Inpatient and Outpatient Technologies to Assist in the Management of Insulin Dosing.

Several new technologies use computer algorithms to analyze a person's blood glucose response to insulin treatment, calculate the person's next recommended insulin dose, advise the person regarding when to check blood glucose next, and provide alerts regarding glucose control for the individual patient or across a hospital system. This article reviews U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved products designed to help manage insulin dosing for inpatients, as well as those available to provide people with insulin-requiring diabetes support in making adjustments to their basal and/or mealtime insulin doses. Many of these products have a provider interface that allows for remote monitoring of patients' glucose readings and insulin doses. By alleviating some of the burdens of insulin initiation and dose adjustment, these products may facilitate improved glycemic management and patient outcomes.

Insulin and Its Cardiovascular Effects: What Is the Current Evidence?

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: In this article, we examine the nature of the complex relationship between insulin and cardiovascular disease. With metabolic abnormalities comes increased risk for cardiovascular complications. We discuss the key factors implicated in development and progression of cardiovascular disease, its relationship to insulin therapy, and what can be learned from large, recent cardiovascular outcome studies. RECENT FINDINGS: Preclinical studies suggest that insulin has positive effects of facilitating glucose entry into cells and maintaining euglycemia and negative effects of favoring obesity and atherogenesis under certain conditions. Confounding this relationship is that cardiovascular morbidity is linked closely to duration and control of diabetes, and insulin is often used in patients with diabetes of longer duration. However, more recent clinical studies examining the cardiovascular safety of insulin therapy have been reassuring. Diabetes and cardiovascular outcomes are closely linked. Many studies have implicated insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia as a major factor for poor cardiovascular outcomes. Additional studies link the anabolic effects of therapeutic insulin to weight gain, along with hypoglycemia, which may further aggravate cardiovascular risk in this population. Though good glycemic control has been shown to improve microvascular risks in type 1 and type 2 diabetes, what are the known cardiovascular effects of insulin therapy? The ORIGIN trial suggests at least a neutral effect of the basal insulin glargine on cardiovascular outcomes. Recent studies have demonstrated that ultra-long-acting insulin analogs like insulin degludec are non-inferior to insulin glargine with regard to cardiovascular outcomes.

Initial evaluation of thyroid nodules by primary care physicians and internal medicine residents.

OBJECTIVE: The article studied the knowledge and practice patterns of primary care providers and internal medicine residents in their initial evaluation of thyroid nodules and determined whether their practice is in accordance with published guidelines by the American Thyroid Association and American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists. METHOD: A survey was distributed to primary care physicians (PCPs) and internal medicine residents at a community hospital in Baltimore and a chart review was conducted at the Diabetes and Endocrine Center in the same hospital. RESULTS: A total of 47 physicians (70%) responded to the survey, 16 PCPs and 33 residents. Most responders (96%) will always obtain a TSH, and of these, 21% of PCP and 25% of residents will obtain a TSH without any other laboratory work-up. Fifty percent of the physicians (PCP, 75%; resident, 39%) will always obtain a thyroid ultrasound (p=0.043). Most physicians (97%) will refer for a fine-needle aspiration (FNA) biopsy of a nodule >1 cm. Sixty-two percent of the physicians will not put a euthyroid patient on levothyroxine suppression therapy. Many physicians (48%) are not aware of the AACE and ATA thyroid nodule guidelines. Most physicians (65%) have not read the guidelines. Of the 113 charts reviewed, TSH was obtained alone in 40% and with other laboratory tests in 74%. Thyroid ultrasound was done in 67%. Only one patient was on levothyroxine for levothyroxine suppression therapy. DISCUSSION: Although many physicians were not aware of the guidelines, and a small number of physicians have read them, many PCP and residents responded in concordance with the guidelines in obtaining TSH, an ultrasound, performing FNA biopsy, and not providing levothyroxine suppressive therapy in euthyroid patients. No differences were found between the responses of PCP and residents except for obtaining an ultrasound. Chart review data also showed that majority of tests ordered for non-toxic thyroid nodule evaluation were in agreement with the guidelines. Limitations include low survey response rate among PCPs and that results are from one community hospital. CONCLUSION: Our findings from the survey and chart review conclude that majority of primary care physicians were initiating the appropriate work up of thyroid nodules prior to referral to a specialist.

