Obesity

Light at night increases body mass by shifting the time to food intake Fonken, L. K. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 107, 18664–18669 (2010)

Increased exposure to light at night might contribute to the obesity epidemic by disrupting circadian clock function and shifting the time of food intake. Fonken et al. found that mice exposed to light at night had increased body mass compared with mice exposed to a normal cycle of light and dark, despite similar caloric intake and total daily activity output, because timing of food consumption was disrupted.

Cancer

Expression of follicle-stimulating hormone receptor in tumor blood vessels Radu, A. et al. N. Engl. J. Med. 363, 1621–1630 (2010)

Follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) receptor, which is normally only expressed in the ovary, testis and uterus, is also expressed on the surface of blood vessels of tumors. Radu et al. detected expression of FSH receptor in endothelial cells at the periphery of tumors from tissue samples removed from 1,336 patients with a wide range of tumors of different grades.

Pharmacotherapy

Effects of growth hormone-releasing hormone analog on endogenous GH pulsatility and insulin sensitivity in healthy men Stanley, T. L. et al. J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab. doi:10.1210/jc.2010-1587

Tesamorelin, a growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) analog, increases pulsatile growth hormone secretion, so might improve the body composition of patients with excess visceral adiposity who have reduced growth hormone secretion. Stanley and co-investigators treated 13 healthy men (some obese) with 2 mg of tesamorelin per day for 2 weeks; basal and pulsatile growth hormone secretion and the level of insulin-like growth factor 1 increased during treatment, but peripheral insulin-stimulated glucose uptake was unaffected.

Bone

Effects of denosumab on bone turnover markers in postmenopausal osteoporosis Eastell, R. et al. J. Bone. Miner. Res. doi:10.1002/jmbr.251

The response pattern of bone turnover markers associated with denosumab treatment for postmenopausal osteoporosis is distinct from that of existing therapies for osteoporosis, report Eastell et al. The investigators evaluated the time course of bone turnover marker response in 160 women randomly allocated to receive denosumab (60 mg) or placebo injections every 6 months for 3 years.