Changes in renal hemodynamics in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats with L-ascorbic acid supplementation

The present study was designed to investigate whether L-ascorbic acid (AA) supplementation could prevent changes in renal hemodynamics in diabetic rats or not. The experiments were carried out in 48 male Sprague-Dawley rats. Diabetes mellitus was induced in rats by intravenous injection with streptozotocin (STZ) (55 mg/kg.bw), while the control rats were received citrate buffer alone. The renal hemodynamics was examined after the supplementation of AA (1 mg/l) for 8 and 16 weeks. The results demonstrated that AA could retard the increase (p<0.05) in renal vascular resistance (RVR) significantly compared with diabetic rats (STZ). Besides, at week 16, the effective renal plasma flow (ERPF) and the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) of STZ-AA were significantly higher than those of STZ (p<0.05). In conclusion, supplementation of AA was able to ameliorate the renal dysfunction in STZ-induced diabetic rats by decrease in RVR concomitant with an increase in both ERPF and GFR.     

Unusual presentation of a sarcoid patient: multiple arterial and venous thrombosis with chest lymphadenopathy

We depict a case of a 32 year old Mediterranean man, presenting with pulmonary embolism, and diffuse arterial thrombosis of the lower extremities. CT angiography revealed bilateral pulmonary artery occlusions and a mediastinal lymphadenopathy. Duplex Ultrasound of the lower extremities showed no deep venous thrombosis, but occluded popliteal arteries bilaterally with extension to the right distal superficial femoral artery. Mediastinoscopy with hilar lymph node biopsy showed noncaseating granulomas consistent with sarcoidosis. Thrombophilia profile revealed factor II, MTHFR, and factor XIII gene mutations with markedly elevated homocysteine level of 139 μmol/l. This is an atypical rare case of sarcoidosis presenting with pulmonary embolism and multiple arterial thrombosis. T. J. Rebeiz and R. Mahfouz contributed equally to the work and should both be considered as first authors.     

Ongoing Epidemic of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis among Syrian Refugees,Lebanon

In September 2012, a cutaneous leishmaniasis outbreak began among Syrian refugees in Lebanon. For 948 patients in whom leishmaniasis was not confirmed, we obtained samples for microscopic confirmation and molecular speciation. We identified Leishmania tropica in 85% and L. major in 15% of patients. After 3 months of megulamine antimonite therapy, patients initial cure rate was 82%.     

Does the association between smoking and mortality differ by educational level?

Some researchers suggest that the effect of smoking on health depends on socioeconomic status; while others purport that the effect of smoking on health is similar across all social groups. This question of the interaction between smoking and socioeconomic status is important to an improved understanding of the role of smoking in the social gradient in mortality and morbidity. For this purpose, we examined whether educational level modifies the association between smoking and mortality. Information on smoking by age, gender and educational level was extracted from the Belgian Health Interview Surveys of 1997 and 2001. The mortality follow up of the survey respondents was reported until December 2010. A Poisson regression was used to estimate the hazard ratio of mortality for heavy smokers, light smokers, and former smokers compared with never smokers by educational level controlling for age and other confounders. Among men, we found lower hazard ratios in the lowest educational category compared with the intermediate and high-educated categories. For instance, for heavy smokers, the hazard ratios were 2.59 (1.18-5.70) for those with low levels of education, 4.03 (2.59-6.26) for those with intermediate levels of education and 3.78 (1.52-9.43) for the highly educated. However, the interaction between smoking and education was not statistically significant. For women, the hazard ratios were not significant for any educational category except for heavy smokers with intermediate levels of education. Also here the interaction was not statistically significant. Our results support the hypothesis that educational attainment does not substantially influence the association between smoking and mortality.