Diabetes
Gene Discovered for Type 1 Diabetes in Children
|
|
Pediatrics researchers at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and McGill University in Montreal have identified a gene variant that raises a child’s risk for type 1 diabetes, formerly called juvenile diabetes. As investigators continue to pinpoint genes contributing to diabetes, they have their eyes on providing a scientific basis for designing better treatments and preventive measures for the disease.
The research adds a new gene and new knowledge to the four genes previously discovered for type 1 diabetes, in which the immune system destroys insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas and makes patients dependent on frequent insulin injections to keep the body’s blood sugar under control. As the project continues, the study team expects to identify additional genes (perhaps as many as 15 or 20) thought to interact with each other in the disease.
Calcium, vitamin D may lower diabetes risk
|
|
Calcium and vitamin D, whether from food or supplements, may help lower the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, according to a research review.
A number of studies have found links between type 2 diabetes risk and calcium, vitamin D and dairy food intake. When the results from these studies are combined, the new review found, people with the highest intakes of vitamin D and calcium had an 18 percent lower risk of diabetes than those with the lowest intakes.
Newer beta-blocker doesn’t up weight in diabetics
|
|
Unlike earlier beta-blocker drugs used to treat high blood pressure, the newer drug carvedilol does not cause weight gain in people with diabetes, according to findings from a new study.
“Increases in body weight have been documented with long-term therapy of traditional beta-blockers,” Dr. Franz H. Messerli, of St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center, New York, and colleagues write in the American Journal of Medicine. “Any weight gain is of concern in patients with type 2 diabetes because of the rise in insulin resistance associated with excess weight and obesity.”
New drugs lower blood glucose without weight gain
|
|
wo new antidiabetes drugs are modestly effective at reducing blood glucose levels without causing weight gain in people with type 2 diabetes, according to a review in this week’s Journal of the American Medical Association.
Both drugs target incretin hormones that are produced in the gastrointestinal tract and boost the release of insulin triggered by glucose. This “incretin pathway” appears to be weakened in type 2 diabetes.
Heart care sub par in older diabetics: study
|
|
A low proportion of elderly individuals newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes receive heart-protecting drugs like aspirin, blood pressure-lowering drugs and cholesterol-lowering drugs, according to a Canadian study.
People with diabetes are at increased risk for developing heart and vascular disease. The results of the current study suggest that the management of cardiovascular risk for type 2 diabetes patients is “less than appropriate,” the study team concludes in the journal Diabetes Care this month.
Both types of diabetes raise stroke risk: study
|
|
New research indicates that both insulin-dependent (type 1) diabetes and non-insulin-dependent (type 2) diabetes is associated with substantially increased risks of stroke overall, and most subtypes of stroke.
Strokes occur when the blood flow to the brain stops, causing brain cells to begin dying within minutes. There are two types of strokes. The most frequent kind is called ischemic stroke and is triggered by a blood clot that blocks a blood vessel in the brain. Hemorrhagic stroke is triggered when a blood vessel breaks and bleeds into the brain.
Cholesterol drug hits diabetes with one-two punch, Tulane study says
|
|
Patients with type 2 diabetes may soon be able to control their glucose and their cholesterol levels with a single drug, according to a study led by Vivian A. Fonseca, professor of medicine and pharmacology at Tulane University School of Medicine and chief of the Tulane University Health Sciences Center Diabetes Program.
Results from the clinical trial demonstrated that the compound colesevelam HCl, in combination with Sulfonylurea-based therapy in patients with inadequately controlled type 2 diabetes, achieved significantly reduced glucose levels versus those in the study taking a placebo. The study was recently presented at the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists’ 16th Annual Meeting and Clinical Congress.
Wesley Research Institute study targets pharmacists to help diabetes sufferers
|
|
A new Wesley Research Institute project aims to make it much easier for people to manager their Type 2 Diabetes by using community pharmacists.
There are more than one million Australians with Type 2 Diabetes who are at an increased risk of developing serious health problems including heart disease, stroke, kidney disease and blindness.
Healthy diet may decrease diabetes risk
|
|
Adopting a diet rich in whole grains, vegetables and fiber while cutting back on red meat and fats may reduce the risk of developing diabetes, results of a new study suggest.
“We now have some solid evidence to give dietary recommendations to help reduce risk of diabetes,” study co-author Dr. Teresa T. Fung, of Simmons College in Boston, Massachusetts, told Reuters Health.
Exercise key in control of type 2 diabetes: study
|
|
People with type 2 diabetes may go a long way in managing their condition if they take up regular exercise, a new research review shows.
Researchers found that when they combined the results from 103 studies, there was clear evidence that lifestyle changes helped people with type 2 diabetes gain better control over their blood sugar.
Type 1 diabetes and heart disease—Heavier may mean healthier
|
|
Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences studying links between an early sign of heart disease called coronary artery calcification and body fat have found that, paradoxically, more fat may have some advantages, at least for people – particularly women – who have type 1 diabetes. Cardiovascular complications, including heart disease, are a leading cause of death for people with diabetes, who tend to suffer cardiovascular disease decades earlier than non-diabetics.
“Gaining weight may reflect good or better treatment with insulin therapy, which may partly explain why participants who gained weight over time had lower mortality rates,” said Trevor Orchard, M.D., professor of epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health (GSPH), who is presenting the findings during the 67th annual meeting of the American Diabetes Association. Scientific sessions take place June 22-26 at the McCormick Place Convention Center, Chicago.
Glaxo failed to warn of diabetes drug risk
|
|
The widow and son of a Texas man who was taking a GlaxoSmithKline Plc diabetes drug at the time of his fatal heart attack claims the drugmaker failed to warn about the drug’s risks, according to a lawsuit.
The claim involves rosiglitazone, which is sold under the brand names Avandia and Advandamet. Investors have been bracing for a flood of litigation against Glaxo after a widely publicized medical report suggested Avandia increases the risk of heart attack.
Risk of Stroke Doubles If Diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes
|
|
Individuals diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes are at double the risk of having a stroke compared to those without diabetes, according to new research from the University of Alberta. It was found that the risk of a stroke is considered high within the first five years of treatment for Type 2 diabetes and more than doubles the rate of occurrence.
For this study, the researchers entered 12,272 subjects into a Type 2 diabetes cohort. All subjects were recently diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes and had a mean age of 64 years. After five years of monitoring, stroke incidence rates were compared between the cohort and the general population.
Diabetes drug may help obese people eat less
|
|
Obese subjects ate nearly 1,000 fewer calories per day when they injected pramlintide, a drug approved for the treatment of insulin-dependent diabetes, before every meal, a new study shows.
The subjects were also less likely to binge eat and ate less when faced with “fast-food challenges” of deep-dish pizza, sugary sodas and ice cream.
Diabetes group urges patient caution on Avandia
|
|
The latest studies on Avandia, GlaxoSmithKline’s blockbuster diabetes drug, have raised enough questions about the drug’s safety to worry the American Diabetes Association.
Several studies now suggest the drug, which lowers blood sugar levels, may raise the risk of heart attack. Glaxo researchers rushed out an interim analysis of an ongoing study on Tuesday the company said showed no increased risk, but independent experts disagreed.
