May 8, 2008, 9:14 PM CT

How slow growth as a fetus can cause diabetes as an adult

Intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR), which results in a baby having a low weight at birth, has been associated with the development of type 2 diabetes in adulthood. It has been suggested that this is because the expression of key genes is altered during fetal development and that this affects disease susceptibility during the later part of life. Evidence to support this hypothesis and indicating that the changes in gene expression might be permanent has now been provided by Rebecca Simmons and his colleagues, at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, using a rat model of IUGR.

Pervious studies using the rat model of IUGR have shown decreased fetal expression of the gene Pdx1, which is critical for the development and function of the cells that become defective in type 2 diabetes (pancreatic beta-cells), and adult onset of diabetes. In this study, expression of Pdx1 was found to be reduced in pancreatic beta-cells throughout life following IUGR. The molecular mechanisms (known as epigenetic mechanisms because they affect gene expression without altering the information in the gene) that reduced Pdx1 expression in pancreatic beta-cells were found to change during development. One mechanism was observed in the fetus, one following birth, and one after the onset of diabetes in adulthood. Of interest, the mechanisms reducing Pdx1 gene expression in the fetus and following birth could be reversed, whereas those reducing Pdx1 gene expression in the adult were irreversible. These data provide new insight into the mechanisms by which diabetes develops in adulthood following IUGR......... Posted by: Emily      Read more         Source

April 29, 2008, 8:29 PM CT

Benefits of drug therapy for diabetic eye disease

A JDRF collaboration between Johns Hopkins scientists and Genentech has shown that a drug for the therapy of diabetic eye disease haccording toformed better in clinical trials than the current standard therapy using laser surgery.

These findings, representing the six-month end-point evaluation of the READ-2 clinical trial coordinated by The Johns Hopkins University, were presented Monday at the 2008 Annual Meeting of The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

As per Barbara Araneo, Ph.D., director of the complications program at JDRF, These are very encouraging results, showing that drugs we have been testing in human clinical trials can be effective in slowing or stopping the effects of eye disease brought on by diabetes.

The multi-center READ-2 Study (Ranibizumab for Edema of the mAcula in Diabetes), which began in December 2006, was designed to test the long-term safety and effectiveness of injections of the drug ranibizumab in patients with diabetic macular edema, a condition characterized by swelling of the central portion of the retina, or macula, at the back of the eye. In addition, the trial sought to determine the comparative efficacy of ranibizumab versus conventional therapy laser photocoagulation treatment or both together......... Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source

November 7, 2007, 9:25 PM CT

'Tweens' double use of diabetes drugs

Americas tweens more than doubled their use of type-2 diabetes medications between 2002 and 2005, with girls between 10 and 14 years of age showing a 166 percent increase. The likely cause: Obesity, which is closely linked to Type 2 diabetes.

The finding is included in a study of chronic medicine use in children 5 to 19 reported Wednesday, Nov. 7 at the annual meeting of the American Public Health Association by scientists from the Saint Louis University School of Medicine and School of Public Health and pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts. In addition to diabetes, utilization patterns for blood pressure, cholesterol, asthma and depression medications were also examined.

Across every chronic medicine class we examined over this four year period of time, childrens use increased, with varying patterns of growth across males and females and age groups, said Emily R. Cox, Ph.D., RPh, senior director of research at Express Scripts.

For example, the number of males between 15 and 19 using a blood pressure drug increased by 15.4 percent even as the number of females in the age group taking the drugs, called antihypertensives, declined by 1.6 percent.

Conversely, the number of females between 15 and 19 taking an anti-depressant increased by 6.8 percent while, for males in the same age group, utilization declined slightly......... Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source

July 17, 2007, 10:44 PM CT

Adult type 2 diabetes : exercise seems good

There are no high quality data to assess how well dietary therapys for type 2 diabetes work in people who have just been told they have the disease, but there is evidence that taking on exercise seems to be one way of improving blood sugar levels, as per the findings of a Cochrane Systematic Review.

Type 2 diabetes leaves a person at danger of having elevated levels of sugar (glucose) in their blood. This high sugar content then causes damage to blood vessels, which in turn harms a number of organs including the eyes, nerves, kidneys and heart.

When people are first diagnosed with this disease they are given dietary advice in the hope that this will enable them to take more control over the level of sugar in their blood. However, after searching published scientific literature, a team of Cochrane Scientists was unable to find high quality data that showed whether dietary advice did indeed alter the risk of developing long-term complications, affect overall quality of life or the likelihood of dying.

