Intranasal Glucagon.

Glucagon is an essential drug, used for the management of hypoglycaemia. Currently available injectable preparations are cumbersome, difficult to use and not easily acceptable by many patients. Injection glucagon is also not available in all parts of the world. Intranasal glucagon offers a novel, effective and convenient mode of delivery of this emergency drug. This review covers the basic and clinical pharmacology of nasal glucagon, and describes its potential use in practice.

Paediatric insulin injection technique: The softer side.

This communication highlights the unique features of insulin injection technique in the paediatric age group. It describes the anatomical, neurodevelopmental and psychosocial characteristics of children and adolescents of various age groups. These are correlated to highlight 'best practices' or 'injection manner' which diabetes care providers and care givers should observe, in order to achieve a 'happy' and healthy insulin injection experience for the child. The softer side of paediatric insulin injection technique adds to existing guidelines on insulin delivery. It encourages research on the special needs and challenges of children and adolescents living with diabetes.

Subcutaneous insulin administration in infants and toddlers.

Management of diabetes in infants and toddlers requires the administration of multiple subcutaneous insulin injections and frequent monitoring of blood glucose. However, there are significant unique challenges in managing insulin injections in this age group due to unpredictable eating and activity patterns, less subcutaneous fat, increased risk of hypoglycaemia, and the child's inability to communicate symptoms and comprehend the need for insulin. Insulin pumps and pen devices are preferable to insulin syringes. Injection should be administered with smaller and finer gauge needles and care should be taken to ensure correct injection technique to avoid inadvertent intramuscular injection. In this article, we highlight some of these challenges and summarize the strategies to optimize insulin administration in infants and toddlers.

Childhood diabetes in India.

This review describes the epidemiology of childhood diabetes in India. It focuses on the incidence and prevalence of type 1 diabetes and its complications and comorbid conditions. The review also covers data related to type 2 diabetes, glucose intolerance, and monogenic diabetes from India. A brief discussion regarding unique contributions from India to the world literature is included. The topics discussed include use of camel milk as adjuvant therapy in type 1 diabetes, relevance of the A1/A2 hypothesis, and comprehensive clinico-etiopathological classification of type 1 diabetes.