Does adding garlic [Allium sativum] with antidiabetic therapy help achieving better glycemic control in type 2 diabetic patients

With high incidence of diabetes and a wide spread belief among the general public that garlic has beneficial effects on cardiovascular risk factors., we designed a study to evaluate the blood glucose lowering effects and potential adverse effects of garlic in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. The study was a 12 weeks randomized, single-blind placebo controlled study, comparing the additional blood glucose lowering effects of dried garlic powder tablet 300 mg [standardized to provide 1.3% allicin equivalent to 0.6% allicin] twice daily combined with standard anti diabetic therapy [which the patient is already taking] with that of standard antidiabetic therapy alone in type 2 diabetic patients. At the end of 12 weeks it was found that changes in blood glucose [P <0.01] and cholesterol [P <0.001] were significantly different between the garlic and placebo groups. Adding garlic to an anti diabetic regimen could be a good and safe method to achieve a good glycemic control in type 2 diabetic patients. Long term clinical trials at different doses of garlic is needed to further strengthen the current findings

Essential hypertension

Hypertension and type 2 diabetes mellitus also tend to coexist. The goal of antihypertensive therapy should consist of reducing cardiovascular morbidity and mortality associated with hypertension by a strategy focused on lowering blood pressure while minimizing the impact on other associated cardiovascular risk factors like diabetes mellitus. To observe and compare any change in serum glucose in patients with newly diagnosed essential hypertension with Atenolol and Amlodipine. Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Basic Medical Science Institute [BMSI], Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Centre [JPMC], Karachi. 12 weeks [90 days] Patients with newly diagnosed essential hypertension [N=70] were enrolled in this study and were divided into two groups, each comprised of 35 patients and were given tablet Atenolol 150/100mg once daily and tablet Amlodipine 5/10 mg once daily respectively for 90 days. Fasting Blood glucose was measured on day of inclusion i.e. day 0, day 45 and day 90. At each fortnightly visit, blood pressure was recorded. Atenolol raised mean blood glucose levels from baseline levels of 91.82 +/- 1.34 mg/dl to 99.73 +/- 1.33 mg/dl on day 90 [P<0.001] while Amlodipine had no significant effect on blood glucose level [P= N.S]. Atenolol may not be a good choice for essential hypertensive patient with type 2 diabetes mellitus as it is found to impair the normal glucose metabolism. Long term clinical trials in diabetic patients are needed to confirm the observation of the present study

Dose response relationships of different reagents for platelet aggregation

Hemostasis in human body depends on a complicated series of events which actively involve blood platelets. Platelets exhibit diverse responses in a variety of agonists. In vivo, most of the agonists act in synergism, causing aggregation of platelets. The synergism between ADP - Epinephrine and Epinephrine - Collagen has been determined in this study by means of turbidometric method, which measures changes in optical density of platelet suspension. The study was carried out at the department of Hematology, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Rawalpindi. The subthreshold concentrations of each of the agonists were established with the help of dose response curve. By adding these agonists in subthreshold concentrations, the synergism between ADP - Epinephrine and Epinephrine - Collagen was determined. The subthreshold levels of these agonists when combined showed the synergistic responses m causing platelet aggregation. The study brings to light that the optimal platelet aggregation does occur between the above mentioned pairs of agonists even when each of the agonist is added to the other in subthreshold doses

Electrocardiographs diagnosis of left ventricular hypertrophy: comparison with echocardiography

The present study was conducted to determine the sensitivity and specificity of electrocardiographic criteria for the assessment of left ventricular hypertrophy by comparing it with the gold standard of echocardiography. Fifty clinically diagnosed patients of LVH were included in this collaborative study of Dept. of Physiology, Army Medical College, Rawalpindi and Department of Cardiology, Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology, Rawalpindi. ECG of the patients were recorded and Romhilt-Estes point score calculated. This was followed by echocardiography and left ventricular mass and left ventricular mass index was calculated. It was found that Romhilt-Estes point score system of ECG had a sensitivity of 35% and specificity 90%. It is concluded that the sensitivity of ECG is low in detecting LVH, however, sensitivity can be increased by combining Sokolow Lyons voltage criteria and Cornell voltage criteria with Romhilt-Estes point score. ECG is however still recommended as a routine investigation because of its cost effectiveness and easy availability

Synergistic interaction of adenosine diphosphate-epinephrine and epinephrine - collagen in aggregation of human platelets

Efficient hemostasis in human body depends on a complicated series of events which actively involve blood platelets. Platelets exhibit diverse responses in a variety of agonists. In vivo, most of the agonists act in synergism, causing aggregation of platelets. In this study, the synergism between ADP ' Epinephrine and Epinephrine ' Collagen has been determined by means of turbidometric method, which measures changes in optical density of platelet suspension. The study was carried out at the department of Hematology, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Rawalpindi. The subthreshold concentrations of each of the agonists were established with the help of dose response curve. By adding these agonists in subthreshold concentrations, the synergism between ADP ' Epinephrine and Epinephrine ' Collagen was determined. The combinations of these agonists in subthreshold levels showed the synergistic responses in causing platelet aggregation. These findings indicate that the optimal platelet aggregation does occur between the above mentioned pairs of agonists even when each of the agonist is added to the other in subthreshold doses