We did find 36 published articles that reported work from 18 different trials which included a total of 1467 people with type 2 diabetes, but only a minority of these trials examined hard clinical endpoints such as death or vascular disease, and those that did offered no details; most talked about factors that are easier to measure such as weight or blood sugar control, says lead researcher Nield, a researcher at the University of Teesside in Middlesbrough, UK......... Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source

July 15, 2007, 9:32 PM CT

Selenium Supplements And Risk of Type 2 Diabetes

Selenium, an antioxidant included in multivitamin tablets thought to have a possible protective effect against the development of type 2 diabetes, may actually increase the risk of developing the disease, an analysis by scientists at the University at Buffalo has shown.

Results of a randomized clinical trial using 200 micrograms of selenium alone showed that 55 percent more cases of type 2 diabetes developed among participants randomized to receive selenium than in those who received a placebo pill.

Results will appear in print in the August 2007 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine and were posted online on July 10.

Self-reported diagnosis of type 2 diabetes was a secondary endpoint in a clinical trial designed to test the benefit of selenium supplementation in prevention of non-melanoma skin cancer in areas in the Eastern U.S. where selenium levels are lower than the national average. Selenium is a trace mineral that is an essential component of proteins involved in antioxidant activity.

Saverio Stranges, M.D., Ph.D., first author on the diabetes prevention study, conducted the analysis while at UB, in cooperation with colleagues from Roswell Park Cancer Institute. He now is affiliated with the Clinical Sciences Research Institute, Warwick Medical School, Coventry, UK......... Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source

July 11, 2007, 4:59 AM CT

New option for treating type 2 diabetes

A review of prior studies indicates that use of a class of medications known as incretin-based treatment, which act via certain pathways that affect glucose metabolism may provide modest effectiveness and favorable weight change outcomes for the therapy of type 2 diabetes and may represent an alternative to other hypoglycemic therapies, as per an article in the July 11 issue of JAMA.

Current therapies for type 2 diabetes are often limited by adverse effects such as weight gain or hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). A more recent class of therapy to address these issues is incretin treatment, which involves glucose-stimulated insulin secretion by intestinally derived peptides, which are released in the presence of glucose or nutrients in the gut, as per background information in the article. In October 2006 the Food and Drug Administration approved the first oral incretin enhancer, sitagliptin, a selective DPP4 inhibitor (a class of oral hypoglycemics), for use as monotherapy or in combination with other medications. The effectiveness of this class of medications in managing type 2 diabetes is not well understood.

Renee E. Amori, M.D., of Tufts-New England Medical Center, Boston, and his colleagues conducted a meta-analysis of 29 studies to assess the effectiveness and safety of incretin-based treatment (GLP-1 analogues and DPP4 inhibitors) in nonpregnant adults with type 2 diabetes......... Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source

June 10, 2007, 8:56 PM CT

Potential New Target For Type 2 Diabetes

Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have discovered a potential new target for treating type 2 diabetes, as per a new study that appeared online this week in Nature. The target is a protein, along with its molecular partner, that regulates fat metabolism.

"Over the last 10 years, we have begun to understand the importance of fat metabolism in diabetes," notes lead author Morris J. Birnbaum, MD, PhD, the Willard and Rhoda Ware Professor of Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases at Penn and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. "Type 2 diabetics are at a higher risk for cardiovascular disease because they also have disorders in fat metabolism as a result of obesity and abnormal insulin action." Birnbaum is also the Associate Director of the Type 2 Diabetes Unit for Penn's Institute for Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism.

When a person eats a meal, the pancreas commonly responds by secreting insulin that signals the liver to stop making glucose and burning fat. When a type 2 diabetic eats a meal, insulin cannot stop the manufacture of glucose in the liver, but it can stop the burning of fat stores. This gives the diabetic person a "double whammy:" fatty acids accumulate from food and from the liver. Consequently, more fat is deposited in tissues and obesity worsens......... Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source

May 31, 2007, 11:40 PM CT

Drinking Sugar-Sweetened Beverages between Meals

Research to date has been inconclusive on whether drinking sugar-sweetened beverages between meals increases childrens risk of becoming overweight. Scientists at the University of Ottawa Institute of Population Health say sugar-sweetened drinks can have a negative effect on pre-school children.

