Uric acid to HDL ratio: A marker for predicting incidence of metabolic syndrome in patients with type II diabetes.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Metabolic syndrome (MetS) refers to existence of a set of risk factors for developing cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Recently, uric acid to HDL ratio has attracted attention in predicting development of diabetes and incidence of metabolic syndrome in diabetic individuals. This study was performed to investigate UHR in patients with type II diabetes as a predicting factor for metabolic syndrome. METHODS AND RESULTS: This descriptive-analytical study examined 300 patients with type II diabetes referring to diabetes clinic of Ali-Ibn Abi-Talib hospital, Rafsanjan city in 2021, selected through convenient sampling. Data were collected by a research-made checklist (including demographic, clinical and laboratory parameters) and analyzed by SPSS 24 and chi-square, Fisher exact test, independent paired t-test, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), Mann-Whitney U, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC). The findings revealed that 74.33 % (95 % CI: 69 to 79.18 %) of the patients had metabolic syndrome. Further, patients with metabolic syndrome demonstrated a significantly higher mean UHR ratio and triglyceride levels compared to their counterparts without the syndrome (p = 0.002 and p < 0.001, respectively). The ROC analysis identified a UHR threshold of 8.118 % with a sensitivity of 70.32 % and specificity of 55.08 % for diagnosing metabolic syndrome development in type II diabetes (AUC: 0.621, P = 0.001, 95%CI: 0.549-0.694). CONCLUSION: The results of the present study revealed that the prevalence of metabolic syndrome was high in diabetic patients. UHR showed good sensitivity in the diagnosis of metabolic syndrome in type II diabetes. Thus, regular monitoring of laboratory tests is recommended in patients with diabetes.

The effect of alendronate on lipid profile of postmenopausal women with osteopenia and prediabetes: A randomized triple-blind clinical trial.

BACKGROUND: Prediabetes is a high-risk state for developing diabetes at an annual rate of 5%-10%. Early intervention can prevent further complications, including metabolic syndrome. Bisphosphonates are commonly used for osteoporotic postmenopausal women. The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of bisphosphonates on lipid profile including triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL), and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) of prediabetic postmenopausal women with osteopenia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this triple-blind randomized controlled trial, sixty prediabetic, postmenopausal women with sufficient Vitamin D and osteopenia, aged 45-60 years, were randomly enrolled in two groups of intervention (receiving 70-mg alendronate for 12 weeks [duration for maximum metabolic effect of bisphosphonates], n = 30) and control (receiving placebo, n = 30) according to a randomized block procedure of size 2 and 1:1 allocation ratio. The primary outcome of the study, the lipid profile, was evaluated before and after the interventions. The effect of the intervention was assessed using analysis of covariance. RESULTS: The lipid profiles showed no significant differences to the mean values at the baseline in both the groups (all P > 0.05). At the end of the study, the differences between the groups were not significant for 25(OH) D3 (mean difference: -11.09, 95% confidence interval: -32.43-10.25), T (4.19, -30.58-38.97), cholesterol (8.13, -13.07-29.33), LDL-cholesterol (5.07, -10.18-20.31), and HDL-cholesterol (-0.86, -6.04-4.31) when the baseline values and confounders were adjusted (all P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: No statistically significant difference was detected in the serum lipid profile of prediabetic postmenopausal women with osteopenia as a result of alendronate intervention. More studies with larger sample sizes and longer intervention periods are recommended.

Computer-aided Diagnosis of Skin Cancer: A Review.

Cancer is currently one of the main health issues in the world. Among different varieties of cancers, skin cancer is the most common cancer in the world and accounts for 75% of the world's cancer. Indeed, skin cancer involves abnormal changes in the outer layer of the skin. Although most people with skin cancer recover, it is one of the major concerns of people due to its high prevalence. Most types of skin cancers grow only locally and invade adjacent tissues, but some of them, especially melanoma (cancer of the pigment cells), which is the rarest type of skin cancer, may spread through the circulatory system or lymphatic system and reach the farthest points of the body. Many papers have been reviewed about the application of image processing in cancer detection. In this paper, the automatic skin cancer detection and also different steps of such a process have been discussed based on the implantation capabilities.