Control of diabetes, hypertension, and dyslipidemia in Jordan: a cross-sectional study.

To determine the level of glycemic, blood pressure (BP), and lipids control among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) attending the National Center for Diabetes, Endocrinology and Genetics and to determine factors associated with poor control. Methods: A cross-sectional study of 1200 Jordanian type 2 DM patients was included in this study during the period of December 2017-December 2018. We reviewed the charts of these patients until January 2020. Data obtained from medical records included information about sociodemographic variables, anthropometric measurements, glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), BP, low-density lipoprotein (LDL), the presence of DM complications, and treatment. Results: The percentage of subjects who had HbA1c values of less than 7% was 41.7%. BP targets (<140/90 and 130/80 mmHg) were achieved in 61.9 and 22% of our patients, respectively. LDL targets less than 100 and 70 mg/dl or less were achieved in 52.2 and 15.9% of our studied population. Only 15.4% of our patients could have simultaneous control of HbA1c less than 7%, BP less than 140/90 mmHg, and LDL less than 100 mg/dl. Factors associated with poor glycemic control were obesity [odds ratio (OR)=1.9], DM duration between 5 and 10 years or more than 10 years (OR=1.8 and 2.5, respectively), and the use of a combination of oral hypoglycemic agent plus insulin or insulin alone (OR=2.4 and 6.2, respectively). Moreover, factors associated with uncontrolled BP (≥140/90) were male gender (OR=1.4), age 50-59 years or at least 60 years (OR=3.3 and 6.6, respectively), overweight and obesity (OR=1.6 and 1.4, respectively), insulin use (OR=1.6), and LDL at least 100 mg/dl (OR=1.4). Conclusion: The overall prevalence of poor glycemic control was high and alarming. Future research should focus on capturing all variables that may impact glycemic, BP, and dyslipidemia control, with special emphasis on a healthy lifestyle that would be of great benefit in this control.

Metformin reduces oxandrolone- induced depression-like behavior in rats via modulating the expression of IL-1ß, IL-6, IL-10 and TNF-α.

Oxandrolone (OXA) is an androgen and anabolic steroid (AAS) that is used to reverse weight loss associated with some medical conditions. One of the side effects of OXA is its potential to induce depressive symptoms. Growing evidence suggested that neuroinflammation and cytokines play crucial roles in sickness behavioral and associated mood disturbances. Previous studies showed that metformin attenuated neuroinflammation. This study investigated the potential protective role of metformin against OXA-induced depression-like behavior and neuroinflammation. Twenty- four Wistar male rats were randomly grouped into four groups: the control group (Control) received only vehicle; the oxandrolone group (OXA) received oxandrolone (0.28 mg/kg, i.p); the metformin group (MET) received metformin (100 mg/kg, i.p); and the oxandrolone / metformin group (OXA + MET) received both oxandrolone (0.28 mg/kg, i.p) and metformin (100 mg/kg, i.p). These treatments were administered for fourteen consecutive days. Behavioral tests to measure depression-like behavior were conducted before and after treatments. qRT-PCR was used to measure the relative expression of proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines in the hippocampus and hypothalamus. The results showed that oxandrolone induced depression-like behavior and dysregulated pro-/anti-inflammatory cytokines, while metformin attenuated these effects. These findings suggest that metformin is a potential treatment to reverse the depressive effects induced by oxandrolone that involve neuroinflammatory effects.

Continuous Hypoxia and Glucose Metabolism: The Effects on Gene Expression in Mcf7 Breast Cancer Cell Line.

BACKGROUND: Hypoxia (deprived oxygen in tissues) may induce molecular and genetic changes in cancer cells. OBJECTIVE: To Investigate the genetic changes of glucose metabolism in breast cancer cell line (MCF7) after exposure to continuous hypoxia (10 and 20 cycles exposure of 72 hours continuously on a weekly basis). METHODS: Gene expression of MCF7 cells was evaluated using real-time polymerase chain reactionarray method. Furthermore, cell migration and wound healing assays were also applied. RESULTS: It was found that 10 episodes of continuous hypoxia activated the Warburg effect in MCF7 cells, via the significant up-regulation of genes involved in glycolysis (ANOVA, p value < 0.05). The molecular changes were associated with the ability of MCF7 cells to divide and migrate. Interestingly, after 20 episodes of continuous hypoxia, the expression glycolysis mediated genes dropped significantly (from 30 to 9 folds). This could be attributed to the adaptive ability of cancer cells. CONCLUSION: It is concluded that 10 hypoxic episodes increased the survival rate and aggressiveness of MCF7 cells and induced the Warburg effect by the up-regulation of the glycolysis mediating gene expression.