Volume 16 Issue 4, April 2020

Thyroid status and serum cholesterol levels are intimately linked. Hypothyroidism causes hypercholesterolaemia, which is thought to be resolved after treatment with levothyroxine and normalization of thyroid-stimulating hormone. However, some studies indicate that hypercholesterolaemia persists despite treatment, requiring more frequent use of statins.

In a cross-sectional study of individuals with type 1 diabetes mellitus, those who were designated to be slow disease progressors had an increased proportion of autoreactive, islet-specific CD8⁺ T cells expressing an ‘exhausted’ phenotype. By contrast, rapid disease progressors had increased numbers of islet-specific CD8⁺ T cells with a transitional memory phenotype.

A new study reveals that a high-sugar diet acutely alters human sperm small RNA profiles after 1 week and that these changes are associated with changes in sperm motility. This rapid response by sperm to nutritional fluctuation raises intriguing questions regarding the underlying mechanisms and the potential effects on offspring metabolic health.

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) has genetic and environmental risk factors that result in impaired glucose homeostasis. This Review discusses efforts to identify molecular mechanisms associated with T2DM susceptibility loci and highlights the current human models that are used to study β-cell development and function.

Food is widely assumed to be a zeitgeber, or time cue, for the human circadian system; however, evidence from human trials is scarce. This Review highlights evidence from human studies that food is a zeitgeber and compares findings against formal zeitgeber criteria.

This Review examines the emerging concept that distinct ceramide species in specific cellular compartments can exert specialized functions in obesity-associated deterioration of metabolic homeostasis. Ceramides are therefore potential targets in the development of novel and specific therapies for obesity and obesity-associated diseases.

This Review provides an overview of vitamin D production in the skin. The regulation of wound healing and hair growth by vitamin D are also discussed.