STUDY OF HbA1c AS A BIOMARKER IN DYSLIPIDEMIA AND ATHEROGENICITY IN TYPE 2 DIABETES MELLITUS

HbA1c is being used to assess the glycemic control for many years. This study was done to evaluate the importance of HbA1c in predicting dyslipidemia and atherogenecity in type 2 Diabetes. Methods: 200 type 2 diabetic patients were taken as subjects. Fasting and post meal blood sugar, Glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c), lipid profile, lipid ratios and atherogenic index of plasma(AIP) was analysed in these patients. The patients were divided into 2 groups depending on their HbA1c; Good Glycemic Control was defined as having HbA1c ≤ 7.0% and Poor Glycemic Control as HbA1c >7.0%. Results & Discussion: We found a significant increase in the levels of blood glucose, total serum cholesterol (TC), triglyceride, LDL cholesterol (LDL-C) and VLDL cholesterol (VLDL-C), TC/HDL-C, LDL-C/HDL-C, atherogenic index of plasma (AIP) and a significant decrease in the levels of HDL cholesterol (HDL-C) in patients with HbA1c >7% as compared to patients with HbA1c ≤ 7%. HbA1c had a direct and significant correlation with TC, TG, VLDL-C, LDL-C, TC /HDL-C, LDL-C/HDL-C, and an inverse correlation with HDL-C. AIP correlates with cardiovascular risk very well, and the association between HbA1c with various lipid parameters and atherogenic ratios suggests the importance of glycemic control in order to control dyslipidemia and future risk of cardiovascular disease in type 2 diabetics. KEYWORDS: Lipid profile; Type 2 diabetes mellitus; Glycosylated haemoglobin; Glycemic control, Atherogenic index of plasma

STUDY OF HbA1c AS A BIOMARKER IN DYSLIPIDEMIA AND ATHEROGENICITY IN TYPE 2 DIABETES MELLITUS

HbA1c is being used to assess the glycemic control for many years. This study was done to evaluate the importance of HbA1c in predicting dyslipidemia and atherogenecity in type 2 Diabetes. Methods: 200 type 2 diabetic patients were taken as subjects. Fasting and post meal blood sugar, Glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c), lipid profile, lipid ratios and atherogenic index of plasma(AIP) was analysed in these patients. The patients were divided into 2 groups depending on their HbA1c; Good Glycemic Control was defined as having HbA1c ≤ 7.0% and Poor Glycemic Control as HbA1c >7.0%. Results & Discussion: We found a significant increase in the levels of blood glucose, total serum cholesterol (TC), triglyceride, LDL cholesterol (LDL-C) and VLDL cholesterol (VLDL-C), TC/HDL-C, LDL-C/HDL-C, atherogenic index of plasma (AIP) and a significant decrease in the levels of HDL cholesterol (HDL-C) in patients with HbA1c >7% as compared to patients with HbA1c ≤ 7%. HbA1c had a direct and significant correlation with TC, TG, VLDL-C, LDL-C, TC /HDL-C, LDL-C/HDL-C, and an inverse correlation with HDL-C. AIP correlates with cardiovascular risk very well, and the association between HbA1c with various lipid parameters and atherogenic ratios suggests the importance of glycemic control in order to control dyslipidemia and future risk of cardiovascular disease in type 2 diabetics. KEYWORDS: Lipid profile; Type 2 diabetes mellitus; Glycosylated haemoglobin; Glycemic control, Atherogenic index of plasma

Combined 18F-fluoride and 18F-FDG PET/CT scanning for evaluation of malignancy: results of an international multicenter trial

(18)F-FDG PET/CT is used in a variety of cancers, but because of variable rates of glucose metabolism, not all cancers are reliably identified. (18)F(-) PET/CT allows for the acquisition of highly sensitive and specific images of the skeleton. We prospectively evaluated combined (18)F(-)/(18)F-FDG as a single PET/CT examination for evaluation of cancer patients and compared it with separate (18)F(-) PET/CT and (18)F-FDG PET/CT scans. METHODS: One hundred fifteen participants with cancer were prospectively enrolled in an international multicenter trial evaluating (18)F(-) PET/CT, (18)F-FDG PET/CT, and combined (18)F(-)/(18)F-FDG PET/CT. The 3 PET/CT scans were performed sequentially within 4 wk of one another for each patient. RESULTS: (18)F(-)/(18)F-FDG PET/CT allowed for accurate interpretation of radiotracer uptake outside the skeleton, with findings similar to those of (18)F-FDG PET/CT. In 19 participants, skeletal disease was more extensive on (18)F(-) PET/CT and (18)F(-)/(18)F-FDG PET/CT than on (18)F-FDG PET/CT. In another 29 participants, (18)F(-) PET/CT and (18)F(-)/(18)F-FDG PET/CT showed osseous metastases where (18)F-FDG PET/CT was negative. The extent of skeletal lesions was similar in 18 participants on all 3 scans. CONCLUSION: This trial demonstrated that combined (18)F(-)/(18)F-FDG PET/CT shows promising results when compared with separate (18)F(-) PET/CT and (18)F-FDG PET/CT for evaluation of cancer patients. This result opens the possibility for improved patient care and reduction in health-care costs, as will be further evaluated in future trials

Geochemical characterization of oceanic basalts using Artificial Neural Network

The geochemical discriminate diagrams help to distinguish the volcanics recovered from different tectonic settings but these diagrams tend to group the ocean floor basalts (OFB) under one class i.e., as mid-oceanic ridge basalts (MORB). Hence, a method is specifically needed to identify the OFB as normal (N-MORB), enriched (E-MORB) and ocean island basalts (OIB)

