Sonographic assessment of kidneys in patients with hypertension co-existed with diabetes mellitus and ischemic heart disease.

BACKGROUND: Hypertension is one of the major world health problems. Ultrasonography plays a useful role in the assessment of morphologicalchanges at the kidneys in hypertensive patients. AIM: To assess sonographic findings of the kidneys in hypertensive patients' co-morbidities with type 2 diabetes mellitus and ischemic heart disease (IDH). MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a prospective cross-sectional study involved 100 participants with primary hypertension selected by a method of simple convenient sampling. The patients were examined using ultrasonography to assess the sonographic findings of the kidneys. The renal length, corticomedullary differentiation (CMD), and renal artery diameters were assessed. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS version 23.0) was used in data analysis. RESULTS: The length of the right kidney was 8.9850 ± 1.01 cm and 9.48 ± 0.98 cm for the left kidney. Among the hypertensive patients, the incidence of hypertension was highest in housewives (27%) and students (23%) as compared with the other groups. The sonographic findings were 18% affected with simple renal cysts, 7% poor CMD, and the majority had normal kidneys. Significant correlation was found between age and sonographic findings of kidneys (r = 0.21, P value = 0.033). CONCLUSION: Simple renal cysts, poor CMD, and stenosis of renal arteries were most common sonographic findings in hypertension. Simple renal cystshad a significant association with hypertension.

Doppler sonographic assessment of carotid arteries in Sudanese stroke patients.

BACKGROUND: Hypertension, diabetes, and smoking were considered to be associated with several public health problems. OBJECTIVE: the study aims to explore the hemodynamic of carotid arteries in association with hypertension, diabetes, and smoking in Sudanese stroke patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In a quantitative descriptive study, fifty patients with stroke were scanned by B-mode and Doppler sonography. Carotid arteries were investigated with a 7-MHz linear transducer by a standard carotid sonography protocol. RESULTS: The average Doppler resistive index (RI) was 0.71 ± 0.084 and intima-media thickness was 1.39 ± 0.78 mm. The end diastolic velocities (EDVs) and peak systolic velocities (PSVs) of common carotid arteries were significantly changed in smokers and hypertensive (P < 0.05). The elevation of RI in right and left CCAs were significantly correlated with smokers (P = 0.017 and 0.010 respectively). Hemorrhagic stroke was most prevalent in hypertensive rather than diabetic and smokers. The carotid hemodynamics changed significantly in hypertensive and smokers more than diabetics. CONCLUSION: EDV and PSV were significantly correlated with hypertension and tobacco smoking rather than diabetes. Hypertension, diabetes, and smoking have an association with stroke and hand significant effect on carotid artery hemodynamic and atherosclerotic disease. The Doppler RIs were significantly correlated with smokers. Patients with risk factors of stroke should be scanned with Doppler sonography as early as possible.

Variants of CTGF are associated with hepatic fibrosis in Chinese, Sudanese, and Brazilians infected with schistosomes.

Abnormal fibrosis occurs during chronic hepatic inflammations and is the principal cause of death in hepatitis C virus and schistosome infections. Hepatic fibrosis (HF) may develop either slowly or rapidly in schistosome-infected subjects. This depends, in part, on a major genetic control exerted by genes of chromosome 6q23. A gene (connective tissue growth factor [CTGF]) is located in that region that encodes a strongly fibrogenic molecule. We show that the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs9402373 that lies close to CTGF is associated with severe HF (P = 2 x 10(-6); odds ratio [OR] = 2.01; confidence interval of OR [CI] = 1.51-2.7) in two Chinese samples, in Sudanese, and in Brazilians infected with either Schistosoma japonicum or S. mansoni. Furthermore, SNP rs12526196, also located close to CTGF, is independently associated with severe fibrosis (P = 6 x 10(-4); OR = 1.94; CI = 1.32-2.82) in the Chinese and Sudanese subjects. Both variants affect nuclear factor binding and may alter gene transcription or transcript stability. The identified variants may be valuable markers for the prediction of disease progression, and identify a critical step in the development of HF that could be a target for chemotherapy.