Reproductive endocrinology

High dietary fiber consumption is associated with a decrease in reproductive hormone concentrations, according to the BioCycle study. Investigators assessed the dietary fiber consumption of 250 healthy, premenopausal women over two menstrual cycles and found that a 5 g increase in total fiber intake each day was associated with a 1.78-fold rise in the risk of an anovulatory cycle.

Gaskins, A. J. et al. Effect of daily fiber intake on reproductive function: the BioCycle Study. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 90, 1061–1069 (2009).

Bone

Adolescents with anorexia nervosa show premature conversion of red marrow to yellow marrow in the peripheral skeleton. Visual assessment of right-knee MRI revealed an approximately twofold lower metaphyseal red marrow score in the femur and tibia of individuals with anorexia nervosa compared with healthy individuals. Ecklund et al. attribute this finding to a preference for adipocyte over osteoblast differentiation in the mesenchymal stem-cell pool.

Ecklund, K. et al. Bone marrow changes in adolescent girls with anorexia nervosa. J. Bone Miner. Res. doi:10.1359/jbmr.090805

Cancer

Allogeneic peripheral blood stem-cell transplantation in patients with chemotherapy-resistant pancreatic cancer indicates a pivotal role for tumor necrosis factor in tumor regression. After low-dose total-body irradiation and fludarabine, five patients with advanced unresectable pancreatic cancer received nonmyeloablative allogeneic hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation. Tumor regression with a coinciding substantial elevation of tumor necrosis factor was observed in two patients. Three patients developed acute graft-versus-host disease despite administration of mycophenolate mofetil and ciclosporin.

Abe, Y. et al. Nonmyeloablative allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation as immunotherapy for pancreatic cancer. Pancreas doi:10.1097/MPA.0b013e3181b576ee

Treatment of patients with advanced medullary thyroid cancer with 125 mg motesanib per day showed an objective response rate of 2% over a period of 48 weeks, according to a phase II trial published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Of 91 patients with locally advanced or metastatic, progressive or symptomatic medullary thyroid cancer, 81% achieved stable disease for the duration of treatment.

Schlumberger, M. et al. Phase II study of safety and efficacy of motesanib in patients with progressive or symptomatic, advanced or metastatic medullary thyroid cancer. J. Clin. Oncol. 27, 3794–3801 (2009).