The scientists studied the frequency of sugar-sweetened beverage consumption between meals of more than 1,900 children living in Quebec, Canada.

The scientists found nearly 7 percent of children who didnt drink sugar-sweetened beverages between meals between the ages of 2 to 4 were overweight at 4 years old in comparison to 15.4 percent of children who did drink them four to six times or more per week.

Parents should be encouraged to limit the quantity of beverages high in energy and sugar because of their propensity to increase weight, the scientists conclude.

American Dietetic Association Issues Updated Position Statement on Food and Nutrition Professionals Can Implement Practices to Conserve Natural Resources and Support Ecological Sustainability:

ADA is committed to research, policy and programs designed to conserve natural resources and promote ecological sustainability. ADA encourages its members to understand the global implications of their actions, as per an updated ADA position statement published this month:........ Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source

February 7, 2007, 8:56 PM CT

Exercise Pivotal in Preventing or Fighting Diabetes

One in three American children born in 2000 will develop type II diabetes, as per the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). A new study at the University of Missouri-Columbia says that acute exercise - as little as 15 minutes a day - can have a profound influence on preventing and fighting the disease.

This research adds to the body of evidence that indicates exercise can fight type II diabetes, one of the most widespread self-inflicted healthcare struggles in the United States, and could save Americans millions of dollars in pills, injections and medical therapy. Acute exercise is a bout of activity in which people actively participate, as opposed to activity resulting from everyday activities.

"A number of people can fight type II diabetes through diet and exercise alone," said John Thyfault, professor in the MU College of Human Environmental Sciences' Department of Nutritional Sciences. "It is important to ward off diabetes early. Exercise has proven to be effective at all levels. At any stage of type II diabetes, from an obese child to a person dependent for 20 years on insulin injections, exercise could have a dramatic effect on improving insulin sensitivity."

Type II diabetes results from a lack of insulin production and insulin resistance in skeletal muscle cells. Insulin is necessary to help drive glucose out of the blood and into the tissues of the body. As a result of insulin resistance, cells do not respond appropriately to insulin, causing more insulin to be released to have a measurable effect and ultimately causing insulin and glucose to build up dangerously in the blood.........

Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source

December 1, 2006, 4:18 AM CT

Preparing Food Helps Young Adults Eat Better

Young adults who often purchase their own food and prepare meals at home eat fast food less often, eat more fruits and vegetables and have better overall diet quality than those who are not involved in planning and cooking their meals, as per scientists at the University of Minnesota.

The study surveyed more than 1,500 people ages 18 to 23 about their food purchasing and preparation habits and the quality of their diets. The scientists found 31 percent of those surveyed who reported high involvement in meal preparation also consume five servings of fruits or vegetables daily, compared with three percent of those who reported very low involvement in meal preparation. Eighteen percent of the "high participation" group met guidelines for consuming servings of deep-yellow or green vegetables, compared with just 2 percent of the "very low involvement" group.

The scientists found the young adults most likely to be involved with food preparation and purchasing in association tend to be female; Asian, Hispanic or white; and eating at fast-food restaurants fewer than three times per week. Still, even among study participants who were very involved in food preparation, the study found a number of young adults do not meet recommended dietary guidelines in what they eat. "Cooking skills, money to buy food and time available for food preparation were perceived as inadequate by approximately one-fifth to more than one-third of the sample." The scientists conclude: "To improve dietary intake, interventions among young adults should teach skills for preparing quick and healthful meals".........

Posted by: JoAnn      Permalink         Source

November 30, 2006, 4:38 AM CT

Metabolic Syndrome May Be Treatable With Malaria Drug

Studies of a rare genetic condition that increases cancer risk have unveiled a potential therapy for metabolic syndrome, a common disorder that afflicts as a number of as one in every four American adults and puts them at sharply increased risk of type 2 diabetes and clogged arteries.

Researchers know relatively little about metabolic syndrome, which is associated with a range of symptoms that include obesity, insulin resistance, high blood pressure, low levels of good cholesterol and high blood sugar levels. The number of adults and children with the condition is rising sharply in industrial countries, and diagnoses are also increasing in developing countries like India and China as they adopt Western standards of living.

In findings reported in the recent issue of Cell Metabolism, scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. report that a small dose of the malaria drug chloroquine eased a number of symptoms of metabolic syndrome in mice, reducing blood pressure, decreasing hardening and narrowing of the arteries and improving blood sugar tolerance.

