No abstract

Background:The objective of this study was to determine the levels of serum ischemia-modified albumin (IMA), fibrinogen (FIB) and high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients with hypertension (HT) (DMT2HTN) and without HT (DMT2). Also, their association with certain biochemical and physical factors were studied to identify possible risk factors that lead to cardiovascular complications. Methods: Fasting blood samples were collected from 35 DMT2 or DMT2HTN patients each to analyze differences in serum and plasma levels of IMA, hs-CRP, FIB, total cholesterol (TC), high and low density lipoproteins (HDL and LDL), triglyceride (TG), hemoglobin A1c (HbA1C), glycated hemoglobin and creatinine. Results: In DMT2 and DMT2HTN patients, IMA, hs-CRP, FIB, TC, TG, HDL, LDL, glycated hemoglobin and creatinine levels, including body mass index (BMI) and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), were significantly higher relative to healthy controls. In addition, the levels of IMA, hs-CRP and FIB levels showed a strong link to BMI, WHR, TC, TG, LDL and glycated hemoglobin. Lastly, both DMT2 and DMT2HTN patients demonstrated a significant reduction in HDL. Conclusions: DMT2 and DMT2HTN patients have a greater risk of developing cardiovascular related complications. This study suggests that quantifying hs-CRP, IMA and FIB levels can help diagnose the risk of developing complications during the early stages of metabolic and cardiovascular disease. Overall, the specific risk factors may be used for early identification of cardiovascular complications to decrease mortality and morbidity in T2DM patients.

BACKGROUND India has plenty of sunshine, yet people here are deprived of vitamin D – ‘sunshine vitamin’. According to endocrine society of India, vitamin D levels of < 20 ng / mL is considered to be vitamin D deficiency. The objective of the study was to evaluate seasonal variation of vitamin D and give an insight on risk factors such as age, gender, diet, body mass index, occupation, skin complexion and body surface area exposure on vitamin D level. METHODS The study was conducted in a tertiary hospital in Mangalore on 109 apparently healthy individuals. The same cohort of subjects was followed for two seasons - summer and winter. Serum was collected and analysed for 25-OH vitamin D, calcium and phosphorous. Skin color was assessed according to the Fitzpatrick classification, questionnaire was given to assess the approximate time limit of sun exposure in a day along with the exposed areas to sunlight and anthropometric parameters such as height and weight were measured using standard guidelines. Body mass index (BMI) was calculated. Comparison of mean vitamin D along with the factors influencing them in both seasons was done using paired t test. Inferential statistical analysis was done using chi-square test. Pearson correlation test was also done. Statistical significance was considered at P < 0.05. RESULTS Mean vitamin D was higher in summer (15.14 ± 5.62) as compared to winter (14.42 ± 5.38) irrespective of the risk factors. Vitamin D deficiency was highest in older age group (83.9 %), females (84.6 %), overweight (100 %), vegetarians (92.3 %), office workers (91.2 %), both complexions and those exposed with < 1.5 hours of sunlight (97.2 %). Vitamin D deficiency was also more prevalent in those with lesser exposed body surface area. CONCLUSIONS Vitamin D deficiency was statistically most common in winter than summer. It was seen correlating with majority of the risk factors, except skin complexion and among the confounding factors. The key for vitamin D production in this population was maximum body surface area exposure (face, hand, leg and feet) to sunlight for more than 2.5 hours, yet these subjects were vitamin D deficient. However, they did not manifest with any skeletal or extra-skeletal morbidity. Thus, concluding that a reliable cut off value for reference range of vitamin D should be set in this population in order to abstain from excess vitamin D treatment. KEY WORDS Sunshine Vitamin, Vitamin D Deficiency, Mangalore, Skin Colour, Sunlight Exposure, Body Surface Area, Summer, Winter

No abstract

Introduction: Diabetes mellitus cases are continually rising all over the world. Glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) used as a diagnostic test to measure long-term average glycaemic control in diabetic patients. Aim: To assess the precision and reproducibility of the Ion Exchange Column Chromatography Resin (IECR) method and nephelometry in comparison to High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) with respect to the estimation of HbA1c. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional comparative study was conducted on 50 blood samples, collected from the diabetic subjects at the Department of Biochemistry and their HbA1c values were estimated by HPLC based BioRad D-10, nephelometry and IECR techniques. HPLC was used as a gold standard method, to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of nephelometry and IECR techniques. Data were expressed as mean±standard deviation and intraclass Correlation Coefficient and Pearson correlation were calculated. Results: The mean age of the study subjects was 53.06±7.67 years. The mean plasma HbA1c levels were 8.16±2.9, 7.62±2.5 and 7.84±2.5 and mean estimated Average Glucose (eAG) was 187.00±84.4, 172.0±76.8, and 289.46±199.9 by HPLC, Nephelometry and IECR, respectively. Compared with HPLC, nephelometry had excellent correlation (r-value 0.925); p<0.001) and IECR (r-value 0.869; p<0.001). Conclusion: Nephelometry and IECR both had better performance and showed a greater concordance with gold standard HPLC. Therefore, nephelometry and IECR can be used as an alternative assay for HbA1c estimation.