Killer cells and the causes of type 1 diabetes
In a study part-funded by Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Mark Peakman, Professor of Immunology at King’s College London, has discovered that white blood cells that are normally involved in combating virus infections can kill insulin-producing cells (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation)
Dietary advice for the prevention of type 2 diabetes mellitus in adults
There are no high quality data on the efficacy of dietary intervention for the prevention of type 2 diabetes. More well-designed, long-term studies, providing well-reported, high-quality data are required before proper conclusions can be made (Cochrane Collaboration)
Wales unveils plans to give every school nursing cover
Every secondary school in Wales could have its own ‘family nurse’ by 2011 … the new role will deliver its public health promotion agenda (Nursing Times, UK)
LipidomicNet: A new EU project gets underway
Lipids play a significant role in many wide-spread diseases, including heart disease, obesity-related type 2 diabetes, stroke and cancer, and are implicated in autoimmune diseases (CORDIS)
Is Ramadan fasting safe in type 2 diabetic patients
With a regimen adjustment of oral hypoglycemic drugs, diet control, and physical activity, most patients with T2D whose diabetes was well-controlled before Ramadan can safely observe Ramadan fasting (PubMed)
GI Dynamics To Present Data From Clinical Weight Loss Study Of EndoBarrier Gastrointestinal Liner
GI Dynamics, a medical device company pioneering the development of new approaches to treating metabolic disorders, today announced that new data regarding EndoBarrier™, its novel, noninvasive device currently in clinical trials to treat obesity and type 2 diabetes, will be presented at the International Federation for Surgery of Obesity and Metabolic Disorders (MediLexicon)
£4m boost for NHS science researchers
A new research fellowship scheme opened on Monday will provide £4 million in funding over the next three years for healthcare scientists to undertake research to improve patient services and treatment (Binleys)
Diabetes pill hope as bacteria halts disease
Scientists Scientists at the University of Chicago and Yale hope to develop a pill that could stave off diabetes after discovering a link between the disease and bacteria in the stomach (Telegraph, UK)
‘Baby’ fat cells may be key to treating obesity, say researchers
Immature, or “baby,” fat cells lurk in the walls of the blood vessels that nourish fatty tissue, just waiting for excess calories to help them grow into the adult monsters responsible for packing on the extra pounds (UT Southwestern Medical Center , USA)
Identification of a Lipokine, a Lipid Hormone Linking Adipose Tissue to Systemic Metabolism
Our data reveal a lipid-mediated endocrine network and demonstrate that adipose tissue uses lipokines such as C16:1n7-palmitoleate to communicate with distant organs and regulate systemic metabolic homeostasis (Cell Journal)
‘Don’t dismiss people with diabetes as fat’
Although 80% of those with the disease – where the body does not produce enough insulin or the insulin that is produced does not work properly – are obese or over weight, 20% are not. (BBC, UK)
HTA project in progress
Maximising engagement, motivation and long term change in a structured intensive education programme in diabetes for children, young people and their families: child and adolescent structured competencies approach to diabetes education (NIHR Health Technology Assessment Programme)
More Canadians Than Ever Before Now At Risk
According to new guidelines launched by Canadian Diabetes Association emphasizing the early identification and aggressive management of diabetes (Canadian Diabetes Association)
Although the science is still in its infancy, it has major potential applications in diabetes
Nanomedicine and its potential in diabetes research and practice (Diabetes/Metabolism Research and Reviews)
Predicting insulin resistance in children: anthropometric and metabolic indicators
Anthropometric and metabolic indicators appear to offer good predictive power for insulin resistance in children between 7 and 11 years old, employing the cutoff points with the best balance between sensitivity and specificity of the predictive technique (PubMed)
Diabetes Web Resources on the YHPHO Website
The Yorkshire and Humber Public Health Observatory have updated their online diabetes pages, allowing you easier access to the full range of tools/products they have available. Along with signposting to their most recent products, there is a full alphabetical listing of all current diabetes related resources (NDST, UK)
Treating Diabetes in Custody
Pioneering work by NHS Lothian to ensure that people with diabetes in police custody receive suitable care has reduced the number of emergency referrals of prisoners to hospital (All Media Scotland, UK)
Why and When to Implement Incretin Therapy
This article describes the rationale for the use of GLP-1 receptor agonists and DPP-4 inhibitors in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in whom they might be especially useful (Medscape)
Call for Research Group Proposals – October 2008
Eligibility criteria (Diabetes Research Network, UK)
Maternal Enterovirus Infection during Pregnancy as a Risk Factor in Offspring Diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes between 15 and 30 Years of Age
These results suggest that gestational enterovirus infections may be related to the risk of offspring developing type 1 diabetes in adolescence and young adulthood (Experimental Diabetes Research)
Role of C-Peptide in the Regulation of Microvascular Blood Flow
There is increasing evidence, that in patients with declining beta cell function, the lack of C-peptide secretion might play a putative role in the development of microvascular blood flow abnormalities, which go beyond the effects of declining insulin secretion or increased blood glucose levels (Experimental Diabetes Research)
Development of a diabetes treatment simulation model: with application to assessing alternative treatment intensification strategies on survival and diabetes-related complications
The objective of this analysis is to project the long-term impacts on life expectancy and occurrence over 5, 10, and 40 years of microvascular and macrovascular complications of diabetes when using different haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) thresholds for intensifying treatment of type 2 diabetes (PubMed)
