Diabetes
Free diabetes checks from Coalition
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A MILLION free health checks to detect the early onset of chronic diseases such as diabetes will be given at work places and chemists under a state Coalition government.
In the battle of the bulge ahead of next month’s poll, the Opposition will today announce a $10 million health check plan aimed at keeping people out of hospital. People will be offered free tests for blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes and even waist measurements to detect obesity.
If an abnormal or “at risk” result is returned, the chemist will then recommend the patient visit a doctor.
Study on effects of resveratrol and quercetin on inflammation and insulin resistance
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A study was carried out to examine the extent to which quercetin and trans-resveratrol (RSV) prevented inflammation or insulin resistance in primary cultures of human adipocytes treated with tumor necrosis factor-a (TNF-a)—an inflammatory cytokine elevated in the plasma and adipose tissue of obese, diabetic individuals. Cultures of human adipocytes were pretreated with quercetin and trans-RSV followed by treatment with TNF-a. Subsequently, gene and protein markers of inflammation and insulin resistance were measured. The authors report that quercetin, and to a lesser extent trans-RSV, attenuated the TNF-a–induced expression of inflammatory genes such as interleukin (IL)-6, IL-1b, IL-8, and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) and the secretion of IL-6, IL-8, and MCP-1.
Forum members were concerned about certain aspects of the study, especially the extrapolation of in vitro results to in vivo situations. The in vitro conditions the authors describe are minimally representative of an in vivo condition. In vivo, after consumption of quercetin or resveratrol, these compounds undergo extensive metabolism, leading to glucuronidated, sulphated or methylated compounds. In a previous study, quercetin 3-glucoside was transformed to 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid, acetate and butyrate in cells from human gut; only 3’-methylquercetin has been detected in human plasma, present at a concentration of 0.1 to 0.2 µM after 3 h. The authors of the current paper are using concentrations up to 60 µM, concentrations which have not been found in vivo.
There were also concerns with the work on cell uptake of quercetin and resveratrol. Primary adipocytes were incubated with the polyphenols, but it is not clear whether or not the concentrations used were subtoxic. Our current knowledge is limited about local concentration of the molecules we are studying in subcellular compartments, their interaction with alternative targets, and eventually their transformation into products that could be more or less active on a given specific pathway.
Human spermatogonial stem cells become insulin-secreting pancreatic cells in lab
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Insulin-secreting pancreatic islet cells have been generated from human spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) directly isolated from human testicular tissue, researchers reported today at the American Association of Cell Biology 50th Annual Meeting in Philadelphia.
When grafted into diabetic mice that lacked a transplant-rejecting immune system, the bioengineered cells functioned much like somatic β-islet cells, the Georgetown University (GU) Medical Center researchers said.
By decreasing the animals’ blood glucose levels, the human-derived islet cells demonstrated their potential to counter diabetic hyperglycemia in humans, added G. Ian Gallicano, Ph.D., who heads the GU research team.
During National Diabetes Awareness Month, New Report Ties Disease to Shortened Life Expectancy
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Despite medical advances enabling those with diabetes to live longer today than in the past, a 50-year-old with the disease still can expect to live 8.5 years fewer years, on average, than a 50-year-old without the disease.
This critical finding comes from a new report commissioned by The National Academy on an Aging Society and supported by sanofi-aventis U.S. The analysis - based on data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) - found that older adults with diabetes have a lower life expectancy at every age than those without the disease. At age 60, for example, the difference in life expectancy is 5.4 years. By age 90, the difference is one year.
“Given the rise in diabetes among boomers and seniors, these findings are alarming,” said Greg O’Neill, PhD, director of the Academy. “They paint a stark picture of the impact of diabetes and its complications on healthy aging.”
Researchers say uncover HIV, insulin resistance link
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Researchers at the Washington of Medicine say they have uncovered why so many people with the HIV virus develop a dangerous insulin resistance that leads to diabetes and heart disease.
