Volume 14 Issue 9, September 2018

Do our grandparents’ environmental exposures and experiences shape our health and wellbeing? In a ground-breaking study, Marianthi-Anna Kioumourtzoglou and colleagues show that this might be the case. In their study, a woman’s use of the pharmaceutical diethylstilbestrol during pregnancy increased the risk of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in her grandchildren.

Evidence suggests that physical activity is beneficial for patients with and survivors of cancer. A recent study found that vigorous exercise was associated with reduced mortality in paediatric cancer survivors. Here we discuss these findings in the context of potential mechanisms mediating some of the health effects of exercise in cancer.

Novel osteoanabolic strategies are highly desired to treat osteoporotic bone loss or augment fracture repair in patients at risk of healing complications, including individuals with osteoporosis or inflammatory disorders. Whereas current osteoanabolics address osteoblast function, research by Ren Xu and colleagues highlights the skeletal endothelium as a promising target to promote bone formation.

Jessica D. Forbes and colleagues found that infants who received formula early in life were more likely to be overweight at 1 year of age than those exclusively breastfed. Formula feeding was associated with altered intestinal microbiome characteristics at 3 months. These findings link early-life formula feeding and an altered microbiome with subsequent overweight.

Up to one-third of patients with diabetes mellitus will develop a diabetic foot ulcer in their lifetime. While this number appears to be rising, breakthrough therapies for this common, complex and costly condition have been, to this point, elusive.

The prevalence of obesity in combination with sarcopenia is increasing in adults aged 65 years and older. Here, John Batsis and Dennis Villareal explore the sex-specific hormonal changes, inflammatory pathways and myocellular mechanisms that lead to the development of sarcopenic obesity.

Treatment protocols for thyroid cancers range from active surveillance to total thyroidectomy followed by radioiodine remnant ablation. In this Review, the authors discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the surveillance tools and follow-up strategies used by clinicians in the treatment of thyroid cancers.

Acromegaly is usually caused by a pituitary adenoma that secretes growth hormone; treatment of acromegaly and its comorbidities is often complex. In this Consensus Statement, Shlomo Melmed and colleagues provide updated recommendations for the treatment of patients with acromegaly.