Scholars@Duke
Maria Martinez Cruz

Selected Publications

The forgotten - overcoming challenges in diabetes care for marginalized populations.

Journal Article Expert Rev Endocrinol Metab · September 2025 INTRODUCTION: Diabetes disproportionately affects marginalized populations, leading to poorer glycemic control, higher complications, and reduced quality of life. Unequal access to care, mediated by multiple social determinants of health (SDoH), further ex ... Full text Link to item Cite

Endocrinology: What You May Have Missed in 2024.

Journal Article Ann Intern Med · May 2025 During 2024, there were many practice-changing innovations in the field of endocrinology, particularly related to the use of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs). From the substantial new evidence published in 2024, 10 studies are highlight ... Full text Link to item Cite

The Placental Role in Gestational Diabetes Mellitus: A Molecular Perspective.

Journal Article TouchREVIEWS in endocrinology · April 2024 During pregnancy, women undergo several metabolic changes to guarantee an adequate supply of glucose to the foetus. These metabolic modifications develop what is known as physiological insulin resistance. When this process is altered, however, gestational ... Full text Cite

A Biphasic Presentation of Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma Metastasis to the Hypothalamus-pituitary Axis: A Case Report and Literature Review.

Journal Article Journal of community hospital internal medicine perspectives · January 2024 The Hypothalamus-Pituitary axis (HPA) is a rare location for metastasis of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Lymphomas constitute less than 0.5% of reported HPA metastasis. This case is unique in that, in addition to the noted panhypopituitarism; initial diagnostics ... Full text Cite

Endocrine Shades of Silicone Fillers: A Case of Calcitriol-mediated Hypercalcemia.

Journal Article Journal of community hospital internal medicine perspectives · January 2024 BackgroundThe inflammatory reaction of foreign body granulomas (FBG) may be so vast that it leads to severe systemic effects.Case reportA 42-year-old woman was referred to the ED with severe recurrent symptomatic hypercalcemia associated ... Full text Cite

PSUN186 Comparison of Thyroid Function Test Screening in Patients with Diabetes Mellitus Type 2 versus Patients with Diabetes Mellitus Type 1

Journal Article Journal of the Endocrine Society · November 1, 2022 AbstractDiabetes mellitus (DM) and thyroid dysfunction (TD) are common endocrine diseases that often coexist in clinical practice. Prevalence of TD in individuals with DM type 2 ranges from 9.9 to 48%. There ... Full text Cite

The Role of the α Cell in the Pathogenesis of Diabetes: A World beyond the Mirror.

Journal Article International journal of molecular sciences · September 2021 Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) is one of the most prevalent chronic metabolic disorders, and insulin has been placed at the epicentre of its pathophysiological basis. However, the involvement of impaired alpha (α) cell function has been recognized as play ... Full text Cite

Age-specific waist circumference cutoff-points for abdominal obesity diagnosis: a personalized strategy for a large Venezuelan population.

Journal Article Journal of diabetes and metabolic disorders · June 2021 BackgroundEvidence shows that the ageing process is a determining factor in fat distribution, composition, and functionality. The goal of this research was to determine cut-off points for waist circumference according to age in the adult populatio ... Full text Cite

Biochemical and clinical characterization of metabolic phenotypes: a cross-sectional study from Maracaibo city, Venezuela

Journal Article · 2021 Background: In 1980, Reuben Andresen observed that in certain individuals, obesity did not increase mortality, introducing an atypical phenotype called “healthy obese”. Other studies reported that 10-15 % of lean individuals presented insulin res ... Full text Cite

Clinical-epidemiological analysis of HDL2 and HDL3 subfractions in adults from Maracaibo city, Venezuela.

Journal Article Revista peruana de medicina experimental y salud publica · December 2020 ObjectiveTo carry out a clinical-epidemiological analysis of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol subfractions (HDL-C) in adults from Maracaibo, Venezuela.Materials and methodsA descriptive and cross-sectional study of the database from t ... Full text Cite

Microbiota and Diabetes Mellitus: Role of Lipid Mediators.

