Female gender increases stiffness of elastic but not of muscular arteries in type I diabetic patients.

The reason for the particularly increased risk for cardiovascular complications in diabetic women is still unclear. We have previously found decreased distensibility of elastic arteries in type I diabetic women, indicating increased cardiac load, not seen in type I diabetic men, which might be one contributing factor. Whether the effect of gender is different in muscular arteries in type I diabetic patients has not been assessed. As estimates of arterial distensibility we measured stiffness (beta) and pressure strain elastic modulus (Ep) in the muscular common femoral artery using echo-tracking sonography in 30 women (mean age 34 years, range 20-61) and 26 men (mean age 38 years, range 22-56) with type I diabetes. The results were compared with those of 89 healthy individuals of corresponding age and gender and with previously published results from elastic arteries in these patients obtained at the same occasion. The internal common femoral diameter was significantly decreased in both diabetic men and women. In sharp contrast to the highly significant decreased distensibility of the elastic abdominal aorta and common carotid artery in the type I diabetic women, the distensibility of the common femoral artery did not clearly differ between patients and controls, neither for women nor for men. Thus, the gender difference in changes of arterial distensibility found in elastic arteries was absent or far less obvious in the femoral artery. In conclusion, female gender seems to affect the mechanical properties of elastic, but not of large muscular arteries in type I diabetic patients. Thus, putative gender differences in arterial changes in type I diabetes are to be sought in elastic rather than muscular arteries

Cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy associated with carotid atherosclerosis in Type 2 diabetic patients.

AimsTo clarify if cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy is associated with carotid artery atherosclerotic plaques in Type 2 diabetic patients. MethodsCardiovascular autonomic nerve function was related to carotid artery ultrasound in 61 Type 2 diabetic patients 5-6 years after diagnosis of diabetes. ResultsCardiovascular autonomic neuropathy [abnormal age corrected expiration/inspiration (E/I) ratio or acceleration index (AI)] was found in 13/61 (21%) patients. Patients with cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy showed increased degree of stenosis in the common carotid artery (24.6 ± 13.2% vs. 14.7 ± 9.2%; P = 0.014) and a tendency towards a higher plaque score (4.0 ± 1.7 vs. 3.2 ± 1.6; P = 0.064). Controlled for age, AI correlated inversely with degree of stenosis (r = -0.39; P = 0.005), plaque score (r = -0.39; P = 0.005), and mean (r = -0.33; P = 0.018) and maximum (r = -0.39; P = 0.004) intima-media thickness in the common carotid artery. In contrast, E/I ratio correlated only slightly with mean intima-media thickness in the common carotid artery (r = -0.28; P = 0.049). ConclusionsCardiovascular autonomic neuropathy was associated with carotid atherosclerosis in Type 2 diabetic patients. Abnormal E/I ratios reflect efferent structural damage to parasympathetic nerves whereas abnormal AI reflects afferent autonomic dysfunction possibly due to impaired baroreceptor sensitivity secondary to carotid atherosclerosis

Identification of Genomic Regions Associated with Phenotypic Variation between Dog Breeds using Selection Mapping

Peer reviewe

Resursoptimering för restauranger

An optimization of reservation systems for tables in the restaurant industry. The optimization is aimed at maximizing the number of guests as well as placing guests at the optimal tables based on the prevailing conditions

Prognostic factors in prostate cancer with special reference to the effect of hormonal therapy

We have used image cell analysis to analyse nuclear DNA content on fine needle aspiration biopsies from 96 patients diagnosed to have prostate cancer 1980-81. By stratifying diploid and tetraploid tumours according to a cytometric proliferation index (PI), we suggest a new DNA-classification that is prognostic of death from prostate cancer in multivariate analysis including conventional prognostic factors. Patients with diploid tumours and a low PI, had almost no mortality from prostate cancer with mean 14.5 years follow-up. We used the same method on imprints of ultrasound guided tissue biopsies in a prospective study on 137 patients. The pognostic value of the new DNA-classification was confirmed although the follow-up is limited to 39 months. Prognostic factors of the risk of recurrence and of hormone dependence in prostate cancer were studied in a randomised prospective study comparing 3 months neoadjuvant GnRh-analouge treatment followed by radical prostatectomy (55 patients) and surgery alone (56 patients). We found tumour growth at the surgical margin of the specimen to be reduced by hormonal treatment prior to surgery (p<0.001) in large tumours (T2c-T3a). This finding did not correlate to an improved cure rate after more than 3 years follow up. Tumour cell proliferation in the primary tumour was found to be a highly significant prognostic factor of recurrence in multivariate analysis after combined hormonal and surgical treatment (p=0.0002). Neuroendocrine (NE) differentiation in the primary tumour increased after neoadjuvant hormonal treatment but was not associated with the extension of regressive changes or prognosis. Instead, NE-differentiation in the tumour correlated to tumour volume, wich was prognostic of treatment failure in both treatment arms

Resursoptimering för restauranger

An optimization of reservation systems for tables in the restaurant industry. The optimization is aimed at maximizing the number of guests as well as placing guests at the optimal tables based on the prevailing conditions

The 5alpha-Reductase Type II A49T and V89L High-Activity Allelic Variants are More Common in Men with Prostate Cancer Compared with the General Population.

Objectives: To compare men with prostate disease with those from the general population regarding polymorphisms in the androgen receptor gene and in the 5 alpha-reductase II (SRD5A2) gene. Materials and methods: The SRD5A2 polymorphisms A49T, V89L and R227Q, the androgen receptor CAG and GGN repeats and sex hormone status was investigated in men with prostate cancer (CaP) (n = 89), benign prostate hyperplasia (n = 45) and healthy military conscripts (n = 223). Results: The SRD5A2 high-activity allele variants A49T AT and V89L LL were more frequent in CaP-patients compared to general population, p = 0.026 and p = 0.05, respectively. CaP progression was, however, independent of SRD5A2 variants. In contrary, men with GGN < 23 had a higher risk of dying from the disease than their counterparts with longer repeats. Conclusions: Men with CaP were more often genetically predisposed to a higher enzymatic activity in the turn over from T to DHT compared to the general population. In our population, androgen receptor genotype affected CaP outcome

Impaired Secretory Function of the Prostate in Men With Oligo‐Asthenozoospermia

ABSTRACT: The secretory function of the human prostate and the seminal vesicles is a prerequisite for gel formation and liquefaction of semen, but the relation to poor sperm motility and low sperm count in infertile men remains to be clarifyed. Our aim was to evaluate the secretory function of the prostate and the seminal vesicles in normozoospermic men (n=35) and in asthenozoospermic men, who were all also oligozoospermic (n=27). All 62 subjects belonged to couples undergoing routine infertility evaluation. In liquefied seminal fluid we measured the concentrations of fructose and protein C inhibitor (PCI) contributed by the seminal vesicles, PCI complexed to prostate‐specific antigen (PSA), and the prostatic contribution of zinc, PSA, acid phosphatase (PAP), β‐microseminoprotein (β‐MSP), and Znα2‐glycoprotein (Znα2‐GP). The concentration of each prostatic secretory protein correlated significantly with that of zinc (P < 0.01) in both the normozoospermic (NZS) and oligo‐astheno‐zoospermic (OAZS) subgroups, but the PCI concentration did not correlate significantly with that of fructose. There was no significant difference between the NZS and OAZS subgroups in ejaculate volume or secretory contribution from the seminal vesicles, whereas the OAZS subgroup was characterized by significantly lower secretory contributions of Znα2‐GP (P = 0.001), Zn, PSA, PAP (P < 0.01), and β‐MSP (P < 0.05). The two subgroups did not differ significantly in the serum concentration of luteinizing hormone (LH), testosterone, or sex hormone‐binding globulin (SHBG). The results thus suggest the secretory contribution of major prostatic proteins and zinc per ejaculate to be significantly decreased in oligo‐asthenozoospermic men. The importance of this finding in relation to poor sperm count and motility as indicators of impaired gonadal function requires further investigation. 1995 American Society of Androlog