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BackgroundInpatient hyperglycemia is associated with adverse outcomes in hospitalized patients, with or without known diabetes. The adherence to American College of Endocrinology and American Diabetes Association guidelines recommendations for inpatient glycemic control is still poor, probably because of their complexity and fear of hypoglycemia.ObjectiveTo create software system that can assist health care providers and hospitalists to manage the insulin therapy orders and turn them into a less complicated issue.MethodsA software system was idealized and developed, according to recommendations of major consensus and medical literature.ResultsHTML software was developed to be readily accessed from a workstation, tablet or smartphone. Standard initial daily total dose of insulin was 0.4 units/kg and could be modified by distinct factors, such as chronological age, renal and liver function, and high dose corticosteroids use. Insulin therapy consisted of basal, prandial and correction insulin according to nutritional support, glycemic control and outpatient treatment for diabetes. Human insulin or insulin analogues could be options for insulin therapy. Sensitivity factor was based on 1800 Rule for rapid-acting insulin and the 1500 Rule for short-acting insulin. Insulin-naïve patients with initial BG level less than 250 mg/dL were considered to have an initial step-wise approach with prandial and correction insulin. The calculator system has allowed insulin dose readjustments periodically, according to daily average blood glucose measurements.ConclusionWe developed software that can be a useful tool for all public hospitals, where generally human insulin is the only available.

BackgroundThis study investigated factors related to ethnicity and educational level, their correlation with tumor stage at the time of diagnosis, and their influence on treatment outcomes in patients with prostate cancer.MethodsIn this retrospective observational study, we analyzed the medical records of 1,349 male patients treated for prostatic adenocarcinoma. We collected information about sociodemographic variables, including educational level and self-reported skin color. We also classified the disease according whether it was to more likely to present with metastasis and measured the tumor response to treatment.ResultsLess-educated (<8 years of education) individuals were 4.8 times more likely to develop metastasis than those with more education (>11 years of education; p < 0.001). Similarly, patients with a self-reported black skin color had a 300% increased risk of metastasis at diagnosis (p = 0.001). Distant metastasis was independently correlated with worse outcomes, such that individuals with distant metastasis were 10 times more likely to die than were those without distant metastasis.ConclusionsPatients with self-reported black skin color and <8 years of education were more likely to display advanced disease at the time of diagnosis compared with their counterparts. Only the presence of metastasis was independently associated with mortality or progressive disease.

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