Journal Article Nutrients · October 2020 Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is an inflammatory clinical entity with different mechanisms involved in its physiopathology. Among these, the dysfunction of the gut microbiota stands out. Currently, it is understood that lipid products derived from the gut microbi ... Full text Cite

Non-HDL cholesterol is better than LDL-c at predicting atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease risk factors clustering, even in subjects with near-to-normal triglycerides: A report from a Venezuelan population

Journal Article · 2019 Background: Non-high density lipoprotein cholesterol (non-HDL-c) has emerged as an important tool in primary prevention of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD), especially among those at high risk. The main objective of this study was t ... Full text Cite

Non-HDL cholesterol is better than LDL-c at predicting atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease risk factors clustering, even in subjects with near-to-normal triglycerides: A report from a Venezuelan population

Journal Article F1000Research · April 26, 2018 Background: Non-high density lipoprotein cholesterol (non-HDL-c) has emerged as an important tool in primary prevention of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD), especially among those at high risk. The main objective o ... Full text Cite

Biochemical and clinical characterization of metabolic phenotypes: a cross-sectional study from Maracaibo city, Venezuela

Journal Article F1000Research · February 27, 2018 Background:In 1980, Reuben Andresen observed that in certain individuals, obesity did not increase mortality, introducing an atypical phenotype called “healthy obese”. Other studies reported that 10-15 % of lean individuals pres ... Full text Cite

Bacteria in cancer therapy: beyond immunostimulation

Journal Article Journal of Cancer Metastasis and Treatment · January 24, 2018 Full text Cite

Insulin resistance indices and coronary risk in adults from Maracaibo city, Venezuela: A cross sectional study

Journal Article F1000Research · January 11, 2018 Background: Insulin resistance (IR) is a metabolic disorder related to atherosclerosis. Its measurement is of great importance not only as a marker of diabetes but also for cardiovascular disease. The aim of this research study ... Full text Cite

Insulin resistance indices and coronary risk in adults from Maracaibo city, Venezuela: A cross sectional study.

Journal Article F1000Research · January 2018 Background: Insulin resistance (IR) is a metabolic disorder related to atherosclerosis. Its measurement is of great importance not only as a marker of diabetes but also for cardiovascular disease. The aim of this research study was to evaluate the r ... Full text Cite

Pancreatic Beta Cell Death: Novel Potential Mechanisms in Diabetes Therapy.

Journal Article Journal of diabetes research · January 2018 Purpose of reviewDescribing the diverse molecular mechanisms (particularly immunological) involved in the death of the pancreatic beta cell in type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus.Recent findingsBeta cell death is the final event in a seri ... Full text Cite

Biochemical and clinical characterization of metabolic phenotypes: a cross-sectional study from Maracaibo city, Venezuela.

Journal Article F1000Research · January 2018 Background: In 1980, Reuben Andresen observed that in certain individuals, obesity did not increase mortality, introducing an atypical phenotype called "healthy obese". Other studies reported that 10-15 % of lean individuals presented insulin resist ... Full text Cite

Effect of home-prepared meals or school-offered meals consuming in lipid profile of school-aged children from Maracaibo municipality, Venezuela

Journal Article Revista Latinoamericana De Hipertension · January 1, 2018 Background and Objectives: In recent decades, the prevalence of diseases such as obesity and dyslipidemia has increased among children, often attributed to practices typical of Westernized societies. This includes excess calorie intake in all meals includi ... Cite

Association between nitric oxide and hypotension in patients at chronic hemodialysis in Maracaibo University Hospital

Journal Article Revista Latinoamericana De Hipertension · January 1, 2018 Hypotension is the most common clinical manifestation of hemodynamic instability during hemodialysis (HD) procedure. The origin of this hemodynamic disorder is multifactorial, but recently nitric oxide (NO) has been shown an important role on its pathophys ... Cite

FTO gene: Historic background and its relationship with chronic-degenerative diseases

Journal Article Revista Latinoamericana De Hipertension · January 1, 2018 Alterations in the development of attention and behavioral organization can configure clinical diagnoses such as attention deficit disorder (ADD) that may not be accompanied by hyperactivity (ADHD), the latter seems to have a direct relationship with other ... Cite

Dyslipidemia: Genetics, lipoprotein lipase and HindIII polymorphism

Journal Article F1000Research · November 30, 2017 The direct link between lipid metabolism alterations and the increase of cardiovascular risk are well documented. Dyslipidemias, including isolated high LDL-c or mixed dyslipidemia, such as those seen in diabetes (hypertriglyceridemia, high LDL-c or ... Full text Cite