The culprit lies in the powerful drugs that prevent the development of AIDS and have extended the lives of many HIV patients, the researchers say. They hope the discovery will allow development of safer antiviral drugs.
The research, published this month in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, shows HIV protease inhibitor drugs directly interfere with the way blood sugar levels are controlled in the body.
Patients with diabetes may need fewer medications after bariatric surgery
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Bariatric surgery appears to be associated with reduced use of medications and lower health care costs among patients with type 2 diabetes, according to a report in the August issue of Archives of Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
“The rapidly growing epidemics of obesity and diabetes threaten to overburden the world’s health care systems,” the authors write as background information in the article. “From an epidemiological standpoint, once these diseases develop they are rarely reversed. Dietary, pharmaceutical and behavior treatments for obesity are associated with high failure rates, and medical management of diabetes is also often unsuccessful. Despite many efforts to improve the control of glucose levels in diabetes, including clinical guidelines and patient and provider education, less than half of all patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus achieve the American Diabetes Association recommendation of a hemoglobin A1C level of less than 7 percent.”
The use of bariatric surgery—that results in long-term weight loss, improved lifestyle and decreased risk of death—has tripled in the past five years, the authors note. Martin A. Makary, M.D., M.P.H., and colleagues at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, studied 2,235 U.S. adults (average age 48.4) with type 2 diabetes who underwent bariatric surgery during a four-year period, from 2002 to 2005. They used claims data to measure the use of diabetes medications before and after surgery, along with health care costs per year.
Eye disorder common among diabetic adults
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Nearly 30 percent of U.S. diabetics over the age of 40 may have a diabetes-related eye disorder, with 4 percent of this population affected severely enough that their vision is threatened, suggests a new study.
The condition, known as diabetic retinopathy, involves damage to the eye’s retina and is the leading cause of new cases of legal blindness among U.S. adults between 20 and 74 years old. It also costs the U.S. approximately $500 million every year.
“The number of people with diabetes is increasing in this country,” lead researcher Dr. Xinzhi Zhang, of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, told Reuters Health.
Gestational Diabetes Linked to Protein in Pregnancy Diet
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It seems like just yesterday I was posting that there was little to no info about the causes of Gestational Diabetes. Today, it seems like there may be a tiny bit more. A new study shows that women with Gestational Diabetes have lower levels of the chemical Serotonin. Serotonin is made from tryptophan, an amino acid found in high protein foods.
So does this mean that women who eat more protein in the first trimester are less likely to get Gestational Diabetes?
The study shows what is described as “a clear link between the amount and type of protein consumed by the mother early in pregnancy and the generation of islet cells needed to protect her against gestational diabetes late in pregnancy”.
Why Does Diabetes Raise Cancer Risk?
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People with diabetes are at increased risk of certain cancers—but why?
Could it be that some diabetes treatments trigger or promote cancer? Or do the underlying causes of diabetes also underlie cancer?
These are the questions put before an expert panel from the American Diabetes Association and the American Cancer Society (ACS).
What’s Your Hemoglobin A1c?
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Concerned about diabetes or your blood sugar over the last few weeks? Then ask your doctor for a hemoglobin A1c (abbreviated as a HbA1c). This nifty little test is a good long term marker for your sugars, especially if you haven’t been eating that healthy lately.
The results are read in a percentage, such as 5.5 or 9 percent. The American Diabetes Association considers normal less than 7 percent, while the International Diabetes Federation and American College of Endocrinology recommends your results be under 6.5. I tend to recommend under 5.5 percent (much stricter, I know), as I am all about prevention and a study of 48,000 found that a HbA1c above 6.5 percent to have an increased mortality rate.
The higher the HbA1c the worse your blood sugar is over time. Continuous elevations in blood sugar increases the risk for coronary disease, heart attack, stroke, heart problems, kidney problems, erectile dysfunction, vision problems, and numbness in the fingers and toes.
