Diabetes News February 17th 2012

Oral Pharmacologic Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus
A Clinical Practice Guideline From the American College of Physicians (Annals of Internal Medicine)

Angiotensin receptor blockers for prevention of new-onset type 2 diabetes: A meta-analysis of 59,862 patients
There is sufficient evidence that ARBs have beneficial effect in preventing new-onset type 2 diabetes. ARBs should be considered in patients with high risk of developing diabetes (International Journal of Cardiology)

Incidence of insulin-treated diabetes in Australia 2000–2009
During this period, 222,544 people began using insulin to treat their diabetes. Of these, 77% had Type 2 diabetes, 12% had gestational diabetes and 10% had Type 1 diabetes. The remaining 1% had other types of diabetes (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare)

Social adaptability index predicts overall mortality in patients with diabetes
Social adaptability index is associated with mortality in the diabetic population and is useful in identifying individuals who are at risk for inferior outcomes (Journal of Diabetes and Its Complications)

Body composition in children with type 1 diabetes in the first year after diagnosis: relationship to glycaemic control and cardiovascular risk
Insulin deficiency at diagnosis of diabetes causes a catabolic state that is predominantly lipolytic. Body composition normalises within 6 weeks of treatment, though girls remain thinner than boys both at diagnosis and 1 year thereafter, in contrast to published findings. Despite girls being prescribed a larger insulin dose, their HbA1c and cholesterol levels are higher at 1 year suggesting increased insulin resistance and cardiovascular risk (Archives of Diseases in Childhood)

The branching pattern of villous capillaries and structural changes of placental terminal villi in type 1 diabetes mellitus
It is concluded that type 1 maternal diabetes enhances the surface area of the capillary wall by elongation, enlargement of diameter and higher branching of villous capillaries and disrupts the stromal structure of terminal villi (Placenta)

Hyperfiltration in type 1 diabetes: does it exist and does it matter for nephropathy?
In the absence of incipient or overt nephropathy, conventionally determined renal function in patients with type 1 diabetes appears no different from that in the general population. This is hardly surprising, given that these individuals, by all definitions, do not have kidney disease (Diabetologia)

Large-Scale Gene-Centric Meta-Analysis across 39 studies Identifies Type 2 Diabetes Loci
This large-scale meta-analysis involving a dense gene-centric approach has uncovered additional loci and variants that contribute to T2D risk and suggests substantial overlap of T2D association signals across multiple ethnic groups (American Journal of Human Genetics)

Regulation of core clock genes in human islets
The data suggest that perturbations of circadian clock components may contribute to islet pathophysiology in human type 2 diabetes mellitus (Metabolism – Clinical and Experimental)

Gene Expression Differences in Skin Fibroblasts in Identical Twins Discordant for Type 1 Diabetes
This is the first in vitro study demonstrating diabetes-relevant gene expression differences between T1D-discordant identical twins. These SF gene expression differences, persistent despite the HG in vitro conditions, likely reflect “metabolic memory”, and discordant identical twins thus represent an excellent model for studying diabetic epigenetic processes in humans (Diabetes)