Importance of high triglycerides levels between novel coronary risk factors

Journal Article Revista Colombiana De Cardiologia · November 1, 2017 Introduction The analysis of new cardiovascular risk factors is under an extensive debate in the cardiology and metabolic research fields. Objective To determine the main factors that contribute to the classification of individuals with higher coronary ris ... Full text Cite

Optimal cutoff for the evaluation of insulin resistance through triglyceride-glucose index: A cross-sectional study in a Venezuelan population

Journal Article F1000Research · August 7, 2017 Background: Insulin resistance (IR) evaluation is a fundamental goal in clinical and epidemiological research. However, the most widely used methods are difficult to apply to populations with low incomes. The triglyceride-glucos ... Full text Cite

Dyslipidemia: Genetics, lipoprotein lipase and HindIII polymorphism.

Journal Article F1000Research · January 2017 The direct link between lipid metabolism alterations and the increase of cardiovascular risk are well documented. Dyslipidemias, including isolated high LDL-c or mixed dyslipidemia, such as those seen in diabetes (hypertriglyceridemia, high LDL-c or low HD ... Full text Cite

Dysglycemic states and hypertension: A relationship dependent on low-grade inflammation

Journal Article · 2017 Background: Hypertension (HTN) is a prominent cardiovascular risk factor, affecting over 1 billion people worldwide. Identification of closely associated cardiometabolic conditions may be crucial for its early detection. The objective of this stu ... Full text Cite

Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids and cardiovascular health: a molecular view into structure and function

Journal Article Vessel Plus · January 1, 2017 Given the notorious impact of cardiovascular disease (CVD) as the current leading cause of mortality worldwide, the prevention, identification and management of CV risk factors represents a priority in daily clinical practice. Several studies have shown th ... Full text Cite

Energetic metabolism in cardiomyocytes: molecular basis of heart ischemia and arrhythmogenesis

Journal Article Vessel Plus · January 1, 2017 Cardiac muscle contraction is a strictly regulated process which conjugates a series of electrophysiological, biochemical and mechanic events, resulting in the pumping of blood to all bodily tissues. These phenomena require a very high energetic demand bot ... Full text Cite

Excitotoxicity: An Organized Crime at The Cellular Level

Journal Article Journal of Neurology and Neuroscience · 2017 Full text Cite

Management and Education in Patients with Diabetes Mellitus

Journal Article Medical & Clinical Reviews · 2017 Full text Cite

Optimal cutoff for the evaluation of insulin resistance through triglyceride-glucose index: A cross-sectional study in a Venezuelan population.

Journal Article F1000Research · January 2017 Background: Insulin resistance (IR) evaluation is a fundamental goal in clinical and epidemiological research. However, the most widely used methods are difficult to apply to populations with low incomes. The triglyceride-glucose index (TGI) emerges ... Full text Cite

Optimal cutoff for the evaluation of insulin resistance through triglyceride-glucose index: A cross-sectional study in a Venezuelan population

Journal Article F1000research · January 1, 2017 Background: Insulin resistance (IR) evaluation is a fundamental goal in clinical and epidemiological research. However, the most widely used methods are difficult to apply to populations with low incomes. The triglyceride-glucose index (TGI) emerges as an ... Full text Cite

Immune system development: Nature or breeding?

Journal Article Archivos Venezolanos De Farmacologia Y Terapeutica · January 1, 2017 The celullar and molecular mechanisms that intervene in the immune system work as a whole to maintain health. However, in order to reach this balance that has allowed the adaptation and preservation of many species throughout time, evolution has forced an ... Cite

Chikungunya virus infection: From clinics to inmunopathogenesis

Journal Article Archivos Venezolanos De Farmacologia Y Terapeutica · January 1, 2017 Chikungunya fever is an acute febril disease related with severe polyarthralgias, caused by Chikungunya Virus (CHIKV) an arthropode borne virus endemic in tropical áreas, trasmitted to humans through the bite of the infected mosquito Aedes spp. In the last ... Cite

Retinoblastoma: A molecular, clinical and therapeutic approach

Journal Article Archivos Venezolanos De Farmacologia Y Terapeutica · January 1, 2017 Retinoblastoma is the most common malignant ocular tumor in children, produced by a mutation in the Retinoblastoma 1 (RB1) tumor suppressor gene in the retinal cell genome. It has been pointed out that retinoblastoma originates in the retina´s inner nuclea ... Cite

