To evaluate the shared genetic etiology of type-2 diabetes (T2D) and coronary heart disease (CHD), we conducted a multi-ethnic study of genetic variation genome-wide for both diseases in up to 265,678 subjects for T2D and 260,365 subjects for CHD. We identify 16 previously unreported loci for T2D and one for CHD, including a novel T2D association at a missense variant in HLA-DRB5 (OR=1.29). We show that genetically mediated increase in T2D risk also confers higher CHD risk. Joint analysis of T2D loci demonstrated that 24% are associated with CHD, highlighting eight variants - two of which are coding - where T2D and CHD associations appear to co-localize, and a novel joint T2D/CHD association which also replicated for T2D. Variants associated with both outcomes implicate several novel pathways including cellular proliferation and cardiovascular development.

Direct infusion high-resolution mass spectrometry (DIHRMS) is a novel, high-throughput approach to rapidly and accurately profile hundreds of lipids in human serum without prior chromatography, facilitating in-depth lipid phenotyping for large epidemiological studies to reveal the detailed associations of individual lipids with coronary heart disease (CHD) risk factors. Intact lipid profiling by DIHRMS was performed on 5662 serum samples from healthy participants in the Pakistan Risk of Myocardial Infarction Study (PROMIS). We developed a novel semi-targeted peak-picking algorithm to detect mass-to-charge ratios in positive and negative ionization modes. We analyzed lipid partial correlations, assessed the association of lipid principal components with established CHD risk factors and genetic variants, and examined differences between lipids for a common genetic polymorphism. The DIHRMS method provided information on 360 lipids (including fatty acyls, glycerolipids, glycerophospholipids, sphingolipids, and sterol lipids), with a median coefficient of variation of 11.6% (range: 5.4–51.9). The lipids were highly correlated and exhibited a range of associations with clinical chemistry biomarkers and lifestyle factors. This platform can provide many novel insights into the effects of physiology and lifestyle on lipid metabolism, genetic determinants of lipids, and the relationship between individual lipids and CHD risk factors.

We investigated type 2 diabetes (T2D) genetic susceptibility in a multi-ethnic meta-analysis of 228,499 cases and 1,178,783 controls in the Million Veteran Program (MVP) and other biobanks. We identified 558 autosomal and 10 X-chromosome T2D-associated variants, of which 286 autosomal and 7 X-chromosome variants were previously unreported. Ancestry-specific analyses identified 25 additional novel T2D-susceptibility variants. Transcriptome-wide association analysis detected 3,568 T2D-associations with T2D-colocalized genetically predicted gene expression of 804 genes in 52 tissues, of which 687 are novel. Fifty-four of these genes are known to interact with FDA-approved drugs and chemical compounds. T2D polygenic risk score was strongly associated with increased the risk of T2D-related retinopathy, and additionally showed evidence for association with chronic kidney disease (CKD), neuropathy, and peripheral artery disease (PAD). We investigated the genetic etiology of T2D-related vascular outcomes in the MVP and observed statistical SNP-T2D interactions at 13 variants, including 3 for coronary heart disease, 1 for PAD, 2 for stroke, 4 for retinopathy, 2 for CKD, and 1 for neuropathy. Our findings may identify potential novel therapeutic targets for T2D and genomic pathways that link T2D and its vascular outcomes.

Objective: To find the association between hyperuricemia and ischemic stroke. Study Design: Case-control study.

Objective: To document association of hyperglycemia with mortality in septicemic patients. Methods: After approval from departmental review committee, this retrospective comparative study was conducted from the chart review of 197 medical files of patients with primary diagnosis of bacterial sepsis admitted in a medical unit of department of Internal Medicine, King Edward Medical University Lahore from October 2012 to Septfember 2013. Sepsis was defined as by international sepsis definitions conference criteria 2001. "Diabetics" were evident from history; the term non-diabetic was used for the rest. Highest blood sugar value recorded during admission with Optium Xceed glucometer was used for analysis. Mean blood sugar of discharged and deceased patients were compared (t-test), mortality of diabetic and nondiabetic patients was compared by frequency of hyperglycemia (≥ 200 mg/dl) by chi-square test. SSPS version 20 was used. A p-value < 0.05 was considered significant.Results: Mean age of patients was 59.8 years, 92 (46.7%) males, and 105 (53.3%) were females. Mean blood sugar was high in known diabetics (314 ± 129 mg/dl), and non-diabetics (210 ± 109 mg/dl). Higher mean blood sugar was significantly associated with mortality in females (p = 0.032); trend towards significance was found in non-diabetic females (p = 0.065). Association of mortality in relation to hyperglycemia (Blood sugar ≥ 200 mg/dl), was found significant in whole study group (p = 0.038); sub-analysis revealed prominent association in non-diabetics (p = 0.027), and females (p = 0.04). Conclusion:Despite certain limitations of this study, hyperglycemia (blood sugar >200 mg/dl) may be a bad prognostic marker in septicemic non-diabetic female population; they need special attention for earlier and aggressive treatment.

Background: COVID pneumonitis presents with symptoms of fever, cough, fatigue, myalgia, inability to smell and shortness of breath. However, certain symptoms have been reported to be persistent in some people or novel post-recovery symptoms have developed. Due to the day today rise in the number of covid-19 cases in Pakistan, it is the need of the hour to determine the long-term consequences associated with this disease, to educate the general population and to establish the long-term management of the patients.Patients and methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted using non-probability purposive sampling, in which a total of 75 patients who had recovered from Covid-19 infection in the past 2-10 months visiting tertiary care hospitals in Lahore for follow up were recruited and filled survey forms bearing different questions regarding their disease, post-recovery symptoms and quality of life. Data collected was then analyzed by SPSS-26.Results: The most common symptoms were fatigue (66.7%), dry cough (46.7%), headache (44%) and joint pains (41.3%), followed by other general, neurological, pulmonary and psychological symptoms. The quality of life was analyzed in different domains exhibiting an average range of 60-68% which shows that covid-19 has significantly affected the quality of life of its victims.Conclusion: Various post disease recovery symptoms have been seen in the covid-19 victims and their quality of life has been deteriorated in physical, psychological, environmental and social domains; therefore, we need a multi-disciplinary team comprising of physicians, nurses, psychologists, social and occupational health workers who should work in liaison to tackle with these issues.

Objective: Early detection of diastolic dysfunction in hypertensive patients to reduce complications and improve outcome. Place of Study: East Medical and Cardiology wards of Mayo Hospital Lahore. Study Design: A descriptive cross-sectional study. Patients and Methods: 51 hypertensive patients between 50 - 80 years of either sex enrolled through out patient department of Mayo Hospital Lahore underwent Doppler Echocardigraphy and data was analyzed by using Chi-square and Students `t` tests. Results: The percentage of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) was 66.66%. On comparing hypertensive patients with and without LVH, E and A wave velocities, E:A ratio, deceleration time and isovolumic relaxation time were similar. Conclusion: 33.33% of patients had no LVH in the presence of diastolic dysfunction so LVH was not an independent factor associated with abnormal flow patterns in hypertensive patients with normal systolic contractility. Impaired relaxation was the predominant pattern of diastolic dysfunction an d increased further with age.

Chronic hepatitis C is a major health problem associated with high mortality and morbidity. It is the most common chronic hepatitis leading to chronic liver disease and hepatocellular carcinoma. One of the standard treatment used for hepatitis C is interferon therapy which can lead to thyroid dysfunction i.e. hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism