This review examines the potential of fasting-mimicking diets (FMDs) in preventing and treating Alzheimer’s disease (AD). FMDs are low-calorie that mimic physiological metabolic effects fasting, including activation cellular stress response pathways autophagy. Recent studies have shown can reduce amyloid-beta accumulation, tau phosphorylation, inflammation, as well improve cognitive function an...

background: with the ever increasing incidence of coronary artery disease, its detection in particular through visual system becomes important. this study examines the relationship between corneal arcus and coronary risk factors such as cholesterol, triglycerid and fasting blood sugar. methods: for this cross-sectional study, 265 participants all aged over 30 years were randomly selected from t...

BACKGROUND Cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk, although perceived to be high, is often difficult to demonstrate in disease free (healthy) obese adults. HYPOTHESIS Changes in circadian blood pressure variability (CBPV) and endothelial function (EF) may be early correlates of cardiometabolic disorders. METHODS Asymptomatic men and women in 3 groups: normal weight (n = 10), overweight (n = 10) ...

Homocysteine metabolism is increasingly implicated in a diverse group of clinical disorders, including atheromatous vascular disease. We studied the disposition of homocysteine via the trans-sulphuration pathway, plasma glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activity and plasma levels of the sulphated hormone dehydro-epiandrosterone sulphate (DHEAS) in six vitamin B(12)-deficient human subjects before an...

Background Circulating microRNAs are emerging as potential prognostic biomarkers for the development of type 2 diabetes. However, microRNAs are also associated with complications from impaired glucose metabolism (e.g. endothelial cell function). Prior studies have not evaluated for associations between trajectories of circulating microRNAs with trajectories of fasting blood glucose over time an...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES There are limited data on the night-to-night variability of childhood sleep-related disordered breathing (SDB). We aim to assess for the presence of first-night effect (FNE) and to examine whether a single-night sleep study is adequate in the assessment of childhood SDB. DESIGN In a case-control study investigating whether obesity is a risk factor for childhood SDB, ...

Background: Ramadan fasting for pregnant women with diabetes remains controversial and underreported. The objective of this study was to determine the glycemic control in pregnant diabetic women on insulin who fasted during Ramadan. Methods: This was a retrospective study carried out over a period of three years including pregnant diabetic women, who were on short-acting, intermediate-a...

In South Africa dogs are frequently presented to veterinarians following snakebite. The offending snakes are usually puff adders (Bitis arietans), cobras (Naja spp.) and mambas (Dendroaspis spp.). Night adder (Causus rhombeatus) bites in dogs have not yet been reported in South Africa. This article deals with three cases of dogs bitten by night adders in which extensive tissue damage was no...

The present study determined the intra-individual variation of BMR measurements, using a standard out-patient protocol, with the subjects transporting themselves to the laboratory for the BMR measurements after spending the night at home. The effect of a non-fasting state and variation in daily habitual physical activity the day before testing was evaluated. Eight male and eleven female subject...

Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is a novel research tool in neurology and psychiatry. It is currently being evaluated as a conceivable alternative to electroconvulsive therapy for the treatment of mood disorders. Eight healthy young (age range 21-25 years) right-handed men without sleep complaints participated in the study. Two sessions at a 1-week interval, each consisting ...