The lancet. Diabetes & endocrinology
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Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol · Oct 2015
ReviewNew insights into the controversy of adrenal function during critical illness.
Critical illness represents a life-threatening disorder necessitating recruitment of defence mechanisms for survival. Herein, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis is essential. However, the relevance of a relative insufficiency of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in critical illness, which is diagnosed by a suppressed cortisol response to exogenous adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) irrespective of the plasma cortisol concentration, is controversial. ⋯ Whether such reduced cortisol responses in the presence of raised plasma (free) cortisol identifies adrenal failure needing treatment is unlikely. Additionally, reduced cortisol breakdown affects the optimum dose of hydrocortisone treatment during critical illness. Identification of patients with an insufficient hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis response and the optimum treatment for this disorder clearly need more well designed preclinical and clinical studies.
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Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol · Oct 2015
Association between type 2 diabetes and prenatal exposure to the Ukraine famine of 1932-33: a retrospective cohort study.
The effect of fetal and early childhood living conditions on adult health has long been debated, but empirical assessment in human beings remains a challenge. We used data from during the man-made Ukrainian famine of 1932-33 to examine the association between restricted nutrition in early gestation and type 2 diabetes in offspring in later life. ⋯ Ukraine State Diabetes Mellitus Program, US National Institutes of Health.