Thyroid function may alter carbohydrate metabolism via influence of insulin, which may in terms of derangement of thyroid function and insulin function result in the development of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D). We investigated the association of thyroid disorders with T2D by a cohort study of the Taiwan nationwide health insurance database. A sub-dataset of the National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD) was used in this study. The thyroid disease (both hyper- and hypo-thyroidism) group was chosen from patients older than 18 years and newly diagnosed between 2000 and 2012. The control group consisted of randomly selected patients who never been diagnosed with thyroid disease and 4-fold size frequency matched with the thyroid disease group. The event of this cohort was T2D (ICD-9-CM 250.x1, 250.x2). Primary analysis was performed by comparing the thyroid disease group to the control group and the second analysis was performed by comparing the hyperthyroidism subgroup, hypothyroidism subgroup, and control group. The occurrence of T2D in the thyroid disease group was higher than the control group with hazard ratio (HR) of 1.23 [95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.16–1.31]. Both hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism were significantly higher than control. Significantly higher HR was also seen in female patients, age category of 18 to 39-year-old (y/o) and 40 to 64 y/o subgroups. Higher occurrence of T2D was also seen in thyroid disease patients without comorbidity than in the control group with HR of 1.47 (95% CI = 1.34–1.60). The highest HR was found in the half-year follow-up. There was a relatively high risk of T2D development in patients with thyroid dysfunctions, especially in the period of 0.5 to 1 year after presentation of thyroid dysfunctions. The results suggest performing blood sugar tests in patients with thyroid diseases for early detection and treatment of T2D.

Introduction: Gene p16 encodes a cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor which functions to regulate cyclin D1, cell cycle progression and malignancies. The relationship between p16 and cyclin D1 is thought to alter bladder cancer formation and tumor progression. We aimed to investigate the expression of p16 and cyclin D1 genes in order to evaluate their clinical significance in bladder cancer. Materials and Methods: Tissue samples from 67 patients with transitional cell carcinoma were examined with an immunohistochemical stain for the expression of p16 and cyclin D1 genes. The expression rate was compared to 12 normal urinary bladder mucosa samples obtained from transurethral surgery from noncancer patients. Results: The results revealed significant differences between normal bladder mucosa (100%) and cancer tissue (40.3%) for the positive staining of p16 protein (p < 0.001), while positive staining for the cyclin D1 protein in the patient group (67.2%) was significantly higher (p = 0.003) than that in the control group (16.7%). With the progression of tumor grade and clinical staging the positive rate of p16 gene expression increased, whereas, that of cyclin D1 decreased. Expression of the p16 gene in the non-invasive group was greater than that in the invasive group and a lower expression rate of the cyclin D1 gene in the non-invasive group compared to the invasive group. Conclusions: The results revealed that expression of the p16 gene is inversely proportional to the expression of the cyclin D1 gene. Therefore, abnormal expression of the p16 and cyclin D1 genes play important roles in tumorigenesis and tumor progression.

Pharmacological therapy for urolithiasis using medicinal plants has been increasingly adopted for the prevention of its recurrence. A Drosophila melanogaster model developed for translational research of urolithiasis was applied to evaluate agents with potential antilithic effects and calcium oxalate (CaOx) formation. Potential antilithic herbs were prepared in a mixture of food in a diluted concentration of 5,000 from the original extract with 0.5% ethylene glycol (EG) as the lithogenic agent. The control group was fed with food only. After 3 weeks, flies (n ≥ 150 for each group) were killed using CO2 narcotization, and the Malpighian tubules were dissected, removed, and processed for polarized light microscopy examination of the crystals. The crystal formation rate in the EG group was 100.0%. In the study, 16 tested herbal drugs reached the crystal formation rate of 0.0%, including Salviae miltiorrhizae, Paeonia lactiflora, and Carthami flos. Scutellaria baicalensis enhanced CaOx crystal formation. Two herbal drugs Commiphora molmol and Natrii sulfas caused the death of all flies. Our rapid screening methods provided evidence that some medicinal plants have potential antilithic effects. These useful medicinal plants can be further studied using other animal or human models to verify their effects.