Thyroid

The effect of adding PTH (1–84) to conventional treatment of hypoparathyroidism—a randomized, placebo controlled study Sikjaer, T. et al. J. Bone Miner. Res. doi:10.1002/jbmr.470

Treatment with parathyroid hormone (PTH) could help prevent bone overmineralization in patients with hypoparathyroidism. Sikjaer et al. randomly assigned 62 patients to receive PTH (1–84) or placebo, in addition to conventional therapy with calcium supplements and vitamin D analogues, for 24 weeks. Patients receiving PTH had increased plasma levels of bone turnover markers, decreased BMD at the hip, lumbar spine and whole body, and less need for calcium and vitamin D.

Reproductive endocrinology

“Idiopathic” partial androgen insensitivity syndrome in 28 newborn and infant males: impact of prenatal exposure to environmental endocrine-disruptor chemicals? Gaspari, L. et al. Eur. J. Endocrinol. doi:10.1530/EJE-11-0580

Fetal exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) might, in some cases, be associated with partial androgen insensitivity (PAIS). In a study of 28 newborn or infant male individuals with a PAIS-like phenotype, the parents of 11 patients reported environmental or occupational exposure to EDCs during pregnancy. The mean serum estrogenic bioactivity in these patients was significantly higher than in the 17 patients without fetal EDC exposure or in age-matched controls without PAIS.

Nutrition

Periconceptional multivitamin use and risk of preterm or small-for-gestational-age births in the Danish National Birth Cohort Catov, J. M. et al. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. doi:10.3945/ajcn.111.012393

Among 35,897 women in the Danish National Birth Cohort, the risk of preterm births was reduced in women with a pre-pregnancy BMI <25 kg/m2 who were regularly taking multivitamins (4–6 weeks) before or after conception. The risk of small-for-gestational-age neonates was also reduced among women with preconceptional or postconceptional multivitamin use regardless of pre-pregnancy BMI status.

Diabetes

Association of the Pro12Ala and C1431T variants of PPARγ and their haplotypes with susceptibility to gestational diabetes Heude, B. et al. J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab. doi:10.1210/jc.2011-0381

A study of 1,708 women in the EDEN Mother–Child Cohort suggests that the PPARγ polymorphism that encodes the Pro12Ala substitution and the C allele of the C1431T polymorphism are both associated with increased risk of developing gestational diabetes mellitus.