"We just received funding for a clinical trial, and we're very excited to see if the processes activated by chloroquine can effectively treat one of the most common health problems of modern industrialized society," says senior author Clay F. Semenkovich, M.D., professor of medicine and of cell biology and physiology at Washington University. "We already know that chloroquine is safe and well-tolerated, and our mouse results suggest we may only need very low and perhaps infrequent doses to achieve similar effects in humans."........

Posted by: JoAnn      Permalink         Source

November 26, 2006, 7:13 AM CT

Reversing Type 1 Diabetes In Mice

New data reported in the Nov. 24 issue of Science provide further support for a protocol to reverse type 1 diabetes in mice and new evidence that adult precursor cells from the spleen can contribute to the regeneration of beta cells. In 2001 and 2003, scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) demonstrated the efficacy of a protocol to reverse of type 1 diabetes in diabetic mice. Three studies from other institutions reported in the March 24, 2006 issue of Science confirmed that the MGH-developed protocol can reverse the underlying disease but were inconclusive on the role of spleen cells in the recovery of insulin-producing pancreatic islets. The new data from a study performed at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), published as a technical comment, provides additional confirmation of the ability to reverse type 1 diabetes and on the role of the spleen cells in islet regeneration.

"This data from the NIH and the earlier studies have added significantly to the understanding of how diabetes may be reversed," says Denise Faustman, MD, PhD, director of the Immunobiology Laboratory at Massachusetts General Hospital, primary author of the 2001 and 2003 studies and co-corresponding author of the current report. "It is still early, but it appears that there are multiple potential sources for regenerating islets. As a research community we should pursue all avenues. We're excited to see what will happen in humans."........

Posted by: JoAnn      Permalink         Source

November 21, 2006, 5:22 AM CT

Holiday Gluttony Can Spell Disaster For Undiagnosed Diabetics

Hearty feasts and couch-potato marathons are holiday traditions, but UT Southwestern Medical Center experts warn that packing on pounds and not exercising could be deadly for the 6 million Americans who have diabetes and don't even know it.

Diabetes, a metabolic disorder linked with obesity, can be a silent killer because its symptoms aren't sudden, but build up over time and lead to heart disease or other maladies.

That's bad news for those with undiagnosed diabetes.

"The obesity epidemic is surging and people don't realize they're setting themselves up to develop diabetes. They're like ticking time bombs," said Dr. Manisha Chandalia, an endocrinologist at UT Southwestern. "Without therapy, high levels of blood sugars in the body can damage blood vessels and nerves over time, leading to high cholesterol, hypertension, stroke, kidney disease and amputations".

If you are age 40 or older, obese, lack physical activity or have a family history of diabetes, Dr. Chandalia recommends making time during the holidays to visit a doctor for a diabetes test. Symptoms include excessive thirst or hunger, dramatic weight loss, fatigue, frequent urination or blurry vision.

The holidays also are a perfect time to start getting healthy, she said, offering these tips:........

Posted by: Janet      Permalink         Source

November 21, 2006, 5:12 AM CT

Clues From Dragonfly About Human Obesity

Parasite-infected dragonflies suffer the same metabolic disorders that have led to an epidemic of obesity and type-2 diabetes in humans, reveal the findings of research conducted at Penn State University that are due would be reported in the 5 December 2006 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science and also in the PNAS early online edition at www.pnas.org on 21 November. The discovery expands the known taxonomic breadth of metabolic disease and suggests that the study of microbes found in human intestines may provide a greater understanding of the root causes of human metabolic dysfunction.

James Marden, professor of biology and an insect physiologist at Penn State, and Ruud Schilder, who in August 2006 earned his doctorate in biology at Penn State and is now a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Nebraska, are the first to show a non-mammalian species suffering from metabolic dysfunction in ways similar to humans. "Metabolic disease isn't some strange thing having just to do with humans," said Marden. "Animals in general suffer from these symptoms".

The work is also novel because it links metabolic disease to a supposedly harmless parasite living in the dragonfly's gut. The parasites, known as gregarines, belong to the Apicomplexa, a group of microorganisms that includes protozoa, which cause diseases like malaria and cryptosporidiosis. The dragonfly species that Marden and Schilder studied is Libellula pulchella. The microbes disrupting the dragonfly metabolism may hold clues for researchers looking for the root causes of metabolic diseases in humans, as per Marden and Schilder's paper.........

