Health News

Gastric Emptying Rate May Be Key To Preventing Obesity

Date: Jun-27-2012
Researchers have discovered how a hormone in the gut slows the rate at which the stomach empties and thus suppresses hunger and food intake. Results of the animal study were presented at The Endocrine Society's 94th Annual Meeting in Houston. "The gut hormone glucagon-like peptide 2, or GLP-2, functions as a neurotransmitter and fine-tunes gastric emptying through - as suspected - its receptor action in the brain," said the lead investigator, Xinfu Guan, PhD, assistant professor of pediatrics and medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston...

Potential Reversible Birth Control For Men

Date: Jun-27-2012
Male hormonal contraceptives applied daily to the skin reduce sperm production, finds a new study presented at The Endocrine Society's 94th Annual Meeting in Houston. Very low sperm counts resulted for about 89 percent of men using a new combination of hormones, the authors reported. They combined a transdermal (skin) gel containing the male hormone testosterone and a gel containing a new synthetic progestin called Nestorone...

Treatment For Pompe Disease Enhanced By Targeted Gene Therapy

Date: Jun-27-2012
Gene therapy to replace the protein missing in Pompe disease can be effective if the patient's immune system does not react against the therapy. Targeted delivery of the gene to the liver, instead of throughout the body, suppresses the immune response, improving the therapeutic effect, according to an article published in Human Gene Therapy, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. The article is available free online at the Human Gene Therapy website*...

Blood-Sugar Control For The Critically Ill Via Computer Program

Date: Jun-27-2012
A computer-software program more effectively controlled blood-sugar levels among critically ill patients than nurse-directed care did, according to the first large clinical trial of its kind. The results were presented at The Endocrine Society's 94th Annual Meeting in Houston. The computer program, known as LOGIC-Insulin, was designed to assist healthcare providers in closely controlling patients' blood sugar, or glucose, with the hormone insulin. While insulin treatment is effective, it can be extremely difficult to determine the correct dosage...

Men With HPV Infection, Light Skin Color And Sun Exposure At Increased Risk of Skin Cancer

Date: Jun-27-2012
Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center and colleagues at the University of South Florida and the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg have found that having antibodies for cutaneous types of human papillomavirus (HPV), coupled with sun exposure (ultraviolet radiation) or poor tanning ability, can act "synergistically" in the development of non-melanoma skin cancers such as basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC)...

Exposure To Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals Can Be Reduced By Living A Simpler Lifestyle

Date: Jun-27-2012
A lifestyle that features fresh foods and limited use of products likely to contain environmental chemicals has been shown to reduce exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), such as BPA and phthalates, in a small population study. EDCs are linked to a number of adverse health complications including neuro-developmental delays, behavioral issues and fertility problems. They are produced by the millions of pounds per year and found extensively in a range of products that contain certain plastics...

Low-Risk Thyroid Nodules Identified By Gene Expression Test

Date: Jun-27-2012
A new test can be used to identify low-risk thyroid nodules, reducing unnecessary surgeries for people with thyroid nodules that have indeterminate results after biopsy. The results of the multi-center trial, which includes researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, appear online in the New England Journal of Medicine. Ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration biopsies (FNA) accurately identify 62-85 percent of thyroid nodules as benign. For those deemed malignant or unclassifiable, surgery is currently required...

Weight Loss Aided In Diabetic Patients By Experimental Drug

Date: Jun-27-2012
An experimental drug helped significantly more overweight patients with diabetes shed pounds, compared with placebo, a new study finds. The results were presented at The Endocrine Society's 94th Annual Meeting in Houston. "This new medication is promising because of the amount of weight loss it produces, the resultant improvement in important risk factors for diabetes, and, particularly in the lower dose studied, in its tolerability," said study lead author Donna H. Ryan, M.D., professor emeritus at Pennington Biomedical Research Center (LSU System) in Baton Rouge, LA...

Women With Depression May Benefit From Vitamin D

Date: Jun-27-2012
Women with moderate to severe depression had substantial improvement in their symptoms of depression after they received treatment for their vitamin D deficiency, a new study finds. The case report series was presented at The Endocrine Society's 94th Annual Meeting in Houston. Because the women did not change their antidepressant medications or other environmental factors that relate to depression, the authors concluded that correction of the patients' underlying shortage of vitamin D might be responsible for the beneficial effect on depression...

Symptoms Of Metabolic Syndrome Improved By Testosterone-Replacement Therapy

Date: Jun-27-2012
Hormone-replacement therapy significantly improved symptoms of metabolic syndrome associated with testosterone deficiency in men, a new study from Germany finds. The results were presented at The Endocrine Society's 94th Annual Meeting in Houston. Metabolic syndrome comprises a cluster of complications that can increase the risk of heart and blood-vessel disease as well as type 2 diabetes. These complications include excess body weight, especially around the waist and torso, and abnormal concentrations of fat in the blood, known as lipids...