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Health District offering a free Diabetes Self-Management Workshop

KENNEWICK, Wash. Benton-Franklin Health District health professionals said diabetes effects a significant number of people in Benton and Franklin counties.

Now the health district is offering a free workshop to help reduce this health threat.

"One in every two people has pre-diabetes, one in every two people," Registered Dietitian and Nutritionist Laili Abd Latif stressed.

Latif said a staggering number of people in Benton and Franklin counties are suffering from diabetes or are at high risk, but dont know.

"Because it's almost like a silent disease, you dont really know the disease until you get tested," she said.

Many of the at-risk groups include the Hispanic, Asian, and African-American populations.

If you have pre-diabetes, she said with intervention like changing your diet, adding physical activity, and developing a healthier lifestyle, pre-diabetes can be reversed.

Abd Latif and other health advocates are urging people who are over the age of 40, overweight, have a baby larger than nine pounds, or have a history of diabetes to get screened.

"If you know, you can work towards improving yourself, she said. But if you don't know, you'll be walking around for 10 years with diabetes, and then the complication of diabetes already sets in."

She said by not managing your diabetes, it will drive up medical costs and increase medical complications later in life.

"When you have diabetes, you don't just have diabetes, you also have high blood pressure, you have high tri-glyceride, and high cholesterol," Abd Latif said.

Thats why the Benton-Franklin Health District is offering a free Diabetes Self-Management Workshop.

The Diabetes Self-Management class will be offered on Thursdays from 4:00 to 6:30 p.m., from August 17 to September 21. The workshop will be held at Benton-Franklin Health District, 7102 W Okanogan Place in Kennewick.

The evidence-based program from Stanford School of Medicine empowers people with diabetes to maintain and improve their health.

It is led by people who have diabetes themselves, so they understand what the diabetes community is going through.

"So its really more of a support group," said Liza Gonzalez, community health worker and program coordinator for the workshop.

Gonzalez said the six-week class will teach you ways to deal with fatigue and pain, improve nutrition and exercise choices, communicate better with healthcare providers and family members and develop weekly action plans.

"If we can learn to be healthy and if we can take action in how to be healthy, this is a starting point for you," she said.

Unfortunately, Gonzalez said many times people don't take advantage of these free health education programs.

"We're all busy, she admitted. But where are we going to be if we don't take care of ourselves first?"

Gonzalez and Abd Latif believe that together they can transform the lives of those in living with diabetes in our community.

The educational class is open to all people with diabetes, those with family members with diabetes, or those who care for diabetes. To register for the class or for more information about the free workshops, call Lisa Gonzalez at 509-460-4216.

The Benton Franklin Health District and the Tri-Cities Diabetes Coalition is also hosting a Diabetes Awareness Fair Oct. 7 from 10:00 a.m. 1:00 p.m. at Pasco High School. Admission is free and there will be door prizes.

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Health District is offering a free Diabetes Self-Management Workshop - KEPR 19

Dr. Meranda Nakhla is the lead author of a study, which was published in BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Care, that calls for action to help adolescents with diabetes transition to adult care. Credit: McGill University Health Centre

Adolescence can be a turbulent period of life, with struggles to establish autonomy, identity issues and risk-taking behaviours. For young adults with a chronic illness such as type 1 diabetes, this transition phase also brings about other challenges as they assume an increased responsibility for their overall health. A new study from the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) sheds light on gaps in transition care practice in Quebec, pointing out a lack of standardized policies across pediatric diabetes centres. These findings, which were published in the open-access journal BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Care, highlight a need for the evaluation and development of targeted interventions at multiple levels to improve the transition process.

"The transition from pediatric to adult care is a huge and complex process that is not unique to type 1 diabetes. It also occurs with other childhood chronic diseases such as cystic fibrosis or in kidney transplant recipients,'' says the study's senior author Dr. Meranda Nakhla, a pediatric endocrinologist at the Montreal Children's Hospital of the MUHC and an assistant professor of Pediatrics at McGill University. "Previous studies have shown that transition is a vulnerable period when adolescents tend to fall out of medical care, meaning that once they leave pediatric care to be transferred to adult care they do not have regular follow up for their chronic illness.''

According to Dr. Jan Hux, chief science officer at Diabetes Canada, which funded the study, adolescence is a time when young people may start to rebel against the daily rigours of living with this 24/7 disease and take risks that may affect their health in later years. "As noted in Diabetes Canada's Clinical Practice Guidelines, there needs to be a well-prepared and supported move to adult care that includes a transition coordinator, patient reminders, and education," she says. "Having strong transitional care and support as they move to this new stage of life can have a great impact on their lives. As this study points out, more work needs to be done to ensure these needs are being effectively met."

Currently, one in four Canadians lives with diabetes and Quebec has one of the highest incidence rates of the disease among children in the world (32 per 100,000 per year). Type 1 diabetesan illness in which the body produces little or no insulin and requires daily insulin injections for lifeis one of the most common chronic diseases in childhood.

In this study, researchers focused on the perspective of pediatric care providers from academic, non-academic and rural health facilities in Quebec. They conducted in-depth interviews with diabetes nurses, educators, pediatricians and pediatric endocrinologists from 12 centres across the province between June and November 2015. The care providers were asked for their perspective, experiences and the barriers that they see are in the way of achieving a successful transition from pediatric to adult care.

"We found there were huge gaps in transition care practices such as the lack of a standardized transition care policy, limited communication between the pediatric and adult healthcare settings and an absence of structure for pediatric care providers to implement transition care practices,'' explains Dr. Nakhla, who is also a scientist from the Centre for Outcomes Research and Evaluation at the RI-MUHC. "Good intentions are there and everyone recognizes that this transition is important but more structure and guidance are needed for pediatric providers to implement it better within their practices.''

The study reported that pediatric care providers recognized the importance of transition care but only 25 per cent reported having any formal and structured transition preparation and planning in their diabetes centres. Some of the barriers that pediatric providers perceived as important were the lack of adult care providers and a multidisciplinary team in the adult care setting, less flexibility in scheduling adult healthcare appointments, patients' struggles with multiple new responsibilities such as starting secondary education, employment or moving away from home. Another barrier that was addressed was the pediatric providers' lack of time in planning for transition and lack of resources, including human resources, in implementing transition care services.

"As healthcare practitioners, we need to start the transition process early and not in the year before adolescents get transferred to adult care. We also need to make more efforts to engage families and guide parents to progressively give their teenagers more responsibility without taking unnecessary risks," says Dr. Nakhla

Researchers are currently using a health administrative database in Quebec to look at what happens to these young adults in terms of hospitalization, emergency department visits and health outcomes when they transfer to adult care.

Explore further: Better info needed in transfer from peds to adult care for T1DM

More information: Meranda Nakhla et al, Improving the transition from pediatric to adult diabetes care: the pediatric care provider's perspective in Quebec, Canada, BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Care (2017). DOI: 10.1136/bmjdrc-2017-000390

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Study calls for action to help adolescents with diabetes transition to adult care - Medical Xpress

A 12-year-old girl with Type 1 Diabetes says she was not permitted to ride the water slides at a public water park in Kettering because of the insulin pump attached to her body.

Mom Beth McBride claims the city of Kettering broke the law by violating the Americans With Disabilities Act, while city and waterpark officials are not yet commenting on the issue.

"She was in tears and upset, as she has every right to be, I mean she was discriminated against basically," McBride told Fox 45.

She snapped a picture of daughter Alexis looking defeated right after she was denied a ride on one of the waterslides at the "adventure reef waterpark."