Posted by: JoAnn      Permalink         Source

November 7, 2006, 7:08 PM CT

Enzyme For Treatment Of Diabetic Kidney Disease

Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine scientists have observed that an enzyme called ACE2 may hold the potential to treat diabetic kidney disease, the most common form of kidney disease.

In the laboratory, scientists led by Daniel Batlle, professor of medicine in the Feinberg School, chief of the nephrology/high blood pressure division and staff nephrologist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, have found low levels of the ACE2 enzyme in the glomeruli of the kidneys of diabetic mice. When ACE2 was further decreased with an inhibitor drug, kidney disease worsened. Studies are now needed using compounds that increase the level of ACE2 in the kidneys of diabetic mice to see if it reverses or prevents kidney disease from developing, Batlle said.

The experiments appear in a report by Ye et. al in the recent issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

Diabetes, which affects 230 million people worldwide and 21 million in the United States, is the leading cause of kidney failure. About one-third of patients with diabetes will go on to develop kidney disease. In diabetes, the small blood vessels in the kidneys are injured and the kidneys cannot clean the blood properly. In 2002, a total of 153,000 people in the U.S. with kidney failure due to diabetes were living on chronic dialysis or with a kidney transplant.........

Posted by: JoAnn      Permalink         Source

November 6, 2006, 4:32 AM CT

Children's Belly Fat Increases More Than 65 Percent

Abdominal obesity increased more than 65 percent among boys and almost 70 percent among girls between 1988 and 2004. The finding of growing girth is significant because abdominal obesity has emerged as a better predictor of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes risk than the more usually used Body Mass Index, a weight to height ratio that can sometimes be misleading.

As the first nationally representative study to document the increase in children's belly fat, the study in today's Pediatrics paints a bleak picture for these children who have a higher risk of heart disease, adult-onset diabetes and metabolic syndrome. The good news is that, for children and adolescents, the health effects are often reversible through improved lifestyle for weight loss.

"Kids, teens and adults who have early stages of atherosclerosis in their arteries can have a healthy cardiovascular system again," said Stephen Cook, M.D., an assistant professor of Pediatrics at the University of Rochester Medical Center's Golisano Children's Hospital at Strong and an author of the study about childhood abdominal obesity. "Elderly adults who have plaque build up have a much harder battle, particularly if the plaque has calcified".

Measuring waist circumference is not a "vital sign" normally taken in a visit to the doctor. A BMI is usually calculated at a well visit, but there are limitations to those measurements. A very muscular person may register a high BMI score, even if he is very healthy and has an average waist circumference. On the flip side, a sedentary child may not register a very high BMI score, but if he carries a lot of fat around his middle, he may be at a higher risk for health problems than other children with the same BMI score.........

Posted by: JoAnn      Permalink         Source

October 15, 2006, 7:37 PM CT

Physicians Hinder Use Of Cutting Edge Technology In Diabetes

Diabetic patients who use newer technologies such as insulin pumps and blood glucose monitoring devices are better able to manage their disease and adhere to therapy regimens, with less daily pain, than with conventional therapys, as per Duke University researchers. Yet scientists have observed that the newer methods to manage diabetes are not being widely used because physicians may be reluctant to prescribe them, and even patients who are using them may not be deriving their full benefits.

As per the Duke researchers, the lack of strong scientific evidence on the efficacy of newer devices, combined with insufficient patient-education resources for physicians and their patients, hinders the diffusion of new devices and contributes to their incorrect use. In addition, the scientists pointed to the higher costs of newer medical technologies and the demographics of diabetes as probable causes of low usage - i.e., its disproportionate prevalence among racial and ethnic minorities, persons of low socioeconomic status, and the elderly.

These findings have emerged from a literature review conducted by the Medical Technology Assessment Working Group at Duke University, focusing on technologies used to monitor glucose and deliver insulin outside of conventional methods, such as daily injections and finger stick tests.........

Posted by: JoAnn      Permalink         Source

October 15, 2006, 6:47 PM CT

High Blood Sugar Level Before Surgery Is Dangerous

Patients who have high blood sugar before undergoing surgery run an increased risk of developing blood clots, deep vein thrombosis and even pulmonary embolism after surgery.

Boris Mraovic, M.D., assistant professor of anesthesiology in the Artificial Pancreas Center at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, and colleagues examined records of nearly 6,500 hip or knee replacement surgery patients at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital who were admitted between 2003 and 2005. They asked what happened to patients with high blood sugar that wasn't well controlled previous to surgery.

