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Objective: We evaluated the future risk of developing impaired glucose tolerance and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in patient without T2DM who develop hyperglycemia with short-term systemic glucocorticoid therapy during hospitalization., Methods: Retrospective analysis was performed on charts of non-diabetic patients admitted with COPD exacerbation and treated with a course of high dose systemic corticosteroid during hospitalization. Patients with BMI over 40 kg/m 2 , endocrinopathy and on medications that could impair glucose tolerance were excluded. Patient data were collected for 1 year after initial hospitalization. Diagnosis of T2DM or IGT was based on the ADA criteria. 311 charts were reviewed, of which 64 patients met our inclusion criteria. Depending on the blood glucose readings during hospitalization, the patients were categorized into two groups: hyperglycemic (> 140 mg/dL; n = 42) and normoglycemic (≤ 140 mg/dL; n = 22)., Results: In the hyperglycemic group, 17/42 (40%) patients developed prediabetes and 5/42 (12%) developed T2DM on follow-up. Interestingly, none of the patients developed IGT or T2DM in the normoglycemic group. Both the groups were well matched in terms of family history of DM, history of hypertension, hyperlipidemia, BMI > 25 kg/m 2 , weight change, tobacco and alcohol use, corticosteroid therapy duration, and cumulative steroid dose. After adjusting for all these risk factors, on logistic regression analysis, hyperglycemic patients had 37 times higher chance of developing IGT, compared to normoglycemic patients (p = 0.003)., Conclusions: Our study suggests that patients without T2DM with acute exacerbation of COPD who develop steroid-induced hyperglycemia in response to systemic corticosteroid treatment have an increased risk for developing future IGT or T2DM. Bigger studies are needed to support our findings since results drawn from our study have the limitations of smaller sample size (wider confidence interval) in a single center.

This study evaluates the performance of AERMOD, the current U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulatory model, in simulating particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5) dispersion from a poultry pullet facility. At the source, the daily mean PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations with strong diurnal patterns were estimated to be 436.01 ± 166.77 μg m⁻³ and 291.09 ± 105.81 μg m⁻³, respectively. This corresponded to daily mean emission rates of PM10 and PM2.5 as 0.067-0.073 g sec⁻¹ and 0.044-0.047 g sec⁻¹,respectively. The modeled hourly PM concentration showed acceptable accuracy relative to the measured PM concentrations downwind of the source. Increasing the averaging period from hourly to daily resulted in improved prediction. The simulations revealed that PM concentrations at and beyond the property line of the poultry facility were within the National Ambient Air Quality Standards. This study suggested that AERMOD is effective in predicting and assessing the impacts of PM downwind of poultry facilities.