Volume 14 Issue 7, July 2018

Osteoporotic fractures are one of the principal adverse effects resulting from the therapeutic use of glucocorticoids. These fractures contribute substantially to morbidity in patients who already have major disabling chronic diseases. The prevention of these fractures is, therefore, a high priority in patients who require glucocorticoids, particularly older patients.

Diet has a recognized influence on cancer development and progression. However, the effect of diet modifications on the immune system remains elusive. Rubio-Patiño and colleagues provide evidence that a low-protein diet enhances the anticancer immune response in tumour-bearing mice, and highlight the potential of this diet intervention in patients with cancer.

A cluster analysis of five independent Swedish cohorts of people with diabetes mellitus has identified five clusters of classification based on age at diagnosis, BMI, HbA_1c autoantibodies and markers of insulin resistance. Patients in each of the clusters have specific disease characteristics and unique risk profiles for complications from diabetes mellitus.

A recent unbiased study found inflation of the genetic risk of endocrine tumour syndromes in the genotype–phenotype database ClinVar. Here, we discuss the interesting findings and point to potential limitations of this work in light of the recently established consensus statement of the Pheochromocytomas and Paragangliomas (NGSnPPGL) Study Group.

In this Review, the authors describe the physiology of glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP1) and its role in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), the currently available and emerging GLP1 receptor agonists and their use to treat T2DM and other indications.

The δ-cells of the pancreatic islets secrete somatostatin, which inhibits insulin and glucagon secretion. In this Review, the authors summarize the cellular physiology of somatostatin secretion, how this might go wrong in diabetes mellitus and potential therapeutic targets.

Differences of sex development (DSDs) comprise a large group of congenital conditions of the urogenital tract and reproductive system. This Consensus Statement summarizes recommendations for clinical indications, diagnosis and management of patients with a DSD.

Unhealthy food and drink surround us in our daily food environments. Here, Anna Peeters discusses how we can improve our food environments and details how clinicians can help implement and set healthy food policies across all our health-care settings.