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Cocoa could be a healthy treat for diabetic patients
2008-05-27 04:37:00
For people with diabetes, sipping a mug of steaming, flavorful cocoa may seem a guilty pleasure. But new research suggests that indulging a craving for cocoa can actually help blood vessels to function better and might soon be considered part of a healthy diet for the prevention of cardiovascular disease........
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MGH initiates phase I diabetes trial
2008-03-14 03:21:00
Researchers at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) have initiated a phase 1 clinical trial to reverse type 1 diabetes. The trial is exploring whether the promising results from the laboratory of Denise Faustman, MD, PhD, can be applied in human diabetes. Faustmans prior studies have shown that mice with a form of diabetes that closely resembles type 1 diabetes in humans can be cured. In the animal studies, a usually used vaccine that provides protection against tuberculosis, called Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) was used effectively to deplete the abnormal immune cells that attack and destroy the insulin producing cells of the pancreas. The first step in the human study, which is currently enrolling volunteers, is to determine whether the same strategy using BCG vaccination can be used to modify the abnormal autoimmune cells that are present in type 1 diabetes, sometimes called juvenile-onset diabetes........
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Diabetes Drug To Treat Depression
2008-02-29 05:15:00
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are seeking individuals who have depression and are overweight to volunteer for a study evaluating whether a diabetes drug might help improve mood. The five-year, NIH-funded study seeks 200 people with depression who are overweight and at risk for developing diabetes. Participants will be screened for depression and insulin resistance, one of the first signs of developing diabetes. Those who qualify will be treated and followed for 16 weeks........
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Diabetes makes it hard for blood vessels to relax
2008-02-01 03:53:00
One way diabetes is bad for your blood vessels is by creating too much competition for an amino acid that helps blood vessels relax, scientists say. That amino acid, L-arginine, is broken down by the enzyme arginase to urea, which helps the body eliminate toxins resulting from the proteins we eat. Diabetics have a lot of arginase activity, which means they use a lot more L-arginine, says Dr. Maritza Romero, postdoctoral fellow at the Medical College of Georgia and lead author of the paper reported in the current issue of Circulation Research........
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Notch-ing glucose into place
2008-01-28 12:19:00
A novel gene called rumi regulates Notch signaling by adding a glucose molecule to the part of the Notch protein that extends outside a cell, said researchers from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and Stony Brook University in New York in a report that appears today in the journal Cell. Cellular signaling governed by the Notch protein determines cell fate determination and differentiation........
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Researchers trigger insulin production in diabetic mice
2008-01-09 04:41:00
If the human body were a stage, then proteins would rank among the lead actors in the play we call Life. These large biological molecules hold a number of starring roles, and their lines are dictated by information encoded in our genes. They are production powerhouses, regulating the basic processes of living and controlling countless functions. A number of are enzymes that produce or use energy. Others regulate genes........
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Carrot cake study on sugar in type 2 diabetes
2008-01-09 04:41:00
Patients with type 2 diabetes are often advised to cut out sucrose (table sugar) all together. However, in recent years this traditional advice has been questioned by some scientists who suggest that moderate amounts of sugar can be safely consumed as part of the diet of patients with diabetes. Now a new study has been published that is consistent with this revised approach. It showed that patients who increased their daily sugar intake (in the form of carrot cake) but maintained a stable body weight, showed no adverse changes in their blood glucose........
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Smoking associated with increased risk of diabetes
2007-12-12 05:44:00
A review of prior studies indicates that people who currently smoke have an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, compared with non-smokers, as per an article in the December 12 issue of JAMA. Many studies have examined the association between smoking and occurence rate of glucose abnormalities, and have suggested that smoking could be independently linked to glucose intolerance, impaired fasting glucose and type 2 diabetes, which could make smoking a modifiable risk factor for type 2 diabetes. However, it appears the quality and clinical features of these studies have not been fully assessed regarding this possible association........
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Gene's Role in Type 1 Diabetes
2007-11-08 02:49:00
Scientists at the University of Virginia Health System have identified an enzyme believed to be an important instigator of the inner-body conflict that causes Type 1 diabetes. A chronic condition that affects nearly three million American children and adults, Type 1 diabetes is more severe than Type 2. Type 1 diabetes, also called autoimmune diabetes, arises when the body's infection-fighting white blood cells start destroying the beta-cells that produce insulin in the pancreas........
