Diabetes News April 20th 2009

Diabetes stories
This website presents 100 audio interviews with people with diabetes, members of their families and healthcare professionals (OCDEM)

Scientists See Hope, Peril in Trials of Islet Transplantation for Diabetes
Optimism has been tempered by less promising long-term results, as well as substantial costs and questions about the therapy’s safety and utility (JAMA)

Stem cells ‘cure diabetes’
Behind the headlines (NHS Choices)

Diabetes UK to lead national care planning training
NHS Diabetes has contracted Diabetes UK to develop and deliver a model care planning training package (Diabetes UK)

Use of hypoglycemic drugs during lactation
The available data suggest that the levels of glyburide and glipizide in milk are negligible and would not be expected to cause adverse effects in breastfed infants … Treatment with metformin during lactation is unlikely to lead to toxicity in the breastfed infant (Canadian Family Physician)

Defective insulin signaling in placenta from pregnancies complicated by gestational diabetes mellitus
Our results suggest that post receptor defects are present in the insulin signaling pathway in placenta of women with pregnancies complicated by diabetes and obesity. In addition, expression studies demonstrate post receptor alterations in insulin signaling possibly under selective maternal regulation and not fetal regulation (European Journal of Endocrinology – via PubMed)

Changes in endotoxin levels in T2DM subjects on anti-diabetic therapies
We confirm an association between endotoxin and serum insulin and triglycerides and an inverse relationship with HDL (Cardiovascular Diabetology)

Prevention of diabetes in hypertensive patients: Results and implications from the VALUE trial
This review focuses on recent experimental and clinical evidence supporting the role of renin–angiotensin system inhibition in the reduction of new onset type 2 diabetes and the mechanisms that may be involved (Vascular Health and Risk Management)

Tight Glycemic Control Reduces Heart Inflammation and Remodeling During Acute Myocardial Infarction in Hyperglycemic Patients
Tight glycemic control, by reducing oxidative stress and inflammation, might reduce apoptosis in peri-infarcted areas and remodeling in AMI patients (American College of Cardiology)

Roche Diabetes Care supports “Changing Diabetes in Children”
Roche today announced that it will join forces with Novo Nordisk and the World Diabetes Foundation (WDF) in Novo Nordisk’s five-year program called “Changing Diabetes in Children” (Roche)

Diamyd discussing potential consolidation of Phase III trials
Diamyd Medical is conducting two clinical Phase III trials of the Diamyd® diabetes vaccine in children and adolescents with recent onset type 1 diabetes: one in the US and one in nine European countries. In parallel the company is discussing with the regulatory agencies about combining the two trials into one global trial (Diamyd Medical)

Ounces of Prevention — The Public Policy Case for Taxes on Sugared Beverages
A penny-per-ounce excise tax could reduce consumption of sugared beverages by more than 10%. It is difficult to imagine producing behavior change of this magnitude through education alone, even if government devoted massive resources to the task (NEJM)

The Truth About the So-Called “Diabetes Diet”
The “diabetes diet” is not something that people with type 1 or type 2 diabetes should be following. “That just simply isn’t how meal planning works today for patients with diabetes,” says Amy Campbell, a nutritionist at (Joslin Diabetes Center)

BMI scale not accurate measure for obesity
Certain ethnic groups may not be getting accurate estimates of disease risk when they try to determine obesity using the traditional body mass index scale, say researchers at (Baylor College of Medicine)

Diabetic cardiomyopathy
With regard to treatment, recent data with thiazoledinediones has generated much controversy in terms of the cardiac safety of both these and other drugs currently in use and under development (Clinical Science)

Treatment Algorithm helps Successfully Manage Diabetes after Transplant Surgery
New research highlighting the relationship between steroids and insulin requirements suggests a possible treatment algorithm in post-liver transplant patients (American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists)

Glitazone use associated with diabetic macular edema
After adjusting for confounding factors of age, glycemic control, and insulin use, glitazones are still modestly associated with DME (American Journal of Opthalmology – via PubMed)

Genetics of Type 1A Diabetes
Recently, the availability of detailed information on the structure and variation of the human genome and of new high-throughput techniques for exploiting these data has geneticists dreaming of unraveling the genetic complexity that underlies these disorders – Abstract (NEJM)