Iron metabolism in patients with Graves' hyperthyroidism.

Objectives: Graves' hyperthyroidism (GH) interferes with iron metabolism and elevates ferritin. The precise mechanisms remain unclear. The influence of thyroid hormones on the synthesis/regulation of hepcidin, an important regulator of iron metabolism, remains uncharacterized.

A rare case of an ACTH/CRH co-secreting midgut neuroendocrine tumor mimicking Cushing's disease.

Unlabelled: Ectopic ACTH/CRH co-secreting tumors are a very rare cause of Cushing's syndrome and only a few cases have been reported in the literature. Differentiating between Cushing's disease and ectopic Cushing's syndrome may be particularly difficult if predominant ectopic CRH secretion leads to pituitary corticotroph hyperplasia that may mimic Cushing's disease during dynamic testing with both dexamethasone and CRH as well as bilateral inferior petrosal sinus sampling (BIPSS). We present the case of a 24-year-old man diagnosed with ACTH-dependent Cushing's syndrome caused by an ACTH/CRH co-secreting midgut NET.

[Minor emergency cases in big hospitals].

Our hospitals are suffering from an increasing run of "minor emergency cases". Those are simple medical or surgical ailments that could be taken care of by a general practitioner's office in a competent and cost efficient way. Because of the ever growing problem of a shortage of general practitioners, those patients are directly going to the emergency room of our hospitals, where they are usually seen by a young and yet unexperienced doctor, who is ordering an expensive battery of tests even for minor troubles of his or her wellbeing.

[Tsunami in South-East Asia--rapid response deployment in Banda Aceh].

On December 26, 2004 the second largest earthquake ever seismographically registered occurred in South-East Asia. It had a magnitude of 9.3 on Richter's scale and its epicentre was located on sea ground 160 km West of Banda Aceh, the capital of the province of Aceh on the island of Sumatra.