With the premise that oxygen free radicals may be responsible for the severity and complications of diabetes, the level of antioxidant enzymes catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) as well as the oxidative damage were examined in the tissues of control, diabetic and treated rats. After 3 weeks of diabetes, the activity of CAT was significantly increased in heart in diabetes (about 6-fold) but decreased in liver. The SOD activity decreased significantly in liver but increased in brain. The activity of GPx decreased significantly in liver and increased in kidney. A significant increase was observed in oxidative damage in heart and kidney and a small increase in brain with decrease in liver and muscle. Vanadate and fenugreek (Trigonella foenum graecum) administration to diabetic animals showed a reversal of the disturbed antioxidant levels and peroxidative damage. Results suggest that oxidative stress play a key role in the complications of diabetes. Vanadate and fenugreek seeds showed an encouraging antioxidant property and can be valuable candidates in the treatment of the reversal of the complications of diabetes.

BackgroundNeural tube defects (NTDs) are prevalent congenital defects associated with pre-pregnancy diet with low levels of maternal folate. They are linked to severe morbidity, disability, and mortality, as well as psychological and economic burdens.ObjectiveThe goal of this study was to determine the levels of folate, vitamin B12, and homocysteine in the blood of women who had a pregnancy impacted by NTDs.Subjects and MethodsA hospital-based case–control study was undertaken between September 2019 and August 2020. The study comprised a total of 100 cases and 167 controls. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to determine the levels of folate, vitamin B12, and homocysteine in the serum.ResultsOnly 39% of the cases and 54.5% of control mothers reported periconceptional use of folic acid/multivitamin, which indicated a statistically significant difference (p = 0.014). Logistic regression indicated that periconceptional use of folic acid/multivitamin was associated with NTDs (p = 0.015, OR = 1.873, 95% CI: 1.131–3.101). We found that 57% of the cases and 33.5% of controls, as well as 43% of cases and 20.4% of controls had serum folate and vitamin B12 levels below the cut-off value, respectively. Twenty-seven percent of the cases and 6.6% of controls had hyperhomocysteinemia (HHcy). The median concentrations of folate, vitamin B12, and homocysteine in cases and controls were 4.78 and 8.86 ng/ml; 266.23 and 455 pg/ml; 13.43 and 9.7 μmol/l, respectively. The median concentration of folate (p < 0.001) and vitamin B12 (p < 0.001) were significantly lower in the cases than controls, while the homocysteine concentration (p < 0.001) was significantly lower in the controls than cases. Folate [OR (95% CI) = 1.652 (1.226–2.225; p = 0.001)], vitamin B12 [OR (95% CI) = 1.890 (1.393–2.565; p < 0.001], and homocysteine [OR (95% CI) = 0.191 (0.09–0.405; p < 0.001)] levels were associated with NTDs.ConclusionFolate and vitamin B12 are deficient in both cases and control mothers. The lower levels of folate and vitamin B12 with an elevated homocysteine level in NTD-affected pregnancy may be an indication that these biochemical variables were risk factors for NTDs. Folate/multivitamin supplementation and/or food fortification should be promoted.

Diabetes type 2 is associated with impaired insulin production and increased insulin resistance. Treatment with antidiabetic drugs and insulin strives for normalizing glucose homeostasis. In Ethiopian traditional medicine, plant extracts of Melia azedarach are used to control diabetes mellitus and various gastrointestinal disorders. The objective of this study was to clarify the antidiabetic effects of M. azedarach leaf extracts in diabetic type 2 experimental animals. In this study, mice were injected with Melia extract intraperitoneally. Plasma glucose was studied by using tail vein sampling in acute experiments over 4 h and chronic experiments over 21 days with concurrent insulin and body weight assessments. Glucose tolerance was studied by using intraperitoneal glucose (2 mg/g) tolerance test over 120 min. Gastric emptying of a metabolically inert meal was studied by the gastric retention of a radioactive marker over 20 min. Melia extracts displayed acute, dose-dependent antidiabetic effects in ob/ob mice similar to glibenclamide (p<0.05–0.001). Long-term administration of Melia extract reduced plasma glucose (p<0.001) and insulin (p<0.01–0.001) levels over 21 days, concurrent with body weight loss. Glucose tolerance test showed reduced basal glucose levels (p<0.05–0.01), but no difference was found in glucose disposal after long-term treatment with Melia extract. In addition, the Melia extract at 400 mg/kg slowed gastric emptying rate of normal Sprague-Dawley (p<0.001) and diabetic Goto-Kakizaki rats (p<0.001) compared with controls. It is concluded that the M. azedarach leaf extract elicits diabetic activity through a multitargeted action. Primarily an increased insulin-sensitizing effect is at hand, resulting in blood glucose reduction and improved peripheral glucose disposal, but also through reduced gastric emptying and decreased insulin demand.

Abnormal inflammatory mediator concentrations during SARS-CoV-2 infection may represent disease severity. We aimed to assess plasma inflammatory mediator concentrations in patients with SARS-CoV-2 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. In this study, 260 adults: 126 hospitalized patients with confirmed COVID-19 sorted into severity groups: severe (n=68) and mild or moderate (n=58), and 134 healthy controls were enrolled. We quantified 39 plasma inflammatory mediators using multiplex ELISA. Spearman rank correlation and Mann-Whitney U test were used to identify mechanistically coupled inflammatory mediators and compare disease severity. Compared to healthy controls, patients with COVID-19 had significantly higher levels of interleukins 1α, 2, 6, 7, 8, 10 and 15, C-reactive protein (CRP), serum amyloid A (SAA), intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1), vascular cell adhesion protein 1 (VCAM-1), IFN-γ-inducible protein-10 (IP-10, CXCL10), macrophage inflammatory protein-1 alpha (MIP-1α, CCL3), eotaxin-3 (CCL26), interferon-gamma (IFN-γ), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), placental growth factor (PlGF), and fms-like tyrosine kinase 1 (Flt-1). Patients with severe COVID-19 had higher IL-10 and lower macrophage-derived chemokine (MDC, CCL22) compared to the mild or moderate group (P&lt;0.05). In the receiver operating characteristic curve, SAA, IL-6 and CRP showed strong sensitivity and specificity in predicting the severity and prognosis of COVID-19. Greater age and higher CRP had a significant association with disease severity (P&lt;0.05). Our findings reveal that CRP, SAA, VCAM-1, CXCL10, CCL22 and IL-10 levels are promising biomarkers for COVID-19 disease severity, suggesting that plasma inflammatory mediators could be used as warning indicators of COVID-19 severity, aid in COVID-19 prognosis and treatment.

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of free radicals and experimental diabetes on cytosolic creatine kinase activity in rat heart, muscle and brain. Hydrogen peroxide decreased creatine kinase activity in a dose dependent manner which was reversed by catalase. Xanthine/xanthine oxidase, which produces superoxide anion, lowered the creatine kinase activity in the same manner whose effect was protected by superoxide dismutase. N-acetylcysteine and dithiothreitol also significantly ameliorated the effect of Xanthine/xanthine oxidase and hydrogen peroxide. Experimental diabetes of twenty-one days (induced by alloxan), also caused a similar decrease in the activity of creatine kinase. This led us to the conclusion that the decrease in creatine kinase activity during diabetes could be due to the production of reactive oxygen species. The free radical effect could be on the sulfhydryl groups of the enzyme at the active sites, since addition of sulfhydryl groups like N-acetylcysteine and dithiothreitol showed a significant reversal effect.