The ankle--brachial index and the diabetic foot: a troublesome marriage.

Background: The ankle--brachial index (ABI) is a simple, noninvasive, widely used test that detects peripheral arterial disease (PAD). In patients with diabetes, the ABI is notoriously unreliable and this is usually attributed to medial calcinosis, which stiffens the arteries and renders them poorly compressible. However, the distribution of atherosclerotic lesions in those with diabetes is different as well: lesions predominantly reside in below-the-knee (BTK) arteries.

Outpatient gastroplasty for morbid obesity: our first hundred cases.

Background: Laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (LAGB) is a safe and effective treatment for morbid obesity. The aim of the present study was to identify factors actually contributing to the feasibility or to the failure of performing this procedure in an outpatient setting.

Methods: In this prospective study, 100 ambulatory LAGB procedures were compared with 100 procedures performed in patients with an overnight stay.

Identifying non-alcoholic fatty liver disease among asymptomatic overweight and obese individuals by clinical and biochemical characteristics.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of liver steatosis among asymptomatic individuals attending an out-patient clinic for a problem of overweight, and to define the discriminatory value of several characteristics for predicting liver steatosis among them.

Design And Participants: Consecutive patients Swith a body mass index (BMI) of > or =25 kg/m2 who consented to undergo liver ultrasound and blood tests were recruited for inclusion. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were generated and statistical indices of diagnostic performance and their corresponding 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were computed.

A case of thyroid hormone resistance: Prospective follow-up during pregnancy and obstetric outcome.

We describe the case of a patient with resistance to thyroid hormone (R243W substitution) and her obstetric outcome. The patient gave birth to a healthy girl, unaffected by the R243W mutation. Two years later, following an uneventful pregnancy, a baby boy was born at term; he presented the same thyroid hormone receptor mutation as his mother.

Role of endothelin-1 receptors in the sarcolemma membrane and the nuclear membrane in the modulation of basal cytosolic and nuclear calcium levels in heart cells.

Our previous work in heart cells showed that the nuclear envelope membranes possess receptors, such as those for angiotensin II. Using non-working single cells from the hearts of 10-day chick embryos and the confocal microscopy technique, our present results show that stimulation of endothelin-1 (ET-1) receptors at the sarcolemma membrane induced a dose-dependent sustained increase in basal cytosolic and nuclear calcium levels that was insensitive to the ET(A) and ET(B) receptor antagonists BQ123 and BQ788. The cytosolic application of ET-1 induced a dose-dependent increase in the sustained basal nuclear Ca(2+) concentration that was insensitive to BQ123 and BQ788.