Association of TLL1 gene polymorphism [rs1503298, T > C] with coronary heart disease in PREDICT, UDACS and ED cohorts

To determine the sequence variant of TLL1 gene [rs1503298, T > C] in three British cohorts [PREDICT, UDACS and ED] of patients with type-2 Diabetes mellitus [T2DM] in order to assess its association with coronary heart disease [CHD]. Analytical study. UCL, London, UK. Participants were genotyped in 2011-2012 for TLL1 SNP. Samples and related information were previously collected in 2001-2003 for PREDICT, and in 2001-2002 for UDACS and ED groups. Patients included in PREDICT [n=600], UDACS [n=1020] and ED [n=1240] had Diabetes. TLL1 SNP [rs1503298, T > C] was genotyped using TaqMan technology. Allele frequencies were compared using c2 test, and tested for Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. The risk of disease was assessed from Odds ratios [OR] with 95% Confidence Intervals [95% CI]. Moreover, for the PREDICT cohort, the SNP association was tested with Coronary Artery Calcification [CAC] scores. No significant association was found for this SNP with CHD or CAC scores in these cohorts. This SNP could not be confirmed as a risk factor for CHD in T2DM patients. However, the low power of thesmall sample size available is a limitation to the modest effect on risk. Further studies in larger samples would be useful

Predictors pf ischemic versus hemorrhagic strokes in hypertensive patients

To identify the factors that predispose to ischemic versus hemorrhagic stroke in hypertensive patients. Cohort study. The study was conducted at the Aga Khan University Hospital [AKUH], Karachi, from August 1999 to May 2001. All the hypertensive patients, who were registered in AKUH acute stroke outcome data base, over a period of 22 months, were identified and from this cohort the patients with first ever stroke were selected. The data regarding demographics, stroke type [ischemic vs. hemorrhagic], pre-existing medical problems, laboratory and radiological investigations was recorded and analyzed. Five hundred and nineteen patients with either ischemic stroke or parenchymal hemorrhage were registered over a period of 22 months. Three hundred and forty-eight patients [67%] had hypertension and of these, 250 had first ever stroke at the time of admission. Presence of diabetes mellitus [OR: 3.76; CI: 1.67-8.46] and ischemic heart disease [OR: 6.97; CI: 1.57-30.98] were found to be independent predictors of ischemic strokes. Presence of diabetes mellitus and ischemic heart disease predict ischemic stroke in a patient with hypertension