12-year-old Alexis said a lifeguard told her the reason she could not ride was the insulin pump attached to her right hip.

"It was that one slide and that one lifeguard, that when I walked up there she pointed at my insulin pump and said you cannot go on the slide with that on," Alexis said.

Alexis said the pump makes her insecure and this was the first occasion that she had worn a two-piece bathing suit and exposed it in public.

"It's completely true bliss, the insulin is actually in a chamber here," McBride said showing Fox 45 the small external pump, "it's made to be worn in water parks, it's made to be worn in the ocean, in showers and bathtubs, she's allowed to wear it."

McBride related it to having Alexis' pancreas functioning outside her body. She said if it is removed, Alexis could die.

McBride also said the lifeguard did not explain the reason behind asking Alexis to remove the pump.

"I said do you realize that's an ADA violation, she has a medical handicap, the insulin pump cannot be removed," McBride said.

According to title three of the Americans With Disabilities Act, "providers of public accommodations must provide you with services that are not any different from those they provide people without a disability. They must not screen out or exclude you because of your disability."

McBride took her concern about the violation to park managers who she says took an incident report Monday night.

"She should be able to wear a medical devices with pride," McBride said.

"I'm not as different as everybody else is and I shouldn't be singled out from everybody else that's having fun," said Alexis.

McBride said she wanted to raise awareness for Type 1 Diabetes related issues and wants to make sure this does not happen to anyone else at any catering facilities.

This article originally appeared on Fox 45 Now

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Girl with diabetes banned from water slide because of insulin pump, mom claims - Fox News

In recent months, people that suffer from diabetes and that have visited the St. Francis Client Choice Food Pantry in Scranton have been eating better and feeling better. And if all goes according to plan, the healthy trend should continue for years to come.

Last fall, the CEO Weinberg Regional Food Bank began a nine-month Diabetes Wellness Program at the Pantry. The program assisted clients by initially offering hemoglobin A1c screenings (HbA1c) to those with pre-existing diabetic conditions.

These screenings helped CEO nutrition educators determine the baseline of the clients blood/sugar levels. The program then helped such clients with their special dietary needs by providing boxes of healthy foods, twice each month, and by monitoring improvements in their health.

Funded by an AllOne Foundation grant, the program served 50 clients throughout four counties and St. Francis was one of five food pantries served.

We began in September and determined who would be in the program, says Mary Kay DElia, a registered dietitian and certified diabetes educator with CEO.

In October, they started picking up their boxes of healthy foods. Each box featured a recipe, focused on the foods provided that month, and a pantry staple, and condiment to be utilized in that recipe.

"The monthly box also contained handouts about nutrition, food safety, and information on diabetes self-management. And in addition to the monthly box of non-perishables, clients also received fresh produce, milk, eggs, and frozen meat."

In addition to improving clients health, DElia says she hoped that those participating in the program would find it to be empowering.

With diabetes, its always better to teach people to learn to cook at home rather than to eat at fast-food restaurants, she says. That will lower their blood sugar and keep them in control.

Though the program ended on June 30, DElia says that in many ways, it will continue.

We provided exit counseling, she says. We wanted to summarize for the clients all of the lessons that theyve learned throughout the program. Now, were going to turn our mission in another direction and start educating the clients on how to continue making food choices similar to what was in their boxes.

"And we have to educate our food bank staff to order such foods, so that theyll be on the shelves at the pantries.

DElia says that should more grant funding become available, the food box component of the program may return.

Meanwhile, she says diabetic and dietary specialist from CEO will continue to visit St. Francis a few times a year in order to help the clients maintain the good habits theyve learned. Ironically, the St. Francis Client Choice Food Panty had already recently established a Healthy Foods Section as the result of an Eagle Scout project spearheaded by Brandon Kelleher, a member of Boy Scout Troop 160, Clarks Summit.

Thus, DElia feels even more confident that those with diabetes will continue to be properly served at St. Francis. The program, she says, had positive results.

We were able to measure if we made a difference, says DElia. And I was very, very pleased.

Monsignor Joseph P. Kelly, director of St. Francis Kitchen, says there are currently 14 clients at St. Francis being served by the program and there are 32 on its waiting list. He adds that he appreciates the good work that CEO brought to the Food Pantry and that it remains committed to providing healthy foods to all, especially those with special dietary needs.

Food donations needed the most are low sodium items, light syrup, vegetables and fruit.

Having this program at the Food Pantry for the past nine months has been a blessing and a gift to St. Francis and to those that we serve, he says. We plan on continuing to work with CEO and others in the community to insure that such healthy foods remain on our shelves, and we are pleased that as a result of this program, so many of our clients are eating better and feeling better.

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CEO Diabetes Wellness Program serves St. Francis - Carbondale News

Reuters Health - Children who dont get enough sleep may be more likely to develop diabetes than kids who typically get enough shuteye, a UK study suggests.

Thats because each additional hour of sleep children get at night is associated with a lower body weight, more lean muscle mass and less accumulation of sugars in the blood, researchers report in Pediatrics. Obesity and elevated blood sugar are risk factors for type 2 diabetes, which happens when the body can't properly use or make enough of the hormone insulin to convert blood sugar into energy.

These findings suggest increasing sleep duration could offer a simple, cost-effective approach to reducing levels of body fat and type 2 diabetes risk early in life, senior study author Christopher Owen of St. Georges, University of London, said by email.

Type 2 diabetes used to be called adult-onset diabetes because it was so rare in children. But today, its a common childhood health problem, in large part because millions of kids worldwide are overweight or obese, dont get enough exercise, and eat too many sugary and fatty foods.

For the current study, researchers examined survey data on sleep habits and lab results from tests of risk factors for diabetes in 4,525 UK children age 9 or 10.

On average, the kids slept 10.5 hours on school nights, although sleep duration ranged from 8 to 12 hours.

Children who got less sleep in the study were more likely to have a risk factor for diabetes known as insulin resistance, when the body doesnt respond normally to the hormone.

Kids who slept less were also more likely to be extremely overweight or obese and have more body fat, the study also found.

Kids 6 to 12 years old should get 9 to 12 hours of sleep a night, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. Not getting enough sleep is associated with an increased risk of injuries, high blood pressure, obesity and depression.

The study wasnt a controlled experiment designed to prove whether or how insufficient sleep might lead to diabetes in children. Researchers also relied on kids to accurately recall and report what time they went to bed and woke up, which might not accurately reflect how much sleep they really got.

Even so, its possible that insufficient sleep might negatively impact childrens appetites and ability to regulate blood sugar, said Stacey Simon, a pediatric sleep psychologist at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and Childrens Hospital Colorado.

When kids are going to bed very late or sleeping on an irregular schedule, they may also be skipping meals, eating at irregular times, or be less likely to exercise during the day, Simon, who wasnt involved in the study, said by email.

Insufficient sleep can affect levels of hormones that control appetite, making kids hungrier and increasing cravings for sweet and salty snacks, said James Gangwisch, a psychiatry researcher at Columbia University in New York who wasnt involved in the study.

Getting enough sleep helps keep our appetite in check and is protective against insulin resistance, Gangwisch said by email.

Beyond making sure kids have regular bedtime, parents should also focus on whats known as sleep hygiene, said Femke Rutters of the VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam.

This can include things like limiting screen time before bed and making sure the bedroom is totally dark at night, Rutters, who wasnt involved in the study, said by email.

SOURCE: bit.ly/2x0TIVI Pediatrics, online August 15, 2017.

