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Background: Treatment for postprandial glycemia using rapid-acting insulin analogues sometimes resulted in preprandial hypoglycemia or weight gain. Objective: This study evaluated the efficacy and safety of switching bolus insulin from insulin lispro (Lis) to insulin glulisine (Glu) in patients with inadequately controlled diabetes on intensive insulin therapy with Lis and glargine (Gla). Methods: Seventy-two outpatients with inadequate glycemic control (glycated hemoglobin [HbA1c] ≥7.0%, glycated albumin [GA] ≥20%) on intensive insulin therapy comprising Lis and Gla for ≥24 weeks were enrolled. We switched treatment from Lis to Glu with a stepwise increase in the dose by 1 unit per meal to obtain a GA level of ≤20% for 24 weeks, and the efficacy and safety were evaluated. Patients’ treatment satisfaction was also evaluated using the Diabetes Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire (DTSQ) after the treatment. Results: After switching from Lis to Glu, both HbA1c and GA levels significantly lowered from 8.26% ± 0.13% to 7.71% ± 0.13% (P < 0.01) and from 23.9% ± 1.8% to 21.4% ± 1.9% (P < 0.01), respectively. Furthermore, switching from Lis to Glu improved patients’ treatment satisfaction; scores for 7 of the 8 items, such as “satisfaction” and “convenience” were significantly improved (P < 0.001), with no significant change in the scores for “improvement of hypoglycemia” (P = 0.91). Conclusions: Our present study suggests that switching bolus insulin from Lis to Glu by the addition of 1 unit of Glu per meal may be a useful treatment option for patients with inadequate glycemic control receiving intensive insulin therapy with Lis and Gla.

We assessed the effects of a 12-week ipragliflozin treatment on the liver-to-spleen attenuation ratio (L/S ratio) using computed tomography and on alanine transaminase (ALT) levels in Japanese patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Sixty-two patients with T2DM [age, 56 ± 8 years; hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels, 8.1 ± 0.9%; body mass index (BMI), 27.5 ± 3.3 kg/m2] were randomly assigned in a 2:1 ratio to receive ipragliflozin (50 mg/day; ipragliflozin group; n = 40) or continued treatment (control group; n = 22) for 12 weeks. The primary endpoints were changes in ALT levels; the secondary endpoints included changes in the L/S ratio and in the visceral fat area (VFA) and subcutaneous fat area (SFA) before and after 12 weeks of the treatment as assessed by computed tomography. ALT levels (−12.45 vs. +5.82 IU/l, P

This study investigated the independent predictors of the serum uric acid (sUA)-lowering effect of low-dose febuxostat, a novel xanthine oxidase inhibitor, in Japanese patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Data of 130 T2DM patients who had been taking febuxostat 10 mg once daily for elevated sUA (≥7 mg/dl) for at least 12 weeks were retrieved from medical records. Spearman’s rank correlation coefficients were calculated to determine the correlations between sets of two independent continuous variables. Multiple stepwise linear regression analysis was used to determine independent predictors of the percent change of sUA levels after 12 weeks of febuxostat treatment (%ΔsUA). Among all patients, %ΔsUA was significantly correlated with age (ρ = 0.192, P = 0.030) and mean glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) level (ρ = −0.186, P = 0.036). Multiple stepwise linear regression analysis of all patients revealed that major independent factors contributing to %ΔsUA were mean HbA1c (β = −3.14, P = 0.022) and mean glycated albumin (β = −0.743, P = 0.013) levels. High HbA1c and glycated albumin levels significantly attenuated the sUA-lowering effect of low-dose febuxostat in Japanese patients with T2DM. Further detailed analysis using a larger population is warranted to confirm these findings.

To determine whether non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (non-HDL-C) level, in comparison with low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) level, is useful for predicting the values of various surrogate atherosclerosis markers in Japanese subjects with type 2 diabetes (T2DM). Data were retrieved from medical records of 265 subjects with T2DM who underwent laboratory tests to evaluate for atherosclerosis by using the following parameters: brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity, mean and maximum carotid intima-media thickness (mean CIMT and max-CIMT), and ankle-brachial index, with simultaneous fasting blood sampling for routine lipid parameters. In a multiple stepwise regression analysis, non-HDL-C level, but not LDL-C level, positively correlated with max-CIMT (β coefficient = 0.14, F = 6.84). Stepwise logistic regression analysis revealed that a 0.26 mmol/L (10 mg/dL) increase in non-HDL-C level, but not LDL-C level, was significantly associated with high risk of max-CIMT (≥1.1 mm; odds ratio, 1.096; 95 % confidence interval, 1.003–1.202; p = 0.046). However, in a receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) analysis, the addition of non-HDL-C level to the three significant independent variables obtained from the stepwise analyses did not significantly increased the area under the ROC curve (from 0.7789 to 0.7864, p = 0.4343). Non-HDL-C levels may be non-inferior to LDL-C level for the prediction of high-risk max-CIMT in Japanese subjects with T2DM.

