With the development of living standard and the aging society, the incidences of metabolic syndrome and benign prostatic hyperplasia are getting higher and higher. Recent studies show that both metabolic syndrome and benign prostatic hyperplasia are associated with blood vessel injury, hyperinsulinemia and over-activity of the sympathetic nerve. This article presents an overview on the interaction of these two diseases.
Humans ; Hyperinsulinism ; Male ; Metabolic Syndrome ; complications ; Prostatic Hyperplasia ; complications

OBJECTIVEThe prevalence of obesity and of type 2 diabetes mellitus in children have increased in the Chinese population over the past two decades, and thus diabetes prevention has become a major concern of public health agencies. Identification of individuals at risk for diabetes is an essential first step in designing and implementing intervention programs. Insulin resistance is the hallmark of the pathophysiology of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Subjects with hyperinsulinemia and impaired glucose tolerance are well accepted as being at high risk for diabetes. Acanthosis nigricans (AN) has been proposed as a reliable marker of hyperinsulinemia, but its utility for predicting hyperinsulinemia has not been systematically evaluated in obese children. In order to further explore the relationship between obese childhood with benign acanthosis nigricans and insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes mellitus, we examined 19 obese children with benign acanthosis nigricans.

METHODSNineteen of seventy six obese children (25%) with BMI over 25 enrolled in the Children' Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine fromJune 1st to September 1st in 2003 were studied. Skin biopsies were performed in these 19 obese children with acanthosis nigricans for final diagnosis. Levels of glucose, insulin, and glucose/insulin ratio were measured on fasting blood specimens and anthropometric parameters including waist/hip ratio, fat mass, body fat percentage and body mass index were examined. Oral glucose tolerance tests were also performed in these 19 children with benign acanthosis nigricans.

RESULTSAnthropometric parameters including waist/hip ratio, fat mass, body fat percentage and body mass index as well as fasting insulin level in acanthosis nigricans group were significantly higher than that of healthy controls (P < 0.01). Fasting glucose to insulin ratio (FGIR) of these 19 obese children with benign acanthosis nigricans was 4.27 +/- 0.53, indicating apparent insulin resistance. One of them was diagnosed as type 2 diabetes mellitus and ten of them showed impaired oral glucose tolerance.

CONCLUSIONChildhood benign acanthosis nigricans is tightly associated with obesity, hyperinsulinemia, insuline resistance and type 2 diabetes mellitus, and may be used as a reliable index of insulin resistance.

Acanthosis Nigricans ; complications ; physiopathology ; Child ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 ; complications ; physiopathology ; Humans ; Hyperinsulinism ; complications ; physiopathology ; Insulin Resistance ; Obesity ; complications ; physiopathology

The insulin sensitivity in hypertensive patients with normal glucose tolerance (NGT), impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) and the insulin resistance (IR) under the disorder of glucose metabolism and hypertension were studied. By glucose tolerance test and insulin release test, insulin sensitivity index (ISI) and the ratio of area under glucose tolerance curve (AUCG) to area under insulin release curve (AUCI) were calculated and analyzed. The results showed that ISI was decreased to varying degrees in the patients with hypertension, the mildest in the group of NGT with hypertension, followed by the group of IGT without hypertension, the group of IGT with hypertension and DM (P = 0). There was very significant difference in the ratio of AUCG/AUCI between the hypertensive patients with NGT and controls (P = 0). It was concluded that a significant IR existed during the development of IGT both in hypertension and nonhypertension. The increase of total insulin secretion (AUCI) was associated with nonhypertension simultaneously. IR of the hypertensive patients even existed in NGT and was worsened with the deterioration of glucose metabolism disorder, but the AUCI in the HT group changed slightly. A relative deficiency of insulin secretion or dysfunction of beta-cell of islet existed in IGT and DM of the hypertensive patients.
Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2/metabolism ; Glucose Intolerance/complications ; Glucose Intolerance/metabolism ; Hyperinsulinism/etiology ; Hyperinsulinism/metabolism ; Hypertension/complications ; Hypertension/*metabolism ; *Insulin Resistance

Nesidioblastosis in one of the causes of hyperinsulinemic hypoglysemia in infancy. The most important goal of treatment for persistent hypoglycemia is the prevention of permanent brain damage. The early surgical management is satisfactory to this goal in nesidioblastosis and maintains normal blood sugar level without administration of drugs or supplement of sugar postperatively in many cases. We experienced a female infant of 3 months old who has suffered from persistent hypoglysemia due to hyperinsulinism and was suspected nesidioblastosis for ' its cause clinically. She underwent 95% distal pancreatectomy. The histologic findings of nesidioblastosis was confirmed postoperatively. No postoperative complication was occured and her blood sugar levels were maintained within normal range without medical treatment.
Blood Glucose ; Brain ; Female ; Humans ; Hyperinsulinism ; Hypoglycemia ; Infant ; Nesidioblastosis ; Pancreatectomy ; Postoperative Complications ; Reference Values

