Six-minute walk test in non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus patients living in Northwest Africa

Imed Latiri,1 Rihab Elbey,1 Kamel Hcini,1 Afif Zaoui,2 Bessam Charfeddine,3 Mohamed Ridha Maarouf,4 Zouhair Tabka,1,5 Abdelkrim Zbidi,1,5 Helmi Ben Saad1,51Laboratory of Physiology, University of Sousse, 2Department of Physical Medicine. Sahloul Hospital, 3Laboratory of Biochemistry, Basic Health Group, 4Basic Health Group, 5Department of Physiology and Functional Exploration, Farhat Hached Hospital, Sousse, TunisiaIntroduction: International recommendations of the exploration of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) are focused on deficiency and not incapacity.Aims: (1) To estimate the incapacity of NIDDM patients through the 6-minute walk test (6MWT) data. (2) To determine their 6-minute walk distance (6MWD) influencing factors (3) To compare data of NIDDM patient group (PG; n = 100) with those of two control groups (CG): CG1 (n = 174, healthy nonobese and nonsmoker); CG2 (n = 55, obese nondiabetic free from comorbidities).Population and methods: The anthropometric, socioeconomic, clinical, metabolic, and 6MWT data of 100 NIDDM patients (45 females) were collected.Results: Total sample means ± standard deviation of age, weight, and height were 54 ± 8 years, 81 ± 14 kg, and 1.64 ± 0.09 m. (1) Measured 6MWD (566 ± 81 m) was significantly lower than the theoretical 6MWD (90% ± 12%). The profile of the PG carrying the 6MWT, was as follows: 23% had an abnormal 6MWD; at the end of the 6MWT, 21% and 12% had, respectively, a low heart rate and a high dyspnea (>5/10), and 4% had desaturation during the walk. The estimated "cardiorespiratory and muscular chain" age (68 ± 16 years) was significantly higher than the chronological age. (2) The factors that significantly influenced the 6MWD (r2 = 0.58) are included in the following equation: 6MWD (m) = –73.94 × gender (0, male; 1, female) – 3.25 × age (years) + 7.33 × leisure activity score – 35.57 × obesity (0, no; 1, yes) + 32.86 × socioeconomic level (0, low; 1, high) – 27.67 × cigarette use (0, no; 1, yes) + 8.89 × resting oxyhemoglobin saturation – 105.48. (3) Compared to the CGs, the PG had a significantly (P < 0.05) lower 6MWD (100%+9% and 100%+8%, respectively, for the CG1 and CG2).Conclusion: NIDDM seems to accelerate the decline of the submaximal aerobic capacity evaluated through the 6MWD.Keywords: 6-minute walk test, non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, physical activity, functional incapacit

Inadequate quality of surveillance after curative surgery for colon cancer

Colon cancer patients are at risk for recurrence. Recurrent disease might be curable if detected early by surveillance. However, data on the quality of surveillance are scarce. The objective of this study is to analyze the quality of surveillance after curative surgery for colon cancer among a cohort of Swiss patients

Regulation of Platelet Function by Orai, STIM and TRP

Rosado J. (eds).Agonist-induced changes in cytosolic Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]c) are central events in platelet physiology. A major mechanism supporting agonist-induced Ca2+ signals is store-operated Ca2+ entry (SOCE), where the Ca2+ sensor STIM1 and the channels of the Orai family, as well as TRPC members are the key elements. STIM1-dependent SOCE plays a major role in collagen-stimulated Ca2+ signaling, phosphatidylserine exposure and thrombin generation. Furthermore, studies involving Orai1 gain-of-function mutants and platelets from Orai1-deficient mice have revealed the importance of this channel in thrombosis and hemostasis to those found in STIM1-deficient mice indicating that SOCE might play a prominent role in thrombus formation. Moreover, increase in TRPC6 expression might lead to thrombosis in humans. The role of STIM1, Orai1 and TRPCs, and thus SOCE, in thrombus formation, suggests that therapies directed against SOCE and targeting these molecules during cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events could significantly improve traditional anti-thrombotic treatments.This work was supported by MINECO (Grants BFU2013-45564-C2-1-P and BFU2013-45564-C2-2-P) and Junta de Extremadura-FEDER (GR15029). A. B-E is supported from UPF “MINECO – Plan Nacional de I+D+i(2008-2012) – SAF 2012-38140”.Peer reviewe