American journal of therapeutics
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Aging is associated with a host of alterations in thyroid gland structure and function. Some of these changes have favorable effects on longevity, whereas others are maladaptive and contribute to a decline in health and quality of life. ⋯ The biochemical profile of subclinical hypothyroidism includes normal serum levels of thyroid hormones with mildly elevated serum thyrotropin concentrations in the range of 4.5 to 10 mIU/L. In this article, the epidemiology of subclinical hypothyroidism in the elderly is reviewed, the potential advantages of mild hypothyroidism in people over the age of 75 years are discussed, and some guidelines for screening and management of this common thyroid dysfunction are suggested.
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Review Case Reports
Severe extrapiramidal symptoms after nonintentional risperidone exposure in a child: case report and review of the literature.
Increase in use of atypical antipsychotics has been paralleled by an increase in the incidence of intentional and nonintentional overdose. Pediatric cases are uncommon, but may be severe. We describe a case of a child presenting with severe extrapiramidal symptoms, initially interpreted as seizures, caused by a nonintentional intoxication with risperidone, and review management options and the literature.
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We present a case of a significant insulin overdose that was managed by monitoring daily plasma insulin levels. A 39-year-old male with poorly controlled diabetes mellitus presented to the Emergency Department via emergency medical services after an attempted suicide by insulin overdose. In the attempted suicide, he injected 800 U of insulin lispro and 3800 U of insulin glargine subcutaneously over several parts of his abdomen. ⋯ He was transferred to an inpatient psychiatric facility 109 hours after initial presentation. Monitoring daily plasma insulin levels and adjusting treatment on a day-to-day basis in terms of basal glucose infusions provides fewer opportunities for episodic hypoglycemia. Furthermore, it was easier to predict daily glucose requirements and eventual medical clearance based on the plasma levels.
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Currently, the Category (CAT) II regimen is recommended for patients who have failed the CAT I regimen. We have determined before that prevalence of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR TB) is relatively high among these patients. On the other hand, the retreatment success rate with CAT II in CAT I treatment failures and defaults is nearly 50%. ⋯ A retreatment strategy based on DST and replacing the Category II regimen with an intermediate regimen called revised CAT II may improve clinical outcomes among Category I treatment failures and defaults who found to have active, infectious MDR TB. This strategy significantly reduces delays to MDR TB diagnosis and to the initiation of MDR TB therapy. Success rate of this strategy is 62.2% and 72% in MDR TB and overall CAT I failure cases and defaulters, respectively.
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Although implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) therapy is the standard of care for prevention of sudden cardiac death (SCD), its underutilization is a clinical concern. We performed a retrospective study on patients who underwent cardiac catheterization at a tertiary medical center to identify those who were eligible for ICD therapy as per the guidelines and those who actually received it as a part of treatment. Surprisingly, only 4.4% of eligible patients received ICD for SCD prevention. ⋯ Survey results showed that the common reasons for underreferral included nonavailability of electrophysiologists (34%), poor quality of life of patients (25.7%), patients not being on optimal therapy (25.7%), and low awareness (22.85%). Subsequently, a Monte Carlo simulation was used to assess a hypothetical survival of the study cohort, which showed that in an "ideal scenario" of ICD implantation, the mortality in the study cohort was decreased by 6.9% and 12.3% at 2- and 5-year follow-up, respectively. This study highlights the underutilization of ICDs and the referring physicians' approach to this therapy.