Publications by authors named "Ramzi A Ajjan"

Background: Diabetes affects over 3.3 million people in England, creating a significant health and economic burden. Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) improves diabetes management but remains unevenly accessible, especially among Black and minority groups who face onset at younger ages, higher diabetes rates and complications.

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Background: Dapagliflozin improved cardiometabolic outcomes following myocardial infarction in patients without prior type-2 diabetes (T2DM) in the DAPA-MI (dapagliflozin in patients with myocardial infarction) trial. The effect of glycemic status and body mass index (BMI) post-myocardial infarction requires elucidation.

Methods: Participants with T2DM diagnosis, without baseline hemoglobin A1c, or not receiving any study medication, were excluded.

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Background And Aims: Oral anticoagulation reduces stroke risk in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) but increases bleeding. Longer fibrin clot lysis time has been shown to predict adverse cardiovascular outcomes in acute coronary syndromes. This study explored relationships between fibrin clot lysis time at randomization and clinical outcomes in patients with AF enrolled in the Apixaban for Reduction in Stroke and Other Thromboembolic Events in AF (ARISTOTLE) trial.

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Aims/hypothesis: Individuals with type 1 diabetes are at increased cardiovascular risk, particularly in the presence of insulin resistance. A prothrombotic environment is believed to contribute to this risk but thrombotic pathways in type 1 diabetes are only partially understood and the role of platelets is incompletely studied. We hypothesised that platelets from individuals with type 1 diabetes exhibit platelet hyperactivity due to both increased propensity for activation and diminished sensitivity to inhibition, with an amplified maladaptive phenotype in those with insulin resistance.

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Background: Obesity is prevalent in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and negatively impacts diabetes outcomes. While studies in the general population have established a link between sleep duration and obesity, this relationship in T2D remains unclear.

Objectives: To assess the association between sleep duration and adiposity in patients with T2D.

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Introduction: Effective management of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) consists of lifestyle modification and therapy optimisation. While glycaemic monitoring can be used as a tool to guide these changes, this can be challenging with self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG). The FreeStyle Libre 3 (FSL3) is a real-time continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) system designed to replace SMBG.

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ESC Guidelines provide best practice, evidence-based recommendations for diagnosing and treating patients with cardiovascular diseases. It is not always possible for best practices to be followed, however, particularly in low-resource settings. To address this issue, a set of guideline-related documents were created to identify key priorities for users in these settings.

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Glycaemic therapy in type 1 diabetes (T1D) is focused on insulin, with the majority of studies investigating different insulin preparations, delivery devices and dosing accuracy methods. While insulin deficiency is the key mechanism for hyperglycaemia in T1D, individuals with this condition can also develop insulin resistance (IR), making optimisation of glycaemia more challenging. Importantly, IR in T1D increases the risk of both microvascular and macrovascular complications; yet, it is rarely targeted in routine clinical care.

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Aims: We investigated the effect of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) with personalised structured education on patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and pre-diabetes in a workplace setting.

Materials And Methods: This 8-week prospective study enrolled adults with T2D or pre-diabetes at Samsung Electronics Device Solutions between March and September 2023. Participants underwent CGM (Freestyle Libre) for 2 weeks and received personalized structured education on diet and physical activity.

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Objective: Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) surgery has been shown to lead to favourable health outcomes in obese patients. However, the molecular changes that occur and how they relate to clinical measures are poorly understood. Here, we characterise the proteomic alterations that occur in plasma of RYGB patients before and 9 months after surgery using quantitative proteomics.

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The plasma protein fibrinogen is critical for haemostasis and wound healing, serving as the structural foundation of the blood clot. Through a complex interaction between coagulation factors, the soluble plasma fibrinogen is converted to insoluble fibrin networks, which form the skeleton of the blood clot, an essential step to limit blood loss after vascular trauma. This review examines the molecular mechanisms by which fibrinogen modulates bleeding, focusing on its interactions with other proteins that maintain fibrin network stability and prevent premature breakdown.

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Objective: Diabetes is a potential late consequence of childhood and young adult cancer (CYAC) treatment. Causative treatments associated with diabetes have been identified in retrospective cohort studies but have not been validated in population-based cohorts. Our aim was to define the extent of diabetes risk and explore contributory factors for its development in survivors of CYAC in the U.

