Bolus administration of intravenous glucose in the treatment of hyperkalemia: a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Hyperkalemia is a common medical emergency that may result in serious cardiac arrhythmias. Standard therapy with insulin plus glucose reliably lowers the serum potassium concentration ([K(+)]) but carries the risk of hypoglycemia. This study examined whether an intravenous glucose-only bolus lowers serum [K(+)] in stable, nondiabetic, hyperkalemic patients and compared this intervention with insulin-plus-glucose therapy.

Gamma-glutamyltransferase, insulin resistance and cardiometabolic risk profile in a middle-aged African population.

Background: Mechanisms linking liver functions with cardiometabolic risk may involve insulin resistance (IR) and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. We assessed the associations of gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT) levels with IR and metabolic syndrome (MetS) in an adult South African urban cohort.

Methods: 1198 participants aged >15 years (297 men) were drawn from the Bellville-South suburb (Cape Town).

Polymorphisms in the non-muscle myosin heavy chain gene (MYH9) are associated with lower glomerular filtration rate in mixed ancestry diabetic subjects from South Africa.

Objective: Though single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the non-muscle myosin gene (MYH9) have been reported to explain most of the excess risk of nondiabetic chronic kidney disease (CKD), in African-Americans, some studies have also shown associations with diabetic end-stage renal disease. We investigated the association of MYH9 SNPs with renal traits in a mixed-ancestry South African population prone to diabetes.

Research Design And Methods: Three SNPs known to be associated with CKD (rs4821480, rs5756152 and rs12107) were genotyped using Taqman assay in 716 adults (198 with diabetes) from the Bellville-South community, Cape Town.

High prevalence of diabetes mellitus and metabolic syndrome in a South African coloured population: baseline data of a study in Bellville, Cape Town.

Objective: The coloured population has the second-highest prevalence of diabetes in South Africa. However, the data were based on a study conducted almost 20 years ago in a peri-urban coloured population of the Western Cape. We aimed to determine the prevalence of diabetes mellitus and metabolic syndrome in an urban coloured population in South Africa.

Monounsaturated fatty acids in blood cell membranes from patients with multiple sclerosis.

The aim of this study was to investigate whether blood cell membrane monounsaturated fatty acids were associated with inflammation and disease outcome in patients with multiple sclerosis. The fatty acid composition in peripheral blood mononuclear cell and red blood cell membranes from 26 patients and 25 controls were determined by gas chromatography. Results showed positive associations between C-reactive protein and C16:1n-7, C18:1n-7, and C24:1n-9 in membranes from controls only.