StemCell Therapy

(Reuters Health) - Women who got their first period at age 11 or earlier are at higher risk of developing diabetes during pregnancy, a recent Australian study suggests.

Being overweight is known to be a factor in early periods and also in whats known as gestational diabetes, but it did not fully explain the link between the two conditions, the researchers write in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

Diabetes develops in as many as 9 percent of pregnant women in the United States and can carry serious health risks, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Mothers with gestational diabetes are more likely to have high blood pressure and go into premature labor, said lead study author Danielle Schoenaker, a research officer at The University of Queensland.

There are also consequences for the baby, which is more likely to grow faster and be larger at birth, Schoenaker told Reuters Health by email. In the longer term, both mothers and their children are at higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes later in life.

To explore the link between womens age at first menstruation, known as menarche, and their risk of developing gestational diabetes, the study team analyzed data on nearly 5,000 women participating in the larger Australian Longitudinal Study on Womens Health between 2000 and 2012.

The women included in the analysis all reported a live birth during the study and had completed a questionnaire every three to four years, answering questions about when they had their first period and whether they were diagnosed or treated for diabetes during pregnancy. None had type 2 diabetes or a previous history of gestational diabetes at the start of the study.

The average age at which women got their first period was just under 13 years, researchers found.

Women who had their first period at or before age 11 were more likely to have been overweight in childhood, to engage in little physical activity as adults and to currently be overweight or obese.

Overall, 357 women, or about 7.5 percent of the participants, reported being diagnosed with gestational diabetes. These women were also more likely to be overweight or obese and to have a sedentary lifestyle at the beginning of the study.

Women who got their first period before age 11 were 51 percent more likely to develop gestational diabetes, compared with those who started menstruating at age 13.

This was true even after the researchers took into account things that might influence age at menarche or risk for gestational diabetes, including mothers education level, physical activity, previous children, a hormonal condition known as polycystic ovary syndrome and body mass index (BMI), a measure of body fat based on height and weight.

Chronic disease risk, such as risk of type 2 or gestational diabetes may be programmed much earlier in life by exposures occurring during developmentally sensitive periods such as puberty, infancy or even intrauterine life, said Dr. Dana Dabelea, a professor at the University of Colorado Denver who studies gestational diabetes but was not involved in this research.

Interventions to address these health issues may need to start earlier to address the risk of diseases like diabetes, Dabelea said by email.

Women with early menarche are at increased risk of diabetes later in life so they should take additional precautions, especially active lifestyles and maintaining a healthy body weight, to mitigate this increased risk, Dabelea said.

Supporting healthy environments and behaviors from early in life are important strategies, and promoting healthy eating and physical activity should be a priority for young mothers and schools, and for all women throughout their lives, Schoenaker said.

SOURCE: bit.ly/2n66XQ5 American Journal of Epidemiology, online March 5, 2017.

CHICAGO A commercial flock of 17,000 chickens in Tennessee has been culled after becoming infected with low-pathogenic bird flu, state agricultural officials said on Thursday, days after a more dangerous form of the disease killed poultry in a neighboring county.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is investigating a multistate outbreak of listeriosis linked to the consumption of soft raw milk cheese made by Vulto Creamery that has led to two deaths.

(Reuters Health) - Up to one-fourth of adults in sub-Saharan Africa suffer from chronic kidney disease and only a small fraction ever reach a dialysis treatment center, a new study finds.

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Early first menstruation tied to pregnancy diabetes risk | Reuters - Reuters

Mary Noffke

A north-central Iowa woman is being honored with a medal for surviving diabetes for 50 years.

Mary Noffke, of Webster City, is a recipient of the Boston-based Joslin Diabetes Center Medal for living courageously with Type 1 diabetes. Noffke was first diagnosed in the mid-1960s.

The diabetes did not show up until I was a sophomore in college and I was put on insulin right away, Noffke says. Ive been insulin-dependant since 1965 so Ive survived a long time with it. Its difficult for todays diabetes patients to understand how traumatic it was to be diagnosed with the ailment in the 60s.

