Familial mediterranean fever: a prevalent condition amongest the arabs

Autoinflammatory diseases are a group of disorders characterized by seemingly unprovoked inflammation in the absence of high-titer autoantibodies or antigen-specific T-cells and include the hereditary periodic fever syndromes. Familial Mediterranean Fever [FMF] is the prototype of the autoinflammatory disorder. It is an autosomal recessive disorder with high prevalence in non Ashkenazi Jews, Armenians, Turks and Arabs. The classic clinical picture is recurrent acute short-lived febrile and painful attacks with variable periods of remission. It is complicated by amyloidosis that leads to renal failure in a subset of patients. The gene responsible for FMF, MEFV, has been identified and its role in inflammation is under study. There appears to be a distinctive clinical picture among Arab FMF patients and the spectrum and distribution of MEFV mutations is different from other ethnic groups commonly affected by FMF. The clinical and molecular aspects of FMF in the Arabs are discussed

Effects of short term metformin administration on androgens in diabetic men.

Metformin, an oral hypoglycemic agent, has several other metabolic and hormonal effects. This study aims at identifying the metabolic effect of metformin on androgens in diabetic men. The study was conducted at The National Center for Diabetes Endocrinology and Genetics, Jordan University Hospital, Amman, Jordan from April 2001 to September 2001. We studied 15 men with type 2 diabetes mellitus by measuring fasting serum glucose, insulin, glycosylated hemoglobin, total and free testosterone, sex hormone binding globulin, dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate, 17-OH progesterone, luteinizing hormone, and follicle stimulating hormone before and after a short course of metformin. There was a significant decrease in fasting serum glucose and glycosylated hemoglobin and increase in the level of 17-OH progesterone. The remainder of the measured parameters did not show any significant change. Although serum glucose and glycosylated hemoglobin decreased insulin levels were not changed. In contrast to normal men there was no change in androgen levels in diabetics but the 17-OH progesterone was elevated