Annals of Saudi medicine最新文献

Background: Dates are consumed worldwide, and are an important fruit for many individuals in Saudi Arabia. Currently, limited information is available on the glycemic indices of different date varieties.

Objectives: To determine the glycemic index (GI), glycemic load (GL) and glycemic response for 17 common date varieties in Saudi Arabia.

Design: Prospective clinical trial on healthy subjects.

Setting: College of Medicine, Qassim University, Buraydah, Saudi Arabia.

Patients and methods: The available carbohydrate content of Tamer stage dates was determined using standard laboratory methods. Healthy subjects (ten males and nine females) received 50 g of glucose (on three separate occasions) and 50 g equivalent of available carbohydrates from the seventeen varieties of date (each once). The GI and GL were then calculated.

Main outcome measure(s): GI, GL, and glycemic response.

Results: The mean (SEM) GI of the date samples was 55.2 (7.7) (range, 42.8-74.6). Sellaj and Maktoomi exhibited the highest GI (74.6 [10.1] and 71.0 [11.1]), respectively, whereas Shaqra, Sukkary, and Sag'ai had the lowest GI (42.8 [5.5], 43.4 [4.7] and 44.6 [6]), respectively. The GL of the date samples ranged from 8.5 to 24. Sellaj had a high GL (24), whereas Ajwah and Shaqra had a low GL (8.5 and 9.2). The analyses suggested no significant difference in GI between the date varieties. However, the GL values differed significantly between the 17 date varieties (P < .001).

Conclusion: The results provide reliable GI and GL values for 17 common date varieties in Saudi Arabia. The identification of date varieties with lower glycemic responses may help lower the GI of the diet of both healthy and diabetic Saudi individuals.

Limitations: We used dates at the Tamer stage, which may not be translatable to all types of dates.

Background: Data on pituitary adenoma (PA) prevalence in Saudi Arabia are scarce.

Objective: To estimate the epidemiology of PA in a well-defined population.

Design: Retrospective analysis.

Setting: Departments of Endocrinology and Radiology at King Fahad Armed Forces Hospital, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Patients and methods: Radiological and hormonal data of patients with pituitary adenoma by MRI were reviewed for the period January 2008 to December 2015.

Main outcome measures: Prevalence of PA and hormonal abnormalities.

Results: Of 537 patients; 249 subjects (46.4%), 70 (28.1%) males and 179 (71.9%) females, were diagnosed to have PA with mean age 36.3 (14.1) years. Microadenoma and macroadenoma were seen in 171 (69%) and 78 (31%) subjects, respectively. Microadenomas were more prevalent than macroadenomas (68.7% vs. 31.3%). Microadenomas were significantly more prevalent in females, 131 (73.2 %) vs. 40 (57.1%) whereas macroadenomas were significantly more prevalent in males, 30 (42.9%) vs. 48 (26.8%) (P < .001 for both comparisons). Patients with microadenomas were significantly younger than patients with macroadenomas (P < .0001). Advanced age was significantly associated with a larger PA size (r=0.39, P < .0002). Three types of hyperfunctioning PA were seen: prolactinoma, somatotroph adenoma, and corticotroph adenoma. Five types of hypofunctioning PA were seen: panhypopituitarism, secondary hypogonadism, growth hormone deficiency, central hypothroidism and central adrenal insufficiency. Non-functioning PA were within normal laboratory hormonal values in 2% of cases.

Conclusion: Our study showed that the prevalence of PA was greater than previously reported. This increased prevalence may have important implications when prioritizing funding for research and treatment of PA.

Limitations: Clustering of cases within the study region might have affected estimates and limited study sample size.