What are disease perceptions and subjective treatment goals of insulin treated diabetic patients?

BACKGROUND: Despite increasing importance of patient self-management, little is known about their own perceptions and treatment goals. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this explorative study was to examine what diabetic patients perceive as most concerning and what their own treatment goals are. METHODS: A 23-item anonymous questionnaire was distributed among type 1 diabetic patients treated with and without an insulin pump and insulin treated type 2 diabetic patients in the outpatient clinic of a University Hospital. 86% of the questionnaires were returned (n = 124). RESULTS: In open-ended questions, patients in all three groups together felt mostly restricted by their loss of freedom (24%), the dietary restrictions (17%) and the need to measure blood glucose (17%). Patients treated with an insulin pump worried more about hypoglycaemia and less about dietary restrictions. In closed-ended questions, patients were mostly concerned about hypoglycaemia and developing complications. However, the main treatment goal of both groups together was long-term good blood glucose control (63%). Further patient goals were the prevention of complications (27%) and the preservation of a good quality of life. Quality of life was a more important goal for type 1 diabetic patients (29%) than for type 2 diabetic patients (0%). Patients thought that blood glucose control was more important for their physicians (main treatment goal for 86%) than for themselves. CONCLUSION: Insulin treated patients with diabetes spontaneously express concerns about their actual quality of life and daily hassles and mention long-term worries after explicit questioning. For their main treatment goals they choose mainly long-term goals. According to the patients, physicians tend to overestimate blood glucose control

How patients with insulin-treated type 1 and type 2 diabetes view their own and their physician's treatment goals.

To investigate the subjective treatment goals of insulin-treated diabetic patients. 297 type 1 and 205 type 2 diabetic patients, representative of the North-western Swiss population, filled out a self report questionnaire focusing on their own treatment goals using standardized measures wherever available. Factor analysis of the 16 items reflecting their treatment goals revealed four subscales (Crohnbach's alpha): High actual quality of life (0.73), weight reduction/maintenance and daily hassles (0.68), good medical care and knowledge (0.64) and good long term glucose control (0.71). Good long term glucose control was the single most important main treatment goal for most patients (type 1: 60.2%, type 2: 49.7%, p = 0.025). However, both type 1 and type 2 diabetic patients believed that this goal - especially the value of HbA1c - was overestimated (both p <0.0001), while high actual quality of life was underestimated (p = 0.003 and p = 0.05, respectively) by their physicians compared to their own assessment. Good long term glucose control (OR 1.63, p = 0.003) and high actual quality of life (OR 2.17, p <0.0001) were more important and weight reduction/maintenance and coping with daily hassles (OR 0.75, p = 0.07) were slightly less important treatment goals for type 1 than for type 2 diabetic patients. These differences in goals were best associated with the mode of insulin therapy, self-monitoring, and with the extent of diabetes education. Patients believe that physicians overestimate the importance of long term glucose control and underestimate the importance of actual quality of life. Diabetes education and self management have the largest impact on patients' own treatment goals

Diabète gestationnel--quelles sont les approches non médicales [Gestational diabetes--what are the non-medical approaches?].

Gestational diabetes is a multifactorial disease that increases the risk for complications for the mother and her child in the short and long term. The perinatal period represents an opportunity not only to assist the mother in improving her own health but also that of the future generation. This article focuses on lifestyle and psychological aspects that form the base for non-medical treatment approaches. Considering different risk factors separately is not sufficient for the improvement of the metabolic and mental health of women with gestational diabetes. With a multimodal interdisciplinary approach that includes physical activity, dietary advice and psychological support, an improvement of the health and well-being of both the mother and her child is expected. Future studies are necessary to confirm this proposed care approach

A Holistic Look at Minimizing Adverse Environmental Impact Under Section 316(b) of the Clean Water Act

Section 316(b) of the Clean Water Act (CWA) requires that “the location, design, construction, and capacity of cooling water intake structures reflect the best technology available for minimizing adverse environmental impact.” As the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) develops new regulations to implement Section 316(b), much of the debate has centered on adverse impingement and entrainment impacts of cooling-water intake structures. Depending on the specific location and intake layout, once-through cooling systems withdrawing many millions of gallons of water per day can, to a varying degree, harm fish and other aquatic organisms in the water bodies from which the cooling water is withdrawn. Therefore, opponents of once-through cooling systems have encouraged the EPA to require wet or dry cooling tower systems as the best technology available (BTA), without considering site-specific conditions

Intuitive eating is associated with weight and glucose control during pregnancy and in the early postpartum period in women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM): A clinical cohort study.

High pre-pregnancy weight and body mass index (BMI) increase the risk of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and diabetes after pregnancy. To tackle weight and metabolic health problems, there is a need to investigate novel lifestyle approaches. Outside of pregnancy, higher adherence to intuitive eating (IE) is associated with lower BMI and improved glycemic control. This study investigated the association between IE and metabolic health during pregnancy and in the early postpartum period among women with GDM. Two-hundred and fourteen consecutive women aged ≥18, diagnosed with GDM between 2015 and 2017 and completed the "Eating for Physical rather than Emotional Reasons (EPR)" and "Reliance on Hunger and Satiety cues (RHSC) subscales" of the French Intuitive Eating Scale-2 (IES-2) questionnaire at the first GDM clinic visit were included in this study. Participants' mean age was 33.32 ± 5.20 years. Their weight and BMI before pregnancy were 68.18 ± 14.83 kg and 25.30 ± 5.19 kg/m <sup>2</sup> respectively. After adjusting for confounding variables, the cross-sectional analyses showed that the two subscales of IES-2 at the first GDM visit were associated with lower weight and BMI before pregnancy, and lower weight at the first GDM visit (β = -0.181 to -0.215, all p ≤ 0.008). In addition, the EPR subscale was associated with HbA1c and fasting plasma glucose at the first GDM visit (β = -0.170 and to -0.196; all p ≤ 0.016). In the longitudinal analyses, both subscales of IES-2 at first GDM visit were associated with lower weight at the end of pregnancy, BMI and fasting plasma glucose at 6-8 weeks postpartum (β = -0.143 to -0.218, all p ≤ 0.040) after adjusting for confounders. Increase adherence to IE could represent a novel approach to weight and glucose control during and after pregnancy in women with GDM

USE of Mine Pool Water for Power Plant Cooling.

Water and energy production issues intersect in numerous ways. Water is produced along with oil and gas, water runs off of or accumulates in coal mines, and water is needed to operate steam electric power plants and hydropower generating facilities. However, water and energy are often not in the proper balance. For example, even if water is available in sufficient quantities, it may not have the physical and chemical characteristics suitable for energy or other uses. This report provides preliminary information about an opportunity to reuse an overabundant water source--ground water accumulated in underground coal mines--for cooling and process water in electric generating facilities. The report was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), which has implemented a water/energy research program (Feeley and Ramezan 2003). Among the topics studied under that program is the availability and use of ''non-traditional sources'' of water for use at power plants. This report supports NETL's water/energy research program