Of these patients, 38 had very high blood glucose more than 250 mg/dl on the day of preoperative testing and the day of surgery. The team observed that approximately 10.5 percent of the patients with high blood sugar developed a pulmonary embolism, a life-threatening condition in which blood clots travel to the lungs, after surgery, a rate that is 6.2 times greater than would be expected in the general population. The scientists report their results on October 15, 2006 at the annual meeting of the American Society of Anesthesiologists in Chicago.

"These data suggest that if an individual has high blood glucose and is coming for surgery, he or she should correct it first and probably postpone the surgery," says Dr. Mraovic.........

Posted by: JoAnn      Permalink         Source

September 28, 2006, 9:48 PM CT

Pecan Way To Health

A new research study from Loma Linda University (LLU) shows that adding just a handful of pecans to your diet each day may inhibit unwanted oxidation of blood lipids, thus helping reduce the risk of heart disease. Scientists suggest that this positive effect was in part due to the pecan's significant content of vitamin E.

"Plant foods, including pecans, are rich sources of phytochemicals that can have a unique effect on the body," says LLU researcher Ella Haddad, DrPH, associate professor, department of nutrition, School of Public Health.

Pecans contain different forms of vitamin E known as tocopherols which protects fats from oxidation. Pecans are particularly rich in one form of vitamin E gamma tocopherol.

"We observed that eating pecans increased levels of gamma tocopherol concentrations in the blood and subsequently reduced a marker of lipid oxidation," adds Dr. Haddad.

Oxidation of fats in the blood a process akin to rusting is detrimental to health. When the "bad" cholesterol becomes oxidized, it is more likely to build up and result in arteriosclerosis.

These latest research findings on pecan's healthfulness were reported in the latest issue of Nutrition Research, just released this week. They are from the second phase of a research project designed to evaluate the health benefits of pecans, as per Dr. Haddad. She analyzed blood samples from study participants (a total of 23 men and women between the ages of 25 and 55) who ate two diets: one that contained pecans and one that did not. Participants were randomly placed on either the American Heart Association's Step I diet or a pecan-enriched version of the Step I diet. (The pecan-enriched diet was similar to the Step I diet but replaced 20 percent of calories with pecans). After four weeks on one diet, they then switched to the other diet.........

Posted by: Janet      Permalink         Source

September 27, 2006, 8:20 PM CT

Islet Transplantation Has Potential Benefits

The results of the world's first multicenter clinical trial of islet transplantation have confirmed the technique's potential benefits in patients with difficult-to-control type 1 (or "juvenile") diabetes. Reported in the September 28, 2006 issue of the New England Journal (NEJM), the international team of researchers report that the Edmonton Protocol for islet transplantation can safely and successfully promote long-term stabilization of blood sugar levels in "brittle" diabetes patients and in some cases, relieve them of the need for insulin injections altogether for at least two years.

The multicenter study, begun in 2001, studied 36 volunteers diagnosed with brittle type 1 diabetes: patients who, despite their best efforts, had wide, unpredictable fluctuations in their blood sugar levels. Using the Edmonton Protocol for type 1 diabetes, each participant received up to three infusions of donated insulin-producing islet cells at one of 9 participating clinical centers in the US, Canada and Europe. The study was sponsored by the Immune Tolerance Network (ITN), with funding and support from the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). NIAID and NIDDK are both components of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).........

Posted by: JoAnn      Permalink         Source

September 17, 2006, 10:33 PM CT

A Possible Treatment For Type 1 Diabetes

A new vaccine being tested in a human clinical trial holds a great deal of promise for treating type 1 diabetes, a disease that newly afflicts 35,000 children each year. The research that established the foundation for this vaccine was conducted in UCLA research laboratories. The drug is still being tested and is not likely to be available for at least a few years.

"It's the only thing so far that really slows this disease down without adverse side effects," Allan J. Tobin, a UCLA professor emeritus of physiological science and neurology, said about the new drug. "The amazing thing about this emerging story, however, is that it started from basic research on the brain." Tobin, whose laboratory conducted critical neuroscience research in the late 1980s and 1990s, is a member and former director of UCLA's Brain Research Institute.

