Objective: To study the effect of high-dose methylprednisolone intravenous pulse therapy on immunoglobulins and CD series in patients with active moderate-to-severe Graves′ orbitopathy. Methods: Twenty-seven patients with active moderate-to-severe Graves′ orbitopathy were enrolled in this study. All the patients received iv methylprednisolone pulse therapy for 12 weeks according to the 2016 European Thyroid Association/European Group on Graves′Orbitopathy(EUGOGO) Guidelines. Serum thyroidal autoantibodies, such as thyroid-stimulating hormone receptor antibody (TRAb), anti-thyroperoxidase antibody (TPOAb), and serum immunoglobulins, such as IgG, IgE, IgA, IgM were evaluated at the baseline, at the end of 4th and 12th week. Percentages of CD3⁺ T cells, CD4⁺ T cells, CD8⁺ T cells and CD19⁺ B cells, CD16⁺ or CD56⁺ NK cells were also evaluated at each time point. Results: TRAb, TPOA and IgE, IgG, IgA were significantly decreased both after 4th week and after 12th week (all P<0.05). Percentages of CD3⁺ T cells, CD4⁺ T cells and CD4⁺ /CD8⁺ ratio were gradually decreased after treatment. However, change of CD8⁺ T cells was not significant (P>0.05). Conclusion High-dose methylprednisolone may exert an immunosuppressive effect not only by modifying humoral and cellular immune functions, but also by decreasing serum immunoglobulins.

Objective: To investigate the use of diabetes medications and their effects on the community diabetic patients in Shanghai, China, and provide the evidence for the use of antidiabetic drugs in diabetic patients in the region. Methods: The data were from a database of a 2018 Survey on Community Diabetes Mellitus in Shanghai, China. There were 4 612 subjects included in this cross-sectional study in 2018. According to the use of antidiabetic drugs, the population was divided into untreated group, single drug group, double drugs combination group and multi-drugs combination group, to compare the fasting blood glucose, glycosylated hemoglobin, BMI and prevalence of diabetic complications in different groups. Results: About 70.9% of the 4 612 patients used hypoglycemic agents, 34.8% used metformin, 35.1% used sulfonylureas, 22.9% used alpha glycosidase inhibitors, and 13.8% used insulin. The prevalence of diabetic nephropathy, retinopathy, neuropathy, stroke, and diabetic foot was higher in the combination than in the untreated and single-drug users (P<0.01). Only 41.3% subjects had HbA_1C<7%. The fasting blood glucose and HbA_1C values were lower in the untreated group than in other three medication groups, and the rate of the HbA_1C reaching target in the untreated group was higher than the other medication groups (P<0.01). As the types of drug increased, HbA_1C was less likely to reach the target (P<0.01). There were 42.2% of patients with BMI<24 kg/m², and there was no significant difference in the proportion of BMI reaching target among the four groups (P>0.05). Conclusion The most common used antidiabetic drugs in diabetic patients in Shanghai are metformin, sulfonylureas, α-glycosides inbibitor, and insulin. The blood glucose control in diabetic patients in Shanghai community is not good enough. Patients with a longer duration of diabetes, a lower rate of HbA_1C at goal, and a higher prevalence of diabetic complications may be more prone to use multiple hypoglycemic drugs.