Diabetes News April 6th 2012

First ever mandatory care standards bring hope of improved care for children and young people with diabetes
Set by leading paediatric doctors, nurses and commissioners, working in partnership with NHS Diabetes, the ‘Best Practice Tariff for Paediatric Diabetes’ sets out 13 mandatory care standards1 for paediatric diabetes service teams to meet (NHS Diabetes)

Diabetes Outcomes Versus Expenditure Tool (DOVE)
The Diabetes Outcomes Versus Expenditure (DOVE) tool allows users to compare expenditure on diabetes care with clinical outcomes for a selected PCT, other PCTs with similar populations and all other PCTs. Spending on diabetes care can be compared to a number of outcomes at PCT level (Yorkshire and Humber Public Health Observatory)

Implementing key therapeutic topics: Type 2 diabetes
These bulletins summarise the evidence-base for the therapeutic topics reviewed, and contrast this with the prescribing data available for these topics (MeReC Bulletin

Prevalence of abnormal plasma liver enzymes in older people with Type 2 diabetes
The prevalence of elevated liver enzymes in people with Type 2 diabetes is high, with only modest variation between clinically defined patient groups. Further research is required to determine the prognostic value of raised, routinely measured liver enzymes to inform decisions on appropriate follow-up investigations (Diabetic Medicine)

Alcohol consumption and risk of pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes development in a Swedish population
High alcohol consumption increases the risk of abnormal glucose regulation in men. In women the associations are more complex: decreased risk with low or medium intake and increased risk with high alcohol intake (Diabetic Medicine)

Estimated morbidity and mortality in adolescents and young adults diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes mellitus
Adolescents/young adults with Type 2 diabetes lose approximately 15 years from average RLE and may experience severe, chronic complications of Type 2 diabetes by their 40s. A comprehensive management plan that includes early and aggressive control of cardiovascular risk factors is likely needed to reduce lifetime risk of CHD (Diabetic Medicine)

Evaluation of renal biopsies in type 2 diabetic patients with kidney disease: a clinicopathological study of 216 cases
Our results indicated that the clinical manifestations and pathologic findings in type 2 diabetic patients in different age groups have different features. This study emphasized the usefulness of renal biopsy for determining the pattern of renal damage and thus for the overall management of type 2 diabetic patients (International Urology and Nephrology)

A gene variant near ATM is significantly associated with metformin treatment response in type 2 diabetes: a replication and meta-analysis of five cohorts
This is the first robustly replicated common susceptibility locus found to be associated with metformin treatment response (Diabetologia)

Gestational diabetes and pregnancy outcomes. a systematic review of WHO and IADPSG diagnostic criteria
The WHO and the IADPSG criteria for GDM identified women at a small increased risk for adverse pregnancy outcomes (BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth)

Apelin, a promising target for type 2 diabetes treatment?
In this review, we describe the various metabolic functions that are affected by apelin and we present an integrated overview of recent findings that collectively propose apelin as a promising target for the treatment of T2DM (Trends in Endocrinology & Metabolism)

Interaction between glycaemic control and serum insulin-like growth factor 1 on the risk of retinopathy in type 2 diabetes
Our data suggested serum IGF-1 was a contributing factor in severe diabetic retinopathy and this effect may be masked by poor glycaemic control (European Journal of Clinical Investigation)