Antipsychotic Agents ; adverse effects ; Child ; Humans ; Hypoglycemic Agents ; therapeutic use ; Metabolic Syndrome ; drug therapy ; etiology ; Metformin ; therapeutic use ; Weight Gain

Hypoglycemia is a common finding in both daily clinical practice and acute care settings. The causes of severe hypoglycemia (SH) are multi-factorial and the major etiologies are iatrogenic, infectious diseases with sepsis and tumor or autoimmune diseases. With the advent of aggressive lowering of HbA1c values to achieve optimal glycemic control, patients are at increased risk of hypoglycemic episodes. Iatrogenic hypoglycemia can cause recurrent morbidity, sometime irreversible neurologic complications and even death, and further preclude maintenance of euglycemia over a lifetime of diabetes. Recent studies have shown that hypoglycemia is associated with adverse outcomes in many acute illnesses. In addition, hypoglycemia is associated with increased mortality among elderly and non-diabetic hospitalized patients. Clinicians should have high clinical suspicion of subtle symptoms of hypoglycemia and provide prompt treatment. Clinicians should know that hypoglycemia is associated with considerable adverse outcomes in many acute critical illnesses. In order to reduce hypoglycemia-associated morbidity and mortality, timely health education programs and close monitoring should be applied to those diabetic patients presenting to the Emergency Department with SH. ED disposition strategies should be further validated and justified to achieve balance between the benefits of euglycemia and the risks of SH. We discuss relevant issues regarding hypoglycemia in emergency and critical care settings.
Diabetes Mellitus/drug therapy ; Humans ; Hypoglycemia/blood/*chemically induced/*complications/epidemiology ; Hypoglycemic Agents/adverse effects/therapeutic use ; Insulin/adverse effects/therapeutic use

Adolescent ; Diabetes Mellitus ; drug therapy ; metabolism ; Glycated Hemoglobin A ; metabolism ; Humans ; Hypoglycemic Agents ; adverse effects ; therapeutic use ; Infant, Newborn ; Male ; Sulfonylurea Compounds ; adverse effects ; therapeutic use

BACKGROUNDHyperinsulinemia and insulin resistance are present in the majority of women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Both metformin and rosiglitazone can improve the ovulation and endocrine disorders of the patients. How about the combination of the two? It is rarely reported. This study aimed to compare the therapeutic efficacy of metformin versus metformin plus rosiglitazone in patients with PCOS.

METHODSFifty-eight women with PCOS were randomly assigned to two groups. Metformin group (29) was treated with metformin mono-therapy and metformin plus rosiglitazone group (29) was treated with metformin plus rosiglitazone for 6 months. Treatment was discontinued once pregnancy was diagnosed.

RESULTSFasting insulin, postprandial insulin, the homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), luteinizing hormone (LH), triglyceride, lower density cholesterol and testosterone level decreased significantly in both groups (P < 0.05). Metformin plus rosiglitazone had a better effect than metformin mono-therapy. Body mass index decreased by 7.8% in metformin group while no significant change in metformin plus rosiglitazone group. There were eight pregnancies, six in metformin plus rosiglitazone group (one abortion) and two in metformin group. There was no congenital anomaly at birth and seven infants developed well at one year's follow-up.

CONCLUSIONSMetformin can improve insulin resistance and imbalance of endocrine hormones. Metformin plus rosiglitazone has a more pronounced therapeutic effect and achieved more pregnancies than mono-therapy with metformin. The use of metformin and rosiglitazone before pregnancy has no obvious side effect on the development of the infants. Our study might suggest that metformin is the better choice in PCOS patients with serious obese and rosiglitazone plus metformin would be more effective in patients with severe insulin resistance or those do not respond to metformin.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Female ; Humans ; Hypoglycemic Agents ; adverse effects ; therapeutic use ; Insulin Resistance ; physiology ; Luteinizing Hormone ; blood ; Metformin ; adverse effects ; therapeutic use ; Polycystic Ovary Syndrome ; blood ; drug therapy ; Testosterone ; blood ; Thiazolidinediones ; adverse effects ; therapeutic use ; Triglycerides ; blood ; Young Adult

