This study confirms the accuracy and precision of glucose values as determined using the GlucoWatch biographer in clinic and home settings.

The GlucoWatch (Cygnus, Inc, Redwood City, CA, USA) biographer provides automatic, frequent and noninvasive blood glucose measurements for up to 12 h. The device extracts glucose through intact skin where it is measured by an amperometric biosensor. Clinical trials in a variety of environments have shown that the biographer provides accurate and precise glucose measurements when compared with serial fingerstick blood glucose measurements. Mean difference between these measurements was 0.26 mmol/L in the home environment (r = 0.80). Over 94% of biographer readings were in the clinically acceptable A+B region of the Clarke Error Grid. A slight positive bias is observed for the biographer readings at low glucose levels. Biographer precision, as measured by coefficient of variation (CV)%, is approximately 10%. The low glucose alert function of the biographer was able to detect up to 75% of hypoglycaemic episodes with a low false alert level. Skin irritation, characterized by erythema and oedema was either nonexistent or mild in over 87% of subjects and resolved in virtually all subjects without treatment in several days. The GlucoWatch biographer has been shown to be a safe and effective method to track glucose level trends and patterns, which should enable improved glycaemic control for many patients.

The Freund's adjuvant‐injected rat shares a number of features with the arthritis patient, viz the presence of a proliferative synovitis, joint swelling, and cartilage and bone erosion. Naproxen, a prostaglandin synthetase inhibitor which is an effective antiinflammatory agent in laboratory animals and humans, was evaluated as an inhibitor of connective tissue destruction in this model by use of radiologic and histopathologic analyses. Sixteen days after rats were injected with Freund's complete adjuvant, marked joint swelling was noted. On day 17, vehicle or naproxen, 7 mg/kg/day, was administered orally. Twenty‐eight days later, vehicle‐treated animals demonstrated the following pathologic changes in their hindpaws: swelling, cartilage loss, large amounts of pannus within the joint spaces, osteoporosis, bone erosions, periosteal new bone formation, heterotopic ossification, and bony ankylosis. Rats treated 28 days with naproxen had significantly milder disease than the vehicle controls. The incidence of severe juxtaarticular bone destruction was 10/10 in the vehicle controls versus 2/10 of the drug‐treated group (P < 0.01). A comparable reduction in cartilage erosion, incidence of pannus, and new bone formation was noted in the drug‐treated group. These effects may relate to an inhibition of prostaglandin biosynthesis; prostaglandins have been shown to: 1) stimulate collagenase secretion from macrophages, 2) stimulate bone resorption in vivo and in vitro, and 3) diminish proteoglycan synthesis in cartilage.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of cyclosporine A (CSA) and methotrexate (MTX) as potential immunomodulators in a nonestablished adjuvant arthritis (AA) model. Non-injected hind paw volumes were reduced when AA rats were treated for 18 days with CSA (100% at 10 mg/kg) or MTX (100% at 0.1 mg/kg). Body weights of drug treated AA rats were increased above untreated AA rats and were similar to non-arthritic controls. AA rats show elevated T helper (W3/25+)/T suppressor (OX 8+) cell ratios (2.0 vs. 3.1, p less than 0.01). The immunomodulators tested all returned these elevated ratios to control non-arthritic levels. Similarly, these drugs returned the reduced mitogen responses and elevated blood granulocyte numbers toward normal non-arthritic control values.