Putative environmental-endocrine disruptors and obesity: a review
Data demonstrate migration of endocrine disruptors in the environment and are beginning to catalogue their effects on adiposity (Current Opinion in Endocrinology, Diabetes & Obesity)
The KICK-OFF course – a Pilot study of a novel education programme for 11-16 year olds
In this small pilot study glycaemic control did not change but findings provide justification for a future randomised controlled trial (RCT) involving a revised curriculum, larger study population including a control group and longer follow-up (Archives of Diseases in Childhood )
Better treatment of type 2 diabetes may be improving mortality
An observational study suggests that implementation of prescribing guidelines for patients with type 2 diabetes may be contributing to recent declines in mortality in this group (National Electronic Library for Medicines, UK)
Association of Urinary Bisphenol A Concentration With Medical Disorders and Laboratory Abnormalities in Adults
Higher BPA concentrations were also associated with diabetes (JAMA)
FDA Defends Plastic Linked To Health Risks
At this time, the FDA finds the current level of exposure to BPA through food containers safe (NPR)
Packaging chemical and heart risk
The European Food Safety Authority stated that, “after exposure to BPA the human body rapidly metabolises and eliminates the substance”. It also concluded that exposure to BPA is well below the limit, which “provides a sufficient margin of safety for the protection of the consumer, including foetuses and newborns (Behind the Headlines – NHS Choices, UK)
Pfizer and Mannkind collaborate on inhaled insulin
Pfizer has made a partnership-of-sorts with fellow inhaled insulin maker Mannkind in a bid to free itself from the last vestiges of its failed Exubera (PharmaTimes)
“Obesity” and “Clinical Obesity”. Men’s understandings of obesity and its relation to the risk of diabetes: a qualitative study
Men in this study had a complex understanding of the interlinked importance of weight and fitness in relation to health. Obesity is understood as a description of people with centrally distributed fat, in association with low fitness levels. There is a need to increase understanding of the causes and consequences of diabetes (BMC Public Health)
Psychiatric and Cardiovascular Comorbidities in Patients With Diabetes Mellitus Starting Antiobesity Drugs
The baseline risk for psychiatric disorders and cardiovascular disease was found to be higher in patients with diabetes mellitus starting to use antiobesity drugs compared to patients with diabetes mellitus not starting such treatment (Obesity Research Journal)
New Noninvasive Device Could Control Diabetes
Early trials of a new implantable, and removable, intestinal liner have shown promise as a noninvasive means to promote blood sugar control and weight loss (Washington Post, USA)
Gastric stimulator induces weight loss in diabetics
Gastric electrical stimulation using the Tantalus system (MetaCure Ltd) can potentially improve glucose control and induce weight loss in obese type 2 diabetic patients who are poorly controlled with oral antidiabetic medication, according to preliminary study results reported at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes in Rome (Yahoo)
Inhibition of Stearoyl-Coenzyme A Desaturase 1 Dissociates Insulin Resistance and Obesity From Atherosclerosis
This study demonstrates that atherosclerosis can occur independently of obesity and insulin resistance and argues against SCD1 inhibition as a safe therapeutic target for the metabolic syndrome (Circulation – American Heart Association)
Camomile tea and diabetes
Although this study provides an insight into the effects of camomile and its components on rats and cells in the laboratory, the extrapolation of these findings to humans is very premature. (Behind the Headlines – NHS Choices, UK)
Safety and efficacy of premixed insulin analogues in type 2 diabetes
This systematic review compared the evidence for premixed insulin analogues (a mixture of rapid-acting and intermediate-acting insulin analogues) with other antidiabetic agents in adults with type 2 diabetes (National Electronic Library for Medicines, UK)
Diabetes type 2: overthrow the blood-sugar dictator
A new drug can improve treatment by increasing insulin sensivity and helping patients to lose weight (Times, UK)
Exeter Diabetes Handbook – Integrated diabetic footcare pathway
The Exeter Diabetic Footcare Service undertook a randomised controlled trial in 1997 to evaluate an integrated care pathway (ICP), aimed at improving the identification and management of the high-risk diabetic foot (NDST, UK)
Inhaled human insulin findings varied
Two-year treatment with inhaled human insulin showed a small nonprogressive difference in forced expiratory volume in 1 second and comparable sustained HbA1c improvement when compared with subcutaneous insulin in adults with type 2 diabetes, according to the findings of a recent trial (Endocrine Today)
Oramed Pharmaceuticals Launches GLP1-Analog Program, Based on its Proprietary Drug Delivery Platform
Oramed Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a developer of oral drug delivery systems, announced today that it has launched pre-clinical trials of ORMD 0901, a GLP1-analog. ORMD 0901 belongs to the Incretin family of drugs which helps to manage diabetes, including reduction in blood glucose levels and inhibiting glucagon secretion (Oramed Pharmaceuticals, Israel)
The EU Platform on Diet, Physical Activity and Health
Third Monitoring Progress Report (RAND)
Daily blood glucose profiles of glibenclamide and gliclazide taken once or twice daily in elderly type 2 diabetic patients
These results suggest that the blood glucose-lowering effects of a once- and twice-daily moderate daily dose of glibenclamide or gliclazide do not differ in elderly type 2 diabetic patients. However, glibenclamide, regardless of the dosage schedule, tends to lower the plasma glucose values between midnight and early morning (Geriatrics and Gerontology International)
Type 2 Diabetes Patients Treated With Dapagliflozin Show Dose-Dependent Glycaemic Changes
Use of dapagliflozin in patients with type 2 diabetes appears to have a dose-dependent effect on levels of glycosylated haemoglobin (Hb A1C) and fasting plasma glucose (FPG) levels, researchers reported here at the American College of Clinical Pharmacology (ACCP) 37th Annual meeting (Doctors Guide)
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