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A patient who had undergone bilateral carotid body resection five years earlier for palliation of chronic airflow obstruction was found to have severe obstructive sleep apnea. He presented with hypercapnic respiratory failure, which improved after tracheostomy. A physiologic mechanism is proposed to explain this association. Previously reported studies of anesthetized animals suggest that loss of peripheral chemoreceptor activity could selectively decrease neural output to the genioglossus, the main protrusor muscle of the tongue, predisposing the upper airway to inspiratory occlusion.

Platelet clumping was examined in untreated insulin-dependent and insulin-independent diabetics, with and without retinopathy. Hyperaggregation was noted, particularly in subjects with retinopathy and longstanding diabetes. Metformin normalised clumping in the course of mild diabetes.