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Introduction: Glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) is currently the gold standard for assessing glycaemic control in diabetes, given the established relationship with microvascular and macrovascular complications in this condition. However, HbA1c is affected by non-glycaemic factors, while also failing to provide data on hypoglycaemic exposure and glucose variability, which are associated with adverse vascular outcomes. Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM)-derived glucose metrics provide a more comprehensive assessment of glycaemia, but their role in predicting future vascular complications remains unclear.

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Hypofibrinolysis is a documented abnormality in conditions with high risk of vascular occlusion. A key inhibitor of fibrinolysis is α2-antiplasmin (α2AP), and we hypothesize that the Affimer technology, comprising small conformational proteins with 2 9-amino-acid variable regions, can be used to modulate α2AP activity and facilitate fibrinolysis. Using a phage display system, a library of Affimers was screened against α2AP.

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Aims: Diabetes mellitus (DM) increases heart failure incidence and worsens prognosis, but its molecular basis is poorly defined in humans. We aimed to define the diabetic myocardial transcriptome and validate hits in their circulating protein form to define disease mechanisms and biomarkers.

Methods And Results: RNA-sequencing data from the Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) project was used to define differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in right atrial (RA) and left ventricular (LV) myocardium from people with vs.

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Background: Among patients treated with a novel oral anticoagulant (NOAC) undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), combination therapy with clopidogrel (ie, known as dual antithrombotic therapy [DAT]) is the treatment of choice. However, there are concerns for individuals with impaired response to clopidogrel.

Objectives: The authors sought to assess the pharmacodynamic (PD) effects of clopidogrel vs low-dose ticagrelor in patients with impaired clopidogrel response assessed by the ABCD-GENE score.

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Although continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) devices are now considered the standard of care for people with type 1 diabetes mellitus, the uptake among people with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) has been slower and is focused on those receiving intensive insulin therapy. However, increasing evidence now supports the inclusion of CGM in the routine care of people with T2DM who are on basal insulin-only regimens or are managed with other medications. Expanding CGM to these groups could minimize hypoglycaemia while allowing efficient adaptation and escalation of therapies.

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Aim: To examine the effect of interrupting prolonged sitting with short, frequent, light-intensity activity on postprandial cardiovascular markers in people with type 1 diabetes (T1D).

Materials And Methods: In a randomized crossover trial, 32 adults with T1D (mean ± SD age 28 ± 5 years, glycated haemoglobin 67.9 ± 12.

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Background: Obesity is a complex condition associated with prothrombotic fibrin networks that are resistant to fibrinolysis. Altered fibrin clot properties enhance cardiovascular risk and associate with a poorer prognosis following acute ischemic events. Bariatric surgery is commonly employed to improve cardiometabolic outcomes in individuals with obesity.

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The growing use of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) has been supported by expert consensus and clinical guidelines on glycemic management in diabetes with time in range (TIR 70-180 mg/dL) representing a key CGM-derived glucose metric. Time in tight range (TITR) has also been proposed for clinical use, spanning largely normal glucose levels of 70-140 mg/dL. However, keeping such narrow glucose ranges can be challenging, and understanding the factors modulating TITR can help achieve these tight glycemic targets.

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Introduction: Identify non-glycemic factors affecting the relationship between fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), in order to refine diabetes diagnostic criteria.

Research Design And Methods: Relationship between FPG-HbA1c was assessed in 12 531 individuals from 2001 to 2018 US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Using a recently described method, FPG and HbA1c were used to calculate apparent glycation ratio (AGR) of red blood cells for different subgroups based on age, race, and gender.

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Study Objectives: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is associated with an increased risk of diabetes-related complications. Hence, it is plausible that continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) could have a favorable impact on these complications. We assessed the feasibility of conducting a randomized control trial in patients with type 2 diabetes and OSA over 2 years.

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Time in range (TIR), time in tight range (TITR), and average glucose (AG) are used to adjust glycemic therapies in diabetes. However, TIR/TITR and AG can show a disconnect, which may create management difficulties. We aimed to understand the factors influencing the relationships between these glycemic markers.

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