Diagnosis and Evaluation of Thyroid Nodules-the Clinician's Perspective.

Thyroid nodules are a common clinical problem encountered in an endocrine practice. More and more thyroid nodules are now being detected on unrelated imaging studies, leading to an increased diagnosis of low-risk thyroid cancers. There is therefore a greater emphasis on risk assessment based on clinical and sonographic features to avoid morbidity secondary to unnecessary therapy.

A Metabolic Study of Huntington's Disease.

Background: Huntington's disease patients have a number of peripheral manifestations suggestive of metabolic and endocrine abnormalities. We, therefore, investigated a number of metabolic factors in a 24-hour study of Huntington's disease gene carriers (premanifest and moderate stage II/III) and controls.

Methods: Control (n = 15), premanifest (n = 14) and stage II/III (n = 13) participants were studied with blood sampling over a 24-hour period.

A 24-Hour Study of the Hypothalamo-Pituitary Axes in Huntington's Disease.

Background: Huntington's disease is an inherited neurodegenerative disorder characterised by motor, cognitive and psychiatric disturbances. Patients exhibit other symptoms including sleep and mood disturbances, muscle atrophy and weight loss which may be linked to hypothalamic pathology and dysfunction of hypothalamo-pituitary axes.

Methods: We studied neuroendocrine profiles of corticotropic, somatotropic and gonadotropic hypothalamo-pituitary axes hormones over a 24-hour period in controlled environment in 15 healthy controls, 14 premanifest and 13 stage II/III Huntington's disease subjects.

Plasma melatonin is reduced in Huntington's disease.

This study was undertaken to determine whether the production of melatonin, a hormone regulating sleep in relation to the light/dark cycle, is altered in Huntington's disease. We analyzed the circadian rhythm of melatonin in a 24-hour study of cohorts of control, premanifest, and stage II/III Huntington's disease subjects. The mean and acrophase melatonin concentrations were significantly reduced in stage II/III Huntington's disease subjects compared with controls.

A critical evaluation of inflammatory markers in Huntington's Disease plasma.

Background: Huntington's Disease (HD) is a hereditary, progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterised by both neurological and systemic symptoms. In HD, immune changes can be observed before the onset of overt clinical features raising the possibility that inflammatory markers in plasma could be used to track disease progression. It has previously been demonstrated that a widespread, progressive innate immune response is detectable in plasma throughout the course of HD.