Pituitary incidentaloma: Diagnostic and therapeutic approach

Journal Article Archivos Venezolanos De Farmacologia Y Terapeutica · January 1, 2017 The continual technological development in the field of medical imaging offers more and more detail in the characterization of pathophysiological phenomena of the human body. These advances have conditioned an increase in the discovery of incidental findin ... Cite

Searching for the ideal hypnotic: Pharmacological treatment of Insomnia

Journal Article Archivos Venezolanos De Farmacologia Y Terapeutica · January 1, 2017 Insomnia is a sleep disorder characterized by difficulty for the onset or maintenance of sleep, as well as shortening, fragmentation or bad quality of sleep, and feeling unrested the following day. Insomnia boasts a high prevalence in industrialized countr ... Cite

Parathyroid hormone, aldosterone and hypertension: An underrated threat?

Journal Article Revista Latinoamericana De Hipertension · January 1, 2017 Primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) is a common endocrine disorder characterized by autonomic parathyroid hormone secretion (PTH). Although its asymptomatic variant is the most frequently found in clinical practice (which is incidentally diagnosed), bone an ... Cite

86(th) Annual Meeting of the American Thyroid Association.

Journal Article Thyroid : official journal of the American Thyroid Association · September 2016 Full text Cite

Prevalence and Associated Factors of Insulin Resistance in Adults from Maracaibo City, Venezuela.

Journal Article Advances in preventive medicine · January 2016 Background and Aim. Insulin resistance (IR) is a prominent pathophysiologic component in a myriad of metabolic disorders, including obesity, prediabetes, and type 2 diabetes mellitus, which are common in our locality. The objective of this study was to det ... Full text Cite

Medical imaging: Foundations and scope

Journal Article Archivos Venezolanos De Farmacologia Y Terapeutica · January 1, 2016 Nowdays, several forms of medical imaging are usefulness in clinical support for both diagnostics diseases generation and treatment planning designed to provide an alternative solution to people who, for one or another reason, manifest an imbalance in your ... Cite

Application of fuzzy logic and genetic algorithms for classification of malignant neoplastic diseases treatments

Journal Article Archivos Venezolanos De Farmacologia Y Terapeutica · January 1, 2016 A fuzzy classifier is a system that assigns a class label to object based on a description of it and makes use of fuzzy sets as part of its operation. Its functioning can be optimized using genetic algorithms, ensuring viable solutions. The paper proposes ... Cite

A tale about perfect partners: New horizons in glimepiride and metformin Mechanisms of action

Journal Article Archivos Venezolanos De Farmacologia Y Terapeutica · January 1, 2016 The sustainability of the effects, the improvement of directly damaged and associated organ dysfunction, acceptable oral tolerability and lower side effects are probably the desired outcomes of any pharmacological therapy, especially for one that is used f ... Cite

Relationship between Alcohol Consumption and Components of the Metabolic Syndrome in Adult Population from Maracaibo City, Venezuela.

Journal Article Advances in preventive medicine · January 2015 Introduction. Although the relationships between alcohol and disorders such as cancer and liver disease have been thoroughly researched, its effects on cardiometabolic health remain controversial. Therefore, the objective of this study was to assess the as ... Full text Cite

Macrophage Heterogeneity and Plasticity: Impact of Macrophage Biomarkers on Atherosclerosis.

Journal Article Scientifica · January 2015 Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a global epidemic, currently representing the worldwide leading cause of morbidity and mortality. Atherosclerosis is the fundamental pathophysiologic component of CVD, where the immune system plays an essential role. Monocyt ... Full text Cite

The San José de cúcuta metabolic syndrome prevalence study: Design and scop

Journal Article Revista Latinoamericana De Hipertension · January 1, 2015 The metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a cluster of interrelated risk factors -including obesity, atherogenic dyslipidemia, hypertension, and insulin resistance, which exponentially increase the risk of developing cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes melli ... Cite

Medical imaging segmentation methods: Foundations and scope

Journal Article Revista Latinoamericana De Hipertension · January 1, 2015 ardiac structures segmentation is a great interest issue to medical community, particularly, in cardiology since the segmentation of heart structures is useful for quantification and monitoring of cardiovascular function. Moreover, segmentation of cardiac ... Cite

Optimal waist circumference cut-off point for multiple risk factor aggregation: Results from the maracaibo city metabolic syndrome prevalence study

Journal Article Epidemiology Research International · December 9, 2014 Context and Objective. The purpose of this study was to determine optimal waist circumference (WC) cut-off values for the detection of multiple risk factor aggregation in individuals from Maracaibo, Venezuela.Participants and Methods. A total of 1,902 adul ... Full text Cite

Keloid folliculitis: A case report

Journal Article Piel · October 1, 2014 Full text Cite

C-Reactive Protein: An In-Depth Look into Structure, Function, and Regulation.

