Evaluation of the effects of glycated hemoglobin on cardiac function in patients with short-duration type 2 diabetes mellitus: A cardiovascular magnetic resonance study.

AIMS: To investigate the association between glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) and myocardial dysfunction and to determine whether its association is independent of myocardial perfusion. METHODS: Sixty-four patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) were recruited. They were divided into groups according to their HbA1c level: the controlled T2DM group (HbA1c < 7%) and uncontrolled T2DM groups (HbA1c ≥ 7%). Meanwhile, 30 age-matched healthy volunteers were included. All patients with T2DM and healthy controls underwent cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging to evaluate the myocardial mechanics and perfusion parameters. RESULTS: The circumferential and longitudinal peak strain (PS) (p = 0.009 and 0.002 respectively) and global radial, circumferential, and longitudinal peak strain diastolic strain rates (PDSRs) (p = 0.002, 0.001, and 0.001 respectively) were lower in the uncontrolled T2DM group than in the controls without diabetes. In multivariable linear regression analysis, HbA1c was independently related to all directions of the PS and PDSR. The myocardial perfusion parameters were not independently associated with the PS or PDSR. CONCLUSIONS: Cardiac function is impaired in Chinese T2DM patients with poor glucose control (HbA1c ≥ 7%), with preserved left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction, and disease duration <10 years. Poor blood glucose control is an independent predictor of LV myocardial dysfunction for patients with short-term T2DM.

[Diagnostic Efficiency of Different Screening Indexes for Primary Aldosteronism].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the the feasibility and diagnostic efficiencyvalue of different screening indexesmethods for screening primary aldosteronism (PA). METHODS: The clinical data of 499 patients with PA and 479 patients with essential hypertension diagnosed from Jan. 2009 to Dec. 2018 were retrospectively analyzed. The diagnostic performance of different screening indexs was compared by plotting receiver operating characteristic curves (ROC). RESULTS: The area under the ROC curve ( AUC) of the plasma aldosterone concentration (PAC) to plasma renin activity (PRA) ratio (ARR) was greater than that of the ratio of the upright PAC to the angiotensin Ⅱ (AT-Ⅱ) (AA2R), upright PRA, upright PAC, supine ARR, and lowest blood potassium ( P<0.05). The AUC of logistic regression model was greater than that of upright ARR (96.3% vs. 94.6%, P<0.05). There was no significant difference in AUC between decision tree model and upright ARR (94.1% vs. 94.6%, P>0.05). In the test set, the AUC difference between the logistic regression model and the decision tree model was not statistically significant (96.3% vs. 94.1%, P > 0.05). The calibration curve of the logistic regression model is closer to the 45 ° line, and the consistency between the prediction probability and the actual probability of the logistic regression model is better than that of the decision tree model. CONCLUSION: For the screening of PA, upright ARR seems to be the best single screening index, while AA2R (radioimmunoassay) is not recommended. The diagnostic efficacy of logistic regression model including upright PAC, PRA and lowest blood potassium is better than that of single upright ARR.

Silybin reduces obliterated retinal capillaries in experimental diabetic retinopathy in rats.

Silybin has been previously reported to possess anti-inflammatory properties, raising the possibility that it may reduce vascular damage in diabetic retinopathy. Present study was designed to investigate this potential effect of silybin and its underlying mechanisms in experimental diabetic retinopathy. Diabetes was induced with streptozotocin (STZ) plus high-fat diet in Sprague-Dawley rats, and silybin was administrated for 22 weeks after the induction of diabetes. Histochemical and immunofluorescence techniques were used to assess the obliterated retinal capillaries, leukostasis, and level of retinal intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1). Western blot was performed to quantitate the expression of retinal ICAM-1. Results showed that silybin treatment significantly prevented the development of obliterated retinal capillaries in diabetes, compared with vehicle treatment. In addition, leukostasis and level of the retinal ICAM-1 were found to decrease considerably in silybin-treated diabetic groups. In conclusion, these results indicate that silybin reduces obliterated retinal capillaries in experimental diabetes, and the recovered retinal vascular leukostasis and level of ICAM-1 at least partly contributes to the preventive effect of silybin.

[The study of dynamic acccumulation of camptothecin in Camptotheca acuminata fruit by TLCS].

OBJECTIVE: To establish TLC scanning method for the determination of camptothecin in Camptotheca acuminata fruit, and analysis the dynamic accumulation of camptothecin in Camptotheca acuminata fruit to find out the best collection period. METHODS: Silica gel H-CMC-Na thin layer plate was adopted in the determination with chloroform-acetone (7 : 3) used as deeloper, Single-wavelength and linear scanning of TLC was used, and the detection wavelength was 360 nm. RESULTS: There was a good linear relationship for Comptothecin within the range of 0.0542 - 0.3252 microg, the average recovery was 97.13%, RSD was 1.76%. CONCLUSION: The method is accurate, simple and reliable, and can be used for the determination of camptothecin in Camptotheca acuminata fruit and dynamic accumulation research.