SUMMARY Factors possibly influencing the development of diabetic retinopathy were studied in 112 randomly selected type I diabetics having no or minimal retinopathy (group A) and in 82 type 1 diabetics with known severe diabetic retinopathy. The latter comprised those with severe background retinopathy (group B, n= 17) and those having proliferative retinopathy without (group C, n=38) and with (group D, n=27) diabetic nephropathy. Nonretinopaths (group A) were of similar sex ratio, body weight, and age at diagnosis of diabetes but had been diabetic longer (p

Carotid intima-media thickness (C-IMT) measured noninvasively by ultrasonography is widely used as a marker for increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Also hyperuricemia (HU) is a well recognized risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. The study was designed to assess the relation between hyperuricemia and carotid intima-media thickness C-IMT in patients with and without hypertension (HTN). This study included 126 patients divided into four groups: (1) Group A, included 59 hypertensive patients with hyperuricemia. (2) Group B, included 29 hypertensive patients without hyperuricemia. (3) Group C, included 17 patients with hyperuricemia and normal blood pressure without history of hypertension. (4) Group D, included 21 control subjects. We measured carotid intima-media thickness by B-mode ultrasound in the common carotid and internal carotid artery. Routine echocardiography and uric acid level was assessed for all patients. We found that C-IMT was significantly higher in group A, B and C than group D; and it was significantly higher in group A than B. This means that C-IMT is significantly higher in all hypertensive groups than control group but it was significantly higher in hypertensive hyperuricemia (group A) than those hypertensives without hyperuricemia. We also observed a higher C-IMT in hyperuricemic non hypertensive patients than control group this means that hyperuricemia per se could be a risk factor for atherosclerosis. Uric acid levels among the whole number of patients included in the study and among the groups with hyperuricemia (group A and C) were positively correlated with the intimal-media thickness (IMT) while there were no correlations in the other two groups without hyperuricemia. We found that left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) was significantly higher in hypertensive patients (group A&B) than normotensives (group C&D) either with or without hyperuricemia and this was evident in the hypertensive hyperuricemic patients (group A); but unexpectedly we observed the presence of LVH in the hyperuricemic non hypertensive patients (group C) which was significantly higher than the control group (group D). This means that hyperuricemia is a risk factor for development of LVH hypertrophy independently of hypertension. Therefore, higher serum uric acid levels are associated with increased C-IMT and left ventricular hypertrophy in hypertensive and even non hypertensive patients. So, early screening for hyperuricemia and lowering serum uric acid levels might be beneficial in slowing progression of atherogenesis.

Carotid intima-media thickness (C-IMT) measured noninvasively by ultrasonography is widely used as a marker for increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Also hyperuricemia (HU) is a well recognized risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. The study was designed to assess the relation between hyperuricemia and carotid intima-media thickness C-IMT in patients with and without hypertension (HTN).This study included 126 patients divided into four groups: (1) Group A, included 59 hypertensive patients with hyperuricemia. (2) Group B, included 29 hypertensive patients without hyperuricemia. (3) Group C, included 17 patients with hyperuricemia and normal blood pressure without history of hypertension. (4) Group D, included 21 control subjects.We measured carotid intima-media thickness by B-mode ultrasound in the common carotid and internal carotid artery. Routine echocardiography and uric acid level was assessed for all patients.We found that C-IMT was significantly higher in group A, B and C than group D; and it was significantly higher in group A than B. This means that C-IMT is significantly higher in all hypertensive groups than control group but it was significantly higher in hypertensive hyperuricemia (group A) than those hypertensives without hyperuricemia. We also observed a higher C-IMT in hyperuricemic non hypertensive patients than control group this means that hyperuricemia per se could be a risk factor for atherosclerosis. Uric acid levels among the whole number of patients included in the study and among the groups with hyperuricemia (group A and group C) were positively correlated with the intimal-media thickness (IMT) while there were no correlations in the other two groups without hyperuricemia.We found that left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) was significantly higher in hypertensive patients (group A&B) than normotensives (group C&D) either with or without hyperuricemia and this was evident in the hypertensive hyperuricemic patients (group A); but unexpectedly we observed the presence of LVH in the hyperuricemic non hypertensive patients (group C) which was significantly higher than the control group (group D). This means that hyperuricemia is a risk factor for development of LVH hypertrophy independently of hypertension.Therefore, higher serum uric acid levels are associated with increased C-IMT and left ventricular hypertrophy in hypertensive and even non hypertensive patients. So, early screening for hyperuricemia and lowering serum uric acid levels might be beneficial in slowing progression of atherogenesis.

Summary and conclusions Twenty patients with idiopathic "warm" autoimmune haemolytic anaemia and 40 controls were typed concurrently for human leucocyte antigens (HLA) A, B, C, and DRW. There was a significantly stronger association of HLA-B8 with the disease (x2=1039; p=0018) than HLA-DRW3 (X2= 3-71; p=0 35), and the patients also showed a significant increase in BW6 homozygosity (X2=7*13; p=0-01) and a corresponding reduction in BW4 (x2=7 13; p=0 02). (All p values corrected for number of antigens at each locus.)These findings suggest that susceptibility to idiopathic autoimmune haemolytic anaemia is associated more closely with the HLA-B locus than with DRW3.

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