I will tell you that the treatment in that era, and even before, it was even worse, Noffke says. Treatment was almost barbaric simply because not enough was known about it. Its a wonder anybody survived that era. Noffke is one of 3,500 people to receive the medal that is named after diabetes research pioneer Elliott P. Joslin. Several decades ago, it used to be awarded to people whod lived 25 years with diabetes, as that was considered a major landmark.

I will have to thank everybody who has donated money to the cause for the research, Noffke says. They began to come up with medications and then the insulin pump which is a wonder. I went on the insulin pump in 1997 and it totally changed my life. Noffke applied for the medal in January and received it last month. She says its a big honor to receive it after after living as a diabetic for 52 years.

(Reporting by Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City)

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Webster City woman recognized for 50 years of surviving diabetes - Radio Iowa

Nurses central to getting diabetes care off to a better start Science Daily On the basis of these results, an implementation study of Stepping Up model of care, widened beyond insulin initiation to include intensification of diabetes therapy generally, will be carried out in the North-West Melbourne Primary Health Network ...

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Nurses central to getting diabetes care off to a better start - Science Daily

The Zimbabwe Daily

New potential cause of type 1 diabetes Science Daily T1D, previously known as juvenile diabetes, affects an estimated 1.5 million Americans and is the result of the loss of insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. The prevailing belief was that the root cause of T1D was the immune system mistakenly ... Curing Diabetes Natural Home Remedies Offer Type 2 Diabetes CureMilitary Technologies Is the cure for Diabetes here?The Zimbabwe Daily all 4 news articles »

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New potential cause of type 1 diabetes - Science Daily

Q. A friend of mine just had an LVAD inserted. What's that?

A. LVAD stands for left ventricular assist device. The left ventricle is the pumping chamber of the heart. When it is damaged, its pumping ability is reduced, and the patient may develop heart failure, often manifested by shortness of breath, ankle swelling, cough, fatigue and exercise intolerance. The damaged left ventricle can be helped by medication, but in extreme cases, sometimes the only option is a new heart a heart transplant. But some people (because of age or other medical conditions) may not be transplant candidates. And others are candidates but are so sick that in the past they used to die while waiting for a donor heart to become available. That's where an LVAD can come into play. It is a mechanical pump that is surgically implanted, and it works with the patient's own heart to improve circulation and blood flow. Symptoms often are improved, and LVADs have been a lifesaver for many patients. The devices have become better, more reliable, smaller and safer over the years. And while they certainly have important complications associated with their use, LVADs have enabled very sick patients to live better and longer lives.

Wynne is vice president for health affairs at UND, dean of the School of Medicine and Health Sciences, and a professor of medicine. He is a cardiologist by training.

Submit a question to Health Matters at healthmatters@med.und.edu or Health Matters, 501 North Columbia Road, Stop 9037, Grand Forks, ND 58202-9037. Remember, no personal details, please.

The content of this column is for informational purposes only and does not substitute for professional medical advice or care. The information provided herein should not be used for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease. If you have or suspect you may have a health problem, you should consult your health care provider. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read in this column.

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New devices help diabetes patients - Grand Forks Herald

Science Daily

New treatment for fatty liver disease and type 2 diabetes burns up fat in liver Science Daily It is linked to obesity, insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Up to 30 percent of subjects with NAFLD develop non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) in which hepatic inflammation and scarring can lead to cirrhosis and liver ...

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New treatment for fatty liver disease and type 2 diabetes burns up fat in liver - Science Daily

Researchers at Columbia University have retracted a 2013 paper in The Journal of Clinical Investigation, after uncovering abnormalities in the stem cell lines that undermined the conclusions in the paper.

Last year, corresponding author Dieter Eglidiscoveredhe could notreproduce key data in the 2013 paper because almost all the cell lines first author Haiqing Hua used contained abnormalities, casting doubt on the overall findings. When Egli reached out to Hua foranswers, Hua could not explain the abnormalities. As a result, Hua and Egli agreed the paper should be retracted.

