Severe COVID-19 associated hyperglycemia is caused by beta cell dysfunction: a prospective cohort study.

Background: COVID-19, an infectious disease caused by SARS-CoV-2, was shown to be associated with an increased risk of new-onset diabetes. Mechanisms contributing to the development of hyperglycemia are still unclear. We aimed to study whether hyperglycemia is related to insulin resistance and/or beta cell dysfunction.

Visceral Fat Accumulation Is Related to Impaired Pancreatic Blood Perfusion and Beta-Cell Dysfunction in Obese Women.

Aims/hypothesis: Beta-cell failure plays a fundamental role in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) development. It has been shown that the beta-cells are among the most sensitive to hypoxia. We aimed to analyze whether decrease in pancreatic perfusion relates to 1/decline in beta-cell function and 2/visceral fat accumulation in patients with T2DM.

Vitamin B12 Deficiency Is Prevalent Among Czech Vegans Who Do Not Use Vitamin B12 Supplements.

As not much is known about the prevalence and predictors of nutritional deficiencies among vegans in the Czech Republic, we evaluated whether supplement use and duration of adherence to the vegan diet are associated with the risk of cobalamin and iron deficiencies. Associations between self-reported supplementation and duration of vegan diet with biomarkers of cobalamin (serum cobalamin, holotranscobalamin, homocysteine, folate) and iron status (serum ferritin, iron binding capacity, transferrin and saturation of transferrin) were assessed by cross-sectional analyses of medical data from a clinical nutrition center. Data from 151 (72 females) adult vegans (age 18-67 years), who were free of major chronic diseases and 85 (40 females) healthy non-vegans (age 21-47 years) were analyzed.

Effect of glucagon-like peptide-1 analogue liraglutide on primary cultures of rat hepatocytes isolated from lean and steatotic livers.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and its complications are frequent causes of liver-related morbidity and mortality. Incretin glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) affects liver functions and metabolism. Although GLP-1 analogues are widely used in clinical practice, information regarding their potential toxic effect on hepatocytes in vitro is missing.

Autoantibodies against ZnT8 are rare in Central-European LADA patients and absent in MODY patients, including those positive for other autoantibodies.

Background: Testing for autoantibodies against the zinc transporter ZnT8 (ZnTA) is becoming routine in pediatric diabetes. However, available data are inconclusive when focusing on adult-onset diabetes, including autoimmune diabetes, which does not require insulin at diagnosis (LADA).

Basic Procedures: We examined the ZnTA prevalence and titers and matched them with the clinical phenotype and PTPN22 genotypes of Czech LADA patients who were positive for GADA and/or IA2A and had a fasting C-peptide level >200 pmol/L at diagnosis as well as HNF4A-, GCK- or HNF1A-MODY patients and healthy controls.

Prevalence of malnutrition risk among institutionalized elderly from North Bohemia is higher than among those in the Capital City of Prague, Czech Republic.

Objective: The aim of the study is to assess the risk of malnutrition among institutionalized elderly individuals in North Bohemia and compare it to the risk of malnutrition in the capital city of Prague, Czech Republic. In the Czech Republic, very few studies have been conducted with the goal of describing and evaluating the nutritional status of the institutionalized elderly.

Methods: In this study, data was collected from 254 elderly individuals (aged ≥ 65) residing in retirement homes in North Bohemia and then compared with similar data for the elderly living in retirement homes in Prague (the data from Prague were previously published in 2013).

Perspectives of Patients with Insulin-Treated Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes on Hypoglycemia: Results of the HAT Observational Study in Central and Eastern European Countries.

Introduction: The aim of this study was to determine the level of awareness of hypoglycemia, the level of fear for hypoglycemia, and the response to hypoglycemic events among insulin-treated diabetes patients from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). The impact of hypoglycemia on the use of healthcare resources and patient productivity was also assessed.

Methods: This was a multicenter, non-interventional, two-part, patient self-reported questionnaire study that comprised both a retrospective cross-sectional evaluation and a prospective observational evaluation.

Effects of Propofol on Cellular Bioenergetics in Human Skeletal Muscle Cells.

Objectives: Propofol may adversely affect the function of mitochondria and the clinical features of propofol infusion syndrome suggest that this may be linked to propofol-related bioenergetic failure. We aimed to assess the effect of therapeutic propofol concentrations on energy metabolism in human skeletal muscle cells.

Design: In vitro study on human skeletal muscle cells.

Increased Incretin But Not Insulin Response after Oral versus Intravenous Branched Chain Amino Acids.

