Variability in Test Interval Is Linked to Glycated Haemoglobin (HbA1c) Trajectory over Time.

Aims: We previously showed that the glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) testing frequency links to diabetes control. Here, we examine the effect of variability in test interval, adjusted for the frequency, on change in HbA1c (HbA1c). .

Assessment of the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on UK HbA1c testing: implications for diabetes management and diagnosis.

Aims: The COVID-19 pandemic, and the focus on mitigating its effects, has disrupted diabetes healthcare services worldwide. We aimed to quantify the effect of the pandemic on diabetes diagnosis/management, using glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) as surrogate, across six UK centres.

Methods: Using routinely collected laboratory data, we estimated the number of missed HbA1c tests for 'diagnostic'/'screening'/'management' purposes during the COVID-19 impact period (CIP; 23 March 2020 to 30 September 2020).

Characterization of a Wheat Breeders' Array suitable for high-throughput SNP genotyping of global accessions of hexaploid bread wheat (Triticum aestivum).

Targeted selection and inbreeding have resulted in a lack of genetic diversity in elite hexaploid bread wheat accessions. Reduced diversity can be a limiting factor in the breeding of high yielding varieties and crucially can mean reduced resilience in the face of changing climate and resource pressures. Recent technological advances have enabled the development of molecular markers for use in the assessment and utilization of genetic diversity in hexaploid wheat.

A step change in the transfer of interspecific variation into wheat from Amblyopyrum muticum.

Despite some notable successes, only a fraction of the genetic variation available in wild relatives has been utilized to produce superior wheat varieties. This is as a direct result of the lack of availability of suitable high-throughput technologies to detect wheat/wild relative introgressions when they occur. Here, we report on the use of a new SNP array to detect wheat/wild relative introgressions in backcross progenies derived from interspecific hexaploid wheat/Ambylopyrum muticum F hybrids.

The angiographic anatomy of the small arteries and their collaterals in colorectal resections: some insights into anastomotic perfusion.

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine by screening angiography the anatomy of the small arteries and their collaterals in colorectal resections in order to identify factors that might be implicated in anastomotic leak.

Summary Background Data: Anastomotic leak is more frequent following low anterior resection. Vascular compromise is frequently implicated but poorly understood as a mechanism.

Angiogenesis during exercise and training.

In this review the factors involved in angiogenesis are discussed in their various roles in initiating angiogenesis and inducing changes in the extracellular matrix to facilitate sprouting angiogenesis which is a major part of the angiogenesis seen in exercise and exercise training. A key role in angiogenesis is played by vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). The regulation of blood vessel growth to match the needs of the tissue depends on the control of VEGF production through changes in the stability of its mRNA and in its rate of transcription.

Differential mRNA expression of insulin-like growth factor-1 splice variants in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and pulmonary sarcoidosis.

Insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) is a highly mitogenic polypeptide detectable in human lung. Using competitive reverse transcriptase/polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), expression of four IGF-1 transcripts was examined in bronchoalveolar lavage cells (BALC) from normal subjects, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), stage I/II (no fibrosis), and stage III/IV (confirmed fibrosis) pulmonary sarcoidosis patients, and fibroblast strains isolated from normal and IPF lungs. Transcripts studied were Class 1 and Class 2 (exons 1 or 2, respectively) with IGF-1Eb or IGF-1Ea (exons 5 or 6, respectively).

Dilated cardiomyopathy in transgenic mice expressing a mutant A subunit of protein phosphatase 2A.

The protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) holoenzyme consists of a catalytic subunit, C, and two regulatory subunits, A and B. The PP2A core enzyme is composed of subunits A and C. Both the holoenzyme and the core enzyme are similarly abundant in heart tissue.

Expression of growth hormone-releasing factor, growth hormone, insulin-like growth factor-1 and its binding proteins in human lung.

Reverse transcription PCR showed that mRNA encoding the neurohormones growth hormone-releasing factor (GRF) and GH, and its receptor GH-R, together with IGF-1 splice variants and IGFBPs are expressed by inflammatory cells found in the normal human airway. Unfractionated BALC moderately express GRF, GH and GH-R, IGFBP-2 to IGFBP-6, and IGFBP-rPl. In addition, BALC preferentially express the class 1 IGF-1Ea splice variant of the IGF-1 gene.

Enhanced insulin-like growth factor binding protein-related protein 2 (Connective tissue growth factor) expression in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and pulmonary sarcoidosis.

