Factors associated with poor glycemic control among type-2 diabetes mellitus patients in Yemen

Purpose: To determine the status of glycemic control and its associated factors among adult patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in Hodeidah City, Yemen. Methods: This cross-sectional study involved T2DM patients attending an outpatient clinic at the Military Hospital in Hodeidah, from January to March 2017. Relevant socio-demographic characteristics, clinical factors and self-management behaviours were recorded in face-to-face interviews. Blood pressure, body weight, and height measurements were also obtained. Glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) and lipid profile were evaluated. Urine samples were also obtained and analysed by albuminuria assay. Results: Of 246 participants, 73.2 % showed poor glycemic control (HbA1c ≥ 7 %). Female patients, those aged ≥ 40 years, the illiterate, and Khat chewers were more likely to have poor glycemic control. Moreover, longer disease duration, insulin administration and albuminuria were significantly associated with poor glycemic control. In contrast, a healthy diet, physical exercise, proper self-monitoring of blood glucose levels and taking medicines as prescribed significantly increased the likelihood of good glycemic control. Conclusion: A majority of the Yemeni diabetic patients have poor glycemic control. To achieve better awareness, diabetes educational programs that highlight the benefits of self-management are recommended

Effects of alginates on the growth, haematological, immunity, antioxidant and pro-inflammatory responses of rabbits under high temperature

Heat stress (HS) is one of the most severe hurdles impacting rabbit growth, immunity, homeostasis, and productivity. Alginate oligosaccharides (AOS) have considerable beneficial effects due to their plausible antioxidant and immune-stimulatory properties. This work was planned to explore the preventive function of AOS as a new bio-feed additive against the harmful effects caused by environmental HS on growing rabbits. Rabbits were allotted in four experimental groups (25 animals in each group) and fed on a basal diet supplemented with 0.0 (AOS0), 50 (AOS50), 100 (AOS100), and 150 (AOS150) mg AOS/kg diet reared under summer conditions. Dietary AOS supplementation improved significantly (P ≤ 0.001) feed conversion rate, while both AOS100 and AOS150 significantly (P ≤ 0.001) enhanced the final body weight and body weight gain. All AOS addition significantly increased nitric oxide and lysosome activity and significantly reduced interferon-gamma (IFNγ) compared with those in the control group. Tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα), interleukin1β (IL-1β), myeloperoxidase and protein carbonyl levels were significantly reduced in rabbits fed diets containing AOS (100 and 150 mg/kg) compared with those in the control group under heat stress conditions. In addition, glutathione (GSH) and catalase (CAT) were significantly (P ≤ 0.001) improved with increasing AOS dietary levels compared with the control group. Still, total antioxidant capacity (TAC), malondialdehyde (MDA), hematocrit, mean corpuscular volume (MCV), eosinophils, and lymphocytes did not change. Erythrocyte's indices improved significantly (P ≤ 0.001), while neutrophils and white blood cell counts were decreased by dietary AOS inclusion. Immunological (IgM and IgG) were markedly reduced in AOS-treated groups compared with the control group. The current investigation exemplified that AOS as a novel bio-feed additive that could be an effective strategy to extenuate prejudicial effects in heat-stressed rabbits via enhancing immunity, and antioxidant defence system, further regulating the inflammation cytokines.Universidad King Saud, Riad, Arabia Saudita | Ref. RSP2023R439Universidade de Vigo/CISU

HemoCue against Coulter LH-750 in the estimation of hemoglobin levels of blood donors in mobile collection settings: a comparative study

Background: The fast and outpatient setting for a determination of the hemoglobin (Hb) level is a well-recognized prerequisite to detect anemia in blood donors. This study aimed to evaluate the performance of the HemoCue methods (HemoCue B-Hb and HemoCue-301) against Coulter LH-750 as a reference method for Hb determination. Methods: This study was an experimental cross-sectional study. It includes 455 blood samples that were collected from volunteer blood donors between January 15, 2010 and February 15, 2011. The performance of the three methods and their comparisons were assessed using the analysis of coefficients of variation (CV), linear regression, and mean difference. Correlation coefficient and Bland–Altman plots were drawn to compare the two HemoCue measurements and the automated cell analyzer against each other and to evaluate their results. The Hb concentrations were compared using the concordance correlation coefficient. Results: The findings exhibited that the CV for the three methods Coulter LH-750, HemoCue B-Hb, and HemoCue-301 were 0.60%, 0.72%, and 0.92%, respectively. A statistically significant difference was observed between the means of the Hb measurements for the three methods (p<0.001). The HemoCue B-Hb and HemoCue-301 methods showed the best agreement, and the Coulter LH-750 method gave a lower Hb value compared with the two HemoCue methods. The results showed a positive correlation of HemoCue Hb results compared with the reference method. Conclusion: All three methods provide a good agreement for Hb determination. The new device HemoCue-301 was found to be more accurate compared with HemoCue B-Hb and Coulter LH-750