The role of PET in follow-up of patients treated for differentiated epithelial thyroid cancers.

This article provides an update on the use of 2-[(18)F]-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose PET in the follow-up of patients treated for differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC). Although DTC recurrence is principally identified by a detectable basal or TSH-stimulated thyroglobulin level, PET helps to localize recurrent disease in patients with normal (131)I total-body scans and other normal anatomic imaging studies. The sensitivity of PET for localization of recurrence ranges from 45% to 100% according to tumor burden and differentiation. Whether PET should be performed after TSH stimulation is unclear, but several studies have reported an increase in the number of lesions detected by uptake of 2-[(18)F]-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose in this setting. Dependent on a center's approach, PET can alter therapeutic management in 9-51% of cases. Furthermore, PET might have a prognostic impact on survival in patients with metastatic disease and aid clinicians in selecting patients who need closer follow-up or aggressive treatment. PET can, therefore, be used advantageously in the follow-up of patients with DTC and can localize disease in patients with elevated thyroglobulin levels, normal total-body scans, and normal findings on conventional imaging modalities. In patients in whom local treatment is planned, especially those with aggressive pathologic variants of thyroid cancer, PET can exclude distant metastases. In patients with metastatic disease, PET can help to identify patients needing closer follow-up.

Role of different pathways of the complement cascade in experimental bullous pemphigoid.

Bullous pemphigoid (BP) is an autoimmune subepidermal blistering disease associated with autoantibodies directed against the hemidesmosomal proteins BP180 and BP230 and inflammation. Passive transfer of antibodies to the murine BP180 (mBP180) induces a skin disease that closely resembles human BP. In the present study, we defined the roles of the different complement activation pathways in this model system. Mice deficient in the alternative pathway component factor B (Fb) and injected with pathogenic anti-mBP180 IgG developed delayed and less intense subepidermal blisters. Mice deficient in the classical pathway component complement component 4 (C4) and WT mice pretreated with neutralizing antibody against the first component of the classical pathway, C1q, were resistant to experimental BP. These mice exhibited a significantly reduced level of mast cell degranulation and polymorphonuclear neutrophil (PMN) infiltration in the skin. Intradermal administration of compound 48/80, a mast cell degranulating agent, restored BP disease in C4(-/-) mice. Furthermore, C4(-/-) mice became susceptible to experimental BP after local injection of PMN chemoattractant IL-8 or local reconstitution with PMNs. These findings provide the first direct evidence to our knowledge that complement activation via the classical and alternative pathways is crucial in subepidermal blister formation in experimental BP.

A comparison of short-term changes in health-related quality of life in thyroid carcinoma patients undergoing diagnostic evaluation with recombinant human thyrotropin compared with thyroid hormone withdrawal.

CONTEXT: Thyroid carcinoma requires lifelong monitoring with serum thyroglobulin, radioactive iodine whole body scanning, and other imaging modalities. Levothyroxine (L-T4) withdrawal for thyroglobulin measurement and whole body scanning increases these tests' sensitivities but causes hypothyroidism. Recombinant human TSH (rhTSH) enables testing without L-T4 withdrawal. OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to examine the impact of short-term hypothyroidism on the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of patients after rhTSH vs. L-T4 withdrawal. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PATIENTS: In this multicenter study, the SF-36 Health Survey was administered to 228 patients at three time points: on L-T4, after rhTSH, and after L-T4 withdrawal. INTERVENTIONS: INTERVENTIONS included administration of rhTSH on L-T4 and withdrawal from thyroid hormone. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Mean SF-36 scores were compared during the two interventions and with the U.S. general population and patients with heart failure, depression, and migraine headache. RESULTS: Patients had SF-36 scores at or above the norm for the general U.S. population in six of eight domains at baseline on L-T4 and in seven of eight domains after rhTSH. Patients' scores declined significantly in all eight domains after L-T4 withdrawal when compared with the other two periods (P < 0.0001). Patients' HRQOL scores while on L-T4 and after rhTSH were at or above those for patients with heart failure, depression, and migraine in all eight domains. After L-T4 withdrawal, patients' HRQOL scores were significantly below congestive heart failure, depression, and migraine headache norms in six, three, and six of the eight domains, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Short-term hypothyroidism after L-T4 withdrawal is associated with a significant decline in quality of life that is abrogated by rhTSH use.