[Endocrinology in 2012: what's new?]. / Endocrinologie, quoi de neuf en 2012?

Maternal hypothyroidism has been associated with intellectual impairment in offspring and, subsequently, routine thyroid screening during pregnancy remains controversial. However current literature has reported no benefit of systematic thyroid screening and substitution with levothyroxine of hypothyroid pregnant women on cognitive function in offspring. Recent studies suggest that subclinical hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism, especially those with TSH >10 mIU/l or <0.1 mIU/l are associated with cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Genetic markers are being studied in order to clarify the nature of benign or malignant thyroid nodules after fine-needle aspiration whom cytology is indeterminate. They could avoid the need for surgery in many cases.

In vitro evaluation of inflammatory cell response after CF4 plasma surface modification of poly(methyl methacrylate) intraocular lenses.

The inflammatory cell response of tetrafluorocarbon (CF4) plasma surface modification of poly(methyl methacrylate) intraocular lenses (IOLs) was investigated in vitro. After two hours of lens contact with human granulocytes, scanning electron microscopy showed significantly less cell activation and granulocyte adhesion on the surface-modified IOL than on the untreated IOL (P < .01). The x-ray photo-electron spectroscopy analysis of the CF4 plasma surface modification demonstrated that new compounds containing fluorine were homogeneously grafted onto the PMMA lens surface, resulting in a marked increase of contact angle. These in vitro results must be confirmed by in vivo studies of CF4 plasma surface modification of IOLs.