T he prevalence of diabetes continues to escalate around the world, with an estimated 24 million people affected in the U.S. (1). Its prevalence has more than doubled in Tennessee the last decade from 5.0% in 1997 to 11.0% in 2007 (2), with estimated diabetes related mortality of 31 per 100,000 population (2). Rising prevalence and shortage of physicians, especially in rural areas, contribute t...

BACKGROUND In the last decades the presence of social inequalities in diabetes care has been observed in multiple countries, including Spain. These inequalities have been at least partially attributed to differences in diabetes self-management behaviours. Communication problems during medical consultations occur more frequently to patients with a lower educational level. The purpose of this clu...

Around 50–60% of adults in western countries are either overweight or obese with more than 25% falling into the obese category [1]. The metabolic imbalance underlying obesity has fueled the prevalence of cardiometabolic syndrome— a constellation of interrelated risk factors of metabolic origins that together promote the increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and type II diabetes [2]. Th...

Vandebriel and colleagues [1] report that the statins atorvastatin and pravastatin orally administered before disease induction in collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) in male DBA/lOlaHsd mice led to accelerated onset and higher disease incidence compared to controls. In addition, atorvastatin applied after induction of CIA resulted in earlier disease onset than administration before induction of C...

BACKGROUND Sleeve gastrectomy (SG) is a relatively new bariatric procedure with a number of advantages compared with Roux-en-Y gastric bypass. However, SG also has a number of disadvantages and associated risks. We sought to examine perioperative complications and outcomes of laparoscopic SG (LSG) in a single major Canadian bariatric surgery centre (Victoria, BC). METHODS Since June 2008, LSG...

The traditional oral pharmacological therapy for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) has been based on the prescription of metformin, a biguanide, as first line antihyperglycemic agent world over. It has been demonstrated that after 3 years of treatment, approximately 50% of diabetic patients could achieve acceptable glucose levels with monotherapy; but by 9 years this had declined to only 25%. The...

1] recently reported in their meta-analysis that carperitide infusion improved the renal function of cardiovascular surgical patients, and we feel that this notion could be expanded to medical patients, particularly with the use of carperitide. Although some studies have not been able to recommend the use of nesiritide in acute heart failure (HF) patients [2,3], more recent clinical trials have...

Tacrolimus (Tac) is a T‐cell‐specific calcineurin inhibitor that prevents activation of helper T cells, thereby inhibiting transcription of the early activation genes of IL‐2, and suppressing the production of TNF‐a, IL‐1b and IL‐6. Considering its effects, Tac is expected to have clinical benefits in the treatment of patients with active rheumatic diseases. Indeed, to date, several papers have...

PURPOSE Dietary fat intake has been proposed as a mechanism of sub-RPE deposit formation. It has been demonstrated recently that sub-RPE deposits develop in 16- to 18-month-old C57BL/6 mice fed a high-fat diet and exposed to blue-green light. Hyperlipidemia also develops in these mice after they consume a high-fat diet. Because hyperlipidemia also develops in young C57BL/6 mice that overexpress...

Organ transplantation owes its spectacular development in recent decades to the introduction of immunosuppressive drugs capable of preventing allograft rejection. However, vasculopathy remains a major cause of long-term graft failure; thus, a better understanding of its mechanisms is required to improve tolerance. Because endothelial dysfunction is an early manifestation of vascular disorders, ...