Management of Type 1 Diabetes in Pregnancy.

Women with type 1 diabetes (T1DM) have unique needs during the preconception, pregnancy, and postpartum periods. Preconception counseling is essential for women with T1DM to minimize pregnancy risks. The goals of preconception care should be tight glycemic control with a hemoglobin A1c (A1C) < 7 % and as close to 6 % as possible, without significant hypoglycemia. This will lower risks of congenital malformations, preeclampsia, and perinatal mortality. The safety of medications should be assessed prior to conception. Optimal control of retinopathy, hypertension, and nephropathy should be achieved. During pregnancy, the goal A1C is near-normal at <6 %, without excessive hypoglycemia. There is no clear evidence that continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII) versus multiple daily injections (MDI) is superior in achieving the desired tight glycemic control of T1DM during pregnancy. Data regarding continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) in pregnant women with T1DM is conflicting regarding improved glycemic control. However, a recent CGM study does provide some distinct patterns of glucose levels associated with large for gestational age infants. Frequent eye exams during pregnancy are essential due to risk of progression of retinopathy during pregnancy. Chronic hypertension treatment goals are systolic blood pressure 110-129 mmHg and diastolic blood pressure 65-79 mmHg. Labor and delivery target plasma glucose levels are 80-110 mg/dl, and an insulin drip is recommended to achieve these targets during active labor. Postpartum, insulin doses must be reduced and glucoses closely monitored in women with T1DM because of the enhanced insulin sensitivity after delivery. Breastfeeding is recommended and should be highly encouraged due to maternal benefits including increased insulin sensitivity and weight loss and infant and childhood benefits including reduced prevalence of overweight. In this article, we discuss the care of pregnant patients with T1DM.

Effect of Clothing on Measurement of Bone Mineral Density.

It is unknown whether allowing patients to have BMD (bone mineral density) studies acquired while wearing radiolucent clothing adlib contributes appreciably to the measurement error seen. To examine this question, a spine phantom was scanned 30 times without any clothing, while draped with a gown, and while draped with heavy winter clothing. The effect on mean BMD and on SD (standard deviation) was assessed. The effect of clothing on mean or SD of the area was not significant. The effect of clothing on mean and SD for BMD was small but significant and was around 1.6% for the mean. However, the effect on BMD precision was much more clinically important. Without clothing the spine phantom had an least significant change of 0.0077 gm/cm(2), while when introducing variability of clothing the least significant change rose as high as 0.0305 gm/cm(2). We conclude that, adding clothing to the spine phantom had a small but statistically significant effect on the mean BMD and on variance of the measurement. It is unlikely that the effect on mean BMD has any clinical significance, but the effect on the reproducibility (precision) of the result is likely clinically significant.

Neuropsychiatric manifestations of thyroid disease.

The interface between thyroid hormone action and neuropsychiatric function is intricate, and several mechanisms of thyroid hormone uptake into brain tissues, hormone activation, and influences on neurotransmitter generation have been identified. Symptoms of hypothyroidism are nonspecific, whereas those attributed to thyrotoxicosis may be more characteristic. Neuropsychiatric manifestations triggered by thyroid dysfunction likely respond well to reestablishment of the euthyroid state, although some patients have persistent complaints. The addition of LT3 to ongoing LT4 replacement has yet to be definitively shown to be advantageous. Treatment of euthyroid depression with LT3 in addition to antidepressant therapy lacks convincing evidence of superior outcomes.