JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association
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Pituitary adenomas may hypersecrete hormones or cause mass effects. Therefore, early diagnosis and treatment are important. ⋯ Patients with pituitary adenomas should be identified at an early stage so that effective treatment can be implemented. For prolactinomas, initial therapy is generally dopamine agonists. For all other pituitary adenomas, initial therapy is generally transsphenoidal surgery with medical therapy being reserved for those not cured by surgery.
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Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) reflects past glucose concentrations, but this relationship may differ between those with sickle cell trait (SCT) and those without it. ⋯ Among African Americans from 2 large, well-established cohorts, participants with SCT had lower levels of HbA1c at any given concentration of fasting or 2-hour glucose compared with participants without SCT. These findings suggest that HbA1c may systematically underestimate past glycemia in black patients with SCT and may require further evaluation.