Although cobalamin (vitamin B 12 ) deficiency was described over a century ago, it is still difficult to establish the correct diagnosis and prescribe the right treatment. Symptoms related to vitamin B 12 deficiency may be diverse and vary from neurologic to psychiatric. A number of individuals with vitamin B 12 deficiency may present with the classic megaloblastic anemia. In clinical practice, many cases of vitamin B 12 deficiency are overlooked or sometimes even misdiagnosed. In this review, we describe the heterogeneous disease spectrum of patients with vitamin B 12 deficiency in whom the diagnosis was either based on low serum B 12 levels, elevated biomarkers like methylmalonic acid and/or homocysteine, or the improvement of clinical symptoms after the institution of parenteral vitamin B 12 therapy. We discuss the possible clinical signs and symptoms of patients with B 12 deficiency and the various pitfalls of diagnosis and treatment.

Our analysis shows that the 460Trp variant of the alpha-adducin polymorphism is probably associated with a sodium-sensitive form of hypertension, while the polymorphisms of the angiotensin II type 1 receptor gene and the -344C/T variant of the aldosterone synthase gene are not associated with this phenotype. In view of the lack of standardization in salt sensitivity testing, we propose uniformity in study design in these type of studies.

BackgroundSkin autofluorescence (SAF) is a noninvasive marker of advanced glycation end products (AGEs). In diabetes, higher SAF levels have been positively associated with long‐term complications, cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Because little is known about the factors that influence SAF in nondiabetic individuals, we assessed the association of clinical and lifestyle parameters with SAF as well as their interactions in a large‐scale, nondiabetic population and performed the same analysis in a type 2 diabetic subgroup.MethodsIn a cross‐sectional study in participants from the LifeLines Cohort Study, extensive clinical and biochemical phenotyping, including SAF measurement, was assessed in 9009 subjects of whom 314 (3·5%) subjects with type 2 diabetes.ResultsMean SAF was 2·04 ± 0·44 arbitrary units (AU) in nondiabetic individuals and 2·44 ± 0·55 AU in type 2 diabetic subjects (P < 0·0001). Multivariate backward regression analysis showed that in the nondiabetic population, SAF was significantly and independently associated with age, BMI, HbA1c, creatinine clearance, genetic polymorphism in NAT2 (rs4921914), current smoking, pack‐years of smoking and coffee consumption. In the type 2 diabetic group, a similar set of factors was associated with SAF, except for coffee consumption.ConclusionsIn addition to the established literature on type 2 diabetes, we have demonstrated that SAF levels are associated with several clinical and lifestyle factors in the nondiabetic population. These parameters should be taken into consideration when using SAF as a screening or prediction tool for populations at risk for cardiovascular disease and diabetes.