Effects of Lipoic Acid on Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury

Ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury often occurred in some pathologies and surgeries. I/R injury not only harmed to physiological functions of corresponding organ and tissue but also induced multiple tissue or organ dysfunctions (even these in distant locations). Although the reperfusion of blood attenuated I/R injury to a certain degree, the risk of secondary damages was difficult to be controlled and it even caused failures of these tissues and organs. Lipoic acid (LA), as an endogenous active substance and a functional agent in food, owns better safety and effects in our body (e.g., enhancing antioxidant activity, improving cognition and dementia, controlling weight, and preventing multiple sclerosis, diabetes complication, and cancer). The literature searching was conducted in PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and SCOPUS from inception to 20 May 2021. It had showed that endogenous LA was exhausted in the process of I/R, which further aggravated I/R injury. Thus, supplements with LA timely (especially pretreatments) may be the prospective way to prevent I/R injury. Recently, studies had demonstrated that LA supplements significantly attenuated I/R injuries of many organs, though clinic investigations were short at present. Hence, it was urgent to summarize these progresses about the effects of LA on different I/R organs as well as the potential mechanisms, which would enlighten further investigations and prepare for clinic applications in the future.

Addressing shortfalls of laboratory HbA1c using a model that incorporates red cell lifespan

Laboratory HbA1c does not always predict diabetes complications and our aim was to establish a glycaemic measure that better reflects intracellular glucose exposure in organs susceptible to complications. Six months of continuous glucose monitoring data and concurrent laboratory HbA1c were evaluated from 51 type 1 diabetes (T1D) and 80 type 2 diabetes (T2D) patients. Red blood cell (RBC) lifespan was estimated using a kinetic model of glucose and HbA1c, allowing the calculation of person-specific adjusted HbA1c (aHbA1c). Median (IQR) RBC lifespan was 100 (86–102) and 100 (83–101) days in T1D and T2D, respectively. The median (IQR) absolute difference between aHbA1c and laboratory HbA1c was 3.9 (3.0–14.3) mmol/mol [0.4 (0.3–1.3%)] in T1D and 5.3 (4.1–22.5) mmol/mol [0.5 (0.4–2.0%)] in T2D. aHbA1c and laboratory HbA1c showed clinically relevant differences. This suggests that the widely used measurement of HbA1c can underestimate or overestimate diabetes complication risks, which may have future clinical implications.

Deep Learning for Early Diabetic Retinopathy Detection

Diabetic retinopathy (DR)— a leading cause of blindness— is a diabetes complication whichcauses damage to retinal blood vessels. DR can be treated non-invasively if diagnosed early enough.However, early diagnosis requires a medical examination, which may not be possible in some demographicalregions. Much previous work has largely focused on determining the presence of DR and not the severity.Thus, the goal of this study was to develop a single neural network that could 1) detect presence or absence of DR2) perform early detection of DR 3) perform multi-class classification on DR severity.

Antirhea borbonica Aqueous Extract Protects Albumin and Erythrocytes from Glycoxidative Damages

Diabetes constitutes a major health problem associated with severe complications. In hyperglycemic conditions, chronically increased oxidation and glycation of circulating components lead to advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) formation, a key contributor in diabetes complication progression. In line with literature documenting the beneficial properties of herbal teas, this study evaluates the antioxidant/glycant properties of Antirhea borbonica (Ab). Ab aqueous extract effects were tested on human albumin or erythrocytes submitted to methyl glyoxal-mediated glycoxidative damages. By using mass spectrometry, Ab aqueous extracts revealed to be rich in polyphenols. All tested biomarkers of oxidation and glycation, such as AGE, ketoamine, oxidized thiol groups, were decreased in albumin when glycated in the presence of Ab aqueous extract. Ab extract preserve erythrocyte from methylglyoxal (MGO)-induced damages in terms of restored membrane deformability, reduced oxidative stress and eryptosis phenomenon. Antioxidant capacities of Ab extract on erythrocytes were retrieved in vivo in zebrafish previously infused with MGO. These results bring new evidences on the deleterious impacts of glycation on albumin and erythrocyte in diabetes. Furthermore, it reveals antioxidant and antiglycant properties of Ab that could be used for the dietary modulation of oxidative stress and glycation in hyperglycemic situations.