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High Blood Pressure Heart Disease And Diabetes
2007-11-01 02:19:00
High-blood-pressure patients treated for enlarged heart (left ventricular hypertrophy, LVH) who have regression or prevention of LVH may also have a better chance of preventing diabetes. Led by physician-researchers at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, the research is reported in the November Hypertension, a journal of the American Heart Association (AHA)........
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Potential role of leptin in diabetes
2007-10-02 05:09:00
A new Joslin-led study has shown that leptin, a hormone known mainly for regulating appetite control and energy metabolism, plays a major role in islet cell growth and insulin secretion. This finding opens up new avenues for studying leptin and its role in islet cell biology, which may lead to new therapys for diabetes. This study appears in the October 2007 issue of The Journal of Clinical Investigation........
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Smart Insulin Nanostructures Pass Feasibility Test
2007-09-21 13:34:00
Biomedical engineers at The University of Texas School of Health Information Sciences at Houston have announced pre-clinical test results in the recent issue of the International Journal of Nanomedicine demonstrating the feasibility of a smart particle insulin release system that detects spikes in glucose or blood sugar levels and releases insulin to counteract them........
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Metabolic syndrome and uric-acid kidney stones
2007-09-14 13:21:00
Scientists at UT Southwestern Medical Center have observed that patients suffering from the metabolic syndrome - a cluster of conditions that increases the risk for heart disease, stroke and diabetes - also have a propensity to develop highly acidic urine, which increases the risk of developing kidney stones........
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How Cells From Pigs May Cure Diabetes
2007-09-13 03:58:00
Within three years, insulin-producing islet cells from pigs may be used in clinical trials on a path to finally cure insulin dependant diabetes. This key finding was the discovery of Dr. Bernhard Hering, Scientific Director of the Diabetes Institute for Immunology and Transplantation at the University of Minnesota and his team, who documented their medical breakthrough in the prestigious scientific journal Nature Medicine in March of 2006........
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Anti-malarial drug may reduce risk of diabetes
2007-09-07 05:45:00
Preliminary research suggests that use of the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine may help reduce the risk of the development of diabetes in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, as per a research studyin the July 11 issue of JAMA. Type 2 diabetes mellitus affects nearly 8 percent of US adults, and its prevalence has been increasing........
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Gene discovered for type 1 diabetes in children
2007-09-07 05:45:00
Pediatrics scientists at The Children s Hospital of Philadelphia and McGill University in Montreal have identified a gene variant that raises a childs risk for type 1 diabetes, formerly called juvenile diabetes. As researchers continue to pinpoint genes contributing to diabetes, they have their eyes on providing a scientific basis for designing better therapys and preventive measures for the disease........
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How insulin TORC2 blood sugar levels
2007-09-07 05:45:00
La Jolla, CA With the help of genetically engineered mice whose livers turned into glowing light bulbs, scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have illuminated the underpinnings of an insidious and growing health concern type II diabetes. In the study reported in the September 5 advanced online edition of Nature, the scientists report that a protein called TORC2 serves as a key biochemical control point linking feeding, insulin, and elevated blood sugar production in the liver. The findings highlight TORC2 and an enzyme called SIK2 as potential drug targets for treating type II diabetes........
More About: Sugar , Blood

How insulin secreting cells maintain their glucose sensitivity
2007-09-07 05:45:00
Researchers at the leading Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet have now disclosed the mystery how the insulin-secreting cells maintain an appropriate number of ATP sensing ion channel proteins on their surface. This mechanism, which is described in the latest number of Cell Metabolism, explains how the human body can keep the blood glucose concentration within the normal range and thereby avoid the development of diabetes........

Right breakfast bread keeps blood sugar
2007-09-07 05:45:00
If you eat the right grains for breakfast, such as whole-grain barley or rye, the regulation of your blood sugar is facilitated after breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It was previously not known that certain whole-grain products have this effect all day. This is due to a combination of low GI (glycemic index) and certain type of indigestible carbohydrates that occur in certain grain products. The findings are presented in a dissertation from the Faculty of Engineering at Lund University. The dissertation shows that even people who have had a breakfast low in GI find it easier to concentrate for the rest of the morning........
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Treating diabetes during pregnancy
2007-09-07 05:45:00
Treating diabetes during pregnancy can break the link between gestational diabetes and childhood obesity, as per a Kaiser Permanente study featured in the recent issue of Diabetes Care. The largest study of its kind, this research shows that the risk of childhood obesity rises in tandem with a pregnant womans blood sugar level and that untreated gestational diabetes nearly doubles a child's risk of becoming obese by age 5 to 7. The study also shows for the first time that by treating women with gestational diabetes, the childs risk of becoming obese is significantly reduced. In fact, children whose moms were treated for gestational diabetes had the same risk for becoming obese as children whose mothers had normal blood sugar levels........