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Lack of sleep tied to higher risk of diabetes in kids - Reuters

Viewing even the smallest sliver of a crescent sun peeking out from behind the moon is enough to cause damage, according to a news release from the Minnesota Academy of Ophthalmology and the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

They offer the following suggestions:

Use specially designed solar eclipse glasses and viewers. Ordinary sunglasses, even dark ones, are not sufficient.

Use solar filters on camera lenses, binoculars and telescopes.

Inspect your solar filter before the eclipse. Don't use it if it's scratched or damaged.

Another option is to view the eclipse through #14 welder's glass. That's much darker than the shades arc welders typically wear.

Do not use solar eclipse glasses to look through a camera, binoculars or a telescope. The sun can melt the filter and damage your eyes.

The high cost of diabetes

Diabetes and prediabetes hit Minnesotans with a staggering annual medical bill, reports Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota.

The annual cost is estimated at $4.4 billion, according to Blue Cross, and diabetes accounts for a 6.3 percent "loss of good health" in Minnesota in the form of severe disease, disability or premature death.

Noting that 90 percent of prediabetics don't know they have the condition, the insurer last week launched a "Reverse It" campaign to raise greater awareness about diabetes prevention.

Prediabetes is indicated by a higher-than-normal level of glucose (blood sugar), but not high enough for a type 2 diabetes diagnosis. Type 2 diabetes can include serious health problems, including heart disease, stroke, kidney disease and blindness.

You can learn more and take a prediabetes quiz at BlueCrossMN.com/ReverseIt.

Remember walk in Chisholm

The Iron Range's first Walk to Remember fundraising walk for Alzheimer's awareness will take place on Aug. 19 around Longyear Lake in Chisholm.

Sponsored by St. Luke's Hibbing Family Medical Clinic, the walk will be based at Valentini's Restaurant, 31 W. Lake St. Registration and raffles and door prizes will be from 8-9:30 a.m. The walk will begin at 9:30 following opening comments.

Registration is free. Contact Christine Nelson at Christine.Nelson@slhduluth.com, or call (218) 780-8484 with questions or to donate.

All money raised will go to the Alzheimer's Association in Northern Minnesota/North Dakota.

The inside view in Ely

Ely-Bloomenson Community Hospital will celebrate its 60th anniversary on Aug. 19 with the Medical Inflatables MEGA Body Exhibit and Health Expo at Ely's Whiteside Park.

That means visitors will be able to step inside a 50-foot-long interactive model demonstrating the inner workings of the human body.

The free event will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Help with Medicare

Answers and education regarding health insurance for Medicare beneficiaries and pre-retirees will be provided by Senior LinkAge Line through the Arrowhead Area Agency on Aging on Sept. 7 at Our Savior's Lutheran Church, 4831 Grand Ave., and on Sept. 12 and Sept. 27 at the Missabe Building, 227 W. First St., Suite 103.

To schedule an appointment, call Senior LinkAge Line at (800) 333-2433.

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Health notes: Eclipse viewing safety, diabetes costs and more - Duluth News Tribune

Touchscreen insulin pump maker Tandem Diabetes announced a new clinical trial for an insulin pump with apredictive low glucose suspend (PLGS) algorithm. Another step on the road to an artificial pancreas, PLGS allows Tandem to automatically suspend insulin delivery when it predicts low glucose and resume it when glucose starts to rise again.

The start of this pivotal trial is another important step forward in our automated insulin delivery programs, and comes on the heels of very encouraging feasibility study data, Kim Blickenstaff, president and CEO of Tandem Diabetes Care, said in a statement. We remain on track to submit our t:slim X2 Pump with predictive low glucose suspend to the FDA in early 2018. Subject to FDA approval, we are preparing to launch in summer of 2018, and plan to make this new feature accessible for existing t:slim X2 customers via a remote software update using our Tandem Device Updater.

The pivotal trial, which is part of the data Tandem needs to collect for its FDA submission, will include 90 participants at 6 research centers around the country. Participants will be randomized into two groups that will each be monitored for three weeks as they manage their insulin at home. Both groups will use at:slim X2 Pump from Tandem and a Dexcom G5 continuous glucose monitor, but one will have PLGS enabled while the other will not.

The primary outcome measure of the study will be glucose sensor values, and the secondary outcome measures include glucose control and instances of hypo- and hyperglycemia.

"Mild to moderate hypoglycemia occurs frequently during the day for people with Type 1 diabetes, but of more concern is the severe hypoglycemia which can occur at night causing seizures or even death," principal investigator Dr. Bruce Buckingham said in a statement. "This is a real concern to all people living with Type 1 diabetes, and especially parents of children with Type 1. This new PLGS algorithm will allow for the automatic suspension of insulin delivery when glucose is predicted to be low. This is beneficial throughout the day, but can be lifesaving at night when a person is otherwise unable to react.

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Tandem Diabetes launches clinical trial for its automatic insulin delivery suspension - MobiHealthNews

TUESDAY, Aug. 15, 2017 (HealthDay News) -- When it comes to type 2 diabetes management, a new study finds that more is definitely better for lowering blood sugar levels.

The study showed that adding intensive lifestyle management to standard diabetes care (diabetes medication and usual lifestyle change advice) brought blood sugar into a nondiabetic range.

The intensive intervention worked so well that "half of the intervention group did not need glucose-lowering medications to maintain or even improve [blood sugar] control," said the study's senior researcher, Mathias Ried-Larsen.

So, what exactly constitutes an "intensive" intervention?

"Patients were prescribed exercise five to six times per week for 30 to 60 minutes per session. That included both endurance and resistance training," said Ried-Larsen, of Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen, Denmark.

"In the beginning, the exercise was supervised by a coach, but gradually, they were left on their own. Moreover, they received a dietary program with focus on foods rich in fiber, low in saturated fats, lots of fruit and no processed food. We designed the diet for patients to lose weight," he said.

The study included nearly 100 people from Denmark. All had had type 2 diabetes for less than 10 years, and none had complications from the disease.

The average age of the participants was 55, and nearly half were women. Average A1C level at the start of the study was 6.7 percent. A1C is a blood test that estimates average blood sugar levels over two to three months. An A1C of 6.5 percent or higher indicates diabetes, according to the American Diabetes Association.

Study participants were randomly placed into the usual care group or the intensive lifestyle management group.

After a year, the intensive group lost 13 pounds compared to 4 pounds in the standard management group, the findings showed. LDL cholesterol (the bad kind) and triglycerides (another type of bad blood fat) were reduced more in the intensive group than in the standard group. HDL cholesterol (the good kind) rose more in the intensive group than in the standard group, according to the report.

Average A1C dropped from 6.65 to 6.34 percent in the intensive intervention group, and from 6.74 percent to 6.66 percent in the standard group, the investigators found.

In addition, three-quarters of those in the intensive group needed less diabetes medication, while only one-quarter of the standard care group lowered their medications, the researchers reported.

Not every expert agrees that lowering or stopping diabetes medications is a good idea, however.

Dr. Joel Zonszein is director of the clinical diabetes center at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City.

Zonszein noted that study participants were taking metformin and GLP-1 analogues. "These are good agents. That's why their A1C was so good at the start. I also treat my patients with lifestyle changes. But it's not one or the other. Both medicine and lifestyle changes are important," he said.

"When you use the two together, they work much better," he added.

Zonszein also noted that the Denmark group was "an unusual population." None took insulin, and no one had complications. And, at the start of the study, their blood sugar was already fairly well-managed. That would likely be much different in a U.S. population with type 2 diabetes.

One reason Ried-Larsen hoped to lower the need for medication is to save money. Although metformin is available in a generic form and isn't generally expensive, some of the newer type 2 diabetes medications can be costly.