OBJECTIVE—To investigate the relationship between fasting plasma glucose (FPG) values and other variables (e.g., age, sex, and BMI) to 2-h post–75-g oral glucose load glycemia (PG) in Japanese subjects. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS—Subjects included 13,694 Japanese subjects between 20 and 83 years of age (10,677 men and 3,017 women) who were undergoing a 75-g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) during a health screening performed at our hospital. The influences of age for 2-h PG at a fixed fasting plasma glucose (FPG) level of 126 mg/dl were analyzed. Multiple linear regression analysis was performed using a model in which the dependent variable was 2-h PG using the following explanatory variables: FPG, age, sex, BMI, blood pressure, plasma cholesterol, and triglyceride (TG) levels. RESULTS—The 2-h PG at a fixed FPG of 126 mg/dl increased by 0.94 mg/dl per year in patients aged between 30 and 78 years (r = 0.68, P < 0.0001). In multiple regression, five explanatory variables (FPG, age, BMI, plasma TG levels, and systolic blood pressure levels) were all positively associated with 2-h PG. The percentages of patients with 2-h diabetes (isolated postchallenge hyperglycemia [IPH]) versus fasting plus 2-h diabetes by the World Health Organization criteria significantly (P = 0.005) increased as the patients’ decades increased, whereas the impact of BMI on the percentages was significant only in young patients (P = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS—Aging was found to be the second best predictor of 2-h PG on multiple regression. Therefore, OGTT should be performed especially in elderly patients because they show IPH more frequently.

83歳の男性.腰背部痛を主訴に受診し, 胸部異常陰影を指摘された.当科での肺生検の結果, 悪性黒色腫と診断された.第一回入院後約3ヵ月で呼吸不全にて死亡した.生前の検査では, 肺以外に原発を疑わせる病変はなく, 死後の剖検でも, 全身に転移がみられるものの肺以外の他の臓器で原発巣と考えられる病巣はなく, 左肺下葉の病理像でいわゆるjunctional changeを認めた.これらの所見より肺原発の悪1生黒色腫と診断した.悪性黒色腫のうちでも肺原発のものは非常にまれで現在までに30例ほどが報告されているにすぎない.予後は非常に不良で多くの例で1年以内に死亡している.

The authors administered recombinant human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (rhG-CSF) to 16 patients with advanced non-Hodgkin's lymphoma treated with combination chemotherapy. Groups of three to five patients were treated with 50, 100, 200, and 400 micrograms/m2 per day of rhG-CSF by intravenous infusion for 14 days, beginning 3 days after chemotherapy. There was a strong linear relationship between the dose and the area under the curve over this dose range. The rhG-CSF was rapidly cleared from serum, with a mean half-life of 5.97 hours for the second phase (t1/2). In patients treated with a dose of more than 100 micrograms/m2 per day, the duration of neutropenia (P less than 0.01) and the duration of fever (P less than 0.05) were significantly decreased. The rhG-CSF was well tolerated and the only clinical observation that appeared relating to rhG-CSF administration was slight bone pain. This study strongly suggests that an optimum dose of rhG-CSF in patients after chemotherapy is 100 to 200 micrograms/m2. Our study shows that rhG-CSF is a clinically useful drug for patients treated with myelosuppressive chemotherapy.

A 29-year-old woman with acute myelogenous leukemia in relapse at the end of a nine-month period of remission was admitted to hospital where intensive antileukemic therapy was started. Antibiotics were given when she developed a fever and, when oral thrush appeared, intravenous amphotericin B was initiated. After 16 days, the amphotericin B (at a total dose of 295 mg) was discontinued because of side effects and 12 days later, when a lung biopsy had revealed mucormycotic hyphae in infarcted tissue in the left upper lobe, fluconazole (300 mg daily by intravenous infusion over a period of two hours) was substituted. This was continued for one month with clinical and radiologic improvement in the lung condition and no attributable adverse effect. At this juncture the patient died of intractable heart failure. We suggest that fluconazole may be an acceptable alternative to amphotericin B in the treatment of pulmonary mucormycosis.