Utility of screening for silent myocardial ischaemia in diabetes with an annual electrocardiogram.

BACKGROUND AND METHODS: Asymptomatic coronary artery disease (CAD) is common in people with diabetes mellitus, but there is a lack of consensus regarding appropriate screening for the condition. We performed a 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) on 312 consecutive participants with diabetes mellitus attending for routine annual outpatient review in order to determine the effectiveness of a yearly ECG in screening people with diabetes for asymptomatic CAD. RESULTS: Three of 312 participants (0.96%, 95% CI 0.2%-2.78%) had a newly identified ECG abnormality. One person had newly discovered atrial fibrillation. Two people had abnormalities which prompted further investigation for asymptomatic CAD. One of these participants underwent percutaneous coronary intervention. Seventeen further participants had abnormalities on ECG which had been previously documented, the majority having been present since their diagnosis of diabetes. CONCLUSION: A low positive yield of routine annual ECG in our study does not support its use as a screening tool for asymptomatic CAD in diabetes. Our findings support advice to perform an ECG at diagnosis of diabetes and to repeat only if a person develops relevant symptoms.

Dietary nitrate supplementation in COPD: an acute, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, crossover trial.

BACKGROUND: The acute consumption of dietary nitrate has been shown to improve exercise capacity in athletes, healthy adults and subjects with peripheral vascular disease. Many COPD patients have reduced exercise capacity. We hypothesized that acute nitrate consumption might increase incremental shuttle walk test (ISWT) distance in COPD subjects. METHODS: Eleven COPD subjects were randomly assigned to consume either a high nitrate or a matched, low nitrate beverage in a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, crossover design. ISWT distance was measured both before and 3 h after the beverage and change was recorded. After a 7-day washout, ISWT distances were re-measured before and 3 h after the alternate beverage and changes were recorded. RESULTS: We observed an increase in ISWT distance after consuming the high nitrate juice (25 m) compared with a reduction after the low nitrate juice (14 m) (p < 0.01). This improvement in exercise capacity was associated with significant increases in serum nitrate (p < 0.000005) and nitrite (p < 0.01) levels and a significant lowering of resting blood pressure (<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: In patients with stable COPD, the acute consumption of dietary nitrate increased serum nitrate/nitrite levels and exercise capacity and was associated with a decrease in resting blood pressure. Nitrate consumption might alter exercise capacity in COPD patients.

Perspective: partnering for medical education in Sub-Saharan Africa: seeking the evidence for effective collaborations.

One of the major needs for medical schools and health systems in less affluent countries is system strengthening through the training and development of faculty, doctors, nurses, and other skilled health care workers. Partnering with medical schools in more affluent countries such as the United States is one potential approach for medical schools in underresourced areas, such as Sub-Saharan Africa. Most commonly, these partnerships have focused on research agendas or limited educational exchanges. In this perspective, the authors present an approach to strengthening collaborative relationships between three medical schools in the United States and four in Sub-Saharan Africa. The approach is explicitly focused on achieving partnerships that enable institutions to improve care. It developed from an initiative to fund partnerships or "collaboratives" that address 10 key learning questions determined to be central to focusing efforts on strengthening education systems and, in turn, improving health in Sub-Saharan Africa. The leaders of the schools involved in these partnerships met multiple times across three years to discuss how their collaboratives could address the ten learning questions including what is the best approach and what are the key ingredients for creating effective, multidimensional collaborations between academic institutions in the North and institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa. Collaboratively, they defined a framework of evidence that can be used for evaluating their current initiatives and, potentially, for structuring future partnerships.