Nowadays obesity becomes a significant global problem. Hence, recently more and more attention has been paid to substances present in the body that have a significant impact on metabolic processes and thermogenesis, in the context of their potential use in the prevention and treatment of obesity. It is well known that the relationship between thyroid hormones and obesity is multilayered, however recently, more and more information about the possible relation between thyroid hormones and muscle metabolism has been published. The aim of this review is to present the most updated information on the physiological impact of thyroid hormones on muscle tissue, as well as pathological changes related to the occurrence of various types of thyroid disorders, including hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism and sick euthyroid syndrome. However, the data in humans still remains insufficient, and further studies are needed to fully explore the thyroid-muscle cross-talk.

SAGIT is an instrument created for the clinical assessment of acromegaly. Our objective was to test the usefulness of this tool in assessing disease activity of acromegalic patients in a single centre of Poznan, Poland using a retrospective study. Medical records of patients with acromegaly hospitalised at the Department of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Internal Medicine of Poznan University of Medical Sciences in Poland between January 2015 and December 2020 were analysed. SAGIT scores were assessed according to each patient's clinical and biochemical data. The results show that SAGIT scores were higher in treatment-naïve patients and the lowest in controlled patients. There were positive correlations between SAGIT scores and concentrations of calcium, phosphorus, HbA1C levels, and tumour invasiveness at the time of diagnosis. However, parameters such as age, vitamin D concentration, and time from diagnosis showed an inverse relationship with the SAGIT score. In ROC curve analysis, SAGIT scores of 5 or less discriminated controlled patients from uncontrolled (p < 0.0001, sensitivity 76.7%, specificity 78.5%, AUC 0.867). Also, SAGIT higher than 6 indicated for treatment start or escalation (p < 0.0001, sensitivity 80.88%, specificity 77.59%, AUC 0.866). Lack of signs and symptoms (S = 0) could not discriminate between controlled and uncontrolled disease, but predicted therapy maintenance (p < 0.0004, sensitivity 59.5%, specificity 58.2%, AUC 0.604). In conclusion, The SAGIT instrument is easy to use even when completed in the retrospective medical record review. It can be useful for distinguishing clinical stages of acromegaly and in decision-making.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and autoimmune diseases of the thyroid gland (AITD) often occur together. As autoimmune diseases, they share common pathological pathways, reflecting the fact that the treatment of the underlying disease can influence the course of thyroid disorders. The pharmacotherapy of RA is based on the supply of disease-modifying anti-inflammatory drugs with an increasing focus on biologics. This article aims to review the available literature describing the effects of biological treatments on thyroid function. The use of biologi-cal drugs may have the potential benefit of regulating the level of anti-thyroid antibodies. On the other hand, tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-a) inhibitors are not indifferent to thyroid function and may increase the incidence of subacute thyroiditis. The coexistence of AITD and RA prompts consideration of the need for routine thyroid screening in RA patients and for RA screening in patients with thyroid disease who report joint problems.

Heart failure (HF) is a clinical status defined as a final stage of many cardiac diseases featured by severely impaired systolic myocardial performance in a result of dramatic decline in a number of properly functioning cardiomyocytes. Currently, the available therapeutic options for HF patients are not applicable in all of them. Up to now, many strategies to increase a number of normal cardiomyocytes have been proposed. One of them, the most physiological one at glance, seems to be a stimulation of post-mitotic cardiomyocytes to proliferate/or cardiac stem cells to differentiate. In this review article, detailed background of such method of myocardial regeneration, including the physiological processes of cardiomyocyte transformation and maturation, is presented. Moreover, the latest directions of basic research devoted to develop sufficient and safe cardiomyocyte-based therapies of the end-stage HF individuals are discussed. Concluding, this direction of further research seems to be justified particularly in a view of human population aging, an increased prevalence of HF and higher expectations of improved efficiency of patients’ care.