Help For Those Recently Diagnosed with Diabetes
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You can get free help this summer if you have diabetes—the Northern Kentucky Health Department is offering several free programs. Local 12’s Liz Bonis tells us about them.
It looks like a fancy toy—but Joan Geohegan—a diabetes educator uses this toy as a teaching tool to show patients such as Tom Mitts—how fat fat cells shrink when you better manage type two diabetes. “Type two diabetes is when either the insulin the person makes doesn’t work properly or you don’t make enough of it, and insulin is a hormone that helps you use the energy you get from food.”
Mitts was diagnosed with type two diabetes last year—Since then he’s dropped more than 60 pounds—and no longer has diabetes symptoms such as frequent urination, fatigue and increased thirst. “I was drinking I don’t know how many quarts of water just one after another.”
Min-Sheng General Hospital to host First Asian Diabetes Surgery Summit
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Min-Sheng General hospital in Taiwan will host the First Asian Diabetes Summit July16 and 17, 2010. The summit will look at the medical and surgical aspects of Incretin based Therapy. Bariatric surgery has recently been extended to metabolic surgery because of the associated gut hormone change and Incretin Effect.
Organized by Min-Sheng Hospital’s Bariatric & Diabetes Minimally invasive surgery center, the Diabetes Association of the Republic of China, and the Taiwan Association for Endoscopic Surgery, the summit is sponsored by the Taiwan Medical Association for the Study of Obesity, Taiwan Surgical Society of gastroenterology, and equipment maker Covidien. Speakers from across Asia and the United States will present the latest medical and surgical developments in the treatment of Diabetes Type II. Says Professor Lee Wei-Jei, Chairman of the organizing committee and Honorary President of the Asia Pacific Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Society, “It is an appropriate time for gastro-intestinal metabolic surgeons in Asia to work with endocrinologists and all colleagues involved in the treatment of diabetes, to get together and share personal and institutional experience in the management of this disease.”
New Aspirin Guidelines for Diabetes Patients
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Women under 60 and men under 50 who have diabetes but no other major risk factors for heart disease probably should not be on low-dose aspirin therapy, new research suggests.
The new recommendations are based on close examination of nine studies that found the risks of some aspirin side effects, such as stomach bleeding, should be better balanced against the possible benefits of using aspirin.
The new guidelines suggest low-dose aspirin therapy be used by men over 50 and women over 60 with diabetes who have other risk factors for heart attack and stroke.
AAHA releases guidelines on diabetes treatment
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The America Animal Hospital Association has released guidelines for the management of diabetes mellitus in cats and dogs.
The introduction states, in part, “Treatment of DM is a combination of art and science, due in part to the many factors that affect the diabetic state and the animal’s response. Each animal needs individualized, frequent reassessment, and treatment may be modified based on response.”
The first section of the guidelines covers diagnostic criteria and initial assessment for diabetes. The bulk of the document addresses treatment for diabetes, with details about initial and ongoing treatment and monitoring of cats and dogs. Other sections provide additional information about blood glucose concentration, troubleshooting, and client education.
Dental Complications Of Diabetes
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Diabetes can have various adverse effects on sufferers’ health and one of those ill-effects is dental quality. Diabetics have a problem processing sugars, which often leads to a condition called hyperglycemia, which means that there is too much sugar in the blood. The opposite of having too much sugar in your blood is having too little and that is called hypoglycemia.
Both circumstances are governed in healthy people by insulin and herein lies the diabetic’s problem - the body’s automatic production of insulin to regulate blood sugar levels. Both conditions can have serious consequences. Too much sugar in the blood can lead to issues with the kidneys, the heart, the eyes and others, while too little sugar in the blood can cause fits and black-outs.
Tooth and gum disease is normal as are any other health problems. Factors that play a role in tooth and gum disease are age, heredity, smoking and oral hygiene, but the diabetic who is often hyperglycemic has a higher probability of developing dental sickness.