Journal Article International scholarly research notices · January 2014 Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the adult population worldwide, with atherosclerosis being its key pathophysiologic component. Atherosclerosis possesses a fundamental chronic inflammatory aspect, and the involvemen ... Full text Cite

C-reactive protein: clinical and epidemiological perspectives.

Journal Article Cardiology research and practice · January 2014 An important etiopathogenic component of cardiovascular disease is atherosclerosis, with inflammation being an essential event in the pathophysiology of all clinical pictures it comprises. In recent years, several molecules implicated in this process have ... Full text Cite

Successful management of insulin allergy and autoimmune polyendocrine syndrome type 4 with desensitization therapy and glucocorticoid treatment: a case report and review of the literature.

Journal Article Case reports in immunology · January 2014 Introduction. Insulin allergy is a rare complication of insulin therapy, especially in type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). Key manifestations are hypersensitivity-related symptoms and poor metabolic control. T1DM, as well as insulin allergy, may develop in th ... Full text Cite

Epidemiologic Behavior and Estimation of an Optimal Cut-Off Point for Homeostasis Model Assessment-2 Insulin Resistance: A Report from a Venezuelan Population.

Journal Article International scholarly research notices · January 2014 Background. Mathematical models such as Homeostasis Model Assessment have gained popularity in the evaluation of insulin resistance (IR). The purpose of this study was to estimate the optimal cut-off point for Homeostasis Model Assessment-2 Insulin Resista ... Full text Cite

The Maracaibo city metabolic syndrome prevalence study: Primary results and agreement level of 3 diagnostic criteria

Journal Article Revista Latinoamericana De Hipertension · January 1, 2014 Objective: the purpose of this investigation was to determine the prevalence of Metabolic Syndrome (MS) and associated factors in the adult population of Maracaibo. Materials and Methods: This is a descriptive, crosssectional study, with a randomized multi ... Cite

Alcohol drinking patterns in the adult population from the Maracaibo municipality, Zulia - Venezuela

Journal Article Revista Latinoamericana De Hipertension · January 1, 2014 Background and Objectives: Alcohol consumption is a widely distributed practice worldwide with several dosedependent effects on health. The magnitude of these consequences is modified by cultural and sociodemographic factors which shape behaviors towards t ... Cite

Variations of lipoprotein(a) levels in the metabolic syndrome: a report from the Maracaibo City Metabolic Syndrome Prevalence Study.

Journal Article Journal of diabetes research · January 2013 BackgroundLipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] is a known risk factor for cardiovascular disease, yet its influence on metabolic syndrome (MS) is still controversial. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact generated by this diagnosis in serum Lp(a) ... Full text Cite

Epidemiological behavior of high -sensitivity C-Reactive Protein (hs-CRP) in adult individuals in the Maracaibo city, Venezuela

Journal Article Revista Latinoamericana De Hipertension · January 1, 2013 Objectives: High-sensitivity C-Reactive Protein (hs-CRP) is one of the most applied inflammation markers; therefore, the main objective of this research is to evaluate its epidemiological behavior in adult subjects of the Maracaibo City, Venezuela. Materia ... Cite

Prevalence, awareness, management of hypertension and association with metabolic abnormalities: The Maracaibo city metabolic syndrome prevalence study

Journal Article Revista Latinoamericana De Hipertension · January 1, 2012 Background: The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence and epidemiologic behavior of Hypertension (HT) in the Maracaibo Municipality, Zulia state, Venezuela. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study, where 2,230 su ... Cite

Biologic Behavior and optimal cut-off point estimation for Serum Fasting Insulin: A report from the Maracaibo City Metabolic Syndrome Prevalence Study

Journal Article Revista Latinoamericana De Hipertension · January 1, 2012 Introduction: Insulin resistance is a metabolic state in which tissue effects of insulin are diminished, leading to hyperinsulinemia as a compensatory mechanism. The combination of insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia constitutes one of the main pathoph ... Cite