Miniature gastrointestinal endoscopy: Now and the future

Since its original application, gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopy has undergone many innovative transformations aimed at expanding the scope, safety, accuracy, acceptability and cost-effectiveness of this area of clinical practice. One method of achieving this has been to reduce the caliber of endoscopic devices. We propose the collective term "Miniature GI Endoscopy". In this Opinion Review, the innovations in this field are explored and discussed. The progress and clinical use of the three main areas of miniature GI endoscopy (ultrathin endoscopy, wireless endoscopy and scanning fiber endoscopy) are described. The opportunities presented by these technologies are set out in a clinical context, as are their current limitations. Many of the positive aspects of miniature endoscopy are clear, in that smaller devices provide access to potentially all of the alimentary canal, while conferring high patient acceptability. This must be balanced with the costs of new technologies and recognition of device specific challenges. Perspectives on future application are also considered and the efforts being made to bring new innovations to a clinical platform are outlined. Current devices demonstrate that miniature GI endoscopy has a valuable place in investigation of symptoms, therapeutic intervention and screening. Newer technologies give promise that the potential for enhancing the investigation and management of GI complaints is significant

Boundary Conditions and Unitarity: the Maxwell-Chern-Simons System in AdS_3/CFT_2

We consider the holography of the Abelian Maxwell-Chern-Simons (MCS) system in Lorentzian three-dimensional asymptotically-AdS spacetimes, and discuss a broad class of boundary conditions consistent with conservation of the symplectic structure. As is well-known, the MCS theory contains a massive sector dual to a vector operator in the boundary theory, and a topological sector consisting of flat connections dual to U(1) chiral currents; the boundary conditions we examine include double-trace deformations in these two sectors, as well as a class of boundary conditions that mix the vector operators with the chiral currents. We carefully study the symplectic product of bulk modes and show that almost all such boundary conditions induce instabilities and/or ghost excitations, consistent with violations of unitarity bounds in the dual theory.Comment: 50+1 pages, 6 figures, PDFLaTeX; v2: added references, corrected typo

Pathologies in Asymptotically Lifshitz Spacetimes

There has been significant interest in the last several years in studying possible gravitational duals, known as Lifshitz spacetimes, to anisotropically scaling field theories by adding matter to distort the asymptotics of an AdS spacetime. We point out that putative ground state for the most heavily studied example of such a spacetime, that with a flat spatial section, suffers from a naked singularity and further point out this singularity is not resolvable by any known stringy effect. We review the reasons one might worry that asymptotically Lifshitz spacetimes are unstable and employ the initial data problem to study the stability of such systems. Rather surprisingly this question, and even the initial value problem itself, for these spacetimes turns out to generically not be well-posed. A generic normalizable state will evolve in such a way to violate Lifshitz asymptotics in finite time. Conversely, enforcing the desired asymptotics at all times puts strong restrictions not just on the metric and fields in the asymptotic region but in the deep interior as well. Generically, even perturbations of the matter field of compact support are not compatible with the desired asymptotics.Comment: 36 pages, 1 figure, v2: Enhanced discussion of singularity, including relationship to Gubser's conjecture and singularity in RG flow solution, plus minor clarification

Spatially homogeneous Lifshitz black holes in five dimensional higher derivative gravity

We consider spatially homogeneous Lifshitz black hole solutions in five dimensional higher derivative gravity theories, which can be possible near horizon geometries of some systems that are interesting in the framework of gauge/gravity duality. We show the solutions belonging to the nine Bianchi classes in the pure R^2 gravity. We find that these black holes have zero entropy at non-zero temperatures and this property is the same as the case of BTZ black holes in new massive gravity at the critical point. In the most general quadratic curvature gravity theories, we find new solutions in Bianchi Type I and Type IX cases.Comment: 15 pages, no figure; v2, refs added, version to appear in JHE

Gravitational Chern-Simons Lagrangians and black hole entropy

We analyze the problem of defining the black hole entropy when Chern-Simons terms are present in the action. Extending previous works, we define a general procedure, valid in any odd dimensions both for purely gravitational CS terms and for mixed gauge-gravitational ones. The final formula is very similar to Wald's original formula valid for covariant actions, with a significant modification. Notwithstanding an apparent violation of covariance we argue that the entropy formula is indeed covariant.Comment: 39 page

β-1,3-Glucan-Induced Host Phospholipase D Activation Is Involved in Aspergillus fumigatus Internalization into Type II Human Pneumocyte A549 Cells

The internalization of Aspergillus fumigatus into lung epithelial cells is a process that depends on host cell actin dynamics. The host membrane phosphatidylcholine cleavage driven by phospholipase D (PLD) is closely related to cellular actin dynamics. However, little is known about the impact of PLD on A. fumigatus internalization into lung epithelial cells. Here, we report that once germinated, A. fumigatus conidia were able to stimulate host PLD activity and internalize more efficiently in A549 cells without altering PLD expression. The internalization of A. fumigatus in A549 cells was suppressed by the downregulation of host cell PLD using chemical inhibitors or siRNA interference. The heat-killed swollen conidia, but not the resting conidia, were able to activate host PLD. Further, β-1,3-glucan, the core component of the conidial cell wall, stimulated host PLD activity. This PLD activation and conidia internalization were inhibited by anti-dectin-1 antibody. Indeed, dectin-1, a β-1,3-glucan receptor, was expressed in A549 cells, and its expression profile was not altered by conidial stimulation. Finally, host cell PLD1 and PLD2 accompanied A. fumigatus conidia during internalization. Our data indicate that host cell PLD activity induced by β-1,3-glucan on the surface of germinated conidia is important for the efficient internalization of A. fumigatus into A549 lung epithelial cells