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Discovery of 'sugar sensor' in intestine
2007-09-07 05:45:00
Diabetes patients could benefit from new research at the University of Liverpool that has identified a molecule in the intestine that can taste the sugar content of the diet. Scientists observed that the sweet taste receptor that senses sugar and artificial sweeteners is not only present in the tongue, but also in the intestine. The discovery will open new avenues for the therapy of diabetes and obesity, as well as suggest reasons for why artificially sweetened foods and beverages sometimes fail to result in weight loss........
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Reducing inflammation plays as type 1 diabetes therapy
2007-09-07 05:45:00
BOSTON -- Scientists at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) have observed that a triple combination treatment consisting of both tolerance-inducing and anti-inflammatory properties is successful in abolishing adverse autoimmunity against insulin-producing cells in a mouse model of Type 1 diabetes........
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Insulin grown in plants relieves diabetes in mice
2007-09-07 05:45:00
Capsules of insulin produced in genetically modified lettuce could hold the key to restoring the bodys ability to produce insulin and help millions of Americans who suffer from insulin-dependent diabetes, as per University of Central Florida biomedical researchers. Professor Henry Daniells research team genetically engineered tobacco plants with the insulin gene and then administered freeze-dried plant cells to five-week-old diabetic mice as a powder for eight weeks. By the end of the study, the diabetic mice had normal blood and urine sugar levels, and their cells were producing normal levels of insulin........
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New Diabetes Toll On New York City
2007-09-07 05:45:00
The diabetes epidemic is taking a large and growing toll on New York City , a new Health Department report shows, as death rates, debilitating complications, and hospitalization costs soar. Some 500,000 New Yorkers one out of eight adults have been diagnosed with diabetes. Another 200,000 have diabetes but dont yet know it. The death rate from diabetes rose by 75% between 1990 and 2003........
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Shielding the brain from too much insulin can prolong life
2007-09-07 05:45:00
One route to a long and healthy life may be establishing the right balance in insulin signaling in the body and brain, as per new research from Children's Hospital Boston. The study, reported in the July 20 issue of Science, not only reinforces the value of exercising and eating in moderation, but also helps explain a paradox in longevity research........
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Rosiglitazone for type 2 diabetes
2007-09-07 05:45:00
New studies are needed to assess the trade-offs between potential benefits and potential harms when rosiglitazone is used by people with type 2 diabetes. This Cochrane Systematic Review analysed data from 18 trials that involved a total of 8432 people and found no evidence that rosiglitazone led to better patient outcomes when compared with other therapies. Diabetic control (as measured by levels of HbA1c) was no better in patients given rosiglitazone when in comparison to other antidiabetic drugs. Patient oriented outcomes such as mortality, diabetes related morbidity, or quality of life were not addressed in most studies........
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Rapid-acting insulin: superiority not proven
2007-09-07 05:45:00
There is currently no evidence available of a superiority of rapid-acting insulin analogues over human insulin in the therapy of adult patients with diabetes mellitus type 1. The evidential value and design of studies available so far are inadequate and do not allow conclusions regarding most patient-relevant treatment goals, such as the reduction in long-term complications or overall mortality. Due to the lack of data, the benefit of rapid-acting insulin analogues in children and adolescents is unclear. Eventhough one of the manufacturers conducted long-term comparative studies in this group of patients, it is withholding some of the results. This is the result of the final report of the Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) which was published in June 2007 and for which an English-language summary is now available........
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Diabetics experience more complications following trauma
2007-09-07 05:45:00
Individuals with diabetes appear to spend more days in the intensive care unit, use more ventilator support and have more complications during hospitalization for trauma than non-diabetics, as per a report in the recent issue of Archives of Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Approximately 17 million Americans have diabetes, with one-third remaining undiagnosed, as per background information in the article. These patients develop complications more frequently and do worse after an acute illness than individuals without diabetes. Studies show that diabetics do worse after being hospitalized for stroke, heart attack and heart surgery, but little is known about their outcomes after trauma........
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New drug to improve pregnancy outcomes
2007-09-07 05:45:00
Women who are obese, have type 2 diabetes or a family history of type 2 diabetes could one day have more successful pregnancies because of a study at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. This study, performed in mice, suggests that Metformin, the most usually prescribed anti-diabetes drug, could potentially improve pregnancy outcomes in women with insulin resistance........
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