Universal vs. risk factor-based screening for gestational diabetes mellitus: detection rates, gestation at diagnosis and outcome. Advice that includes food sources of unsaturated fat supports future risk management of gestational diabetes mellitus. Feasibility of a lifestyle intervention in early pregnancy to prevent deterioration of glucose tolerance. Outpatient management vs in-hospital management of children with new-onset diabetes. Diagnosis of gestational diabetes mellitus in Nigerian pregnant women--comparison between 75G and 100G oral glucose tolerance tests. Metabonomic variations in the drug-treated type 2 diabetes mellitus patients and healthy volunteers. Comparison of HRP2- and pLDH-based rapid diagnostic tests for malaria with longitudinal follow-up in Kampala, Uganda. An educational programme for peer review groups to improve treatment of chronic heart failure and diabetes mellitus type 2 in general practice. Perinatal outcomes and the use of oral hypoglycemic agents.
Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is associated with adverse maternal and fetal outcome. Screening for GDM is therefore recommended but the best screening method remains controversial. This prospective, randomized study compared a risk factor-based screening programme with a universally based one.
                Subjects were randomized at booking to one of two groups: the risk factor group had a 3-h 100-g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) at 32 weeks if any risk factor for GDM was present; the universal group had a 50-g glucose challenge test performed and if their plasma glucose at 1 h was > or = 7.8 mmol/l, a formal 3-h 100-g OGTT was then performed.
                Universal screening detected a prevalence of GDM of 2.7%, significantly more than the 1.45% detected in the risk factor screened group (P<0.03). Universal screening facilitated earlier diagnosis than risk factor screening - mean gestation 30 +/- 2.6 weeks vs. 33 +/- 3.7 weeks (P<0.05). A higher rate of spontaneous vaginal delivery at term, and lower rates of macrosomia, Caesarean section, prematurity, pre-eclampsia and admission to neonatal intensive care unit were observed in the universally screened, early diagnosis group.
                Universal screening for GDM is superior to risk factor based screening-detecting more cases, facilitating early diagnosis and is associated with improved pregnancy outcome. Abstract Women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) have a greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) and heart disease than pregnant women without GDM. Advice given during the GDM pregnancy provides an opportunity to develop protective dietary patterns for the long-term management of this risk. Dietary guidelines for the prevention and management of type 2 DM support the inclusion of unsaturated fats, but food advice needs to target this outcome. The aim of this study was to compare the dietary intakes of women with GDM given general low-fat advice (control group) to women with GDM given the same advice with additional targets for food sources of unsaturated fats (intervention group). After approximately 6 weeks, the intervention group reported more ideal dietary fatty acid intakes than the control group, with polyunsaturated:saturated fat ratios of 1:1 and 0.4:1, respectively ( P < .001), assessed using repeated measures analysis of variance. These results confirm the need to include food sources of unsaturated fats in advice strategies to assure optimal protective eating habits in this at-risk group. In conjunction with the growing prevalence of obesity and the older age of pregnant women gestational diabetes (GDM) is a major health problem.The aim of the study was to evaluate if a lifestyle intervention since early pregnancy is feasible in improving the glucose tolerance of women at a high-risk for GDM in Finland.
                A 75-g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) was performed in early pregnancy (n = 102). Women at high risk for GDM (n = 54) were randomized at weeks 8-12 from Apr 2005 to May 2006 to a lifestyle intervention group (n = 27) or to a close follow-up group (n = 27). An OGTT was performed again at weeks 26-28 for the lifestyle intervention and close follow-up groups.
                The values of the OGTT during the second trimester did not differ between the lifestyle intervention and close follow-up groups. In the lifestyle intervention group three women had GDM in the second trimester and respectively one woman in the close follow up group. Insulin therapy was not required in both groups. The intervention resulted in somewhat lower weight gain 11.4 ± 6.0 kg vs. 13.9 ± 5.1 kg, p = 0.062, adjusted by the prepregnancy weight.
                Early intervention with an OGTT and simple lifestyle advice is feasible. A more intensive lifestyle intervention did not offer additional benefits with respect to glucose tolerance, although it tended to ameliorate the weight gain.
                ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01130012. The long-term results of outpatient management of subjects with newly diagnosed insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) are unknown. The longest follow-up described to date is for only one year, a time when most children with IDDM still make endogenous insulin. In this study, 41 young subjects with IDDM, treated and educated in the outpatient setting (1980 to 1984), were compared to a group of 80 similar subjects who received their initial education as hospital inpatients. Long-term glycemic control, as measured by longitudinal glycohemoglobin (HbA1) values was not different in the two groups (p greater than .05). We conclude that outpatient education and management of newly diagnosed subjects with IDDM is as safe and effective as inpatient treatment. To compare the diagnostic performances of 75g and 100g oral glucose tolerance tests in detecting Gestational Diabetes Mellitus in Nigerian pregnant women.
                248 women in 3rd trimester attending antenatal clinic of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Lagos, between November 1997 and July 1999 were randomly subjected to standard oral glucose tolerance tests (OGTT). 110 had 100g OGTT while 138 had 75g OGTT. The plasma glucose response (PGR) was assessed and glucose tolerance status of each patient was determined using WHO (1985) criteria to interpret 75g OGTT and National Diabetes Data Group (NDDG) (1979) criteria for 100g OGTT. The PGR in the two study groups were compared. The prevalence rates of GDM using either of the two criteria were evaluated and compared. Incidences of foetal macrosomia in GDM cases diagnosed by either set of criteria were also compared.