Animals ; Dietary Fats ; adverse effects ; Fatty Liver ; pathology ; prevention & control ; Hypoglycemic Agents ; therapeutic use ; Male ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Thiazolidinediones ; therapeutic use

We studied the efficacy and safety of acarbose in comparison with voglibose in type 2 diabetes patients whose blood glucose levels were inadequately controlled with basal insulin alone or in combination with metformin (or a sulfonylurea). This study was a 24-week prospective, open-label, randomized, active-controlled multi-center study. Participants were randomized to receive either acarbose (n=59, 300 mg/day) or voglibose (n=62, 0.9 mg/day). The mean HbA1c at week 24 was significantly decreased approximately 0.7% from baseline in both acarbose (from 8.43% +/- 0.71% to 7.71% +/- 0.93%) and voglibose groups (from 8.38% +/- 0.73% to 7.68% +/- 0.94%). The mean fasting plasma glucose level and self-monitoring of blood glucose data from 1 hr before and after each meal were significantly decreased at week 24 in comparison to baseline in both groups. The levels 1 hr after dinner at week 24 were significantly decreased in the acarbose group (from 233.54 +/- 69.38 to 176.80 +/- 46.63 mg/dL) compared with the voglibose group (from 224.18 +/- 70.07 to 193.01 +/- 55.39 mg/dL). In conclusion, both acarbose and voglibose are efficacious and safe in patients with type 2 diabetes who are inadequately controlled with basal insulin. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00970528)
Acarbose/adverse effects/*therapeutic use ; Blood Glucose ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2/blood/*drug therapy ; Enzyme Inhibitors/adverse effects/therapeutic use ; Female ; Hemoglobin A, Glycosylated/analysis ; Humans ; Hypoglycemic Agents/adverse effects/therapeutic use ; Inositol/adverse effects/*analogs & derivatives/therapeutic use ; Insulin/*blood/therapeutic use ; Male ; Metformin/therapeutic use ; Middle Aged ; Prospective Studies ; alpha-Glucosidases/antagonists & inhibitors

Drug-induced acute interstitial nephritis is a well-recognised and important reversible cause of acute renal failure. Peroxisome-proliferator activated receptor-gamma agonists, such as rosiglitazone, have been proven to be safe in chronic kidney disease patients. We describe a 65-year-old man with long-standing diabetes mellitus and hypertension, presenting with a five-day history of fluid overload and uraemic symptoms. There was no ingestion of analgesics, alternative medicine and other nephrotoxic drugs, the only new prescription being rosiglitazone, which was commenced during his last clinic follow-up two weeks prior to presentation. He required haemodialysis with minimal improvement in renal profile, despite cessation of the offending drug. Renal biopsy revealed findings consistent with acute interstitial nephritis. An episode of upper gastrointestinal bleeding with bleeding duodenal ulcer limited the use of steroids. He was treated with a course of mycophenolate mofetil which showed good gradual response and he remained stable with residual renal impairment.
Acute Kidney Injury ; chemically induced ; drug therapy ; Aged ; Humans ; Hypoglycemic Agents ; adverse effects ; Immunosuppressive Agents ; therapeutic use ; Kidney Failure, Chronic ; complications ; Male ; Mycophenolic Acid ; analogs & derivatives ; therapeutic use ; Renal Dialysis ; Thiazolidinediones ; adverse effects

BACKGROUNDPostprandial hypotension (PPH) occurs frequently in elderly people and may lead to syncope, falls, dizziness, weakness, angina pectoris, and stroke. Some studies suggest that the magnitude of the postprandial fall in blood pressure (BP) is influenced by the rate at which glucose enters the small intestine. We hypothesized that acarbose (alpha-glucosidase inhibitor), a hypoglycemic agent that decreases the rate of glucose absorption in the small intestine, would attenuate PPH in the elderly, and would be safe in the treatment.

