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This study was designed to validate a self-assessment tool for identifying Brazilians with Impaired Glucose Tolerance (IGT). The Finnish Diabetes Risk Score (FINDRISC) was applied in 829 people aged over 40 years without previous diagnosis of diabetes between November 2009 and April 2010 at the Viçosa city, Minas Gerais, Brazil. We randomly selected 300 subjects in the initial survey, which received by post a letter of invitation to attend the laboratory for the collection of the blood sample to identify levels of glycated hemoglobin (A1C). Of these 300 subjects invited, 162 attended subjects, this being the final sample for the validation study. The risk score was evaluated through the Area Under the Curve (AUC) in a Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) curve. We assume a maximum error of 5 % and confidence interval 95 %. The prevalence of IGT and diabetes according to the A1C test were 21.6 % and 8.6 % respectively. The Diabetes Risk Score value varied from 1 to 25. The AUC by considering all values of A1C ≥ 6.0 % was 0.69 (95 % CI 0.61–0.76). The score value ≥ 9 had sensitivity of 75.51 %, specificity of 49.56 %, Positive Predictive Value (PPV) of 39.4 % and Negative Predictive Value (NPV) of 82.4 %. The FINDRISC is a suitable tool to identify Brazilians with IGT.

Oxidative stress has been suggested to be the mediator of hyperglycaemia-induced diabetic complications. For this study we asked whether a significant imbalance between oxidizing and plasmatic reducing responses could be observed in DM1 patients receiving intensive therapy up to 5 years following the clinical onset of the disease. A total of 16 type 1 diabetic patients (DM1) without complications and 13 non-diabetic subjects were enrolled. Clinical and biochemical parameters were compared in the two populations studied. Moreover, reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation by granulocytes and the total plasma antioxidant status were simultaneously evaluated. Granulocytes-ROS derived and plasma antioxidant status were determined by chemiluminescence assay and tetrazolium dye reduction, respectively. Type 1 diabetic patients were receiving intensive therapy by multiple daily injections. In comparison with healthy individuals, DM1 patients exhibited an increase in ROS generation whilst plasma antioxidant status was unaltered and appeared to be sufficient to prevent the onset of typical oxidative stress. The clinical characteristics and the remaining biochemical parameters studied were similar for the two groups, except for a significantly decreased plasmatic level of uric acid in DM1 patients. This study suggests that the absence of complications in DM1 patients up to 5 years after onset of the disease may be associated with the oxidizing and reducing balance which need to be maintained in order to prevent or delay the onset of oxidative stress. The effective diabetic control involves evaluation of the oxidizing/antioxidant balance besides glycaemic control.

Materials and methods Educational material was prepared with pictures of food and portion sizes, corresponding to eating plan and based on calories and food groups and list of drugs identified by different colors. Health literacy was measured with the brief-form Test of Functional Health Literacy (B-TOFHLA) in 53 patients with type 2 DM in a single Public Health Center in Belo Horizonte-MG. Educational program was conducted in four weekly meetings, in groups with 10 people, directed to use of drugs and nutrition, advising how to identify drugs by different colors, guiding meals with an individualized eating plan and a list of food adapted to this reality. The meetings were based on educational material. Clinical evaluation and biochemical tests were analyzed before and three months after the last meeting.

A retrospective study was conducted on 186 patients with differentiated thyroid cancer without metastases who received an ablative dose of 100 mCi (3.7 GBq) iodine-131 after total thyroidectomy. Six months to one year after ablation, 155/186 patients (83%) had a negative scan. Diagnostic scanning with 5 mCi (185 MBq) performed 72 h or 3 months before ablation did not interfere with treatment success compared to patients not submitted to pre-therapy scanning. Pre-ablation cervical uptake values2% were associated with a higher ablation efficacy (94%), from 2 to 5% showed 80% success and values5%, 60% (p0.05). There were no significant differences between the responsive and no responsive groups in terms of age, sex, histological type or size of the primary tumor. 11% of the patients with low stimulated Tg (2 ng/ml) presented discrete thyroid bed uptake on follow-up diagnostic scan (0.5%) without definitive residual disease and 89% had negative uptake on scan. The patients with Tg2 ng/ml presented thyroid bed (10/12) or ectopic (2/12) uptake on follow-up diagnostic scan. An ablative dose of 100 mCi shows a high rate of efficacy, especially when cervical uptake is2%; no difference was noted between patients assessed by scan within 72 h or 3 months before treatment and those not scanned; follow-up diagnostic scan can be avoided in low risk patients with stimulated Tg2 ng/ml.

Objective To assess the presence of insulin resistance (IR) in patients with type 1 diabetes (T1DM) according to the estimated glucose disposal rate formula (eGDR) and the insulin sensitivity score (ISS) and to estimate the correlation between these two measures and identify the clinical and laboratory markers related to IR. Research design and methods Cross-sectional study of adults with T1DM (n = 135). The results of the formulas that estimate IR were separated into quartiles and correlated with demographic data, clinical characteristics and laboratory parameters. We analyzed the total and regional adiposity by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry and skin fold thickness measurements. Results Two thirds of the patients were overweight or obese. A moderate correlation was found between eGDR and ISS (r = 0.612). The results of both formulas were positively correlated with BMI (r = −0.373 eGDR and r = −0.721 ISS), thoracic-abdominal fat (r = −0.484 eGDR and r = −0.758 ISS), waist/height ratio (r = −0.537 eGDR and r = −0.779 ISS), subscapular skinfold (mm) (r = −0.356 eGDR and r = −0.569 ISS), total dose insulin IU/lean mass (kg) (r = −0.279 eGDR and r = −0.398 ISS), age (years) (r = −0.495 eGDR and r = −0.190 ISS) and diabetes duration (years) (r = −0.428 eGDR and r = −0.187 ISS). A moderate agreement (Kappa 0.226) was observed between the 1st quartile of results determined by the formulas in 10.4% of the patients, but the 4th quartile presented a strong correlation (Kappa 0.679). The individuals with IR that were classified in the 1st quartile by the ISS formula had a higher chance of presenting with acanthosis nigricans (OR = 5.58, 95% CI =1.46-21.3). Conclusions The correlations found in this study indicate the possibility of using clinical and laboratory data to estimate IR in patients with TDM1. The detection of IR in T1DM patients may allow early intervention and possibly impact on future diabetes complications.