In this journal, in 2020, we published the case of a 74-year-old female outpatient with type-2 diabetes mellitus who self-injected insulin four times a day according to the basal-bolus regimen, with ...an high glycemic variability and an high rate of severe hypoglycemic episodes. Three years before, we had found two extraordinarily large skin lipohypertrophies, with large underlying fluid collections with high insulin concentration. A long educational and intensive training completely repaired the skin lesions with the disappearance of the subcutaneous insulin reservoirs. Glycemic variability has been reduced dramatically, severe hypoglycemia has almost completely disappeared and the daily dose of insulin has been reduced by 38%. However, this extraordinary, albeit unexpected, result was achieved in five years.
Aircraft pilot licence and diabetes Gentile, S.; Furia, A.; Strollo, F
Diabetes research and clinical practice,
March 2020, 2020-03-00, 20200301, Letnik:
161
Journal Article
The frailty syndrome is increasingly recognized by geriatricians to identify elders at an extreme risk of adverse health outcomes. The physiological changes that result in frailty are complex and up ...to now have been extremely difficult to characterize due to the frequent coexistence of acute and chronic illness. Frailty is characterized by an decline in the functional reserve with several alterations in diverse physiological systems, including lower energy metabolism, decreased skeletal muscle mass and quality, altered hormonal and inflammatory functions. This altered network leads to an extreme vulnerability for disease, functional dependency, hospitalization and death. One of the most important core components of the frailty syndrome is a decreased reserve in skeletal muscle functioning which is clinically characterized by a loss in muscle mass and strength (sarcopenia), in walking performance and in endurance associated with a perception of exhaustion and fatigue. There are a number of physiological changes that occur in senescent muscle tissues that have a critical effect on body metabolism. The causes of sarcopenia are multi-factorial and can include disuse, changing hormonal function, chronic diseases, inflammation, insulin resistance, and nutritional deficiencies. In this review, we will explore the dysregulation of some biological mechanisms that may contribute to the pathophysiology of the frailty syndrome through age-related changes in skeletal muscle mass and function.
We are willing to report the case of a woman with type 2 diabetes treated with insulin, 4 shots a day, referring to us for 2 very large pigmented abdominal lipo-hypertrophy (LH) areas due to ...incorrect injection technique. The ultrasound examination showed the presence offluidwithin both LH lesions. Fluid examination showed insulin concentrations 13 times higher thancirculating ones. A12-month longstructured training on correct injection techniques normalized metabolic control and took rid of all sudden severe hypoglycemic episodes and the wide glycemic variability. In fact, both LH areas disappeared became softer and slightly smaller and got fluid-free. This is the first case documenting the presence of sort of an insulin reservoir within LH lesions and fluid reabsorption can explain the disappearance of hypoglycemic episodes and the improvement of glycemic control.
Civil aviation pilots who develop insulin-treated diabetes and want to renew a Commercial Pilot License (CPL) represent a medical, social and regulatory problem. This depends on justified concerns ...about hypoglycemia, the most threatening event for people who carry out jobs requiring a high level of concentration and reliability. This negatively affects social and working aspects of pilots’ lives, who have a high profile and a high-cost professional qualification. It could be possible now to revise this attitude thanks to the availability of Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) devices. CGM clearly showed to prevent hypoglycemic events in insulin-treated diabetic patients by allowing strict monitoring and trend prediction of glucose levels. By systematizing available data on such devices and present regulations in CPL issuance worldwide, our review can be used as handy tool for a fruitful discussion among the scientific community, national and international civil aviation regulators, stakeholders and pilots, aimed at evaluating the evidence-based opportunity to revise CPL issuance criteria for insulin-treated diabetic pilots.
For the above-mentioned reasons, there are, among the regulatory administrations of Civil Aviation around the globe, several different approaches and limitations set for the subjects with insulin-treated diabetes who want to obtain, or renew, a CPL.
ACE inhibitors and calcium antagonists may favorably affect serum lipids and glucose metabolism. The primary aim of the Fosinopril Versus Amlodipine Cardiovascular Events Randomized Trial (FACET) was ...to compare the effects of fosinopril and amlodipine on serum lipids and diabetes control in NIDDM patients with hypertension. Prospectively defined cardiovascular events were assessed as secondary outcomes.