"I think this study calls for a thorough discussion about the resources we need to allocate to help people to adhere to a lifestyle treatment and what responsibility the society has in this regard," Ried-Larsen said.

"We do acknowledge that the lifestyle treatment is extensive and could be regarded as not economically viable in clinical care," Ried-Larsen noted. "However, consider the willingness to introduce newer classes of drugs that come with extreme prices. If we could get doctors and patients to allocate that sort of money and resources to lifestyle treatment, I think we could change things."

Zonszein added that when people rely solely on lifestyle management, it doesn't always bring blood sugar levels down enough.

"It's important to consider the cost-effectiveness of medications along with their cost. A lot of expense comes from treating diabetes complications," he said.

The report was published Aug. 15 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

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Could Big Lifestyle Changes Be Key to Managing Type 2 Diabetes? - Sioux City Journal

Inflammatory processes in the liver lead to elevated cholesterol levels in people with diabetes, thus promoting subsequent vascular diseases. This is the conclusion of a study by scientists at Helmholtz Zentrum Mnchen, Technische Universitt Mnchen (TUM) and the Collaborative Research Center SFB 1118 at Heidelberg University Hospital. The paper has now been published in the journal Cell Reports.

Vascular diseases play a key role among the long-term complications in people with diabetes. Cardiovascular diseases account for 75 percent of hospitalizations, and these diseases are responsible for 50 percent of all deaths. Elevated cholesterol is an important risk factor for atherosclerosis, circulatory disorders and vascular complications.

"Even if blood glucose levels are well controlled, some people with diabetes have a higher risk of long-term complications. We wanted to understand the underlying cause for this," said metabolism researcher Dr. Mauricio Berriel Diaz, deputy director of the Institute for Diabetes and Cancer (IDC) at Helmholtz Zentrum Mnchen.

In their study, the researchers focused on inflammatory processes that are known to occur in many metabolic disorders such as type 2 diabetes and obesity and contribute significantly to long-term complications. Specifically, they concentrated on the inflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor (TNF-), which is known to induce the production of reactive oxygen species (ROSs) in the liver. The scientists demonstrated that these ROSs inactivate the transcription factor complex GAbp (GA-binding protein). In experimental models, this loss inhibited the protein AMPK, an energy sensor of the cell. As a result, excess cholesterol was produced, and typical atherosclerosis symptoms developed.

Key Role in the Maintenance of Hepatic and Systemic Lipid Homeostasis

"Our data suggest that the liver plays a key role in the development of common diabetic vascular diseases," said first author Dr. Katharina Niopek, researcher at the IDC. "GAbp appears to be a molecular regulator at the interface between inflammation, cholesterol homeostasis and atherosclerosis. Without its protective effect, this leads to hypercholesterolemia and increased lipid deposition in the arteries."

"Since initial patient data supported our findings, the new signaling pathwayregardless of how well the blood glucose levels of the patient are controlledmay be a key component in the development of long-term diabetes complications that could be utilized therapeutically," said Herzig, who led the study.

Explore further: Researchers discover new regulator in glucose metabolism

More information: Katharina Niopek et al, A Hepatic GAbp-AMPK Axis Links Inflammatory Signaling to Systemic Vascular Damage, Cell Reports (2017). DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2017.07.023

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Long-term diabetes complication: Liver inflammation raises cholesterol levels - Medical Xpress

Mary Jo has diabetes type 2. Every morning she gets up and pricks her finger to check her blood sugar. Then she takes her medicine which consists of some pills and a new medication that she injects. Breakfast consists of a limited amount of carbohydrate, as does lunch and dinner. She is encouraged by her doctor to get daily exercise and she realizes that her days of eating whatever she wants whenever she wants are over.

Diabetes is a big pain in the neck. But Mary Jo knows that if she doesnt follow her daily routine, she is putting herself at risk for early heart disease, or blindness, or amputations. Her fear of the complications of diabetes fuels her motivation to care for herself.

What if Mary Jo could turn back the clock and prevent this disease before it started? Is it possible? The answer is yes in many cases. The key is to find out before it becomes full-blown diabetes.

There are some characteristics that predict diabetes type 2 before it happens. They call this stage prediabetes. The scary statistic is that 1 in 3 Americans have prediabetes yet only 10 percent know it. That means in Lincoln County if 3,000 people have prediabetes, only 300 are aware of it.

Prediabetes is characterized by a blood sugar reading that is higher than normal but not high enough to be called diabetes. People at this stage are on their way to develop diabetes type 2 within five years, and are at a higher risk for stroke and heart disease than the general population.

The good news is that people with prediabetes can avoid or delay developing diabetes type 2. The sooner prediabetes is identified and changes are made, the better chance to prevent diabetes. These changes mean losing 5 percent to 7 perecent of body weight and getting regular physical activity.

The Centers for Disease Control developed guidelines for a national program to prevent diabetes type 2. That program is called PREVENT. The nationwide Diabetes Prevention Program is here at Cabinet Peaks Medical Center in Libby. For seven years, our team of diabetes educators and dietitians has been helping people lose weight and reduce their risk for diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The 2017 fall program will start on Tuesday, Sept. 19 at 5 p.m. The class meets for 26 sessions over 12 months. The cost is $100 for the year, and scholarships are available.

There are no symptoms for prediabetes, so how do you know if you are at risk? Take this quick test and add up the points:

1. Gender: Men 1 point, Women 0 points

2. Age: over 60 3 points, over 50 2 points, over 40 1 point

3. Activity: active 0 points, not very active 1 point

4. Family history: diabetes in family 1 point, no diabetes 0 points

5. High Blood Pressure: Yes 1 point, No 0 points

6. Weight: Normal weight 0 points, slightly overweight 1 point, somewhat overweight 2 points, very overweight 3 points

If you scored 5 or more, you may have prediabetes; check in with your doctor for a simple blood test to make sure. Then ask your doctor to refer you to the Prevent Program.

For more information about the program call 406-283-7318.

Anne Alexander is one of the PREVENT leaders at Cabinet Peaks Medical Center.

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Program helps reduce risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease - The Western News

PHOENIX - It's the trip that Justin Mann and his sister Ashtyn will never forget: that one time they biked from Oregon to South Carolina.

It was Ashtyn who had the idea. The two would peddle 3,500 miles in 64 days. They passed through 12 states and three mountain ranges, which was certainly a challenge. But even in Kansas, it was tough. Justin says the wind was intense and made riding even harder.

The two met a lot of strangers along the route and that's where they were able to tell them why they were biking so far: to raise money and awareness for diabetes.

Justin was diagnosed with Type One when he was six.

"It was a pretty terrifying moment in my life," said Justin. "I remember the doctor came out and he said you have diabetes. I was just like -- the first thing I heard was, die."

Justin had to adjust to wearing an insulin pump 24-7 and now also wears a sensor on his arm to monitor his blood sugar. He turned to sports as an outlet and played football for UCLA and Washington State. Oddly biking wasn't anything he had done until a couple weeks before this cross-country ride. Sure the journey was long but the payoff is still going.

"It's already cool enough for someone who is not diabetic to make it across the country," says Justin. "What if a diabetic? A lot of people think shouldn't or couldn't do this kind of thing."

The money raised will be donated to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

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Siblings bike 3500 miles to raise awareness about diabetes - ABC15 Arizona

The medical benefits of cannabis are diverse and far-reaching. Even where marijuana cant treat or eliminate a disease, it can still reduce the severity of symptoms and aid recovery. Diabetes is a case in point.In this guide, we break down the best weed strains for diabetes.

