Glycemic indices of dates "Ramadan Symbolic Food" in patients with type 2 diabetes using continuous glucose monitoring system.

AIM: The high consumption of dates during Ramadan raises the question about its glycemic index (GI) and its effect on the glycemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM). We aimed to determine the GI of varieties of meals containing dates in healthy subjects compared to patients with T2DM and the effect of dates on the postprandial glucose excursions using continuous glucose monitoring system (CGMS). METHOD AND RESULTS: Twenty patients with T2DM and twenty healthy subjects matched for age, sex and body weight participated. Testing was applied on separate days (on 3 occasions) with 50 g of glucose and 50 g equivalent of available carbohydrates from 9 date meals. The GI was calculated as ratios of the incremental areas under the response curves for dates in comparison to glucose. Minimed-530 g-diabetes-system-with-enlite was used for continuous glucose monitoring. There was no significant difference between the mean GI of dates between both study groups. However, there was a significant difference according to the time of peak blood glucose among varieties of meals containing dates in T2DM. CONCLUSION: Studied varieties of dates have low GI. CGMS valued beyond GI calculation to study the postprandial glucose excursions among patients with T2DM.

Effect of Ramadan fasting on Muslim recipients after living donor liver transplantation: A single center study.

BACKGROUND AND STUDY AIMS: Several factors affect the quality of life and personal well-being of transplant recipients, including Ramadan fasting for Muslims. This study aimed to assess the effect of Ramadan fasting on the renal and liver functions of liver transplantation recipients and to propose a protocol for adapting an Immunosuppression regimen and follow-up schedule for patients wishing to fast after liver transplantation. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This prospective study was conducted on 45 recipients who wished to fast Ramadan from 17th May to 14th June 2018, at Ain Shams Center for Organ Transplantation, Cairo, Egypt. RESULTS: The mean age of the patients was 55.5 ± 7.2 (37-68) years, and 84.4% were males; the mean time from liver transplantation was 51.6 ± 28 months (14-117). Thirty-seven patients (82.2%) completed Ramadan fasting, three patients (6.6%) had interrupted fasting, and five patients (11.1%) had to stop fasting because of an unacceptable rise in renal function. There was a statistically significant difference between the pre- and post-fasting states in terms of the serum creatinine level (p = 0.004).However, the serum creatinine did not exceed the upper normal value in the patients who completed fasting. CONCLUSION: Our data seem promising for Ramadan fasting with an adapted immunosuppression protocol and regular follow-up for recipients wishing to fast. Further multicentre studies on a larger number of patients are warranted.

Role of microRNA-7 and selenoprotein P in hepatocellular carcinoma.

There is an obvious need to diagnose hepatocellular carcinoma using novel non-invasive and sensitive biomarkers. In this regard, the aim of this study was to evaluate and correlate both relative quantification of microRNA-7 using quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction and quantitative analysis of selenoprotein P using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in sera of hepatocellular carcinoma patients, chronic liver disease patients, as well as normal healthy subjects in order to establish a new diagnostic biomarker with a valid non-invasive technique. In addition, this study aimed to investigate whether changes in selenium supply affect microRNA-7 expression and selenoprotein P levels in human hepatocarcinoma cell line (HepG2). The results showed a highly significant decrease in serum microRNA-7 relative quantification values and selenoprotein P levels in malignant group in comparison with benign and control groups. The best cutoff for serum microRNA-7 and selenoprotein P to discriminate hepatocellular carcinoma group from benign and control groups was 0.06 and 4.30 mg/L, respectively. Furthermore, this study showed that changes in selenium supply to HepG2 cell line can alter the microRNA-7 profile and are paralleled by changes in the concentration of its target protein (selenoprotein P). Hence, serum microRNA-7 and selenoprotein P appear to be potential non-invasive diagnostic markers for hepatocellular carcinoma. Moreover, the results suggest that selenium could be used as an anticancer therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma by affecting both microRNA-7 and selenoprotein P.