The Netherlands journal of medicine
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Randomized Controlled Trial
A cost-controlling treatment strategy of adding liraglutide to insulin in type 2 diabetes.
Addition of the GLP-1 receptor agonist liraglutide to insulin can reverse insulin-associated weight gain, improve HbA1c and decrease the need for insulin, but is expensive. From a cost perspective, such treatment should be discontinued when it is clear that treatment targets will not be achieved. Our aim was to find the best cost-controlling treatment strategy: the shortest possible trial period needed to discriminate successfully treated patients from those failing to achieve predefined targets of treatment success. ⋯ An 8-week trial period of adding liraglutide to insulin in patients with insulin-associated weight gain is an effective cost-controlling treatment strategy if the liraglutide is discontinued in patients not showing an early response regarding weight loss or insulin reduction.
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Case Reports
First case of severe pneumonic tularemia in an immunocompetent patient in the Netherlands.
Tularemia is a zoonosis caused by different subspecies of the Gram-negative bacterium Francisella tularensis. We report the first case in the Netherlands of pneumonic tularemia caused by the F. tularensis subspecies holarctica after probable occupational inhalation of contaminated aerosols. Notification of cases of tularemia has been mandatory by law in the Netherlands since 1 November 2016.