According to 2014 CDC data, more than 29 million people in the United States have diabetes. The disease affects the bodys ability to break down sugars in the blood.

This difficulty controlling the bloods sugar levels creates a host of dangerous health issues for people with diabetes. But medical cannabis can help with those issues in a variety of ways

According to researchers, neuropathy is the most common complication of diabetes. It also happens to be one of the hardest to deal with. Neuropathy, a dysfunction of the nerves, leads to numbness, weakness, and pain.

Fortunately, cannabis is a proven anti-inflammatory medicine that can reduce nerve pain and even heal damaged nerves. More specifically, its the non-psychoactive cannabinoid CBD, or cannabidiol, thats neuroprotective. This cannabinoid shields nerves from damage and reduces neuropathic pain for people with diabetes.

Therefore, some of the best weed strains for diabetes are those that can reduce diabetic neuropathic pain. These strains are high in CBD and rich in the antioxidant properties that protect and restore nerves. Hence, they tend to be indicas.

Devil Fruit treats medical cannabis patients with a light, euphoric cerebral enhancement coupled with full-body soothing effects.

A fantastic strain with strong antioxidant properties, Devil Fruit, helps reduce neuropathic pain with a sweet and spicy palette. Great White Shark genetics give this strain its high CBD content.

Read the rest here:
10 Best Weed Strains For Diabetes - Green Rush Daily

Could shivering in the cold be a way to shed pounds and possibly prevent diabetes?

Exposure to cold is the most well-known and well-studied mechanism for switching on energy-burning brown fat, which seems to protect mice from developing obesity. It remains to be seen whether the same process can help people.

Humans have three kinds of fat. White adipose tissue, or white fat, comprises the majority of fat in our bodies; its purpose is to store energy for future use. Brown fat is different: Its function is to generate heat to maintain body temperature. Until recently, it was thought that adults did not have brown fat, that it only existed in babies to help them stay warm before they could move around and then essentially vanished. But beginning in 2009, studies have found that many adults have brown fat and that people with more of it tend to be leaner and have lower blood sugar levels.

The third kind of fat, beige fat, appears to convert from white to brown when stressed by exposure to cold, and then back to white. This process is encouraging for scientists trying to figure out how to increase brown fat to improve healthy functioning of the body.

[If you want to lose weight, dropping meat may help]

A balanced diet and regular exercise are the cornerstones of healthy metabolism, but sustaining either is difficult for most people. Understanding how brown fat could benefit our health opens up a new direction in obesity research, says Paul Lee, an endocrinologist at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney, where he leads the Brown Fat Physiology Group. It is not a solution to obesity, but it is an opportunity to explore an alternative strategy for curbing the obesity epidemic.

When the body senses cold, Lee says, the brain releases norepinephrine, a chemical that essentially ignites the fat-burning process within brown fat. When there is not enough brown fat, the body has to turn to less-efficient heat-generating models, such as shivering.

Aaron Cypess, a clinical investigator at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, calls brown fat the principal organ responsible for generating heat in laboratory animals.

In mice and rats, Cypess says, chronic activation of brown fat [by exposing them to low temperatures or to drugs that target brown fat] ... is associated with a reduction in liver fat, a resistance to diet-induced obesity and improvement in insulin release. All of these benefits and others may also apply to people, but it will take much longer to prove because studies in humans have to be conducted differently, he says.

He adds, While white fat is easy to spot in humans think abdomen, hips, buttocks and thighs brown fat tends to be located around the neck and above the collarbone, along the spine and near the kidneys. Additionally, Cypess says, humans are genetically more diverse than lab mice, which produces results with much higher variability.

Lee says that when people are cold and begin to shiver, their muscles release irisin, a hormone that turns white fat into brown fat. The more a person shivers, the more irisin is released into the bloodstream.

A 2014 study by Lee dubbed the ICEMAN study found that after a month of sleeping at cool temperatures, five men increased their stores of brown fat by 30 to 40 percent and metabolized sugars more efficiently after a meal, which could be helpful for people with diabetes. When the sleeping temperature was raised, the brown stores dropped.

(Interestingly, another recent study found that brown fat also may be stimulated by taking a drug used to treat overactive bladder.)

Cypess says that this research makes it clear that activating or increasing brown fat stores might prevent weight gain, lead to weight loss and provide a new avenue for treating diabetes and obesity.

Can the average person embark on a shiver diet to lose weight?

Lee says he believes the current evidence does not support the notion that shivering may be a route to losing weight. (Despite the studys name, ICEMAN the Impact of Chronic Cold Exposure in Humans exposed participants to only mild cold, not shiveringly low temperatures.)

Cypess says that shivering to lose weight is an interesting idea, but there are many unknowns.

First, is it safe?

Lee says that shivering causes stress and could harm the body, which explains why the human body has evolved mechanisms to turn on brown fat or to turn white fat into brown fat.

In most people, Cypess says, shivering causes increases in blood pressure that over the years could damage blood vessels in the brain, heart and kidneys.

Additionally, Cypess says, there is no evidence to prove that a low-temperature regimen could be effective long-term. One of the biggest limitations of weight-loss interventions is that the body learns to compensate to maintain itself, and that might be true with a shiver diet. Lee and Cypess agree that no weight-loss regimen should be recommended without a great deal of evidence that it will work for more than a few weeks or months and that the weight loss can be sustained evidence that doesnt exist.

Finally, Cypess says, being cold is extremely uncomfortable. While suggestions exist that long-term activation of brown fat could be beneficial to weight loss and diabetes reduction, this has yet to be proven, he stresses.

Francesco Celi, chair of the division of endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, said in an email that he expects future research will include conducting studies in humans that will test various interventions (drugs or environmental modifications) to expand and activate brown fat to help scientists determine what kind of metabolic improvements can occur. And by studying the various responses to interventions, researchers will be able to determine which patients respond better to brown-tissue expansion and perhaps why they do.

Cypess says he expects scientists to focus on determining to what extent adult brown fat contributes to getting rid of excess calories, how brown fat could be used to bring down blood sugar levels and how brown fat interacts with other organs to keep people healthy.

But even with all that, he adds, Basically, the issue of losing weight is about controlling the amount of food we put into our mouths.

Read more

Why many people regain weight after going on a diet, and what to do about that

Fitness trackers may not, in fact, help you lose weight

New drug tricks metabolism into burning fat as if youve just finished a meal

A blast of cold jump-starts fat burning and generates body heat

health-science@washpost.com

See original here:
Might a 'shiver diet' help people lose weight and protect against ... - Washington Post

In the 1990s diabetes was seen as a condition that mainly affected rich people in high income countries. Nowadays, its one of the leading contributors to death in all countries in the world, driven by increases in national and personal wealth resulting in people having more disposable income. In addition, urbanization has led to more and more people living sedentary lifestyles. A commission of experts, which was set up in 2014 to tackle the challenge in Africa, have recently released their findings. The Conversations health and medicine editor Candice Bailey spoke to professor Justine Davies about the importance of the commission and what good it can do.

What do we know about diabetes in Africa? Why is there a concern?

About 95% of cases around the world are type 2 diabetes, which is associated with obesity. The impact of diabetes is becoming much greater in poorer countries and regions. Sub-Saharan Africa is home to 34 of the worlds 48 least developed countries. In lower-income countries, even though national and personal wealth is increasing, health systems are not developed enough to cope with the increasing numbers, or the long-term consequences of diabetes such as heart attacks, strokes, blindness, and kidney failure.

