Background: Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) has been prevalent and discussed, and nerve conduction studies (NCS) has been continued. We have checked NCS using recently introduced useful DPN-Check device.

Authors have continued clinical research on type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The trigger of this research was to make notice of elevated HbA1c of younger male diabetics for hot climate in the summer 2018. Enrolled subjects were 89 male patients with T2DM. Methods include the classification of 6 groups by the age, which are 21-40, 41-50, 51-60, 61-70, 71-80 and 81-90. HbA1c values in median were calculated for five seasons of 15 months. Basal HbA1c in 6 groups was 7.0%, 7.1%, 7.2%, 7.2%, 6.9% and 7.0%, respectively. Seasonal changes in HbA1c values are as follows: i) groups 21-50 showed highest in the summer, ii) groups 51-70 showed gradually decrease from winter to summer, iii) groups 71-90 showed gradually decrease from winter to autumn, and increase for winter. For seasonal HbA1c changes, influence of hot climate during from spring to summer may be involved for 21-50 years. More activity in spring to summer may be related for 51-70 years. Less exercise and more eating may be observed for 71-90 years. There are not enough analyze for related factors, then further study concerning various biomarkers would be expected.

Background: Authors and colleagues have continued clinical research for hemodialysis patients. Currently, a pilot study presents intervention of carnitine for changes of the body composition. Subjects and Methods: Subjects were six patients on hemodialysis with intervention of carnitine (group 1). Average data were 74.3 years, 65.4 kg, 22.6 in BMI. As levocarnitine, L-Cartin FF injection 1000 mg was administered three times a week for six months. Group 2 has six control patients for age-, sex-, body weight, BMI-matched (group 2). Body composition of muscle and fat tissues were measured by InBody 770 on 0 and 6 months. Results: In group 1, muscle volume and skeletal muscle showed increasing tendency without statistical significance. In contrast, there were significant decreases of body fat volume (22.3 kg vs 20.5 kg, 39.0% vs 35.8%) (p<0.05). No significant differences were found in hemoglobin, total protein, albumin and Cardio-Thoracic Ratio (CTR) of chest X-ray. Group 2 showed no significant changes. Discussion and Conclusion: Hemodialysis patients often have muscular reduction. Previous reports showed improved lean body mass by carnitine administration, which may support our result. These results from current pilot study would be expected to become useful reference data in the pathophysiological investigation in patients on hemodialysis.

The primary care physician often has to help diabetic patients suffering from localized neuropathic pain. Most of the current anti-epileptics and anti-depressants however, especially when prescribed to the elderly patients, have troublesome drawbacks: drug-interactions, side effects and tolerability issues. Topical compounded creams might be a good alternative, especially since it is easy to test in the general practice to discover responders to these creams.At our Institute for Neuropathic Pain we see many patients suffering from peripheral neuropathic pain. We have developed a number of compounded creams based on amongst others amitriptyline 10%, ketamine 10%, clonidine 0.2%, baclofen 5%, and phenytoin 10%. Many patients profit from such topical formulations and we will describe how a primary care physician can fast decide whether as specific compounded cream is useful for a patient. Patients suffering from peripheral neuropathic pain, as in diabetic neuropathy, chronic idiopathic axonal polyneuropathy (CIAP) and chemotherapy induced polyneuropathy (CIPN) as well as from complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), seem often to be responsive to such topical approach. Meanwhile, more than 800 Dutch medical doctors have been prescribing one or more of our compounded creams, and patients and medical doctors from abroad frequently contact us to explore the therapeutic options for their patients based on these creams. We will give some practical tips how to differentiate between responders and non-responders.

Background: The problem of glucose variability has been in focus for type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) on insulin treatment. Daily profile of blood glucose was studied on Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) using Free Style Libre. Case presentation and results: Patient is 54 year-old T1DM female, with HbA1c 7.8%. The blood glucose variability was measured by Free Style Libre. Insulin therapy included multiple daily insulin injection (MDI) of Insulin Glargin and Aspart. The result revealed unstable blood glucose profile in day 1 and 2. After that, the level and fluctuation of blood glucose gradually decreased from day 3 to 14. Average blood glucose in a day was 174mg/dL, 159mg/dL, 138mg/dL, 125mg/dL and 110mg/dL, in day 2, 4, 7, 9, 11, respectively. There was a discrepancy of HbA1c between 7.8% by laboratory measurement and 6.3% presumed value by Free Style Libre. Discussion and Conclusion: Free Style Libre showed satisfactory results as CGM. There was lower HbA1c value by presumed calculation, which would be possibly due to every 15minutes measurement and difficulty in checking abrupt glucose surges. CGM application would probably bring diabetic subjects behavioral change of life style, leading to better diabetic control. These results would become reference data in CGM study for future research.

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Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) has been recently applied in the clinical diabetic practice. Authors have continued research of glucose variability. In this study, 51 year-old female patient with Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) was investigated. She has given multiple daily insulin injection (MDI) for long and her recent daily glucose profile was unstable. After applied with FreeStyle Libre, her blood variability was improved with the average glucose from 222 mg/dL to 135 mg/dL, which was partly from her motivation for better diabetic control. Thus, CGM may become a trigger to give beneficial influence for regular lifestyle of the patients.

Authors and collaborators have continued diabetic practice and research on low carbohydrate diet (LCD), continuous glucose monitoring (CGM), and so on. The case is a 64-year-old male with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) treated with multiple daily insulin injections (MDI). When his HbA1c was 8.2% before, he changed to take tofu instead of rice and bread. HbA1c decreased to 7.1% and 4kg of weight reduction in 2 months. Tofu is a traditional Japanese food made from soybeans, which is a suitable LCD with Protein:Fat:Carbohydrate (PFC) ratio=40:45:15 in this case. His HbA1c is recently unstable, then glucose variability was investigated by CGM using FreeStyle Libre. The glucose pattern was different due to his lifestyle, including working day, off day, playing golf, respectively. The average glucose was 143-167 mg/dL and the estimated HbA1c was 7.1%, whereas HbA1c in outclinic was 8.1%, respectively. This report will hopefully become reference data for future research.