Feature Channels: Diabetes

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New research further illuminates the surprising relationship between blood sugar and brain tumors and could begin to shed light on how certain cancers develop.

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Pancreatic beta cells help maintain normal blood glucose levels by producing the hormone insulin — the master regulator of energy (glucose). Impairment and the loss of beta cells interrupts insulin production, leading to type 1 and 2 diabetes. Using single-cell RNA sequencing, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine have, for the first time, mapped out pathways that regulate beta cell growth that could be exploited to trick them to regenerate.

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Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) — a condition that can lead to liver cirrhosis and cancer — isn’t typically detected until well advanced. Even then, diagnosis requires a biopsy. To more easily detect NAFLD, UC San Diego School of Medicine researchers and their collaborators report that the microbial makeup of a patient’s stool — gut microbiome — can be used to predict advanced NAFLD with 88 to 94 percent accuracy. The study is published May 2 in Cell Metabolism.

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A pilot study among young children with Type 1 diabetes found that a University of Virginia-developed artificial pancreas helped study participants better control their condition.

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Glucoracle is a new app for people with type 2 diabetes that uses a personalized algorithm to predict the impact of particular foods on blood sugar levels.

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Children with obesity face four times the risk of developing type 2 diabetes compared to children with a body mass index (BMI) in the normal range, according to a study published in the Journal of the Endocrine Society.

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Vitamin A is an essential nutrient that the human body needs to function properly. But new research presented today at the American Physiological Society (APS) annual meeting at Experimental Biology 2017 in Chicago suggests that normal levels of vitamin A within a high-fat diet can negatively affect expression of liver genes associated with glucose and fat metabolism.

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A multidisciplinary research team at UAB looks to address obesity as it is genetically passed from mother to child.

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Rats that have experienced past episodes of limited food resources make physiological adaptations that may extend their lives the next time they are faced with starvation. New research about starvation physiology will be presented today at the American Physiological Society (APS) annual meeting at Experimental Biology 2017 in Chicago.

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New research by scientists at Wake Forest University found that, as compared to exercise alone, adding a beet root juice supplement to exercise resulted in brain connectivity that closely resembles what you see in younger adults. The study was published in the Journals of Gerontology: Medical Sciences.

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Researchers from Georgia State University’s Center for Molecular & Translational Medicine have received a four-year, $2.8 million federal grant to study diabetic cardiomyopathy, diabetes-related changes in the structure and function of the heart muscle.

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With more than one-third of adults in the U.S. considered obese, researchers are searching for new ways to treat obesity and associated health problems such as type 2 diabetes. The Experimental Biology 2017 meeting will showcase new insights into the causes of obesity and research that could inform new strategies for losing weight

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New discoveries tied to how food affects our body and why we make certain food choices could help inform nutrition plans and policies that encourage healthy food choices. The Experimental Biology 2017 meeting will showcase groundbreaking research in food policy, nutrition and the biochemistry of food.

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New research by scientists at the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA overturns a long-standing paradigm about how axons grow during embryonic development. The findings of the study, led by Samantha Butler, associate professor of neurobiology, could help scientists replicate or control the way axons grow, which may be applicable for diseases that affect the nervous system, such as diabetes, as well as injuries that sever nerves.

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It was previously thought that bacteria only caused problems such as higher inflammation and higher blood glucose. But this is only half of the story. The researchers discovered that a specific component of bacteria actually lowers blood glucose and allows insulin to work better during obesity.

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Doctors rely mostly on two biomarkers -- urinary albumin to creatinine ratio (ACR) and estimated glomerular filtration rate -- to identify those at higher risk of kidney failure. But researchers say those criteria miss a large proportion of patients who are at high risk of the disease and fail to predict accurately time of onset of ESRD. Researchers from Joslin Diabetes Center have developed a prognostic tool that accurately predicts the risk of end stage renal disease (ESRD) in patients with both type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

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When you eat salty food, you get thirsty and drink water. Right? Maybe in the short-term -- but within 24 hours, you actually get less thirsty because your body starts to conserve and produce more water.

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Diabetes researchers have puzzled for decades about why insulin-producing beta cells in one pancreatic islet often look and behave quite differently than their counterparts in the same islet or in nearby islets. Using newly identified cellular markers of aging, Joslin Diabetes Center scientists now have shown that this diversity may be driven at least in part by differently aged beta cell populations within the pancreas.

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A team led by Massachusetts Eye and Ear researchers has identified a novel therapeutic target for retinal neovascularization, or abnormal blood vessel growth in the retina, a hallmark of advanced diabetic eye disease (proliferative diabetic retinopathy). According to a report published online in Diabetes, the transcription factor RUNX1 was found in abnormal retinal blood vessels, and by inhibiting RUNX1 with a small molecule drug, the researchers achieved a 50 percent reduction of retinopathy in preclinical models.

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Simon Barquera, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Nutrition Policy Research Division at the National Institute of Public Health of Mexico, was honored yesterday at the 11th annual Michael & Susan Dell Lectureship in Child Health.