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TSH routine testing in hospitalized patients has low efficacy, but may be beneficial in a selected subgroup of patients. Our aim was to evaluate the efficacy of routine thyroid function tests among patients admitted to internal medicine departments. It is a retrospective study. A randomly selected cohort of hospitalized patients with abnormal thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) blood tests drawn as part of admission protocol. Patient data were collected from the electronic medical files and analyzed for its efficacy. TSH as a screening test was proven unnecessary in 75% (174) of the study population. Leading causes were non-thyroidal illness syndrome, drugs affecting the test results and subclinical disorders. TSH testing was found to be clinically helpful in only 9 patients; however, all of them had other clinical need for TSH testing. We found a clinically abnormal TSH in 20 patients, hypothyroidism in 11 patients and thyrotoxicosis in 9 patients. Low efficacy ascribed to TSH screening test by this study correlates with recent recommendations that indicate TSH screening in admitted patients only with accompanying clinical suspicion. Most probably, the majority of patients found by screening to have thyrotoxicosis have non-thyroidal illness or drug effects so the threshold for FT4 to diagnose overt thyrotoxicosis should be higher than that in ambulatory patients. In elderly patients, clinically relevant TSH disturbances are more frequent and are harder to diagnose, therefore, TSH screening in this group of patients might be beneficial.

Studies by our group demonstrated brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels in blood and BDNF-Val66met-SNP as potential biomarkers in chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy. Here, we evaluate symptoms of peripheral neuropathy (PN) and depression in patients with type II diabetes mellitus in search of an association with serum BDNF levels and the Val66Met-SNP. In total, 90 patients enrolled in the study; 23 (25.6%) had known PN, as determined by nerve conduction studies (NCS–PN), and 67 (74.4%) were not diagnosed with PN (U-PN). PN symptoms were assessed and graded in these groups using the total neuropathy score (TNSr) and DN4 scales. Small nerve fiber testing of sensitivity thresholds to cold, warm and hot pain signals was performed using the Q-sense device. Depression was assessed using the PHQ9 questionnaire. BDNF protein levels and Val66Met-SNP were determined with ELISA and Sanger sequencing, respectively. NCS–PN patients showed lower serum BDNF levels alongside significantly higher TNSr, DN4 and PHQ9 scores and lower hot pain sensitivity thresholds as compared to U-PN patients. Patients with Met-BDNF-SNP showed increased TNSr scores and lower hot pain sensitivity thresholds as compared to patients with Val-BDNF-SNP. Depression showed a weaker correlation with sensitivity thresholds to hot pain signals as compared to TNSr and DN4 scores. Diminished peripheral BDNF resources and Met-BDNF-SNP genotype are associated with augmented symptoms of PN in patients with type II diabetes mellitus. Sensitivity thresholds to hot pain signals may be less influenced by depression and possibly more accurately detect PN symptoms in diabetic patients.

Background: Northern Israel is characterized by a multi-ethnic population. We looked for differences in the risk factors for hyperglycemia in Jews, Muslims and Druze without diabetes. Methods: Adult visitors to our Medical Center without known diabetes were included in the study. A point-of-care (POC) capillary blood glucose level with institutional glucometer and a seated blood pressure were measured and additional data were collected from an interview. We excluded people with hypoglycemic drug usage, acute disease, glucocorticoid usage, pregnancy and capillary blood glucose in the diabetes range. The blood glucose levels were divided according to last caloric intake to postprandial (4 hours or less) or pre-prandial (more than 4 hours). Hyperglycemia was defined as pre-prandial blood glucose level ≥100 mg/dl or postprandial glucose level ≥140 mg/dl. High systolic blood pressure was defined as ≥140 mm Hg. Backward stepwise logistic regression was used to identify the factors independently associated with hyperglycemia. Results: A total of 1062 Jews, 419 Muslims and 341 Druze were included in the analysis. 57% of Muslims, 44% of Jews and 34% of Druze reported that they are religious. Compare to Jews, Muslims had increased risk for hyperglycemia (OR 1.73, 95% CI 1.22-2.43, p=0.002) and Druze had no significant difference. After adjusting for sex, high systolic blood pressure and fewer than 12 years of education, age was a significant risk factor for hyperglycemia in all three religions and obesity was an independent risk factor for Druze (OR 2.45, 95% CI 1.28-4.69, p=0.07) and Muslims (OR 2.25, 95% CI 1.31-3.86). Only religious Muslims had an independently lower risk for hyperglycemia than non-religious Muslims (OR 0.5, 95% CI 0.29-0.86, p=0.012). Conclusion: Religion and religiosity are independently associated with hyperglycemia in people without diabetes. Muslims in north Israel have increased risk for hyperglycemia compared to Jews but this risk is lower in religious people. Disclosure A. Bashkin: None. M. Shehadeh: None. R. Yaacovy: None. M. Nodelman: None. A. Zur: None. M. Barhoum: None.

