The Department of Veterans Affairs Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses Biorepository: Supporting Research on Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses.

Aims: To introduce a resource supporting research on Gulf War illness (GWI) and related disorders, the Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses Biorepository (GWVIB).

Methods: Gulf War era veterans (GWVs) are recruited nationally and enrolled via telephone and email/postal mail. Enrolled veterans receive annual telephone and mail follow-up to collect health data until their passing.

Erlotinib-associated exacerbation of hypothyroidism with pericardial tamponade.

Objective: To report a case of erlotinib-associated exacerbation of hypothyroidism complicated by pericardial tamponade.

Methods: We describe the patient's clinical presentation, biochemical workup, and clinical course.

Results: Non-small cell lung cancer was diagnosed in a 54-year-old woman.

Adrenal steroids and the metabolic syndrome.

The many similarities between the metabolic syndrome and Cushing's syndrome led to the hypothesis that excess glucocorticoids (GC) are part of the pathogenesis linking their features. We review recent work that confirms the initial similarities (obesity, glucose intolerance, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia) and extends them to associated features of both syndromes (osteopenia, hypogonadism, leukocytosis, depression, and muscle weakness). Recent studies report that these features also occur in subclinical Cushing's syndrome, hypercortisolemic depression, and the transgenic overexpression of 11beta-hydoxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (11beta-HSD1) in mouse models of excess GC in adipose tissue.