Endocrinology

Several prior studies have noted that Roux-Y gastric bypass surgery often leaves patients with exocrine pancreatic insufficiency, but new research from Switzerland indicates that different flavors of the procedure expose patients to greatly different risks.

I'm always fascinated by the Medscape physician reports every year and seeing how unhappy physicians are. How burnt out they are. How dissatisfied with their careers they are.

In the past, patients deemed obese (especially those who were morbidly obese) may have been passed over for a life-saving liver transplant. A recent study showed they may be just as viable candidates for the procedure as others in the patient population.

It was only a few months ago that research revealed that vitamin D can help inhibit replication of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and now the vitamin appears to contribute to treatment outcomes.

In non-diabetic patients, researchers have shown sirolimus-eluting stents to be more effective than paclitaxel-eluting stents, leading to better clinical outcomes. Some researchers believe that T2DM attenuates the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway. This could influence the choice of stents, and has created a controversy.

Severe hypoglycemia is a complication of insulin use that occurs in 20% of insulin-treated patients on a monthly basis. A small number of these patients become unconscious or seize as a result of severe hypoglycemia. Hospitals are prepared to intervene, but often in the community, a Good Samaritan needs to reconstitute and injection dry powder formulations of subcutaneous and intramuscular glucagon for unconscious or seizing patients.

Researchers see promise in vitamin E treatment for NASH.

Despite the many glucose monitoring and insulin delivery devices that are available, many diabetics who use them remain uncontrolled and experience hypoglycemia. Researchers dream of the day that drug-device combinations will track diabetics' glucose levels and deliver appropriate insulin dose.

Leptin (an adipocyte-secreted hormone) has been an object of observation since 1994. Its levels in the body are roughly proportional to an individual's amount of adipose tissue. It seems to regulate energy homeostasis, decrease energy intake, and increase energy expenditure. From its discovery, researchers hoped that its manipulation could be useful clinically.

New research indicates that short endoscopic secretin tests can accurately differentiate cystic fibrosis patients with exocrine pancreatic insufficiency from those who retain exocrine pancreatic function.

Since the discovery that the relative length of the index and ring fingers may reflect fetal testosterone exposure, researchers have spent a lot of time trying to find correlations between digit ratios and medical outcomes, questionnaire answers, and a host of other things.

A retrospective analysis of patients who underwent bariatric surgery suggests that significant weight loss significantly lessens the symptoms of psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis.

Analyses of patient records indicate that obesity increases the risk of recurrence among patients who undergo ablation for atrial fibrillation but suggest that sustained weight loss can reduce the risk.

New research into the relationship between partial pancreatectomy and the subsequent incidence of exocrine pancreatic insufficiency finds a strong positive correlation between the volume of tissue removed and subsequent complications.

When I first started seeing patients on my own, I would get annoyed when patients came in with printouts from WebMD, Health.com, or the dreaded Wikipedia.

In preliminary results presented at ObesityWeek, University of Pittsburgh researchers revealed that 3 years after bariatric surgery, the majority of patients experience an improvement in pain and walking ability.

Caloric restriction among mammals whose body mass index is normal, defined as eating about 25% fewer calories than one would during ad libitum intake, increases life span in many species.

For overweight adults with type 2 diabetes, study results show that even light walking was linked to an average 10-point drop in blood pressure.

Type 2 diabetes drug empagliflozin significantly diminished the incidences of hospitalizations and even death from heart failure.

Study results show PCSK9 inhibitor alirocumab reduces cholesterol by increasing the fractional clearance rate of IDL and LDL.

A pair of studies provides further information about the positive association between testosterone levels and sexual desire and activity in older men.

Malignant hyperthermia is a potentially fatal disorder usually associated with administration of certain general anesthetics and/or succinylcholine. Until 30 years ago, its etiology was unknown. Then, researchers found that people who carry an autosomal dominant calcium channel mutation are at elevated susceptibility.

A meta-analysis of studies on the effect of testosterone supplementation in older men found broad variations in reported increases in muscle mass and decreases in body fat.

Gilead Sciences recently filed a New Drug Application with the US Food and Drug Administration for a single-tablet regimen to treat chronic infection of all forms of the hepatitis C virus.

A new analysis of trial data shows that patients with exocrine pancreatic insufficiency benefit about as much from pancrelipase delayed-release capsules (Creon) whether or not they have diabetes mellitus.

Sleep apnea and depression are both serious conditions patients deal with on a daily basis. A recent study looked at a possible connection between the two and how doctors can better treat these patients.

The following slides discuss the benefits of weight loss on insulin sensitivity, costs of bariatric surgery vs conventional care, and more.

The much buzzed about Evaluation of Lixisenatide in Acute Coronary Syndrome (ELIXA) trial has been tracking the medication in patients with type 2 diabetes. An update on the outcomes was provided at the 10th Annual Cardiometabolic Health Congress (CMHC 2015) in Boston, Massachusetts.

A combination of two drugs can combat one type of pancreatic cancer, according to a study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

The US Preventive Services Task Force's updated recommendations on screening for diabetes type 2 have the American Medical Association's (AMA) president fuming.