The health fraternity has a good idea diabetes rates in Africa are increasing but they dont know enough about the number of people with the disease. The health fraternity has a good idea that diabetes rates on the continent are increasing but they dont know enough about the number of people with the disease. For example, a recent study found that there is no information about people with diabetes in 21 countries. Added to this, the Commission also found that in countries where the burden of diabetes is known only about half of the people with it in populations across Africa are aware that they have the disease. Of these only one in 10or 11%receive the drugs they need.

What are the costs?

There are two costs affiliated with diabetes: treatment costs and economic costs.

Diabetes itself can be treated very cheaply as it only requires medications (usually tablets) to lower glucose. But the long-term consequences, for example, heart attacks, strokes, blindness, and kidney failure, require specialists and specialist equipment to treat. These are very expensive. The consequences are also more likely to lead to people not being able to work.

The Commission calculated that southern African countries accounted for two-thirds of the $12.1billion spent on diabetes in sub-Saharan Africa in 2015. Wealthier countries, particularly South Africa, were spending more because theyre going through more societal changes. Less than a tenth of the costs ($1.7 billion) originated from poorer countries in western Africa.

Diabetes can be treated very cheaply, but the long-term consequences, for example, heart attacks and strokes, are very expensive to treat. And looking ahead, projections show that by 2030 southern Africa is likely to see the greatest increases in annual health care and personal costs: between $17.2 billion and $29.2 billion. In east Africa spending is expected to increase from $3.8 billion in 2015 up to $16.2 billion in 2030.

The Commission report estimates that the total costs to economies and individuals in sub-Saharan Africa in 2015 was US $19.5 billion.

More than half of this economic cost (56%, $10.8 billion) was from treatments, including medication and hospital stays. Other costs included out-of-pocket expenses paid for by the patients and productivity losses, mostly from shortened life expectancy as well as people leaving the workforce early ($0.5 billion), taking sick leave ($0.2 billion) and being less productive at work due to poor health ($0.07 billion).

In which way are health systems ill-prepared to deal with chronic diseases like diabetes? Are there countries that are worse off or better? And why?

The impact of diabetes is greater in countries and regions that are poorer. In lower-income countries, health systems have focused on tackling infectious diseases for the last 15 to 20 years. The increase in diabetes cases hasnt been seen as a priority. This has led to several gaps in care, including a lack of equipment for diagnosing and monitoring diabetes, lack of treatment, and lack of knowledge about the disease among health care providers.

Many infectious diseases can be cured relatively quickly, which means that the systems for treating chronic, lifelong, diseases like diabetes are rare.

But theres a lot we can learn from countries that have developed systems to deal with high burdens of HIV. Lessons are being drawn from them to provide care for other chronic conditions in Africa.

Another reason for health care systems in Africa not being able to cope with diabetesor many other illnessesis that they havent been given the level of investment needed to provide good quality care for all.

How could the challenges around diabetes be tackled effectively?

It is critical that we establish the true burden of diabetes and the burden of other risk factors associated with diabetes, like high blood pressure and abnormal cholesterol.

The Commissions analysis demonstrates a clear need for improvements at all levels of diabetes care. And interventions that have been successfully trialled in sub-Saharan African countries need to be scaled up. This includes community-based care for high blood pressure, patient education, home glucose monitoring, and more education about diabetes for health care professionals.

The Commission also pointed out that the response needs to come from many different levels; from individuals, to society, to health care planners, health care providers and governments.

The researchers note that prevention is critical to improving health and avoiding further economic burden. This is because managing type 2 diabetes and its risk factors (such as obesity and physical inactivity) is much simpler and cheaper than treating complications that develop in the later stages of the disease.

Justine Davies, Professor in Global Health, Kings College London

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

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One in 16 privately insured Minnesotans suffers a loss of good health due to diabetes, according to a new analysis by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, which adds up to thousands of people who will never reach their full life expectancies or will suffer chronic disabilities.

The analysis, released Tuesday, is based on a new national Blue Cross health index tool that estimates the prevalence and cost of diseases in states and counties based on the private insurance claims of 40 million Americans.

The index was created to show just how widespread and how costly certain conditions have become. Diabetes, for example, costs each member of a private Blue Cross health plan nearly $140 per year, the new analysis showed.

Relative to the rest of the nation, depression and anxiety take a bigger toll on Minnesotans, the data showed. But Blue Cross executives said they wanted to use the data to promote a new Reverse It campaign against diabetes, because it can be prevented if people are diagnosed at the pre-diabetes stage and if they change their diet and exercise habits.

Among the one in three Americans that have [pre-diabetes], 90 percent of them are not even aware of it, said Dr. Glenn Pomerantz, Blue Cross Minnesotas chief medical officer. It really is the best bad news you can get, because you can fix this. Its curable. Its preventable.

Type 2 diabetes is an obesity-related condition in which the body loses the ability to properly convert sugar into energy. Diabetes is diagnosed when someone has a blood sugar level of 126 or higher. Pre-diabetes is diagnosed when a patients blood sugar is between 100 and 125.

While treatable with insulin injections and medication, diabetes can result in heart disease, stroke or kidney damage.

Adopting a Mediterranean diet rich in nuts and fruits, and adding daily brisk walking, can be enough to move people out of the pre-diabetes category, Pomerantz said.

Everyone always thinks its not them, he added. Take myself, for instance. Im borderline for pre-diabetes and it made me change ... my own lifestyle. I used to live on hamburgers and French fries. I think I picked that up in residency ... That habit stayed with me for decades.

County-level data in Minnesota shows a higher rate of diabetes in the northwest corner of the state, and a higher rate of people who suffer a loss of good health. Pomerantz said the lack of access in rural areas to primary care doctors probably plays a role, so Blue Cross is increasing access to an online personal health coaching program.

Coaching makes a difference, said Jon Frank, who was diagnosed with diabetes 12 years ago but didnt change any of his habits until he turned 50 last year and started worrying about seeing his two children grow up.

Being accountable each week to a coach at Life Time fitness helped the Plymouth man manage his calorie intake, take walks, and drink eight bottles of water a day, he said. Frank lost 100 pounds and cut his blood sugar level nearly in half.

I was a walking deathmobile, said Frank, a college football player who started gaining weight after starting his own fundraising business. I just knew I had to do something.

Pomerantz said the physical and monetary costs of diabetes are expected to worsen unless more Minnesotans find out whether they are at risk for the disease and take action. The Blue Cross data showed the health effects of diabetes growing fastest among people aged 18 to 34.

Our children and young adults are going to have reduced life expectancies if this continues, he said. This cannot happen. It cannot be.

Jeremy Olson 612-673-7744

1 in 16

Minnesotans will see their health affected by diabetes.

$140

Annual cost that diabetes adds to every private Blue Cross health plan.

Continued here:
Minnesota pays huge price for diabetes, Blue Cross finds | Star ... - Minneapolis Star Tribune

500+ riders pedal to get closer to...

LA CROSSE, Wis. (WKBT) - It's a record-breaking year for the annual JDRF Ride to Cure Diabetes in La Crosse.

More than 500 bikers rode Saturday to support the cause, bringing them about $1.5 million closer to finding a cure.

JDRF is an organization that raises money and awareness for Type 1 diabetes, sponsoring five rides nationally this year.

This is the eighth year the JDRF ride is in La Crosse, drawing cyclists from across the country.

Before riders took off at 7 a.m., the day was just breaking at Riverside Park, but there's no time to waste on the journey to finding a cure.

"I'm ready to ride, Iowa resident Steve Graham said.

"JDRF's vision is a world without type one diabetes. Its very simple, said Derek Rapp, president and CEO of JDRF International.

Graham has biked in the JDRF ride in various locations since the company he works for, Hyvee, first challenged him 10 years ago.