The insulin sensitivity in hypertensive patients with normal glucose tolerance (NGT), impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) and the insulin resistance (IR) under the disorder of glucose metabolism and hypertension were studied. By glucose tolerance test and insulin release test, insulin sensitivity index (ISI) and the ratio of area under glucose tolerance curve (AUCG) to area under insulin release curve (AUCI) were calculated and analyzed. The results showed that ISI was decreased to varying degrees in the patients with hypertension, the mildest in the group of NGT with hypertension, followed by the group of IGT without hypertension, the group of IGT with hypertension and DM (P = 0). There was very significant difference in the ratio of AUCG/AUCI between the hypertensive patients with NGT and controls (P = 0). It was concluded that a significant IR existed during the development of IGT both in hypertension and nonhypertension. The increase of total insulin secretion (AUCI) was associated with nonhypertension simultaneously. IR of the hypertensive patients even existed in NGT and was worsened with the deterioration of glucose metabolism disorder, but the AUCI in the HT group changed slightly. A relative deficiency of insulin secretion or dysfunction of beta-cell of islet existed in IGT and DM of the hypertensive patients.
Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 ; metabolism ; Female ; Glucose Intolerance ; complications ; metabolism ; Humans ; Hyperinsulinism ; etiology ; metabolism ; Hypertension ; complications ; metabolism ; Insulin Resistance ; Male

Cockayne syndrome is a rare autosomal recessive disorder of childhood characterized by cachectic dwarfism with senile-like appearance, mental retardation, photosensitive dermatitis, loss of adipose tissue, pigmentary degeneration of retina, microcephaly, deafness, skeletal and neurologic abnormalities. We describe here an 18 year old boy with Cockayne syndrome who had, in addition to the typical features of the disorder, fasting hyperinsulinemia and growth hormone deficiency.
Adolescent ; C-Peptide/blood ; Cockayne Syndrome/*complications/pathology ; Growth Disorders/*complications/pathology ; Growth Hormone/*deficiency ; Humans ; Hyperinsulinism/*complications/pathology ; Insulin/blood ; Male ; Optic Atrophy/pathology ; Retinal Degeneration/pathology

OBJECTIVEType 2 diabetes has been recently recognized as an important risk factor for cognitive decline of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). But the roles of hyperinsulinemia (HI) and insulin resistance (IR) in the development of AD are still controversial. This study was designed to evaluate whether HI or IR influenced the cognitive functions of older cohort.

METHODSThe cognitive functions of 328 consecutive elderly patients were evaluated with a battery of cognitive rating scales. Their fasting blood glucose (FBG) and fasting insulin (FINS) were analyzed and IR was calculated with modified-Homa. The cognitive scores in different groups and the correlation of cognitive functions with HI or IR were analyzed.

RESULTSIn our study, there were 180 participants with HI and 148 without HI, and 192 with IR and 136 without IR. The participants with HI showed worse cognitive functions than those without HI in MMSE, MOCA, CDR, orientation, delayed memory, and attention/calculation domains. Similarly, the elderly with IR had lower cognitive scores than those without IR in MMSE, MOCA, CDR, GDS, orientation, delayed memory, and attention/calculation domains. The insulin levels and Homa IR had negative correlation with the scores of MMSE and delayed memory, not only in the model 1 adjusted for FBG and diabetes history, but also in the model 2 adjusted for all nine demographic characteristics.

CONCLUSIONHI and IR are important risk factors for cognitive decline of the elderly, especially for the dysfunctions in delayed memory domains.

Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Cognition ; Cognition Disorders ; blood ; etiology ; Female ; Homeostasis ; Humans ; Hyperinsulinism ; blood ; complications ; psychology ; Insulin ; blood ; Insulin Resistance ; Male

Visceral fat has been reported to be associated with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and the metabolic syndrome (MetS). We assessed the prevalence of both NAFLD and the MetS, measured visceral fat thickness VFT), and estimated the physical activity indexes of 224 relatively healthy hospital workers. We also investigated the associations between both VFT and physical activity index and each of NAFLD and the MetS. The MetS was diagnosed according to the guidelines outlined by the Adult Treatment Panel III, and NAFLD was diagnosed by ultrasonography. Subjects with hepatitis B and C infections and those reporting moderate alcohol consumption were excluded from the study. The prevalence of the MetS was 11.6% and that of NAFLD was 41.5%. Many subjects with the MetS had NAFLD (73.1%), and some subjects with NAFLD (20.4%) also had several components of the MetS (p=0.001). VFT was significantly increased by both the addition of components of the MetS and the severity of NAFLD (p<0.001). In addition, VFT was independently associated with NAFLD (odds ratio [OR], 1.10; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.02-1.19) in subjects with more than 2 components of the MetS. In contrast, habitual physical activity was reversely associated with NAFLD (OR, 0.29; 95% CI, 0.10-0.87). In conclusion, an increased visceral fat content and reduced physical activity could be not only biological markers but also therapeutic targets in the treatment of NAFLD and the MetS.
Adult ; Alcohol Drinking ; Blood Pressure ; Comorbidity ; Fatty Liver/*physiopathology ; Female ; Humans ; Hyperinsulinism/complications ; *Intra-Abdominal Fat ; Male ; Metabolic Syndrome X/*physiopathology ; Middle Aged ; Multivariate Analysis ; Odds Ratio