Since some of the details of how the paper ended up relying on abnormal cells remain unclear, the university confirmed to us that it is investigating the matter.

Heres the retraction notice for iPSC-derived cells model diabetes due to glucokinase deficiency, cited 42 times:

The corresponding authors were made aware of karyotype abnormalities through a routine quality control test of pluripotent stem cells used in the studies reported in this paper. After extensive internal review and genetic analysis, they found that the karyotypes of some of the cells used for the experiments reported were abnormal and that the normal karyotypes shown in Figure 1 and Supplemental Figure 2 were not from cell lines used in the study. They also cannot confirm the endonuclease-mediated correction of the mutant GCK G299R allele. H. Hua takes responsibility for the characterization and presentation of cell line karyotypes and the genetic manipulations. Because of these discrepancies, the authors wish to retract the article. They apologize for these errors and for any inconvenience caused to others.

In the fall of 2009, Hua joined Rudolph Leibels diabetes and nutrition lab at Columbia University, under the co-supervision ofEgli, who brought an expertise in stem cell biology. Hua told us:

The aim of my research project was to leverage the expertise of both Dr. Egli (on stem cell biology) and Dr. Leibel (on diabetes) and to demonstrate the concept that the islet cells generated in the lab from diabetic patients through stem cell technology would present comparable dysfunction as the islet cells in the patients body. Because we chose patients with genetic mutations that cause diabetes, we were hoping to demonstrate that correction of the mutations would restore the normal function of the islet cells.

But, Hua noted, he wasnt and still isnt an expert in stem cell biology, so he had to learn on the job:

When I began the project, I never worked with cells before and had no experience or understanding of cell line karyotype.

Hua started by generating several cell lines from a diabetic patient. To check that the genetic makeup of these cell lines were the same, he sent several for analysis to a contracted service, which examines 20 cells per cell line and generates a report:

I did karyotype analysis for the cell lines right after I derived them, probably in 2011, before I started to do any experiments on them. The reports came back with some cells being normal and some being abnormal. To be fair, I thought what I learned from Dr. Egli was that it is a normal phenomenon that some cells are abnormal as long as the number is not high.

Indeed, Egli, an assistant professor of stem cell biology at Columbia University Medical Center, confirmed that pluripotent stem cells are often prone to undergo abnormalities:

Karyotypic abnormalities are common, and occur in many cells upon extended cultures, so this is not in and of itself a concern. Often one can go back to earlier cultures that are normal.

Hua published the work in 2013, along with a relatedpaper in Diabetes in 2014, -Cell Dysfunction Due to Increased ER Stress in a Stem Cell Model of Wolfram Syndrome. Hua believes, at a conceptual level, both papers achieved the goal of demonstrating that the correction of the mutations would restore the normal function of the islet cells.

In 2014, Hua told usthat he moved back to China for family reasons.

Last year, other investigators asked Egli to share the cells lines from the 2013 study. To ensure he was providing high quality material, Egli sent what he believed to be normal cell lines from the study for quality control testing. Egli said thats when he learned many of the cell lines contained abnormalities.

To suss out the problem, Egli went back to the cell lines stored in the lab to look for normal cells:

Dr. Hua had already left the University at that time and so I personally started to look for karyotypically normal cells. There were no normal cells to be found.

Egli explained what the abnormalities meant for the study results:

You could best describe the abnormalities of the [cell] lines [Hua] used as mumbo-jumbo. There were multiple rearrangements in the chromosomes in the cell lines and thus you wouldnt know if the effects you saw were due to gene modifications or simply due to those rearrangements. Essentially, the abnormal cell lines question the entire paper, and its very unlikely the paper would have been accepted at the journal.