Connective tissue growth factor is a recently described chemoattractant and fibroblast mitogen which, because of sequence homology and weak binding to insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-1, has been proposed as the eighth member of the IGF binding protein (IGFBP) superfamily, named IGFBP-related protein 2 (IGFBP-rP2). Previous studies have implicated IGFBP-rP2 in a number of heterogeneous fibrotic pathologies, including renal fibrosis, dermal scleroderma, and bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis in mice. Because profibrogenic cytokines may be produced by inflammatory cells, we developed a multiplex competitive reverse transcription/polymerase chain reaction to quantify IGFBP-rP2 transcripts in bronchoalveolar lavage cells from healthy subjects and patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and pulmonary sarcoidosis.

Pain after small bowel meal and pneumocolon: a randomized controlled trial of carbon dioxide versus air insufflation.

Aim: To determine whether the use of CO2 rather than air insufflation results in less pain and/or distension in patients undergoing small bowel meal (SBM) and pneumocolon (PC).

Materials And Methods: One hundred patients for SBM and PC were randomized to receive either air or carbon dioxide (CO2) as the insufflating gas. Both the patient and radiologist were blinded to the gas being used.

The "Cyberlink" brain-body interface as an assistive technology for persons with traumatic brain injury: longitudinal results from a group of case studies.

A longitudinal study of traumatic brain-injured and comatose participants suggests that these individuals are able to learn to use a mental interface device to navigate a maze and perform some basic communication. The device, known as the "Cyberlink," uses electrooculargraphic, electromyographic, and electroencephlagraphic signals collected at the forehead to control cursor movement. Further details of the operation of the device and the set-up procedures are reported.

Exercise training in swine promotes growth of arteriolar bed and capillary angiogenesis in heart.

Exercise training induces coronary vascular adaptations. The goal of this study was to contrast the effects of training on capillary and arteriolar growth. Minipigs were trained for 1, 3, 8, and 16 wk and compared with controls.

Expression of insulin-like growth factor binding proteins in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid of patients with pulmonary sarcoidosis.

Pulmonary sarcoidosis involves development of parenchymal granulomata that usually resolve spontaneously; however, it remains unclear what pathogenic mechanisms are responsible for the progression to local or diffuse fibrosis with irreversible lung remodeling that occurs in 20% of patients. Alveolar macrophages have a pivotal role in sarcoidosis, releasing mediators including insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-1, a potent profibrogenic molecule. IGF-1 bioavailability in the lung is dependent on at least six high-affinity IGF-binding proteins (IGFBP), which mainly inhibit IGF-1 action.

Increased gene expression of plasminogen activators and inhibitors in left ventricular hypertrophy.

In the early stages of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) acute adaptive changes occur in the coronary vasculature as it remodels. Plasminogen activators (PAs) and inhibitors (PAIs) have the potential effects of proteolytic degradation that is relevant to tissue remodeling and angiogenesis. Our study focused on the possible roles of PAI-1, PAI-2, and uPA in tPA in myocyte hypertrophy and angiogenesis in the early and late stages of pressure overload induced left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH).

Technical report: perirectal abscess drainage--a simple modification in technique using a vascular sheath.

Two patients with pelvic abscesses underwent fluoroscopic guided transrectal catheter drainage using a simple modification in standard technique. A 9F vascular sheath allows contrast to be instilled through the side port and the seal avoids any leakage back through the sheath. It also provides a safe, quick and precise needle puncture at the selected site.

Magnetic resonance detection of acute pulmonary emboli in a canine model with pathologic correlation.

Rationale And Objectives: The authors evaluated the accuracy of magnetic resonance (MR) imaging in depicting acute pulmonary emboli at the lobar, segmental, and subsegmental levels.

Methods: The authors induced 29 autologous emboli in five dogs and confirmed their location with angiography and anatomic dissection. MR images obtained with four sequences were independently evaluated by two radiologists to detect emboli in each vascular segment.

Right ventricular pathology in chronic pulmonary hypertension.

Right ventricular free wall biopsy specimens in 40 patients undergoing surgery for relief of chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension were normal in 5%, disclosed only myocyte hypertrophy in 80%, mild focal fibrosis in 12.5%, and myocarditis in 2.5%.

Gene expression in a swine model of right ventricular hypertrophy: intercellular adhesion molecule, vascular endothelial growth factor and plasminogen activators are upregulated during pressure overload.

We have investigated the molecular changes which occur during pressure overload hypertrophy of the RV in swine. Animals were banded on the pulmonary artery so that right ventricular pressure was increased two-fold. The heart was harvested at 3, 7, 24 and 72 h after surgery.