The prevention of progression of arterial disease and diabetes (POPADAD) trial: factorial randomised placebo controlled trial of aspirin and antioxidants in patients with diabetes and asymptomatic peripheral arterial disease

Objective To determine whether aspirin and antioxidant therapy, combined or alone, are more effective than placebo in reducing the development of cardiovascular events in patients with diabetes mellitus and asymptomatic peripheral arterial disease

Significant benefits of AIP testing and clinical screening in familial isolated and young-onset pituitary tumors

Context Germline mutations in the aryl hydrocarbon receptor-interacting protein (AIP) gene are responsible for a subset of familial isolated pituitary adenoma (FIPA) cases and sporadic pituitary neuroendocrine tumors (PitNETs). Objective To compare prospectively diagnosed AIP mutation-positive (AIPmut) PitNET patients with clinically presenting patients and to compare the clinical characteristics of AIPmut and AIPneg PitNET patients. Design 12-year prospective, observational study. Participants & Setting We studied probands and family members of FIPA kindreds and sporadic patients with disease onset ≤18 years or macroadenomas with onset ≤30 years (n = 1477). This was a collaborative study conducted at referral centers for pituitary diseases. Interventions & Outcome AIP testing and clinical screening for pituitary disease. Comparison of characteristics of prospectively diagnosed (n = 22) vs clinically presenting AIPmut PitNET patients (n = 145), and AIPmut (n = 167) vs AIPneg PitNET patients (n = 1310). Results Prospectively diagnosed AIPmut PitNET patients had smaller lesions with less suprasellar extension or cavernous sinus invasion and required fewer treatments with fewer operations and no radiotherapy compared with clinically presenting cases; there were fewer cases with active disease and hypopituitarism at last follow-up. When comparing AIPmut and AIPneg cases, AIPmut patients were more often males, younger, more often had GH excess, pituitary apoplexy, suprasellar extension, and more patients required multimodal therapy, including radiotherapy. AIPmut patients (n = 136) with GH excess were taller than AIPneg counterparts (n = 650). Conclusions Prospectively diagnosed AIPmut patients show better outcomes than clinically presenting cases, demonstrating the benefits of genetic and clinical screening. AIP-related pituitary disease has a wide spectrum ranging from aggressively growing lesions to stable or indolent disease course

The role of haemorrhage and exudate detection in automated grading of diabetic retinopathy

Background/aims Automated grading has the potential to improve the efficiency of diabetic retinopathy screening services. While disease/no disease grading can be performed using only microaneurysm detection and image-quality assessment, automated recognition of other types of lesions may be advantageous. This study investigated whether inclusion of automated recognition of exudates and haemorrhages improves the detection of observable/referable diabetic retinopathy. Methods Images from 1253 patients with observable/referable retinopathy and 6333 patients with non-referable retinopathy were obtained from three grading centres. All images were reference-graded, and automated disease/no disease assessments were made based on microaneurysm detection and combined microaneurysm, exudate and haemorrhage detection. Results Introduction of algorithms for exudates and haemorrhages resulted in a statistically significant increase in the sensitivity for detection of observable/referable retinopathy from 94.9% (95% CI 93.5 to 96.0) to 96.6% (95.4 to 97.4) without affecting manual grading workload. Conclusion Automated detection of exudates and haemorrhages improved the detection of observable/referable retinopathy