"Everyone out here's got your back, Graham said. "I thought it'd be one and done, yeah I'll go do that, then you see how many lives you can change," said.

Graham didn't personally know anyone who has Type 1 diabetes, so he was paired up with a youth ambassador who does named Jade. That introduced him to a family he never would have known otherwise.

"We've been friends ever since, Graham said.

"This guy right here recruited me, said Jades mom, Rhonda Logsdon. This was her third year riding alongside Graham.

"Just building relationships with JDRF and the support of the staff with family has been tremendous for us," she said.

The more people along for the ride, the better.

"The ride keeps getting bigger and bigger, said Jennifer Wickman, executive director of JDRFs Western Wisconsin chapter. We're raising over one and a half million dollars today."

"We're also raising awareness, Rapp said, and again, giving people the spirit to say, 'We're going to keep on going.'"

When the going gets tough on the course, Graham remembers people like Jade.

"Whenever you have a tough time, you know, you think, I'm just pedaling a bike. I don't have to check my blood sugar 15 times a day and take insulin, and so to get through 100 miles, it's easier than the day-to-day that someone with Type 1 diabetes has to battle through."

With each pedal, riders come one step closer to the cure.

"A lot of goosebump moments and tears, Graham said. "It's Jade that keeps me riding."

The course was 100 miles long, but organizers said distance doesn't matter, and cyclists can go as far as they'd like.

To date, the JDRF Ride to Cure Diabetes has raised more than $38 million nationally for Type 1 diabetes research.

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500+ riders pedal to get closer to diabetes cure - News8000.com - WKBT

A form of immunotherapy gaining ground as a way to treat childhood food allergies has shown promise in treating another rising scourge of children and young adults: Type 1 diabetes.

In a small but rigorous clinical trial, British investigators gave patients recently diagnosed with the metabolic disorder a truncated version of the chemical that gives rise to insulin.

After a quarter-century of failed efforts to treat diabetes with an immune therapy, the experimental treatment appeared to quell the immune systems assaults on the bodys insulin-production machinery. The authors of the new study call their experimental treatment an appealing strategy for prevention, both in the earliest stages of Type-1 diabetes and in children who are at high genetic risk of developing the disease.

Over the trials 12-month duration, eight newly diagnosed diabetic subjects who got a placebo treatment required steadily increasing insulin doses to maintain glycemic control. As their immune systems progressively destroyed the pancreatic cells that normally produce the essential hormone, their daily insulin use grew on average 50%.

The 19 subjects who got the experimental immunotherapy, however, continued to produce their own insulin. Among the subjects who got the experimental immunotherapy, the need for added shots of the hormone did not escalate in the year following their diagnosis.

The different metabolic trajectories of subjects in the trials control group and its active arm were evident at three months the earliest point at which a surrogate marker for insulin production was measured.

The report of the early-stage clinical trial, published Wednesday in the journal Science Translational Medicine, offers some preliminary reassurance that immunotherapy could be used safely in this growing population.

Researchers have been wary of pursuing the strategy in diabetes, worried that it could accelerate or strengthen the immune systems attack on insulin-producing pancreatic cells, or cause dangerous allergic reactions. In the current study, injections of an immunotherapeutic agent caused no detectable worrisome response -- not even redness or swelling at the site of injection prompting the authors to declare its safety profile very favorable.

Recent years have seen progress in the bid to develop chemical mimics of allergens that train and reassure the defenders of the immune system rather than inflame and encourage them. The approach, called antigen-specific immunotherapy, has seen growing success in the treatment of allergies to common foods, such as peanuts, eggs and soy.

Similar to food allergies, Type-1 diabetes is an immune disorder a disease in which the immune system misidentifies a harmless or even necessary agent (whether ingested peanuts or insulin-making cells in the pancreas) as a threat. The immune systems assault not only can cause discomfort and danger in the form of itching, swelling or anaphylactic shock. In diabetes, it destroys a function thats essential to the bodys ability to extract fuel from food and to keep freely circulating blood sugar from damaging organs and blood vessels.

Just as lab-produced chemical snippets of peanuts accustom an overactive immune system to the eventual introduction of real peanuts, the researchers hoped that the chemical flag they devised would teach the immune systems of newly diagnosed diabetics to recognize insulin and call off their attack on its source.

By using just a piece of the antigen that typically causes the immune reaction, the approach of such peptide immunotherapy aims to inure the immune system to the object of attack while avoiding a full-on allergic response.

At Cardiff University and Kings College London, researchers led by Dr. Mohammad Alhadj Ali isolated a compound called a proinsulin C19 A3 peptide. A fragment of the chemical that gives rise to insulin, the peptide (known to chemists by the catchy moniker GSLQPLALEGSLQKRGIV) is called an epitope.

Over six months, they gave 19 subjects with early diabetes injections of the epitope in one of two doses: either every two or every four weeks. The subjects glycemic control and insulin use were then tracked for another six months.

The subjects were mostly in their mid- to late-20s, and had all been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in the previous 100 days. The studys recruits were all at a stage of the disorder when the pancreass insulin-producing cells were still at least partly intact and capable of producing the hormone in response to food intake. But the immune systems CD4 and CD8 T-cells had begun to mount their attacks on the beta-cells of the pancreas.

Each year in the United States, some 40,000 people get a new diagnosis of Type-1 diabetes, a disorder that can upend a life of carefree eating and reduce life expectancy by a decade. Like many auto-immune disorders, including celiac disease and lupus, the incidence of Type-1 diabetes appears to have risen sharply. Diagnoses of Type-1 diabetes have escalated at an annual average of 4% in recent decades.

melissa.healy@latimes.com

@LATMelissaHealy

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By Robert Preidt

HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, Aug. 4, 2017 (HealthDay News) -- The diabetes drug exenatide (Byetta) may do double duty as a treatment for Parkinson's disease, a new study suggests.

"This is a very promising finding, as the drug holds potential to affect the course of the disease itself, and not merely the symptoms," said senior study author Tom Foltynie, from University College London's Institute of Neurology.

"With existing treatments, we can relieve most of the symptoms [of Parkinson's] for some years, but the disease continues to worsen," he said in a university news release. "This is the strongest evidence we have so far that a drug could do more than provide symptom relief for Parkinson's disease."

Parkinson's is the second most common neurodegenerative disease worldwide, the researchers noted. The condition results in muscle stiffness, slowed movement, tremors, sleep disturbance and chronic fatigue.

In the study, 60 people with Parkinson's received either a weekly injection of exenatide or an inactive placebo for 48 weeks, along with their regular medications.

At the end of that period, those who took the diabetes drug scored four points higher on a 132-point scale of agility, speech and tremors than those who took the placebo. The difference was statistically significant, the study authors said.

The findings were published Aug. 3 in the The Lancet.

According to Brian Fiske, senior vice president of research programs at The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research, "Using approved therapies for one condition to treat another, or drug repurposing, offers new avenues to speed Parkinson's therapeutic development." The foundation funded the study.

"The results from the exenatide studies justify continued testing, but clinicians and patients are urged not to add exenatide to their regimens until more is known about their safety and impact on Parkinson's," Fiske said.

Another Parkinson's expert agreed that more research is in order.

"While these are exciting findings, the observed benefit was small and only in one outcome-measure," said Dr. Martin Niethammer, a neurologist at Northwell Health's Neuroscience Institute, in Manhasset, N.Y.

"This might relate to the study being relatively small and of short duration, rather than lack of efficacy [effectiveness] of exenatide, and more study is certainly needed," he noted.