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Diabetes is one of the risk factors of gallstone diseases. Many studies found a positive association between insulin and gallstones in individuals with diabetes. However, this association is unclear in non-diabetes. So we conducted a case-control study for the evaluation of the association between gallstone diseases and fasting serum insulin level, insulin resistance in non-diabetic Korean general population. METHODS: This study was a prospective case-control study on 118 Korean subjects which included clinical examination, abdominal ultrasound, and blood chemistries. Serum fasting insulin level were determined by radioimmunoassay and concentrations of cholesterol, glucose, and triglycerides by standard enzymatic colorimetric methods. Insulin resistance was determined by the homeostasis model assessment (HOMA-IR). Body mass index (BMI), percentage of body fat, and waist hip ratio were also measured. RESULTS: We studied 118 subjects with no clinical evidence of diabetes mellitus and serum glucose<126 mg/dL. Compared with controls (n=89), cases (n=29) had higher levels of serum insulin, glucose, triglyceride levels, and BMI. In t-test and chi-square test for variables, the association between gallstone disease and serum insulin, HOMA-IR index, and BMI were statistically significant (p<0.05). In multiple logistic regression analysis, gallstone disease risk increased with the level of serum insulin (p=0.024, odds ratio=1.376) and HOMA-IR index (p=0.013, odds ratio=2.006). CONCLUSIONS: We suggest that hyperinsulinemia and insulin resistance could be associated with gallstone formation in individuals without clinical diagnosis of diabetes mellitus and with normal serum glucose level.
Adult ; Body Mass Index ; Case-Control Studies ; Female ; Gallstones/*epidemiology/etiology ; Humans ; Hyperinsulinism/complications ; Insulin/*blood ; *Insulin Resistance ; Korea ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Regression Analysis ; Risk Factors

PURPOSE: To investigate the contribution of HCV infection to insulin resistance in chronic haemodialysis patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was performed with 55 patients who were on regular haemodialysis therapy three times per week. Of the 55 patients, 34 (20 females and 14 males with an average age of 40.9 years) were anti-HCV (+) and were defined as the HCV (+) group. The remaining 21 patients (8 females and 11 males with an average age of 50 years) were negative for HCV and other viral markers and were defined as the HCV (-) group. BMI of all patients were below 27. Insulin resistance (IR) was calculated according to the HOMA formula and patients were called HOMA-IR (+) if their HOMA scores were higher than 2.5. All of the HOMA-IR (+) patients in both groups were called the HOMA-IR (+) subgroup. None of the patients had a history of drug use or any diseases that were related to insulin resistance except uremia. In both groups and the healthy control group, insulin and glucose levels were studied at three different venous serum samples taken at 5- minute intervals after 12 hours of fasting. Other individual variables were studied at venous serum samples taken after 12 hours of fasting. RESULTS: HOMA scores were (3)2.5 in 22 of 34 HCV (+) patients (64.7%) and 7 of 21HCV (-) patients (33.33%) (p=0.024). Insulin levels of HCV (+) group (13.32 +/- 9.44mIU/mL) were significantly higher than HCV (-) (9.07 +/- 7.39mIU/mL) and the control groups (6.40 +/- 4.94mIU/ mL) (p=0.039 and p=0.021 respectively). HCV (+) patients were younger (40.94 +/- 17.06 and 52.62 +/- 20.64 years, respectively) and had longer dialysis duration (7.18 +/- 3.61 and 2.91 +/- 2.69 years, respectively). Significant positive correlations of HOMA score with insulin (r=0.934, p=0.000) and fasting glucose levels (r=0.379, p=0.043) were found in the HOMA- IR (+) subgroup. Also, a significant positive correlation was found between ALT and insulin levels in the HOMA IR (+) subgroup. C-peptide levels of both HCV (+) and (-) groups were significantly higher than the control group (p < 0.001). There were not any significant correlations between HOMA score and some of the other individual variables including levels of triglyceride, ferritin, ALT, iPTH and Mg in any of the groups. CONCLUSION: In chronic haemodialysis patients; HCV infection is related to a high prevalence of insulin resistance, higher insulin and glucose levels.
*Renal Dialysis ; Middle Aged ; Male ; Kidney Failure, Chronic/*complications ; *Insulin Resistance ; Insulin/blood ; Hyperinsulinism/epidemiology ; Humans ; Hepatitis C/*epidemiology ; Female ; C-Peptide/blood ; Adult