Despitetheavailabilityofanumberofendocrinetextbooks,webelievethatthereisa need for a comprehensive volume on the thyroid, which can be used by trainees, general endocrinologist, and experts inthe field alike. The present one, availableas a book, but also electronically, and intended to be updated online whenever developments warrant this, in our minds fills a void. Covering the majority of clinically relevant phenotypes, and thyroid physiology as well as pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment, ...

I wrote this book as a resource for students interested in learning medical endocrinology at the mechanistic level. Despite a number of excellent biochemistry, physiology, and medical science textbooks, none in my opinion achieve the correct balance for this purpose, being either too comprehensive or too limited in scope. My hope is that this text achieves the correct balance. Experience is the best teacher, and so it is with this book. Jeffery Flier and I first developed an endocrinology cou...

About a year and a half ago, huddled in one of the conference halls of annual diabetes UK meeting at Manchester, me and my fellow Diabetes & Endocrinology colleagues wondered about a lack of written resource for specialty certificate exam (SCE) which still was in its early years since inception. It was a more arduous task than we had anticipated and at one stage almost failed to take off, with the initial enthusiasm fading rapidly faced with the practical aspects of the complex task in hand. ...

Hormones are the messengers from specialized tissues to other tissues, near and far, of the body, so the complex organism can function efficiently. Modern research not only informs of the specific receptors for hormones, located distally, in the neighborhood, or even in the cell producing the hormone, but of the pathways that are stimulated or depressed inside the target cell as a result of receptor activation by the hormonal ligand. Emphasis in this volume is placed upon the physiologic effect...

Thisbookisintendedforbothcliniciansandresearcherstohelpinunderstandingthe complexity and relevance of genetics in endocrinology. Genetic factors are implicated in the disturbances of hormone homeostasis and diseases of hormone-producing endocrine organs. Some of them are primarily genetic diseases, such as monogenic diseases. Several but rare monogenic diseases are known which affect the function of the hormones and their receptors, e.g., hormone resistance syndromes. An important group of mo...

When I was first diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), I was in my mid-twenties. The reason I happened to stumble across having this disorder was a simple and very honest one, which I think happens to many women. I was married and talk had started of starting a family. To know whether or not I was healthy enough and capable of getting pregnant, I decided a trip to the doctor would be wise. You know, to clear the air of any concerns I might have. At the time I was what I thought a h...

Medical emergencies in the field of endocrinology encompass thyroid, adrenal, pituitary, and other hormonal systems. These “endocrine emergencies” require specific interventions, beyond normal resuscitation protocols, within 2 to 24 hours to successfully care for a patient. The purpose of this book is to detail the management of endocrine, diabetic, and metabolic emergencies by consensus of experts in the field. We believe that this book will bring the topic areas up to date, set a standard f...

Levothyroxine (LT4) is celebrating its 70th birthday, since its introduction to the management of hypothyroidism or primary thyroid failure. This is a good opportunity to explore the history and the current state of the art with regard to the therapeutic use of LT4, now one of the mostprescribed treatments worldwide. In our book, we explore the early research that led to an understanding of the role of thyroid gland that led to the initial therapeutic use of LT4. We also describe the pharmaco...

This practical book aims to cover the whole scope of clinical endocrinology, including both common and selected rare but important diseases, with an emphasis on practical clinical management. A number of different questions and problems in clinical routine are discussed in this book in an unconventional format. Each topic begins with the presentation of a typical clinical case, and then the topic is approached in a question and answer format linked to the clinical case presented, highlighting...

This book is aimed at primary care providers who care for the pediatric age group (general pediatrician, the PCP working with pediatric patients, and family medicine providers) with the goal of covering the endocrine differential diagnosis of common signs and symptoms of possible endocrine disease as well as appropriate initial laboratory evaluation and interpretation. While multiple pediatric endocrine textbooks exist, most of them are heavy in coverage of physiology and rare diseases, with ...

This book covers the complexity of diabetes and related complications and presents the socio-economic burden of the disease, taking into account the rising prevalence reaching pandemic proportions and the associated costs. Factors causing high diabetes prevalence and the influence of the pharmaceutical industry are evaluated and solutions for sustainable diabetes care with limited resources are provided, including national focus on providing cost-effective diabetes treatment, nutrition and ph...

Osteoporosis is a major health problem, affecting more than 200 million people worldwide (Kanis, JA, WHO Scientific Group: Assessment of Osteoporosis at the Primary Health Care Level, 2007). Osteoporotic fractures can result in disability and death.However,inrecentyears,therehavebeentremendousadvancesinknowledge of the cellular physiology of bone and the systemic and local factors that affect bone cellsandmineralmetabolism,leadingtonovelconceptsandnewtherapiestoslowor reverse the pathology. To...

Diabetic nephropathy represents the leading cause of end-stage renal failure in the Western world. New treatments to either prevent this condition or delay its relentless progression are urgently needed. In this book, we have put together a toolkit of novel research approaches for investigators to study diabetic nephropathy. We hope that this will foster new research directions and inspire ideas to enhance our understanding of diabetic nephropathy and to develop treatments for this condition....

To use the same words is not a sufficient guarantee of understanding; one must use the same words for the same genus of inward experience; ultimately one must have one’s experiences in common. –– Friedrich Nietzsche We can rephrase this famous quotation by saying “To use the same radiological study by different radiologic interpreters, or have the same pathological slide evaluated by a different pathologist, is not a sufficient guarantee that the results will be the same regardless of the in...

Osteoporosis is an increasingly prevalent disease with important clinical, economic, and social consequences, characterized by reduced bone strength, due to altered bone density and quality, which increases the risk of spontaneous and traumatic fractures and related disabilities. Since the bone is an active tissue that constantly remodels itself in response to several factors, such as mechanical stress and hormonal changes, osteoporosis can be regarded as a consequence of exaggerated bone res...

Fine-needle aspiration (FNA) cytology of the thyroid is the initial diagnostic procedure for the evaluation of nodules and triage thereof to either observation or surgery. Traditionally, thyroid FNAs have been prepared as conventional smears (CS), but these presented certain drawbacks that led to the use of liquid-based preparations (LBP) in thyroid cytology, either as the sole preparation or in combination with CS. Although both methods are useful, the cytomorphologic differences require fam...

The term “nonalcoholic fatty liver disease” (NAFLD) was coined by gastroenterologists almost 20 years ago to define a spectrum of progressive liver disease that encompasses simple steatosis, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH, which is characterized by the presence of steatosis, necroinflammation, with/without fibrosis), and ultimately cirrhosis. The same entity was also well known to diabetologists and regarded as an epiphenomenon of the metabolic syndrome. Dramatic changes in the lifestyle ...

Metabolic disorders (MDs) are promptly aggregating in the increasing population globally. This is greatly affecting the social and financial status of individuals particularly of developing and/or underdeveloped countries. Unfortunately, specifically these countries are also victims of environmental contaminants and habitual impurities that can be considered as the foremost keystones not only for initiating the occurrence but also for flourishing the progress of MDs. These contaminants includ...

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