Jo's Cafe

Welcome to “Diabetes in the News”. This feature has links to diabetes related news stories, blogs, or websites. If you come upon a story, blog or website that I haven’t mentioned, e-mail me at jmp5329 at yahoo.com. I will check it out and if posted, give credit where credit is due.

Researchers Uncover Gene That Raises Risk for Type 1 Diabetes
A discovery at the Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes has identified a genetic risk for type 1 diabetes three to four times higher than previously thought possible. Researchers have found evidence of an additional gene – gene X – in the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) region on chromosome 6 that raises the risk for type 1 diabetes autoimmunity to an astounding 80 percent. The paper will be published in the online Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences the week of Sept. 4. Source 

Beta-blockers ‘increase diabetes risk by 50 per cent’
Patients taking beta-blockers for their blood pressure have a 50 per cent higher risk of developing diabetes compared to being on newer drugs, researchers have revealed.For the first time, a new study reveals the risk of using the older drugs which are no longer recommended for treating high blood pressure.

Patients taking beta-blockers and diuretics – standard medication for over 30 years – are at far greater risk of becoming diabetic. Source

FEDS’ SICKENING FORECAST ON DIABETES
September 9, 2006 — By 2050, 12 percent of Americans – 48.3 million people – will be suffering from diabetes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.And that could zoom even higher if the nation’s obesity rate keeps rising, health officials warn.

“If incidence rates continue to rise, the impact on future numbers with diabetes and consequent health-care costs will be much more devastating,” Dr. K.M. Venkat Narayan and his CDC colleagues write in the current edition of Diabetes Care.  Source

Symlin drug improves glucose control in diabetes patients: Amylin
Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced positive results from a 16-week study evaluating the safety and efficacy of adding Symlin (pramlintide acetate) to an established regimen of basal insulin glargine (with or without oral antidiabetic agents) in patients with type 2 diabetes who have not progressed to mealtime insulin therapy.

At study end, patients receiving Symlin on average had better overall glucose control (A1C), reduced glucose fluctuations, used less insulin, and experienced weight loss, compared to those using basal insulin glargine without Symlin. Results from this study will form the basis of a supplemental New Drug Application submission to the Food and Drug Administration, currently planned for late 2006.

“This study showed that the addition of Symlin provided benefits in addition to A1C improvement for patients failing to meet glucose targets using individualized regimens of basal insulin,” said Orville Kolterman, MD, senior vice president of Clinical and Regulatory Affairs. “Achieving improved glucose control without weight gain represents an unmet need in the management of patients with diabetes requiring insulin therapy.”  Source

Frog research team makes diabetes leap
SCOTTISH scientists have made a breakthrough towards developing stem cell treatments for diabetes after carrying out research on an African frog.

Researchers at the Institute for Stem Cell Research at Edinburgh University have revealed a key protein they believe can be used to encourage embryonic stem cells to develop into the insulin-producing pancreatic cells that malfunction in patients with diabetes.

Dr Josh Brickman, who led the team that carried out the research, found that in the African clawed frog a protein called Wnt helped form the cells in an embryo, which are the precursor of the pancreas and liver.

They have also found the protein appears to do the same job in mouse embryos.  Source

---

Technorati Tag:
Diabetes    

Category : Diabetes News | Tags :