                The mean age of the study subjects was 30.7(+/-4.2) years while the BMI was 25.4(+/-4.9) kg/m2. The mean parity was 1.33. Traditional risk factors for GDM were found in 47.5% of them. The plasma glucose response (PGR) to 100g OGTT was found to be higher than that of 75g OGTT at 1 hour, 2hour and 3 hour sampling times but the difference was only significant at 3rd hour (p values = 0.68, 0.137, 0.007 respectively). The total area under the glucose response curve (AUC) for 75g OGTT was 345.1 (+/-49.5) AAU while for 100g OGTT, it was 363.4(+/-61.4) AAU. The difference was not statistically significant (p value >0.05). The prevalence rate of GDM diagnosed by 75g OGTT was 11.6% while that of 100g OGTT was 4.5 %. The difference was significant (p value = 0.04). The incidence rate of foetal macrosomia among GDM cases diagnosed by 100g OGTT was 66.7% as against 23.1% among those diagnosed by 75g OGTT. Statistical difference could not be determined because of the small number.
                Plasma glucose response to OGTT among Nigerian pregnant women has little or no respect for the load of the glucose administered. 100g OGTT- based NDDG criteria was more stringent than 75g OGTT-based WHO criteria in identifying GDM. However it appears to be more specific for detecting the complications associated with the condition though it will require a larger study to validate this claim. The pathological development and the drug intervention of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) involve altered expression of downstream low molecular weight metabolites including lipids and amino acids, and carbohydrates such as glucose. Currently, a small number of markers used for clinical assessment of T2DM treatment may be insufficient to reflect global variations in pathophysiology. In this study, a metabonomic study was performed to determine metabolic variations associated with T2DM and the drug treatments on 74 patients who were newly diagnosed with T2DM and received a 48 week treatment of a single drug, repaglinide, metformin or rosiglitazone. Fasting overnight and 2 h postprandial blood serum of patients were collected at 24 and 48 weeks to monitor the biochemical indices (FPG, 2hPG, HbA1c, etc.). Gas chromatography/mass spectrometer coupled with multivariate statistical analysis was used to identify the alteration of global serum metabolites associated with T2DM as compared to healthy controls and responses to drug treatment. Significantly altered serum metabolites in diabetic subjects include increased valine, maltose, glutamate, urate, butanoate and long-chain fatty acid (C16:0, C18:1, C18:0, octadecanoate and arachidonate), and decreased glucuronolactone, lysine and lactate. All of the three treatments were able to down-regulate the high level of glutamate to a lower level in serum of T2DM patients, but rosiglitazone treatment was able to reverse more abnormal levels of metabolites, such as valine, lysine, glucuronolactone, C16:0, C18:1, urate, and octadecanoate, suggesting that it is more efficient to alter the metabolism of T2DM patients than the other two drugs. Presumptive treatment of malaria results in significant overuse of antimalarials. Malaria rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) may offer a reliable alternative for case management, but the optimal RDT strategy is uncertain. We compared the diagnostic accuracy of histidine-rich protein 2 (HRP2)- and plasmodium lactate dehydrogenase (pLDH)-based RDTs, using expert microscopy as the gold standard, in a longitudinal study of 918 fever episodes over an 8-month period in a cohort of children in Kampala, Uganda. Sensitivity was 92% for HRP2 and 85% for pLDH, with differences primarily due to better detection with HRP2 at low parasite densities. Specificity was 93% for HRP2 and 100% for pLDH, with differences primarily due to rapid clearance of pLDH antigenemia after treatment of a previous malaria episode. RDTs may provide an effective strategy for improving rational delivery of antimalarial therapy; in Kampala, either test could dramatically decrease inappropriate presumptive treatments. Peer review groups are considered helpful for quality improvement in primary care. An interactive educational programme for small peer groups was developed, focusing on the implementation of newly developed treatment guidelines. The aim is to evaluate the effect of the programme on adherence to treatment guidelines in general practice.
                A cluster randomized trial using a balanced incomplete block design was used; one arm received a programme on treatment of chronic heart failure (CHF), the other on hypertension treatment in diabetes mellitus type 2 (T2DM). A random sample of 10 CHF and 10 T2DM patients per GP was drawn, for whom data were extracted from electronic patient records 1 years before and 6 months after the intervention. The outcomes were prescribing of ACE inhibitors, and antihypertensive treatment in T2DM. The effect was analysed separately for both programmes using multilevel regression models.
                All 27 peer review groups in one region in the Netherlands were randomized, of which 16 participated. No significant effects were observed in the CHF group or in the T2DM group. The opportunity for change was limited, as only 53% of the CHF patients and 60% of the T2DM patients had a contact with their GP between the intervention and follow-up measurement.
                The peer review programme was not successful for changing the treatment of chronic patients, although the programme focused on dealing with barriers perceived by the participants. Not all problems perceived can be solved in a peer group discussion. To compare neonatal results from patients with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) who were treated with insulin, glyburide and acarbose.
                Seventy patients diagnosed with GDM who needed therapy to complement diet and physical activities were included in the study. One group was assigned to insulin therapy (n = 27), a second group was assigned to glyburide therapy (n = 24) and a third group was assigned to acarbose therapy (n = 19). Maternal characteristics were similar in the three groups. Glucose control was not achieved in five (20.8%) of the patients using glyburide and in eight (42.1%) of patients using acarbose. No statistical difference was observed in fasting and post-prandial glucose levels or in average newborn weight in the three groups. The rate of large for gestational age (LGA) fetuses was 3.7, 25 and 10.5% in the groups treated with insulin, glyburide and acarbose, respectively. Neonatal hypoglycemia was observed in eight newborns, six of which from the glyburide group.
                We believe that glyburide and acarbose can be promising alternative therapies for the treatment of GDM. Glyburide controlled glucose levels in most patients and it was more efficient than acarbose. Glyburide showed a higher rate of macrosomia and neonatal hypoglycemia as compared to other therapies.
There is insufficient evidence to assess which is the best strategy for diagnosing GDM.