Inclusion criteria included a diagnosis of NIDDM and hypertension (systolic blood pressure of > 140 mmHg or diastolic blood pressure of > 90 mmHg). Exclusion criteria included a history of coronary heart disease or stroke, serum creatinine > 1.5 mg/dl, albuminuria > 40 micrograms/min, and use of lipid-lowering drugs, aspirin, or antihypertensive agents other than beta-blockers or diuretics. A total of 380 hypertensive diabetics were randomly assigned to open-label fosinopril (20 mg/day) or amlodipine (10 mg/day) and followed for up to 3.5 years. If blood pressure was not controlled, the other study drug was added.
Both treatments were effective in lowering blood pressure. At the end of follow-up, between the two groups there was no significant difference in total serum cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, HbA1c, fasting serum glucose, or plasma insulin. The patients receiving fosinopril had a significantly lower risk of the combined outcome of acute myocardial infarction, stroke, or hospitalized angina than those receiving amlodipine (14/189 vs. 27/191; hazards ratio = 0.49, 95% CI = 0.26-0.95).
Fosinopril and amlodipine had similar effects on biochemical measures, but the patients randomized to fosinopril had a significantly lower risk of major vascular events, compared with the patients randomized to amlodipine.
Policaptil Gel Retard® (PGR), is a new macromolecule complex based on polysaccharides slowing the rate of carbohydrate and fat absorption. It proved to significantly reduce body weight, acanthosis ...nigricans expression, HbA1c levels, and glucose metabolism abnormalities in obese, hyper-insulinemic adolescents. No such data are available for adults.
to compare the effects of PGR vs. metformin in adult subjects with the Metabolic Syndrome (MS) and T2DM on a Low Glycemic Index diet.
This spontaneous clinical, longitudinal, single-blind, randomized study based on a per-protocol analysis enrolled 100 outpatients with MS and T2DM consecutively referring to our clinic for three months, and randomly assigned to either the active treatment (Group A:, 6 tablets/day) or the comparator (Group B: Metformin tablets, 1500–2000 mg/day in two divided doses during the two main meals, to minimize side effects) to be taken 30 min before each main meal in equally divided doses. Serum lipid profile, anthropometry, HOMA-IR index, and tolerability parameters were evaluated before and after a 6-month follow-up period.
all parameters improved at a similar rate in both groups but for the lipid profile, which got even better in Group A. Group A also experienced less prominent gastrointestinal side effects than its counterpart.
For the first time, we showed the non-inferiority of PGR compared to metformin in obese adult subjects with the MS and T2DM as for glycemic control and a clear-cut superiority of PGR in terms of both serum lipid-lowering capacity and tolerability.
•Treatment of metabolic syndrome needs more drugs this makes adherence to treatment worse.•Metformin is the most widely used drug for glycemic control but its gastrointestinal side effects are well known.•Policaptil gel retard is a medical device made of substances (MDMS), reducing plasma glucose and body weight.•Policaptil gel retard is proposed as a useful alternative to metformin in the treatment of metabolic syndrome.
Several studies have shown a strong correlation between the different types of diets and gut microbiota composition on glycemia and weight loss. In this direction, low-carbohydrate and ketogenic ...diets have gained popularity, despite studies published so far leading to controversial results on subjects with diabetes. In this narrative review, firstly, we aimed to analyze the role of very-low-calorie ketogenic diets (VLCKDs) in type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and obesity management. Secondly, in this context, we focused attention on gut microbiota as a function of VLCKD, particularly in T2DM and obesity treatment. Finally, we reported all this evidence to underline the importance of gut microbiota to exalt new nutritional strategies for “tailor-made” management, treatment, and rehabilitation in subjects with T2DM and obesity, even with diabetic complications. In conclusion, this narrative review outlined the beneficial impact of VLCKD on gut microbiota even in subjects with T2DM and obesity, and, despite inner VLCKD short-duration feature allowing no sound-enough provisions for long-term outcomes, witnessed in favor of the short-term safety of VLCKD in those patients.
Level of evidence
Level V: Opinions of authorities, based on descriptive studies, narrative reviews, clinical experience, or reports of expert committees.
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