Biochemical and molecular studies of 132 patients with galactosemia

We evaluated 132 galactosemia patients for the Q188R (glutamine-188 to arginine) mutation in the human galactose-1-phosphate uridyltransferase (GALT) gene and for GALT activity in their hemolysates by a sensitive radioisotopic method. In those without any detectable GALT activity (GG), the Q188R mutation constituted 67% of the alleles. In patients with detectable GALT activity (GV), only 16% of the alleles were accounted for by Q188R. In all patients who were homozygous for the Q188R mutation, no erythrocyte GALT activity could be demonstrated. There was an extensive variation in the amount of detectable GALT activity ranging from 0.1% to 5% of the normal values among the GV patients. There was a difference in the frequency of Q188R mutation in the GALT alleles among patients belonging to different racial and ethnic groups. In Caucasian and Hispanic patients, the frequency was not far different (64% and 58%, respectively). On the other hand, only 12% of the GALT alleles with Q188R were found in African-American patients.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/47637/1/439_2004_Article_BF00201593.pd

Severe Obesity and Selected Risk Factors in a Sixth Grade Multiracial Cohort: The HEALTHY Study

To document the prevalence of severe obesity and associated risk in the HEALTHY cohort

Threshold-based insulin-pump interruption for reduction of hypoglycemia

*Q1Artículo original224-232Background The threshold-suspend feature of sensor-augmented insulin pumps is designed to minimize the risk of hypoglycemia by interrupting insulin delivery at a preset sensor glucose value. We evaluated sensor-augmented insulin-pump therapy with and without the threshold-suspend feature in patients with nocturnal hypoglycemia. Methods We randomly assigned patients with type 1 diabetes and documented nocturnal hypoglycemia to receive sensor-augmented insulin-pump therapy with or without the threshold-suspend feature for 3 months. The primary safety outcome was the change in the glycated hemoglobin level. The primary efficacy outcome was the area under the curve (AUC) for nocturnal hypoglycemic events. Two-hour threshold-suspend events were analyzed with respect to subsequent sensor glucose values. Results A total of 247 patients were randomly assigned to receive sensor-augmented insulinpump therapy with the threshold-suspend feature (threshold-suspend group, 121 patients) or standard sensor-augmented insulin-pump therapy (control group, 126 patients). The changes in glycated hemoglobin values were similar in the two groups. The mean AUC for nocturnal hypoglycemic events was 37.5% lower in the thresholdsuspend group than in the control group (980±1200 mg per deciliter [54.4±66.6 mmol per liter]×minutes vs. 1568±1995 mg per deciliter [87.0±110.7 mmol per liter]×minutes, P<0.001). Nocturnal hypoglycemic events occurred 31.8% less frequently in the threshold-suspend group than in the control group (1.5±1.0 vs. 2.2±1.3 per patientweek, P<0.001). The percentages of nocturnal sensor glucose values of less than 50 mg per deciliter (2.8 mmol per liter), 50 to less than 60 mg per deciliter (3.3 mmol per liter), and 60 to less than 70 mg per deciliter (3.9 mmol per liter) were significantly reduced in the threshold-suspend group (P<0.001 for each range). After 1438 instances at night in which the pump was stopped for 2 hours, the mean sensor glucose value was 92.6±40.7 mg per deciliter (5.1±2.3 mmol per liter). Four patients (all in the control group) had a severe hypoglycemic event; no patients had diabetic ketoacidosis. Conclusions This study showed that over a 3-month period the use of sensor-augmented insulinpump therapy with the threshold-suspend feature reduced nocturnal hypoglycemia, without increasing glycated hemoglobin values. (Funded by Medtronic MiniMed; ASPIRE ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01497938.

