The effect of practicing yoga for the management of type II Diabetes was assessed in this systematic review through searching related electronic databases and the grey literature to the end of May 2007 using Ovid. All randomized controlled clinical trials (RCTs) comparing yoga practice with other type of intervention or with regular practice or both, were included regardless of language or type of publication. Each study was assessed for quality by two independent reviewers. Mean difference was used for summarizing the effect of each study outcomes with 95% confidence intervals. Pooling of the studies did not take place due to the wide clinical variation between the studies. Publication bias was assessed by statistical methods. Five trials with 363 participants met the inclusion criteria with medium to high risk of bias and different intervention characteristics. The studies’ results show improvement in outcomes among patients with diabetes type II. These improvements were mainly among short term or immediate diabetes outcomes and not all were statistically significant. The results were inconclusive and not significant for the long-term outcomes. No adverse effects were reported in any of the included studies. Short-term benefits for patients with diabetes may be achieved from practicing yoga. Further research is needed in this area. Factors like quality of the trials and other methodological issues should be improved by large randomized control trials with allocation concealment to assess the effectiveness of yoga on diabetes type II. A definitive recommendation for physicians to encourage their patients to practice yoga cannot be reached at present.

Transthyretin (TTR) is a protein that binds and distributes thyroid hormones (THs). TTR synthesised in the liver is secreted into the bloodstream and distributes THs around the body, whereas TTR synthesised in the choroid plexus is involved in movement of thyroxine from the blood into the cerebrospinal fluid and the distribution of THs in the brain. This is important because an adequate amount of TH is required for normal development of the brain. Nevertheless, there has been heated debate on the role of TTR synthesised by the choroid plexus during the past 20 years. We present both sides of the debate and how they can be reconciled by the discovery of TH transporters. New roles for TTR have been suggested, including the promotion of neuroregeneration, protection against neurodegeneration, and involvement in schizophrenia, behaviour, memory and learning. Recently, TTR synthesis was revealed in neurones and peripheral Schwann cells. Thus, the synthesis of TTR in the central nervous system (CNS) is more extensive than previously considered and bolsters the hypothesis that TTR may play wide roles in neurobiological function. Given the high conservation of TTR structure, function and tissue specificity and timing of gene expression, this implies that TTR has a fundamental role, during development and in the adult, across vertebrates. An alarming number of 'unnatural' chemicals can bind to TTR, thus potentially interfering with its functions in the brain. One role of TTR is delivery of THs throughout the CNS. Reduced TH availability during brain development results in a reduced IQ. The combination of the newly discovered sites of TTR synthesis in the CNS, the increasing number of neurological diseases being associated with TTR, the newly discovered functions of TTR and the awareness of the chemicals that can interfere with TTR biology render this a timely review on TTR in neurobiology.

In female survivors of DTC, there is little observational evidence to suggest important adverse effects of RAI treatment on gonadal function, fertility or pregnancy outcomes beyond 12 months, with the exception of a possible slightly earlier age of menopause.

Abnormalities in testicular function are common within several months of a single therapeutic dose of RAI for WDTC. Biochemical abnormalities usually resolve within 18 months after administration of a single activity of < 150 mCi of RAI. The risk of persistent gonadal dysfunction is increased after repeated or high cumulative RAI activities. Controlled, prospective studies, with long-term follow-up, examining male gonadal and offspring effects of RAI therapy are needed.

Background Oral cancer is one of the most common non-communicable diseases worldwide. This paper presents an evaluation of the trends and geographical distributions of oral cancers in the Saudi Arabian population. Methods Data from Saudi Cancer Registry reports were used in this analysis, which assessed the period between 1994 and 2015. All cancer cases are recorded in these reports, as well as the age, gender, region and histological cancer sites for each patient. Age-standardised and age-specific incidence rates were calculated in these reports. For the purposes of this paper, only cancers of the lips, tongue and mouth were considered oral cancers. Results Between 1994 and 2015, the Saudi Cancer Registry identified 172,424 cancer cases in total. Of these, 3184 were oral cancer. The mean age-standardised rate of oral cancer for the study period was 2.9 per 100,000 people; for females, it was 1.5, and for males, it was 1.4. The incidence of oral cancer varied by region, with Jazan displaying the highest age-standardised rate and Hail displaying the lowest. A positive correlation was observed between oral cancer incidence and age. Conclusion The overall trend of the age-standardised rate for both sexes remained constant from 1994 to 2015. However, the oral cancer incidence in Saudi Arabia varies by region. Studying this variation in more detail will help to guide awareness programmes in the regions that are most in need.