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This feature has links to diabetes related news stories, blogs, or websites. For informational purposes only, follow the “source” link to read the whole article.

‘Diabetes Gene’ May Be Linked To Polycystic Ovary Syndrome
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) occurs when ovarian cysts block a woman’s normal ovulation and menstrual cycle. While the problem sounds straightforward, the disease is complex, born from both multiple genetic components and environmental factors. PCOS affects up to five percent of the female population, and those diagnosed with the disease have a 2- to 7-fold risk of developing type 2 diabetes … For this reason researchers believe a gene related to diabetes may also play a role in the onset of PCOS. A new study of 146 PCOS patients has found that the “diabetes gene” is in fact an interesting candidate for explaining the syndrome.   Source

Research Yields New Insights Into The Cause Of Diabetes
The cause of insulin-dependent, permanent, diabetes in newborn babies may be a deficiency in the enzyme Pancreatic Endoplasmic Reticulum Kinase (PERK) during a critical period of development before birth, according to a new hypothesis put forward by a team of researchers from Penn State University.

In this most severe type of diabetes, individuals are unable to regulate glucose normally because they have few insulin-producing beta cells in their pancreas and the remaining cells do not produce enough insulin. Using special strains of mice bred to be PERK-deficient, the researchers demonstrated that the lack of this enzyme blocked the proliferation of beta cells, hampered the normal functioning of beta cells, and also kept beta cells from clustering into islets.

“What happens during fetal development predisposes people either to be able to maintain glucose levels normally or to have diabetes,” says team leader Douglas Cavener, professor and head of the Department of Biology. The research results will be published in the journal Cell Metabolism on 6 December 2006. Source

Senators Ask HHS To Focus On Diabetes Screening
Nineteen senators in a letter sent on Monday to HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt requested that he “make diabetes screening and prevention for Medicare beneficiaries a top priority,” CQ HealthBeat reports.

According to the letter, findings from a recent study in the journal Diabetes Care show that 61% of Medicare beneficiaries have either diabetes or prediabetes. Of those, 14 million beneficiaries are believed to have undiagnosed prediabetes. Source

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