Feasibility of digital phenotyping based on continuous glucose monitoring to support personalized lifestyle medicine in type 2 diabetes.

Objectives: Type 2 diabetes is a highly prevalent age-related chronic condition, with complex and heterogeneous pathogenesis. A 5-point oral glucose tolerance test can identify type 2 diabetes subtypes or "diabetypes" based on the degree of insulin resistance in muscle and/or liver, and beta-cell dysfunction. Due to its costly and invasive nature, the oral glucose tolerance test is not scalable.

The UPHILL study: A nutrition and lifestyle intervention to improve quality of life for patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension.

The aim of the UPHILL study (a nutrition and lifestyle intervention in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension [PAH]: effect on quality of life [QoL]), was to determine the effect of innovative nutritional interventions on adjustments in nutritional intake and QoL. In this study a group of prevalent PAH patients at a single center in Amsterdam (the Netherlands) was informed about healthy nutrition using a newly designed video e-learning. They were subsequently instructed to follow a healthy diet during dietary intervention.

Nutritional status in pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Nutritional deficiencies have been described in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), such as in iron and vitamin D. However, an extensive description of vitamin and mineral status is lacking and until now there is no data on dietary intake in PAH patients. We analyzed blood samples and determined nutritional intake using a food frequency questionnaire (HELIUS) in a cohort of prevalent PAH patients at a single center in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Measuring vitamin C in critically ill patients: clinical importance and practical difficulties-Is it time for a surrogate marker?

This article is one of ten reviews selected from the Annual Update in Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine 2021. Other selected articles can be found online at  https://www.biomedcentral.

Short-term effect of low-dose colchicine on inflammatory biomarkers, lipids, blood count and renal function in chronic coronary artery disease and elevated high-sensitivity C-reactive protein.

Aims: Inflammation plays a pivotal role in atherothrombosis. Colchicine is an anti-inflammatory drug that may attenuate this process. Cardiovascular protective effects of anti-inflammatory drugs, however, seem to be limited to patients with a biochemical response.

Postoperative parathyroid hormone levels as a predictor for persistent hypoparathyroidism.

Objective: Hypoparathyroidism is a common complication after thyroidectomy. It is not yet possible to predict in which patients hypoparathyroidism will persist. We aim to determine whether a decrease in PTH levels, measured at the first postoperative day, can identify patients with a high risk for persistent hypoparathyroidism one year after thyroidectomy.

Reducing Inter-Laboratory Differences between Semen Analyses Using Z Score and Regression Transformations.

Background: Standardization of the semen analysis may improve reproducibility. We assessed variability between laboratories in semen analyses and evaluated whether a transformation using Z scores and regression statistics was able to reduce this variability.

Materials And Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study.

Predictive value of sperm morphology and progressively motile sperm count for pregnancy outcomes in intrauterine insemination.

Objective: To investigate the value of sperm parameters to predict an ongoing pregnancy outcome in couples treated with intrauterine insemination (IUI), during a methodologically stable period of time.

Design: Retrospective, observational study with logistic regression analyses.

Setting: University hospital.

Vitamin K1 in oral solution or tablets: a crossover trial and two randomized controlled trials to compare effects.

Background: Vitamin K1 (VK1) reverses the effects of vitamin K antagonists (VKAs). The literature shows that the bioavailability from solutions might be higher than that from tablets, possibly resulting in different effects.

Objectives: To compare the bioavailability and effect on the International Normalized Ratio (INR) of 5-mg VK1 tablets and solution in three randomized clinical trials.

Imprecision and limit of quantification of the new architect 25-hydroxyvitamin D assay.

We examined imprecision and limit of quantification (LOQ) of the new Architect 25-hydroxyvitamin D immunoassay in a multicenter setting. Mean intracenter interlot imprecision varied from 22.0 to 5.

Multicenter comparison study of current methods to measure 25-hydroxyvitamin D in serum.

Objectives: Measurement of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] is generally considered to be a reliable indicator of vitamin D status. The recent increase in diversity of 25(OH)D assays prompted us to evaluate the performance of chromatographic methods (two in-house ID-LC-MS/MS and HPLC (ClinRep, Recipe)), a protein binding method (Cobas-25(OH)D-total, Roche) and immunochemical methods (Liaison and RIA (Diasorin), iSYS (IDS), ADVIA Centaur (Siemens), and Architect i1000 and i2000 (Abbott)).

Methods: Blood was drawn from randomly selected outpatients (N=60) at one site after informed consent.

Heterophilic antibodies may be a cause of falsely low total IGF1 levels.

Background: A low serum total IGF1 is considered as a diagnostic indicator of GH deficiency (GHD) in the presence of hypopituitarism. Introduction of IRMA and chemiluminescent immunometric assay (CLIA) IGF1 immunoassays has introduced endogenous antibodies as a new source of interference. In general, this goes unnoticed and might lead to unnecessary diagnostic and therapeutic interventions.

Plasma matrix metalloproteinase-9 and ACE-inhibitor-induced improvement of urinary albumin excretion in non-diabetic, microalbuminuric subjects.

Introduction: Elevated plasma matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) levels have been suggested to precede the development of microalbuminuria. As angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors effectively reduce urinary albumin excretion (UAE), in the present study we have investigated the potential association of plasma MMP-9 levels with UAE and treatment effects of ACE-inhibition.

Material And Methods: In a placebo-controlled randomised trial we determined plasma MMP-9 levels at baseline and after three months of randomisation to either placebo (n=202) or fosinopril (20 mg/day, n=204) treatment.

Determinants of increased angiotensin II levels in severe chronic heart failure patients despite ACE inhibition.

Introduction: The beneficial effects of ACE inhibitors are generally ascribed to blockade of neurohormonal activation. However, especially in chronic heart failure (CHF) patients plasma angiotensin II and aldosterone levels can be elevated despite ACE inhibition, the so-called ACE escape. In the present study, we aimed to identify the frequency and determinants of ACE escape in CHF patients.