Background/aims: Branched chain amino acids (BCAAs) are known to exert an insulinotropic effect. Whether this effect is mediated by incretins (glucagon like peptide 1 [GLP-1] or glucose-dependent insulinotropic peptide [GIP]) is not known. The aim of this study was to show whether an equivalent dose of BCAA elicits a greater insulin and incretin response when administered orally than intravenously (IV).

[Changes in nutritional recommendations for a healthy population and their influence on a diabetic diet].

Unlabelled: Recently, thousands of papers brought knowledge about effects of nutrients on cellular level, in experimental animals and in human experiments on one side, the results of epidemiological studies on the other side have suggested the nutrients and foods for healthy diet and nutrients and foods, which should be consumed only in limited amount. Among foods, which should be avoided, those with higher content of trans-fatty acids. Their daily intake should not exceed 1 % of total energy intake.

[Annual monitoring of side effects of administering sitagliptin in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus].

Unlabelled: We present the results of an independent, drug company-unsupported follow-up of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) treated with the dipeptidyl peptidase 4 inhibitor sitagliptin. 29 patients (16 men, 13 women) used sitagliptin 100 mg daily for one year as an add-on to their chronic antidiabetic therapy. 16 type diabetic patients formed a control group - they used their chronic antidiabetic therapy without sitagliptin.

The effect of dipeptidyl peptidase-IV inhibition on circulating T cell subpopulations in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Aim: To assess intraindividually the effects of DPP-IV inhibition on the subpopulations of immune cells in type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) patients during the course of treatment with sitagliptin.

Methods: In this open label non-randomized observational study with a control group DM2 patients were examined before the initiation of the DPP-IV inhibitor administration (sitagliptin 100mg once daily) and then after 4weeks and 12months. Inhibition of the blood plasma DPP-IV enzymatic activity was determined by a chromogenic assay, the immunophenotyping of the blood cell subpopulations was performed using flow cytometry and blood plasma cytokine concentrations were quantified using an array-based multiplex ELISA.

Serum microRNA-196 and microRNA-200 in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma of patients with diabetes mellitus.

Background/objectives: Our aim was to compare expressions of 6 microRNAs (miRNAs) in patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PAC) and non-cancer patients, moreover according to the presence or absence of diabetes mellitus.

Methods: Expressions of miRNA-192, -196, -200, -21, -30 and -423 were measured in 77 patients with PAC and 64 non-cancer patients (34 patients with type 2 DM and 30 control persons). 60 patients with PAC (78%) had DM or prediabetes and it was of new-onset (less than 2 years before the cancer diagnosis) in 44 out of them.

Propofol infusion syndrome: a structured review of experimental studies and 153 published case reports.

Introduction: Propofol infusion syndrome (PRIS) is a rare, but potentially lethal adverse effect of a commonly used drug. We aimed to review and correlate experimental and clinical data about this syndrome.

Methods: We searched for all case reports published between 1990 and 2014 and for all experimental studies on PRIS pathophysiology.

Half-Life of Sulfonylureas in HNF1A and HNF4A Human MODY Patients is not Prolonged as Suggested by the Mouse Hnf1a(-/-) Model.

Objectives: Sulfonylurea derivatives are widely used for clinical treatment of human subjects with Maturity Onset Diabetes of the Young (MODY) caused by mutations in HNF-1α or HNF-4α despite the mechanism leading to their hypersensitivity is incompletely understood. In Hnf1a(-/-) mice, serum concentrations and half-life of sulfonylurea derivatives are strongly increased. We thus hypothesized that reduced sulfonylurea derivatives clearance stands behind their therapeutic potential in human HNF1A/HNF4A MODY subjects.

[miRNA as a new marker of diabetes mellitus and pancreatic carcinoma progression].

Pancreatic cancer is a disease with increasing incidence and high (and nearly unchanged) lethality that is caused mainly due to its late diagnosis. Risk factors for neoplastic transformation are especially chronic pancreatitis, diabetes mellitus, but also obesity and smoking. The search for suitable early markers becomes a key element of research in this area.

Protective Effect of Unsaturated Fatty Acids on Palmitic Acid-Induced Toxicity in Skeletal Muscle Cells is not Mediated by PPARδ Activation.

Unsaturated free fatty acids (FFA) are able to prevent deleterious effects of saturated FFA in skeletal muscle cells although the mechanisms involved are still not completely understood. FFA act as endogenous ligands of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPAR), transcription factors regulating the expression of genes involved in lipid metabolism. The aim of this study was to determine whether activation of PPARδ, the most common PPAR subtype in skeletal muscle, plays a role in mediating the protective effect of unsaturated FFA on saturated FFA-induced damage in skeletal muscle cells and to examine an impact on mitochondrial respiration.

Renal risk associated with sodium phosphate medication: safe in healthy individuals, potentially dangerous in others.

