Feature Channels: Diabetes

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Long suspected of worsening artery damage in patients with diabetes, insulin instead protects blood vessels, a new study by Joslin Diabetes Center scientists indicates.

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Data presented at ASH 2010 suggest early therapeutic approaches may be appropriate for patients with pre-diabetes, pre-hypertension, or both conditions

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Scientists at the University of Michigan Health System are teasing out clues to the effect of grapes in reducing risk factors related to cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome. The effect is thought to be due to phytochemicals -- naturally occurring antioxidants – that grapes contain.

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Anxiety disorders and depression, as well as metabolic disorders such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, and arteriosclerosis, have all been linked to stress. But how? Weizmann Institute scientists have discovered that changes in the activity of a single gene not only cause mice to exhibit anxious behavior, but also lead to metabolic changes.

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Scientists from The Scripps Research Institute have provided an answer to the 40-year-old mystery of how certain genetic mutations lead to Type 1 diabetes. This new molecular understanding could lead to novel therapies for Type 1 diabetes and other autoimmune diseases.

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Rush University Medical Center and community organizations are collaborating on an unusual program to educate residents of a Chicago neighborhood about diabetes, increase early diagnosis and provide resources to improve medical care and self-management. The rate of Type 2 diabetes in the community is 14 percent, double that for Americans nationwide.

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A new discovery about the wound-healing process could lead to better treatments for diabetics and other patients who have wounds that are slow to heal.

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Alliance Health Networks migrates Diabetic Connect to its new social networking platform bringing new features and enhanced functionality to the largest online social network for people touched by diabetes.

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For millions of Americans with Type-2 diabetes and inject insulin to control diabetes (with onset typically in adulthood) the associated risk of cancer is of increasing concern. Studies have demonstrated that obesity and excess insulin – whether naturally produced by the body or injected in synthetic form – are associated with an increased incidence of some common cancers.

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Two years ago, a Baylor University researcher developed an effective and accurate electromagnetic sensor that provides diabetics a noninvasive alternative to reading their blood glucose levels. There was just one problem: it was too big to carry around. Today, Baylor researchers announced they have developed a sensing method that uses a circuit board small enough to make the device portable.

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The proportion of Americans with diabetes ages 18 to 64 who reported getting flu shots the previous year rose from 40 percent to 50.5 percent between 2000 and 2007.

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It is hard enough being a teenager − or the parent of a teenager − without also having to deal with type 1 diabetes.

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New findings by UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers suggest that the hormones leptin and insulin work together in specific neurons in the hypothalamus region of the brain to affect both the regulation of blood sugar levels in the body and, surprisingly, female fertility.

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Teens and “tweens” with type 1 diabetes have more trouble sticking to their treatment plan – thus raising their risk of eye, kidney and heart disease – if their parents become lax about monitoring the child’s treatment, or if the mother-child relationship is poor.

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Patients with type 2 diabetes are generally treated similarly despite the fact that they may have underlying differences that could affect their therapeutic response. Seeking to address this critical health issue, an international multidisciplinary group of experts just issued recommendations for individualized treatment in a consensus statement to be published in the April 2010 issue of the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM).

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People with diabetes who undergo cancer surgery are more likely to die in the month following their operations than those who have cancer but not diabetes, an analysis by Johns Hopkins researchers suggests.

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Joslin scientists find surprising twist in PI 3-kinase molecule that may offer novel target for diabetes drugs.

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Millions of Americans may have chronic kidney disease (CKD) and not know it, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology (CJASN).

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Researcher exploring link between gastric bypass surgery and rapid, profound positive effect on Type II diabetes.

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Using leptin alone in place of standard insulin therapy shows promise in abating symptoms of type 1 diabetes, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers report.

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Pediatric researchers analyzing DNA variations in type 1 diabetes and inflammatory bowel disease have found a complex interplay of genes. Some genes have opposing effects, raising the risk of one disease while protecting against the other. In other cases, a gene variant may act in the same direction, raising the risk for both diseases.

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Salsalate, an anti-inflammatory agent, shows encouraging results in preliminary trial led by Joslin Diabetes Center.

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An experimental oral drug has lowered blood sugar levels and inflammation in mice with Type 2 diabetes, suggesting that the medication could someday be added to the arsenal of drugs used by millions of Americans with this disease, according to new research.

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Purchases of cholesterol and diabetes prescription drugs by elderly Medicare beneficiaries reached nearly $19 billion in 2007 – about one-fourth of the approximately $82 billion spent for medications for the elderly.

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A new study shows that primary care physicians believe the barriers that put patients with uncontrolled diabetes at risk for cardiovascular disease as being patient-related or system-related. Published online today by the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine by researchers at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and colleagues at the University of Hawaii and University of Michigan, the research also reports that the physician participants commonly reported a high level of frustration at being unable to motivate patients with poor control or help patients to overcome the barriers that inhibit healthier lifestyles.

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Measurements of hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) more accurately identify persons at risk for clinical outcomes than the commonly used measurement of fasting glucose, according to a study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. HbA1c levels accurately predict future diabetes, and they better predict stroke, heart disease and all-cause mortality as well. The study appeared in the March 4, 2010, issue of New England Journal of Medicine.

