Development and Evaluation of PEG-gelatin-based Microparticles to Enhance the Oral Delivery of Insulin.

Background: Diabetes mellitus is a global disease identified by hyperglycemia due to defects in insulin secretion, insulin action, or both.

Objective: The main objective of this research was to evaluate the ability of gelatinized Poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) microparticles to be used as carriers for oral insulin delivery via double emulsion preparation.

Methods: Five different batches of the formulation consisting of gelatin:PEG were prepared as follows: 0:1 (W1), 1:0 (W2), 1:1 (W3), 1:3 (W4), and 3:1 (W5).

Left ventricular mass estimation by different partition values in a large population of black hypertensive subjects.

Aims: Our aim is to compare the impact of the 2 most widely used methods of indexing left ventricular mass (LVM) on the distribution of abnormal left ventricular (LV) geometric patterns, in a large sample of untreated asymptomatic black hypertensive subjects.

Methods And Results: All patients with hypertension referred to the Cardiology unit of University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, Abuja, Nigeria from 2006 to 2013, who gave informed consent, and underwent physical examination and echocardiography. LVM indexation was classified into 4 geometric patterns after echocardiography: normal geometry, concentric hypertrophy, concentric remodeling, and eccentric hypertrophy.

Right Ventricular Systolic Dysfunction Is Common in Hypertensive Heart Failure: A Prospective Study in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Introduction: Right ventricular (RV) systolic dysfunction is now recognized widely as a strong and independent predictor of adverse outcomes in patients with heart failure (HF). Reduction of RV systolic function more closely predicts impaired exercise tolerance and poor survival than does left ventricular (LV) systolic function. In spite of this, there is a dearth of data on RV function in hypertensive HF which is the commonest form of HF in sub-Saharan Africa.

Left Ventricular Systolic Dysfunction in Asymptomatic Black Hypertensive Subjects.

Background: Hypertension has been established as one of the commonest causes of heart failure especially in sub-Saharan Africa. We have previously observed a high prevalence of left ventricular (LV) systolic dysfunction in hypertensive heart failure patients in Nigeria despite a low prevalence of ischemic heart disease. The present study was, therefore, undertaken to assess the prevalence of asymptomatic LV systolic dysfunction in hypertensive black African subjects with no history of heart failure.