Introduction: Sodium phosphate purgatives are used for bowel preparation before endoscopic or radiologic examination and occasionally for treatment of severe obstipation. Generally, they are well tolerated and effective; however, safety concerns exist regarding serious renal injury and electrolyte disturbances after administration of these drugs.

Areas Covered: The review presents complications associated with the use of agents containing sodium phosphate with regard to electrolyte disorders and renal impairment, namely acute phosphate nephropathy (APhN).

Lipophilic triphenylphosphonium cations inhibit mitochondrial electron transport chain and induce mitochondrial proton leak.

Background: The lipophilic positively charged moiety of triphenylphosphonium (TPP+) has been used to target a range of biologically active compounds including antioxidants, spin-traps and other probes into mitochondria. The moiety itself, while often considered biologically inert, appears to influence mitochondrial metabolism.

Methodology/principal Findings: We used the Seahorse XF flux analyzer to measure the effect of a range of alkylTPP+ on cellular respiration and further analyzed their effect on mitochondrial membrane potential and the activity of respiratory complexes.

Low Frequencies of Autoimmunity-Associated PTPN22 Polymorphisms in MODY Patients, Including Those Transiently Expressing Islet Cell Autoantibodies.

Background: The protein tyrosine phosphatase nonreceptor type 22 (PTPN22) gene encodes lymphoid tyrosine phosphatase (LYP), which is expressed primarily in lymphoid tissues. The functional but geographically highly variable PTPN22 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), particularly c.1858C>T, contribute to the onset and progression of autoimmunity-associated diseases and facilitate the expression of disease-associated autoantibodies.

[miRNA-192, miRNA-21 and miRNA-200: new pancreatic cancer markers in diabetic patients?].

Introduction: Newly-onset diabetes mellitus (DM) in middle-aged and older people may be an early symptom of pancreatic cancer (PC). However, sensitive markers for PC are still missing. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play an important role in a cell response regulation.

[Factors causing damage and destruction of beta-cells of the islets of Langerhans in the pancreas].

Insulin secretion in patients with manifested diabetes mellitus tends to disappear months to decades after the diagnosis, which is a clear sign of a gradual loss of pancreatic islet beta-cells. In our sample of 30 type 2 diabetic patients, whose disease manifested between 30 and 45 years of age, about a half have retained or even increased insulin secretion 30 years later, while the other half exhibit a much diminished or lost insulin secretion. Factors that can damage or destroy beta-cells can be divided into the following groups: Metabolic factors: hyperglycemia and glucotoxicity, lipotoxicity, hypoxia, reactive oxygen species; Pharmacological factors: antimicrobial medication pentamidine, SSRI antidepressants; Factors related to impaired insulin secretion: MODY type diabetes; Environmental toxic factors: rat poison Vacor, streptozotocin, polychlorinated and polybrominated hydrocarbons; Disorders of the exocrine pancreas: tumor infiltration, fibrous infiltration, chronic pancreatitis, cystic fibrosis; Infections, inflammation, autoimmunity, viral factors: Coxsackie viruses, H1N1 influenza, enteroviruses.

[Osteoporosis and bone alterations in celiac disease in adults].

Both celiac disease and osteoporosis are common diseases which are considered an emerging problem in medicine. Celiac disease is a condition at high risk for secondary osteoporosis. Osteoporosis or osteopenia are typically present in untreated adult symptomatic celiac disease with an overt malabsorption syndrome, but is found in about 50 % in suboptimally treated celiac patients, subclinical patients and asymptomatic adult celiac patients, too.

[Effect of the liquid milk nutritional supplement with enhanced content of whey protein on the nutritional status of the elderly].

Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of long-term administration of liquid nutritional supplement with increased amounts of whey protein and reduced amounts of lactose, produced in accordance with a new recipe "Nutrisen" on the elderly living in institutionalized care.

Methods: The study was carried out from May to July, 2013, on 47 retirement home residents, living in Prague, all of which were 65 years or older. Supplemented group (n = 23) consumed (200 ml) milk drinks with three different flavours on a daily basis for eight weeks.

Palmitate-induced cell death and mitochondrial respiratory dysfunction in myoblasts are not prevented by mitochondria-targeted antioxidants.

Background/aims: Deleterious effects of saturated fatty acids in skeletal muscle cells are well known but their impact on mitochondrial respiration has not been well studied. Mitochondrial oxidative damage has been implicated to play a role in their effect. The purpose of this study was to evaluate viability, mtDNA integrity and mitochondrial respiration in C2C12 myoblasts and myotubes exposed to palmitate and to test the effect of mitochondria-targeted antioxidants MitoQ and MitoTEMPOL in preventing palmitate-induced damage.