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A Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute cardiologist co-authored the joint science advisory issued by the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology that calls for close monitoring of patients taking certain blood sugar-lowering drugs.

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On March 1, the first eye patients will enter a new $132 million facility that increases the University of Michigan Health System's capacity to provide advanced eye care for an aging population and unites diabetes researchers as they search for a cure for diabetes. The eight-story Brehm Tower at the W.K. Kellogg Eye Center Complex makes a striking addition to the skyline. Because of the size of the expansion and to get new research projects up and running, Kellogg expects to add about 100 jobs over the next five to seven years.

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Dr. Francesco Rubino, chief of gastrointestinal metabolic surgery at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, is now enrolling overweight and mildly obese patients -- those with a body mass index (BMI) of 28 to 35 -- in a study of gastric bypass surgery aimed at reversing Type 2 diabetes. Because of their non-morbidly obese status, these patients do not qualify for the surgery under current guidelines.

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The drug avosentan substantially reduces urinary protein loss in people with type 2 diabetes and kidney disease, but the drug causes serious side effects, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society Nephrology (JASN). The results suggest that lower doses of avosentan may have a more favorable risk/benefit ratio for patients.

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An international group of medical experts has crafted a much-needed classification system for diabetic nephropathy, the leading cause of total kidney failure, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society Nephrology (JASN). The effort should improve communication among health professionals, help researchers design better clinical studies, and guide patient care.

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Finding by Joslin Diabetes Center scientists may aid in understanding how insulin production eventually goes wrong in type 2 diabetes.

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A team of Northern Arizona University-led researchers is using nearly $1.3 million in new funding from the National Institutes of Health to continue with the world’s longest-running study on obesity and Type 2 diabetes.

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Diabetic retinopathy remains the major cause of blindness in adults under 60 in the U.S. The disease affects 5.3 million adults in the U.S. and some 24,000 of them go blind each year. Nearly sixty percent of all diabetes patients are expected to develop diabetic retinopathy within ten years of their diagnosis.

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Ethnic and racial minorities bear a disproportionate share of America’s diabetes epidemic but are significantly less likely than whites to receive a commonly used test to monitor control of blood glucose, according to Washington State University researchers.

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Diabetes may be one of the nation’s leading causes of death, but knowing the facts can help you understand and avert the onset of the most common form of diabetes, type 2. Education is power to fight the deadly consequences of diabetes, and Dr. Schwartz identifies what you need to know.

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Together with colleagues in Barcelona, researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have generated a complete map of the areas of the genome that control which genes are “turned on” or “off.” The discovery, made in pancreatic islet cells, opens new avenues for understanding the genetic basis of type 2 diabetes and other common illnesses.

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While diabetes and hypertension ranked high for both groups, patients were more likely than doctors to prioritize symptoms such as pain and depression.

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New collaboration leverages Joslin’s deep clinical and research expertise and dLife’s community and lifestyle approach to managing diabetes.

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Type 2 diabetes is the silent killer...leading to heart disease and stroke. Some things to look out for and ways to prevent it.

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In patients with type 2 diabetes, silent cerebral infarction (SCI)—small areas of brain damage caused by injury to small blood vessels—signals an increased risk of progressive kidney disease and kidney failure, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society Nephrology (JASN).

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A new treatment that could one day benefit burns victims, diabetes sufferers and the elderly – by fast tracking the healing of chronic wounds – has taken another step toward commercialization.

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Clinical and basic science researchers from around the world will convene in Hong Kong from January 28 to 30 for the First International Congress on Abdominal Obesity: “Bridging the Gap between Cardiology and Diabetology.” The congress, sponsored by the International Chair on Cardiometabolic Risk (ICCR) (www.cardiometabolic-risk.org), is the first-ever specialized forum for sharing new insights and evidence about abdominal obesity and its clinical and public health implications.

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In people who put on a lot of weight, or whose bodies start developing the inability to use insulin effectively that leads toward type 2 diabetes, the pancreas typically ramps up its supply of insulin-generating “beta” cells. Researchers at Joslin Diabetes Center and their colleagues now have identified a cell-cycle protein that is essential for beta-cell replication to respond successfully to insulin resistance. The finding may point toward eventual therapies for preventing or treating type 2 diabetes.

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The neuropeptide corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) makes cameo appearances throughout the body, but its leading role is as the opening act in the stress response, jump-starting the process along the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. Researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have found that CRF also plays a part in the pancreas, where it increases insulin secretion and promotes the division of the insulin-producing beta cells.

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Patients who ordered their medications by mail were more likely to take them as prescribed by their physicians than patients who obtained medications from a local pharmacy.

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A new evidence review suggests that using a pump to deliver insulin continuously — instead of taking three or more daily injections — might result in better control of blood sugar for people with type 1 diabetes.

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Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) adversely affects glucose control in patients with type 2 diabetes, according to a study conducted by researchers at the University of Chicago.

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The cardiovascular risk that is associated with proteinuria, or high levels of protein in the urine, a common test used by doctors as an indicator of increased risk for progressive kidney disease, heart attack and stroke, has race-dependent effects, according to a new study by researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

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Medicare recipients with diabetes who have a gap in their Part D prescription drug benefits have higher out-of-pocket drug costs and are less likely to stick to their medications than those who have supplemental drug benefits.