The SARS-CoV-2 virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic has generated an explosion of interest both in the mechanisms of infection leading to dissemination and expression of this disease, and in potential risk factors that may have a mechanistic basis for disease propagation or control. Vitamin D has emerged as a factor that may be involved in these two areas. The focus of this article is to apply our current understanding of vitamin D as a facilitator of immunocompetence both with regard to innate and adaptive immunity and to consider how this may relate to COVID-19 disease. There are also intriguing potential links to vitamin D as a factor in the cytokine storm that portends some of the most serious consequences of SARS-CoV-2 infection such as the acute respiratory distress syndrome. Moreover, cardiac and coagulopathic features of COVID-19 disease deserve attention as they may also be related to vitamin D. Finally, we review the current clinical data associating vitamin D with SARS-CoV-2 infection, a putative clinical link that at this time must still be considered hypothetical.

The 13th Acromegaly Consensus Conference was held in November 2019 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and comprised acromegaly experts including endocrinologists and neurosurgeons who considered optimal approaches for multidisciplinary acromegaly management. Focused discussions reviewed techniques, results, and side effects of surgery, radiotherapy, and medical therapy, and how advances in technology and novel techniques have changed the way these modalities are used alone or in combination. Effects of treatment on patient outcomes were considered, along with strategies for optimizing and personalizing therapeutic approaches.Expert consensus recommendations emphasize how best to implement available treatment options as part of a multidisciplinary approach at Pituitary Tumor Centers of Excellence.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), presents primarily with fever, dry cough, and fatigue or myalgia [1]. Although most patients have a favorable prognosis, infection may not infrequently lead to a severe syndrome requiring hospitalization and assisted ventilation with high lethality [2]. Previous studies have reported that calcium played a central role in viral infectious and replicative mechanisms of SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, and Ebolavirus [3-5]. In a large group of SARS patients in North America, hypocalcemia was detected in 60% of patients at hospital admission and in 70% during hospitalization [6]. Moreover, data from patients with Ebolavirus infection in United States and European hospitals reported a similar incidence of hypocalcemia [7]. Several studies investigated so far the clinical and laboratory characteristics of COVID-19 patients, including inflammatory and organ injury biomarkers [8]. Recently, we have reported the first case of COVID-19 presenting with severe hypocalcemia [9]. However, no population data are available on calcium levels in COVID-19 [10].