Peasant settlers and the ‘civilizing mission’ in Russian Turkestan, 1865-1917

This article provides an introduction to one of the lesser-known examples of European settler colonialism, the settlement of European (mainly Russian and Ukrainian) peasants in Southern Central Asia (Turkestan) in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It establishes the legal background and demographic impact of peasant settlement, and the role played by the state in organising and encouraging it. It explores official attitudes towards the settlers (which were often very negative), and their relations with the local Kazakh and Kyrgyz population. The article adopts a comparative framework, looking at Turkestan alongside Algeria and Southern Africa, and seeking to establish whether paradigms developed in the study of other settler societies (such as the ‘poor white’) are of any relevance in understanding Slavic peasant settlement in Turkestan. It concludes that there are many close parallels with European settlement in other regions with large indigenous populations, but that racial ideology played a much less important role in the Russian case compared to religious divisions and fears of cultural backsliding. This did not prevent relations between settlers and the ‘native’ population deteriorating markedly in the years before the First World War, resulting in large-scale rebellion in 1916

Effectiveness of Automated Insulin Management Features of the MiniMed^® 640G Sensor-Augmented Insulin Pump

Background: Automated insulin management features of the MiniMed(®) 640G sensor-augmented pump system include suspension in response to predicted low sensor glucose (SG) values (“suspend before low”), suspension in response to existing low SG values (“suspend on low”), and automatic restarting of basal insulin delivery upon SG recovery. The effectiveness of these features was evaluated using CareLink(®) software data. Methods: Anonymized data from MiniMed 640G system users (n = 4818), MiniMed 530G system users (n = 39,219), and MiniMed Paradigm(®) Veo™ system users (n = 43,193) who voluntarily uploaded pump and sensor data were retrospectively analyzed. Comparisons were made between days in which system features were enabled at any time and those in which they were not. Comparisons were also made between pump suspension events for which insulin delivery was automatically or manually resumed and between glycemic parameters of users who switched from the MiniMed Paradigm Veo system to the MiniMed 640G system. Results: Days in which the MiniMed 640G “suspend before low” feature was enabled had lower percentages of SG readings ≤70 mg/dL (3.9 mmol/L) or ≥240 mg/dL (13.3 mmol/L) than days when it was not enabled (P < 0.001 for each). Users who switched from the MiniMed Paradigm Veo system to the MiniMed 640G system had fewer excursions below ≤70 mg/dL (P < 0.001) and ≥240 mg/dL (P < 0.001). SG values following automatically resumed pump suspension events recovered more rapidly and had a more stabilized endpoint than following manually resumed events. Conclusions: Automated insulin management features of the MiniMed 640G system can reduce the frequency of both high and low SG values and help stabilize SG after resumption of insulin delivery

Diabetes screening with hemoglobin A1c versus fasting plasma glucose in a multiethnic middle-school cohort

OBJECTIVE To characterize middle-school students from the HEALTHY study with glycemic abnormalities, specifically high-risk hemoglobin A1c (A1C) (hrA1C; A1C = 5.7–6.4%) and impaired fasting glucose (IFG; fasting plasma glucose [FPG] = 100–125 mg/dL). RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS History was collected by self-report, physical measurement was collected by trained study staff, and fasting blood was drawn by trained phlebotomists and analyzed centrally. RESULTS At baseline, among 3,980 sixth graders, 128 (3.2%) had hrA1C and 635 (16.0%) had IFG. Compared with A1C \u3c5.7%, hrA1C was associated with non-Hispanic black race/ethnicity, family history of diabetes, and higher measurements of BMI, waist circumference, and fasting insulin. Compared with FPG \u3c100 mg/dL, IFG was associated with Hispanic ethnicity; increased BMI, waist circumference, and fasting insulin; higher frequency of high blood pressure; and higher mean triglycerides. Two years later, children with hrA1C persisted as hrA1C in 59.4%, and one child (0.8%) developed A1C ≥6.5%; children with IFG persisted with IFG in 46.9%, and seven children (1.1%) developed FPG ≥126 mg/dL. Those with hrA1C compared with IFG had a higher BMI in sixth grade, which persisted to eighth grade. CONCLUSIONS In the HEALTHY study cohort, hrA1C and IFG define different groups of youth with differentially increased diabetes risk markers. IFG is approximately fivefold more common, but hrA1C is more persistent over time. Optimal screening strategies for diabetes in youth remain unresolved