Background: BDNF is a neuronal growth factor essential for nervous system maintenance. Objective: We have evaluated peripheral neuropathy (PN) and depression in patients with type 2 diabetic mellitus and looked for an association with serum protein levels of BDNF and the BDNF-Val66Met-SNP. Methods: Symptoms of PN were clinically assessed and graded using Total Neuropathy Score (TNSr) scale. Small nerve fiber testing was performed using the Q-sense device. Depression was assessed using PHQ9 questionnaire. BDNF protein levels and Val66Met-SNP were determined with ELISA and Sanger sequencing respectively. Results: 42 patients, 18 non-insulin treated (NIT) and 24 insulin treated (IT) were included. Albeit similar disease duration, the IT group show increased HbA1c and glucose levels as compared to NIT group, suggesting a more aggressive disease in the IT group. Higher TNSr-sensory and autonomic scores and low sensitivity thresholds to cold, warm and hot-pain signals were found in the IT group. Likewise, PHQ9 score was higher in the IT group. Serum BDNF protein levels were lower in the IT group. Met-BDNF proportion among female patients was lower relative to male patients (23.5% vs. 76.5% respectively, Prob>ChiSq=0.01). Of note, Met-BDNF female patients were all in the IT group and show a trend of increased TNSr and PHQ9 score as compared to Val-BDNF female patients. Correlations between patients' PHQ9 score and TNSr score or Q-sense cold and warm sensitivity thresholds were found only in Met-BDNF carriers, suggesting that PN and depression are coincided in Met-BDNF carriers. Conclusion: A diminished peripheral BDNF resource in our IT patients is associated with uncontrol diabetes and underlined augmented symptoms of PN and depression. The negative effect of Met-BDNF in female patients and the correlation of depression and PN in Met-BDNF should be further studied. Disclosure A. Bashkin: None. A. Safadi: None. B. Gross: None. N.A. Horowitz: None. R. Sharon: None. E. Shaoul: None. M. Nodelman: None. D. Azoulay: None. Funding D-Cure

Introduction: Thyroid dysfunction in patients in non-surgical departments is common and often caused by nonthyroidal illness syndrome (NTIS) and medications. The aim of this study was to characterize overt thyrotoxicosis when TSH is measured routinely in medical departments. Methods: This is a retrospective study of adult patients from medical departments, who were admitted to our medical center for any reason. TSH level was measured on admission routinely in all patients, FT3 and FT4 levels were measured in patients with low TSH. In order to characterize the patients with overt thyrotoxicosis, three groups were defined and compared: 1) T4 group: overt thyrotoxicosis with high FT4 included a random sample of patients who had low TSH and only high FT4 levels. 2) T3 group: overt thyrotoxicosis with high FT3 included all patients with low TSH and high FT3 levels (with and without high FT4 levels). 3. NTIS group: Included a random sample of patients with low TSH and FT3 levels and FT4 levels below the middle of the normal range. Results: TSH levels were measured on admission in 77,147 inpatients and 82 (0.11%) patients met the criteria for T3 group. The T4 and the NTIS groups included a random sample of 123 patients and 119 patients respectively. The T4 group was 5.1 times more prevalent than the T3 group. The T3 group had much more elevated FT3 level compared to FT4 elevation in T4 group, 85.4% of the patients in T4 group had FT4 level less than 1.25 times the upper normal level. In addition, the T4 group had low FT3 levels, 79.7% of patients had FT3 levels in the lower half of the norm and less. Compared to the T3 group, the T4 group was older, had less supraventricular arrhythmia, more systemic or inhaled corticosteroids treatment and higher CRP levels (all p

Hypothyroidism is the most frequent endocrinologic disorder after diabetes. It is caused by the insufficient production of thyroid hormones Thyroxine (T4) and Triiodothyronine (T3). T4 is the main hormone that is accumulated in the thyroid gland, while T3 is the active hormone that is produced from T4 in the peripheral tissues. More than 99% of the patients have primary hypothyroidism which is due to thyroid disorder mainly Hashimoto's thyroiditis or iatrogenic. Hypothyroidism is divided into sub-clinical when T4 is in the normal range and overt when it is low and usually the TSH level is higher than 10 mIU\L. The diagnosis is based on blood tests, because the signs and symptoms are neither specific nor sensitive. In the elderly, the upper limit of normal TSH level is higher than that reported by the laboratory in Israel and in healthy young it is lower. TSH is the most sensitive tool for screening, diagnosis and treatment follow-up when the pituitary is normal. The drug of choice in hypothyroidism is Levothyroxine (T4 salt) which is very effective, well tolerated and inexpensive.

We have previously introduced the potential of casein micelles (CM) as natural nanovehicles for hydrophobic nutraceuticals, e.g. vitamin D (VD) (E. Semo, E. Kesselman, D. Danino and Y. D. Livney, Food Hydrocolloids, 2007, 21, 936-942). The aims of the current study were to improve performance by adding an ultra-high-pressure homogenization step, and to evaluate the protection conferred by re-assembled CM (rCM) against VD thermal and oxidative degradation, and the bioavailability of VD(3) in rCM, by a clinical trial. Dynamic-light-scattering showed that VD(3)-rCM had a diameter of 91 ± 8 nm (average ± standard error). When VD(3) was encapsulated in rCM and subjected to thermal treatment (80 °C, 1 min), no significant loss was observed (P0.05), compared to 13 and 14% loss of VD(3) emulsified with Tween-80 (a synthetic emulsifier typically used for VD solubilization) and of unencapsulated VD(3) respectively (P0.05). VD(3) in rCM was also more stable during 28 d cold storage (∼40% loss) compared to Tween-80 emulsified (∼50% loss) or to un-encapsulated (∼70% loss) VD(3). Ultra-high-pressure homogenization of VD(3)-rCM (∼155 MPa) significantly enhanced vitamin stability, resulting in only ∼10% loss after 28 d of storage. Bioavailability of a single-dose of 50,000 international-units (IU) VD(3) encapsulated in rCM, in 1% fat milk, investigated in a randomized double blinded placebo controlled clinical study with 87 human volunteers, was at least as high as that using an aqueous Tween-80-emulsified VD(3) supplement. We conclude that ultra-high-pressure homogenization treated rCM protect VD(3) against heat- and storage-induced degradation, and VD(3) encapsulated in rCM is highly bioavailable.