BACKGROUND Insulin directly changes the sheep pleural electrophysiology. The aim of this study was to investigate whether insulin induces similar effects in human pleura, to clarify insulin receptor's involvement, and to demonstrate if glibenclamide (hypoglycemic agent) reverses this effect. METHODS Human parietal pleural specimens were mounted in Ussing chambers. Solutions containing insulin...

Sulfonamides and their different derivatives are extensively used in therapy due to their pharmacological properties. Sulfa drugs were amongst the oldest synthesized antimicrobial agents and are still widely used today to treat different microbial infections. Clinical treatment with sulfonamides has regained confidence with the use of a combination of sulfamethoxazole and trimethoprim to treat ...

OBJECTIVE Diabetes mellitus (DM) is associated with significant morbidity and mortality and its prevalence is increasing worldwide. Although conventional antidiabetic agents are known to ameliorate the symptoms of diabetes, they also may cause adverse effects. The purpose of this review was to organize and discuss various studies that have been previously conducted indicating the efficacy of Al...

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which patients omit doses of medications prescribed for diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS A literature search (1966-2003) was performed to identify reports with quantitative data on adherence with oral hypoglycemic agents (OHAs) and insulin and correlations between adherence rates and glycemic control. Adequate documentati...

OBJECTIVE To describe the quality of life (QL), knowledge and attitude of the elderly with diabetes mellitus (DM) and to correlate the QL with the knowledge and the attitude of the elderly. METHOD It is a cross-sectional study of household inquiry type and developed with 296 elderly with DM. The used instruments were: World Health Organization Quality of Life Bref (WHOQOL-BREF), World Health ...

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to determine the standard of knowledge among people with diabetes. METHOD Two hundred and thirty patients were randomly chosen from outpatient clinics and a 34-item multiple choice questionnaire administered to them. The questionnaire was structured to assess knowledge about the disease state, diagnostic tests, complications and management. RESULTS The av...

This study empirically examines the effect of hospital competition on prescribing behaviors of oral hypoglycemic agents (OHAs) for ambulatory care in a market setting where hospitals are classified into three levels according to the Taiwanese accreditation system. Without distinguishing the types of market structures and hospital levels, there might be no significant relationship between hospit...