations.

Objective And Design: In this relatively large cross-sectional sample of 1012 Han Chinese women, 21 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within 11 candidate genes that were newly identified in Europeans were tested, and their associations with bone mineral densities (BMDs) and osteoporotic fracture were investigated.

Association of JAG1 with bone mineral density and osteoporotic fractures: a genome-wide association study and follow-up replication studies.

Bone mineral density (BMD), a diagnostic parameter for osteoporosis and a clinical predictor of fracture, is a polygenic trait with high heritability. To identify genetic variants that influence BMD in different ethnic groups, we performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) on 800 unrelated Southern Chinese women with extreme BMD and carried out follow-up replication studies in six independent study populations of European descent and Asian populations including 18,098 subjects. In the meta-analysis, rs2273061 of the Jagged1 (JAG1) gene was associated with high BMD (p = 5.

Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) polymorphisms in Chinese patients with Graves' disease.

Objectives: Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) may play a central role in the development of Graves' disease (GD). The aim of this study was to investigate the association of TNF-alpha polymorphisms with GD in Chinese population.

Design And Methods: Genomic DNA was extracted from peripheral blood lymphocyte of 436 GD patients and 316 control subjects.

Clinical associations of the genetic variants of CTLA-4, Tg, TSHR, PTPN22, PTPN12 and FCRL3 in patients with Graves' disease.

Objective: Graves' disease (GD) is an organ-specific autoimmune disorder. Both immune-modulating genes and thyroid-specific genes are involved in its genetic pathogenesis. It remains unclear, however, how the interactions of various susceptibility genes contribute to the pathogenesis and clinical severity of the disease.