1.   It is obviously difficult to study arterial prostacyclin production in diabetic subjects.

2.   Spontaneous platelet aggregation Several studies have attempted to assess whether there is evidence of increased circulating platelet aggregates in diabetic subjects.

3.   The non-insulin dependent diabetic subjects had similar birth weight to subjects with normoglycaemia or impaired glucose tolerance.

4.   Therefore other metabolic abnormalities have been sought in diabetic subjects which might contribute to the increased vascular risk.

5.   These findings were unchanged when the non-insulin dependent diabetic subjects were excluded from the analyses.

6.   In the diabetic subjects studied, therefore, the possibility of gastric retention of solids has not been answered.