Using Clinical Vignettes to Understand the Complexity of Diagnosing Type 1 Diabetes in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Lack of awareness, access to insulin and diabetes care can result in high levels of morbidity and mortality for children with type 1 diabetes (T1DM) in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Improvements in access to insulin and diabetes management have improved outcomes in some settings. However, many people still present in diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) in parallel to misdiagnosis of children with T1DM in contexts with high rates of communicable diseases.

Prevalence and influences of diabetes and prediabetes among adults living with HIV in Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Introduction: In people living with human immunodeficiency virus (PLHIV), traditional cardiovascular risk factors, exposure to HIV per se and antiretroviral therapy (ART) are assumed to contribute to cardiometabolic diseases. Nevertheless, controversy exists on the relationship of HIV and ART with diabetes. To clarify the relationship between HIV and type 2 diabetes, this review determined, in PLHIV in Africa, diabetes and prediabetes prevalence, and the extent to which their relationship was modified by socio-demographic characteristics, body mass index (BMI), diagnostic definitions used for diabetes and prediabetes, and HIV-related characteristics, including CD4 count, and use and duration of ART.

Association between severe acute malnutrition during childhood and blood pressure during adulthood in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo: the Lwiro cohort study.

Introduction: Little is known about the long-term outcomes of Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) during childhood. As such, this study aims to explore the association between childhood SAM and blood pressure (BP) in adulthood in a context without nutrition transition.

Methodology: We identified 524 adults (Median age: 22 years) who were treated for SAM during childhood in Eastern DRC between 1988 and 2007.

Atypical respiratory distress in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. A case report.

Background: Predictions have been made that Africa would be the most vulnerable continent to the novel Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Interestingly, the spread of the disease in Africa seems to have been delayed and initially slower than in many parts of the world. Here we report on two cases of respiratory distress in our region before the official declaration of the disease in December 2019, cases which in the present times would be suspect of COVID-19.

Diabetes mellitus and laboratory medicine in sub-Saharan Africa: challenges and perspectives.

Diabetes mellitus is an increasing public health problem in sub-Saharan Africa with a substantial socioeconomic burden. Although laboratory medicine has been recognized as one of the six key public health functions, there are still gaps in strengthening of laboratory services in developing countries. In the last decades, a lot of progress has been made in the diagnostic field of infectious diseases, whereas the diagnosis of noncommunicable diseases is still insufficient and uneven.

Whole blood Fe isotopic signature in a sub-Saharan African population.

The Fe isotopic composition of an individual's whole blood has recently been shown to be an interesting clinical indicator of Fe status. The present study aimed to evaluate the influence of several endemic characteristics of a representative population of the South Kivu province, an Fe-rich volcanic African region, on the whole blood Fe isotopic composition. Both diabetes mellitus and the ferroportin Q248H mutation are very common in Africa and are strongly associated with impairments in Fe metabolism.

Obesity and diabetes mellitus association in rural community of Katana, South Kivu, in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo: Bukavu Observ Cohort Study Results.

Background: Factual data exploring the relationship between obesity and diabetes mellitus prevalence from rural areas of sub-Saharan Africa remain scattered and are unreliable. To address this scarceness, this work reports population study data describing the relationship between the obesity and the diabetes mellitus in the general population of the rural area of Katana (South Kivu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo).

Methods: A cohort of three thousand, nine hundred, and sixty-two (3962) adults (>15 years old) were followed between 2012 and 2015 (or 4105 person-years during the observation period), and data were collected using the locally adjusted World Health Organization's (WHO) STEPwise approach to Surveillance (STEPS) methodology.

Glycation in human fingernail clippings using ATR-FTIR spectrometry, a new marker for the diagnosis and monitoring of diabetes mellitus.

Objectives: Although HbA1c is a good diagnostic tool for diabetes, the precarity of the health system and the costs limit the use of this biomarker in developing countries. Fingernail clippings contain ±85% of keratins, which are prone to glycation. Nail keratin glycation may reflect the average glycemia over the last months.

The association between fructosamine-3 kinase 900C/G polymorphism, transferrin polymorphism and human herpesvirus-8 infection in diabetics living in South Kivu.

Prevalences of human herpesvirus-8 (HHV-8) infection and diabetes mellitus are very common in certain parts of Africa, containing iron-rich soils. We hypothesized that some genetic factors could have a link with susceptibility to HHV-8 infection. We focused on ferroportin Q248H mutation (rs11568350), transferrin (TF) polymorphism and fructosamine-3 kinase (FN3K) 900C/G polymorphism (rs1056534).

A simple colorimetric assay for measuring fructosamine 3 kinase activity.

Background: Fructosamine 3 kinase (FN3K) is a deglycating enzyme, which may play a key role in reducing diabetes-induced organ damage by removing bound glucose from glycated proteins. We wanted to develop a simple colorimetric method for assaying FN3K activity in human body fluids.

Methods: Glycated bovine serum albumin (BSA) was obtained by glycation with a 10% glucose solution at 37 °C.

The presence of fructosamine in human aortic valves is associated with valve stiffness.

Aims: Human heart valves are prone to glycation, a fundamental process of ageing. The aim of this study was to establish the relationship between fructosamine formation and the mechanical properties of human aortic valves.

Methods: 67 patients (age: 76±8 years) diagnosed with an aortic valve stenosis, who underwent an aortic valve replacement were enrolled.

Glycated nail proteins as a new biomarker in management of the South Kivu Congolese diabetics.

Introduction: Diagnosis and monitoring of diabetes mellitus in sub-Saharan Africa, based on blood analyses, are hampered by infrastructural and cultural reasons. The first aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of glycated nail proteins for diabetes mellitus. The second aim was to compare the course of short- and long-term glycemic biomarkers after 6 months of antidiabetic treatment.