Part 1
2016 will go down as a landmark year in history. Amongst endless grant applications, journal submissions, clinics, lab work, teaching and everything else, you would be forgiven for not having enough time to read the news. But as the year winds down and you have a little more time to yourself, check out our top picks of endocrine news stories in 2016. In part one of three blog posts, we look at the period between January and April.
January: Man flu
Flu season has well and truly begun, and along with it, man-flu season.
It’s a common belief that colds hit men harder than women. Whether men simply exaggerate their suffering or actually experience worse symptoms is a subject of much debate. In February, research from the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore revealed that the dreaded ‘manfluenza’ may not just be a product of our imagination. The culprit? Oestrogen – or, rather, men’s lack of it.
The study, published in the American Journal of Physiology – Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology
revealed that woman may be protected from the worst of the flu by the female sex hormone oestrogen. Oestrogen dramatically slowed the replication of the influenza virus in nasal cells from women, but not men.
The biology is uncertain, but researchers believe it could be linked to oestrogen receptor Beta, which affects more than 30 genes involved in cell metabolism, slowing down viral replication. These receptors are sparsely present in male cells and may explain why oestrogen offered no protection in men’s nasal cells.
“If women are taking oestrogen-like hormones for other reasons, an added benefit might be less susceptibility to influenza during the flu season,” Klein says.
Media headlines causing a buzz this month:
New guidelines for treatment of severe primary adrenal insufficiency symptoms (Endocrine Society)
IOC rules transgender athletes can take part in Olympics without surgery (The Guardian)
February: To gel or not to gel
For decades, men have been using testosterone gel with the hope it will improve their libido, energize and rejuvenate them. Some enthusiasts even label is the elixir of life. But so far there is very little data on the short term effects of testosterone supplementation on men’s health, and no long term data. Whether the decline in wellbeing is causally linked to low testosterone is unclear.
In February, the issue became clearer when a study revealed that testosterone has very modest effects on sexual function in older men who have very low testosterone. The landmark study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, is the largest randomised trial on testosterone replacement so far.
The men in the study reported “improved their sexual function, mood and depressive symptoms, and perhaps walking,” according to lead author Peter Snyder, an endocrinologist from the University Of Pennsylvania Perelman School Of Medicine.
The study did look at a specific group of men, all aged over 65, and all with particularly low testosterone (<9.5nmol/L).
“The findings don’t apply to younger men, or men with borderline low testosterone,” said Society for Endocrinology member Professor Frederick Wu.
So while we can’t say testosterone supplementation will make men feel young again, it might help in a small subgroup of older men who have low testosterone.
Media headlines causing a buzz this month:
Zika Virus a Global Health Emergency, W.H.O. Says (NYTimes)
A step closer to understanding fertilization (EurekAlert)
March: Winter babies
Maternal vitamin D is particularly important for babies born in winter, according to a study published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.
We know from observational studies that mothers who have higher levels of vitamin D during pregnancy tend to have babies with higher bone mass. Until now, there have been no randomised placebo controlled trial to see if supplementing pregnant women with vitamin D can actually improve bone mass in their babies.
In this study more than a thousand women between 14 and 17 weeks pregnant either took a placebo, or vitamin D for the remainder of their pregnancy. When the researchers looked at the group as whole, they found no effect of maternal vitamin D supplementation on babies bone mass compared to placebo. However, amongst babies born in winter, maternal vitamin D supplementation did improve bone mass.
“Babies’ bones strengthen during the last stages of pregnancy. Since sunlight is our most important source of vitamin D, mothers’ levels of vitamin D tend to drop from summer to winter,” said Professor Nicholas Harvey from the University of Southampton.
“The trial has given us the first evidence that supplementing mothers with vitamin D during pregnancy counteracts the seasonal drop in maternal vitamin D levels and may help to ensure good bone development in these winter births,” he added.
Media headlines causing a buzz this month:
Mystery cancers are cropping up in children in aftermath of Fukushima (Science Mag)
Women who take HRT drugs soon after going through menopause are ‘less likely to suffer heart disease’ (Daily Mail)
Breast cancer sufferers could be spared chemotherapy. Cancer tumours are killed in 11 days with ‘staggering’ new therapy (The Telegraph)
April: “If it’s not a cancer, let’s not call it a cancer”
In one of the biggest endocrine stories 0f the year, a type of thyroid tumour is no longer classified as a cancer. As it turns out, certain types of tumours are encapsulated in impenetrable tissue and should not be classified as cancer. The tumour, known as encapsulated follicular variant of papillary thyroid carcinoma (EFVPTC), makes up 10-20% of all thyroid cancers diagnosed in Europe and North America.
Previously, people diagnosed with the non-threatening condition would have their entire thyroid removed, undergo treatment with radioactive iodine, and have regular check-ups for the rest of their lives. EFVPTC involves small abnormal lesions in the thyroid gland which look like cancer, but are completely contained by a fibrous capsule and unable to spread.
A group of 24 pathologists, two endocrinologists, a thyroid surgeon and a psychiatrist reviewed a hundred cases of patients with EFVPTC, who had the capsules removed but no further treatment. After 10 years, all patients with encapsulated tumours were cancer free.
The move means thousands of patients world-wide will be spared the diagnosis of cancer, avoiding excessive treatments and the psychological trauma of cancer diagnosis.
The new name for the lesion is NIFTP or “Nift-P” which stands for non-invasive follicular thyroid neoplasm with papillary-like nuclear features”. Pretty Nifty.
Media headlines causing a buzz this month:
Male contraceptive gel that ‘blocks sperm’ could be available in less than two years (The Independent)
The case against low-fat milk is stronger than ever (TIME)
New hormone regulates glucose (Nature)
Pancreatic cell transplantation: a breakthrough for type 1 diabetes? (Medical News Today)
Improving blood levels of vitamin D could decrease cancer risk according to results published in PLOS One (Medical News Today)
Hormone Therapy for Prostate Cancer Tied to Depression (NYTimes Blog)
The Endocrine Post 
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