"This trial does provide an excellent rationale for larger and longer trials, and it remains to be seen if exenatide, and drugs like it, truly have a disease-modifying effect or merely improve the symptoms of Parkinson's disease," Niethammer said.

WebMD News from HealthDay

SOURCES: University College London, news release, Aug. 3, 2017; Martin Niethammer, M.D., neurologist, Northwell Health's Neuroscience Institute, Manhasset, N.Y.

Continued here:
Diabetes Drug Shows Promise Against Parkinson's - WebMD

Earlier this week, a team of scientists, led by a researcher at Oregon Health and Science University, published a paper showing its possible to alter human embryo DNA to prevent congenital disease. The study shows that CRISPR-Cas9 is certainly powerful. But in the fanfare and controversy surrounding the news, the public may have lost sight that CRISPR is also highly versatile.

Scientists are using the technology to develop effective treatment therapies for a range of diseases, including cancer, diabetes and communicable diseases. Other researchers applygene editing to solve agricultural problems,counter bioterrorism and clean up the environment.

Since CRISPR was first identified, geneticists have been adapting it in the laboratory as a tool that could be used to alter genetic codes of all living organisms. The study, published in Nature on Wednesday has incited a debate about the ethics of using CRISPR technology to alter human genes, which draws attention to the ongoing public fear that humanity will soon have the capacity to build designer babies.

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Newsweek spoke with Jennifer Doudna, a microbiologist at the University of California, Berkeley and co-discover of the breakthrough gene-editing technique, about how quickly the technology is advancing and the progress she expects to see in the future.

What do you make of the findings in the Nature study?

In a way its not a surprising study. Theres obviously been interest in the potential application of genome editing to curing genetic disease. Ultimately, if one could do this in the germline, it would be possible to get rid of disease-causing mutations at the beginning of life.

Whats really interesting here is that the study was conducted in a way that could create a path to the clinic, and to establish a procedure for doing gene editing that would be feasible in these embryos. The researchers largely achieved that.

Whats the one thing you say to people to try to assuage their the worries that were on the path to creating designer babies?

People say it wont happen in the U.S. but what about China? I am asked this question at cocktail parties. What about Asia? What about places that have fewer restrictions, and perhaps fewer cultural feelings against germline editing? Its entirely possible that there will be use of germline editing in those jurisdictions. I encourage the scientific and clinical communities around the world to not rush CRISPR to clinical research because I think it would be a shame if a powerful technology gets a black eye in the public perception, at least in terms of using it inappropriately.

Are there other ways to use this technology in a reproductive medicine setting that dont involve editing an actual embryo?

Perhaps in the not-too-distant future it will be possible to generate gametesmeaning eggs or spermfrom somatic cells in a person. Already it is possible to do this in animals. Once this is technically feasible in humans, doctors could use CRISPR for patients with a known genetic predisposition to something or certain mutations to generate gametes that could be used in an in vitro fertilization setting. This removes the issue of embryo editing, though it doesnt remove the issue of making changes that become heritable in the human germline.

Are you surprised by how fast this research has progressed?

Its been about five years since we published our paper describing the CRISPR system and how it could be used for genome editing. I never imagined back then that I would be reading this headline in the New York Times this week.

What are you working on that shows CRISPRs broad capabilities?

Im leading the Innovative Genomics Institute, a UC San Franciscopartnership aiming to bring genome editing to important problems in human health and the environment, which is aimed at bringing people who do fundamental research like me together with clinicians and plant biologists. Weve teamed up with neurosurgeons at UC San Francisco, and were developing ways to deliver gene-editing molecules into the brain. This has nothing to do with germline editing. This is therapy for neurological disease. Im very excited about the potential to use gene editing to correct mutations that could really benefit patients in the future.

We published a paper in Nature Biotechnology earlier this year showing how we can use CRISPR for editing DNA in the brains of mice. Were focused right now on Huntingtons disease and working in a couple of different animal models toinvestigate whether the approach has a therapeutic benefit in these animals. If that looks promising then we hope to make steps toward clinical trials with our partners at UCSF.

The vast majority of scientists right now who are working with gene editingand CRISPR in particularare focused on this type of application. Researchers are not trying to make heritable changes to DNA in humans. They are trying to make changes to DNA that would impact a patient in their lifetime and have a positive effect.

The rest is here:
Gene Editing Could Stop Cancer, Diabetes and Bioterrorism: An Interview With CRISPR Scientist Jennifer Doudna - Newsweek

Diabetes symptoms are easy to miss, but it's becoming more vital than ever to recognize the signs. According to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 30.3 million people in the U.S. have diabetes as of 2015, but nearly a quarter of those people (7.2 million) are undiagnosed. In addition to that, about a third of U.S. adults (84.1 million) have prediabetes, a precursor to type 2 diabetes, yet only 11.6 percent of them reported being told by a doctor that they have it.

However, we know that the overwhelming majority of diabetes cases is type 2, a chronic condition that affects the way the body processes blood sugar. According to the report, only about 5 percent of U.S. adults are thought to have type 1 diabetes, a chronic condition that typically develops in childhood in which a persons pancreas produces little or no insulin.

Rates of diabetes tend to increase with age. According to the report, 4 percent of adults aged 1844 had diabetes; 17 percent of 45- to 64-year-olds had the condition; and 25 percent of people 65 and up had diabetes. The rates of diagnoses were also higher among American Indians/Alaska Natives, non-Hispanic blacks, and Hispanics when compared to Asians and non-Hispanic whites. New diabetes diagnoses were steady, but the researchers point out that diabetes was the seventh leading cause of death in the U.S. in 2015, which isnt something to take lightly.

Complications from diabetes include heart and blood vessel disease, nerve damage, kidney damage, eye problems (including blindness), and foot damage (even leading to amputation), among other issues when left untreated, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Its likely due to a few reasons, Ann Albright, Ph.D., R.D., director of the CDCs division of diabetes translation and a coauthor of the report, tells SELF. Type 2 diabetes symptoms can be difficult to identify, she says, and initially include increased thirst, frequent urination, increased appetite, and fatigue. Diabetes symptoms often come on slowly and can be mistaken for a lot of other issues. Anybody could think their symptoms are due to something else, Dr. Albright says. What person isnt fatigued?

People also may not visit their doctor as often as they should and, if theyre not being monitored by a physician, they wont know that something is off, she says.

While about 7.2 million people with diabetes dont know they have it, thats better than 20 or 30 years ago when about half of people with diabetes werent aware of it, Robert M Cohen, M.D., an endocrinologist at UC Health and professor of medicine in the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, tells SELF. A lot more people have diabetes butmany more of them know they have it and have the opportunity to take action, he says. Most people who know they have diabetes and are under a doctors care can manage well with the disease, Marc Leavey, M.D., an internist at Baltimore's Mercy Medical Center, tells SELF. But you have to know that you have diabetes in order to control it," he says.

While genetics can be a factor, type 2 diabetes prevention largely relies on lifestyle. Its important that we as a country take lifestyle seriously, Dr. Albright says.The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases recommends ways to lower your risk, including watching your food portions, exercising regularly, eating a healthy diet thats heavy on fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, and avoiding sugar-laden drinks like soda and juice. Of course, that can be easier said than done, especially if it means revamping a large part of your current lifestyle habits. But it can be done, and your doctor can help. If you're concerned about your diabetes risk, talk to your primary care physician. They should be able to order testing to see where you're at and proceed with next steps if the diagnosis is positive.

The numbers are startling, Dr. Albright says. We must get a handle on this.

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Nearly a Quarter of People with Diabetes Don't Know They Have It - SELF