Diastolic dysfunction is not related to changes in glycaemic control over 6 months in type 2 (non-insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus. A cross-sectional study.

Diastolic dysfunction may be the earliest marker of a diabetes-induced heart muscle disease which leads to the progressive development of cardiac failure. Left ventricular diastolic function was indirectly assessed using pulsed wave Doppler ultrasound mitral-flow velocities in 20 normotensive patients with a new diagnosis of type 2 diabetes mellitus, normal cardiac function and no evidence of coronary artery disease and in 16 age-matched normal subjects. Peak velocities of early (E) and late (A) left ventricular filling were measured. The median (interquartile ranges) peak E/A ratio was significantly reduced in the diabetic group 0.96 (0.8-1.2) vs 1.2 (1.1-1.3), P < 0.01. Despite improvements in glycaemic control over 3 months, HbA1c 9.9% (7.6%-10.5%) to 7.4% (6.5%-7.9%), P < 0.001, maintained at 6 months, HbA1c 7.0% (6.4%-7.3%), there were no changes in the E/A ratio, 0.96 (0.83-1.15) and 0.95 (0.83-1.17), respectively. Furthermore, there was no correlation between percentage change in HbA1c and E/A ratio over 6 months. The results of this study suggest that in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and normal systolic function, diastolic function was impaired at diagnosis and was not affected by an improvement in the glycaemic control

Comparison of quality of life and cough on eprosartan and enalapril in people with moderate hypertension.

The objective of this study was to compare quality of life and incidence of dry persistent cough among patients treated with eprosartan and enalapril for mild-moderate hypertension. This was a randomised 26-week double-blind controlled trial carried out in clinics in nine countries of North America, Europe and South Africa. A total of 529 patients aged 18 and over with diastolic blood pressure between 95 mm Hg and 114 mm Hg were studied. Treatment comprised of eprosartan or enalapril monotherapy for 12 weeks with the option of hydrochlorothiazide addition for the remaining 14 weeks. The primary outcome measures were cough and the Psychological General Wellbeing Index (PGWB) total and subscales (anxiety, self-control, depression, general health, positive wellbeing and vitality). The results were that 17.8% of enalapril patients and 13.2% of eprosartan patients withdrew from randomised treatment. Those on enalapril were twice as likely to have gained a definite or possible cough by study end point as those on eprosartan (7.6% vs 3.2%) P = 0.099. At monotherapy end point the differences were greater (9.9% vs 2.1%) and of statistical significance, P = 0.001. Patients treated with enalapril, however, had small but significant improvements in measures of self-control and total PGWB compared with those on eprosartan. The effect sizes of 0.2 or less indicated that there were small differences. In conclusion eprosartan was associated with fewer coughs than enalapril but it performed less well on some aspects of quality of life

Somatic mosaic IDH1 and IDH2 mutations are associated with enchondroma and spindle cell hemangioma in Ollier disease and Maffucci syndrome

Ollier disease and Maffucci syndrome are non-hereditary skeletal disorders characterized by multiple enchondromas (Ollier disease) combined with spindle cell hemangiomas (Maffucci syndrome). We report somatic heterozygous mutations in IDH1 (c.394C>T encoding an R132C substitution and c.395G>A encoding an R132H substitution) or IDH2 (c.516G>C encoding R172S) in 87% of enchondromas (benign cartilage tumors) and in 70% of spindle cell hemangiomas (benign vascular lesions). In total, 35 of 43 (81%) subjects with Ollier disease and 10 of 13 (77%) with Maffucci syndrome carried IDH1 (98%) or IDH2 (2%) mutations in their tumors. Fourteen of 16 subjects had identical mutations in separate lesions. Immunohistochemistry to detect mutant IDH1 R132H protein suggested intraneoplastic and somatic mosaicism. IDH1 mutations in cartilage tumors were associated with hypermethylation and downregulated expression of several genes. Mutations were also found in 40% of solitary central cartilaginous tumors and in four chondrosarcoma cell lines, which will enable functional studies to assess the role of IDH1 and IDH2 mutations in tumor formation

Allergic bronchopulmonary mycosis due to fungi other than Aspergillus: a global overview.

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