METHODSForty-three elderly in-patients with PPH were recruited. All of them were in relatively stable conditions. They had semi-liquid standard meals without and with acarbose for the two following days: screening day and intervention day. Blood pressure and heart rate (HR) were recorded at baseline and every 15 minutes for 120 minutes using a non-invasive ambulatory blood pressure monitoring system during the study, and ejection fraction (EF) and fractional shortening (FS) were measured by two dimensional echocardiography.

RESULTSCompared with the screening day, the falls in systolic, diastolic and mean arterial blood pressure (SBP, DBP, MAP) (all P < 0.05) were significantly attenuated after taking acarbose during breakfast, so were MAP (P < 0.05) during lunch, DBP (P < 0.05) and MAP (P < 0.05) during supper. The change of HR was not statistically significant after taking acarbose in three meals. EF and FS were positively correlated with the relief rate. The effective power was 63%, and the incidence of adverse drug reaction (ADR) was 9%.

CONCLUSIONAcarbose is effective and safe in the treatment of elderly patients with PPH.

Acarbose ; adverse effects ; therapeutic use ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Blood Pressure ; drug effects ; Enzyme Inhibitors ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Heart Rate ; drug effects ; Humans ; Hypoglycemic Agents ; therapeutic use ; Hypotension ; drug therapy ; Male ; Postprandial Period ; physiology

To examine the efficacy and safety for metformin in treating antipsychotic-induced dyslipidemia.
 Methods: Two randomized placebo-controlled trials were included in the analysis. A total of 201 schizophrenia patients with dyslipidemia after treatment with an antipsychotic were collected, and the patients were divided into two groups: a 1 000 mg/d metformin group (n=103) and a placebo group (n=98). The clinical symptoms and metabolic indicators such as body weight, blood glucose, and blood lipids were assessed at baseline, the 12th week and the 24th week after treatment respectively.
 Results: After metformin treatment, the mean difference in the low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) value between the metformin group and the placebo group was from 0.16 mmol/L at baseline to -0.86 mmol/L at the end of the 24th week, which was decreased by 1.02 mmol/L 
(P<0.01). At the 24th week, the LDL-C was more than 3.37 mmol/L in 25.3% patients in the metformin group, which was significantly lower than that in the placebo group (64.8%) (P<0.01). Compared with the placebo group, there were significant changes in the weight, body mass index (BMI), insulin, insulin resistance index, total cholesterol and triglyceride, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) in the metformin group (all P<0.05). The treatment effects on weight and insulin resistance appeared at the 12th week and further improved at the 24th week, but the effects on improving dyslipidemia only significantly occurred at the end of the 24th week.
 Conclusion: The metformin treatment is effective in improving antipsychotic-induced dyslipidemia and insulin resistance, and the effect to reduce the antipsychotic-induced insulin resistance appears earlier than the effect to improve dyslipidemia.
Antipsychotic Agents ; adverse effects ; Blood Glucose ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 ; Double-Blind Method ; Dyslipidemias ; chemically induced ; drug therapy ; Humans ; Hypoglycemic Agents ; Metformin ; therapeutic use

Berberine is the major component of Coptidis Rhizoma and it has been used as anti-infection, anti-inflammation drug for gastrointestinal diseases. In recent years, evidence showed that it could regulate glucose and lipid metabolism. Moreover, its activity had been tested by clinical trials and animal researches. The mechanisms of berberine in diabetes include: improving the function of beta-cell; prompting insulin secretion and islets regeneration, lowing lipid level, regulating glucose and lipid metabolic by influence transcriptional factors expression such as PPARgamma, C/EBPalpha, SREBP-1c, LXR, having the activities of anti-oxidation and inhibiting reductase to repress oxidative stress state and regulate metabolic signal pathway. Although numbers of data supported that berberine could improving insulin resistance by clinical trials and animal studies, the large scale, multicenter clinical trials are needed to evaluate the effects of berberine for diabetes and its complications in the time of evidence-based medicine.
Animals ; Berberine ; adverse effects ; therapeutic use ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 ; drug therapy ; genetics ; metabolism ; Glucose ; metabolism ; Humans ; Hypoglycemic Agents ; adverse effects ; therapeutic use ; Insulin ; metabolism ; Lipid Metabolism ; drug effects