Type 1 diabetes -- also known as insulin-dependent diabetes or juvenile diabetes (because it commonly begins in childhood or adolescence) -- afflicts more than 1 million Americans. Typically it is characterized by a failure of the body to produce insulin because the immune system attacks and destroys the body's insulin-producing cells of the pancreas.

On Sunday, Sept. 17, at a meeting in Copenhagen of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, Johnny Ludvigsson -- pediatrics professor at Sweden's University Hospital, Linkping University -- will present results from the phase II study conducted in eight hospitals in Sweden in collaboration with Diamyd Medical (www.diamyd.com), a life science company located in Stockholm, Sweden.........

Posted by: JoAnn      Permalink         Source

September 14, 2006, 5:02 AM CT

Transplant Cures Rat's Type 2 Diabetes

An approach proven to cure a rat model of type 1 or juvenile-onset diabetes also works in a rat model of type 2 or adult-onset diabetes, as per a new report from scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

"Finding that we can cure type 2 diabetes in the same way is very significant because in humans type 2 diabetes is almost 20 times more prevalent than type 1 diabetes," says senior author Marc R. Hammerman, M.D., the Chromalloy Professor of Renal Diseases in Medicine. "There are about 200 million type 2 diabetics worldwide, and the incidence is rapidly increasing."

The therapy approach transplants precursors of the pancreas from embryonic pigs. In a prior study, Hammerman and co-developer Sharon A. Rogers, research instructor in medicine, showed that they could transplant the cells in a way that lets them grow into insulin producers without triggering attacks by the rats' immune systems. This cured the rats' diabetes without the risky immune suppression drugs mandatory to prevent rejection in other transplant-based therapys.

The results appear online and will be published in Transplant Immunology.

Hammerman and Rogers are leaders in the emerging field of organogenesis, which focuses on growing organs from stem cells and other embryonic cell clusters known as organ primordia. Unlike embryonic stem cells, which can become virtually any cell type, primordia are locked into becoming cells of a particular organ.........

Posted by: JoAnn      Permalink         Source

September 13, 2006, 9:38 PM CT

Diabetics And Lower Limb Amputations

A number of people suffering foot and leg pain falsely attribute their aches to temporary discomfort or simply "growing old," when something far more serious and often preventable is frequently taking place.

People that neglect foot and leg pain especially the 20.8 million people in the U.S. with diabetes can be at risk for amputation. This neglect has contributed to a sharp rise in amputations, with the Centers for Disease Control finding the number of diabetes-related lower limb amputations to have increased by 227 percent between 1980 (33,000) and 2003 (75,000).

Diabetics are prone to amputation as the condition often causes blood vessels in the foot and leg to narrow, causing poor circulation. This makes diabetics susceptible to infection, making it difficult for these wounds to heal. In fact, nine out of 10 non-traumatic lower extremity amputations are instigated by an infection, as per a research studyled by Texas A&M University. The American Diabetes Association says that diabetes is the most frequent cause of non-traumatic lower limb amputations.

The unfortunate result of these trends is that each year, 75,000 people lose their foot, leg or toe due to diabetes, and 85 percent of these losses could have been avoided, as per the International Diabetes Federation.........

Posted by: JoAnn      Permalink         Source

September 13, 2006, 5:02 AM CT

Added Benefit Of Statins

UC Davis scientists have shown that statins not only improve cholesterol levels, but also dramatically reduce disease-causing inflammation in patients with metabolic syndrome - a condition defined by symptoms that include abdominal obesity and high blood pressure.

The study, published online in the September 12 issue of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, offers new hope to the one in four Americans with metabolic syndrome who have double the risk of developing heart disease and are five times more likely to develop diabetes.

"Changes in diet and exercise, resulting in weight loss are still the therapy of choice for preventing the consequences of metabolic syndrome," said Kenny Jialal, a professor of internal medicine at UC Davis Health System and director of the Laboratory for Atherosclerosis and Metabolic Research. "However, people don't always adhere to those changes. Our results suggest that statin may be a way to forestall the deadly complications of metabolic syndrome".

Statins are a class of drugs used to prevent and treat heart disease. They work by lowering cholesterol levels and preventing atherosclerosis, the blockage of blood vessels due to plaque build-up. Previously, Jialal's group showed that statins, as a class of drugs, are anti-inflammatory. Typically since the metabolic syndrome, is characterized by low-grade inflammation and insulin resistance, they decided to look at the direct effect of statins on inflammation in these patients.........

Posted by: Daniel      Permalink         Source