When Egli failed to reproduce the data from the 2013 paper, he contacted Hua to find out where the normal cell lines were. But Hua was not sure in fact, he told us it was a surprise to learn that most of the cell lines he had used contained abnormalities, adding:

another layer of complication is that when cells became karyotype abnormal, they could behave like cancer cells, namely they could start as minor portion in the culture but later on took over and became majority. So another mistake we made was that we didnt perform karyotype analysis at the end of the study to make sure that after all the experiments we did, the cells were still normal.

A spokesperson at Columbia University verified that the university is conducting an investigation into the issues:

I could confirm that there is an ongoing investigation.

When Hua was informed of these issues, he suggested the study be retracted:

Immediately, I proposed to Dr. Egli and Dr. Leibel that we should retract the publication because we were not certain about the conclusion any more.

Hua takes responsibility for what happened, adding:

So this was done at very early phase of my research, and I was busy with a lot of parallel projects since I was the first post-doc of Dr. EgliBecause I wasnt understanding the problem correctly, I put up the figures with normal karyotype as first figure for the publication and continued my research with one particular cell line.

Egli also talked about the experience of retracting a paper:

Retracting a paper is not a rewarding process, and often reports stay in the literature even if they should not. Retracting the paper exposes us to the possibility of damage. I took proactive steps to investigate and retract because I wanted to correct the record. This would not have happened without my initiative involving 2-3 months of benchwork.

Hua described this as a truly unfortunate and painful chapter, which he hopes others can learn from:

The health of academic world and advance of science really depends on correction of previous mistakes and clearance of uncertainties. [A]voiding overwhelming multitasking is important. At the first year of my research, I was setting the lab together with Dr. Egli and meanwhile performed more than 100 experiments. Each of them would took more than 10 days and I was really stacking all the experiments. This particular project was about one fourth of my effort at that time. My biggest recommendation or reflection would be that it is very very very important to quality control and characterize starting materials of a project. Many people, including myself, are more focused on rushing the project forward and do not realized that if the starting materials are flawed, anything built on them has no solid foundation.

Hat tip: Rolf Degen

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Unexplained abnormalities in stem cells prompt Columbia researchers to pull diabetes paper - Retraction Watch (blog)

Meg Farris talks about a new diabetes study.

Meg Farris , WWL 5:32 PM. CST March 02, 2017

NEW ORLEANS - Diabetes,or high blood sugar,causes damage to the blood vessels over time, and that can lead to heart attacks and strokes.

A study in Metairie,funded by the National Institutes of Health, is looking into a different way of preventing heart attacks in people with type-2 diabetes.

Alfred Gagliano or 'Gags' as he is called, found out he was moving toward having type-2 diabetes.

"I did have some studies. Doctor did some blood tests and saidI was close. Had to watch the sweets, whichI do," said Gagliano, who has pre-diabetes.

He is getting his blood sugar levels under control with medication and exercise.

"I ride a bike.I walk.I like to shop, soI walk around the mall a few timeseveryday," saidGagliano.

That's important, because diabetes puts you at high risk for having heart attacks and strokes. The National Institutes of Heath is funding a study to see if chelation can lower a diabetic's risk. Chelation is an IVtreatment that helps flush the body of heavy metals that are toxic.

"Not everybody in the environment obviously has toxicity,but we all have a certain amount of heavy metals just from living in an industrialized society," explained Dr. Robert Jeanfreau, an internist withMedPharmics.

A study 15 years ago, found that people with type-2 diabetes who had had a heart attack and got chelation, were less likely to have future attacks.

"What they found was there was about a 43 percent reduction in second cardiovascular events," said Dr. Jeanfreau.

A free national study going on in Metairie, is looking to see if 40IV chelation treatments, will keep diabetics who have had a heart attack, from having another one. Study participants will come in once a week and relax while getting a three-hour infusion. Gags has never had a heart attack so he doesn't qualify for the study, but hopes it will help others.

"I've known some people that have had full blown diabetes andI had a friend, a couple of friends, that have died from it," said Gagliano.

Doctors are looking for people with type-2 diabetes, 50 and older, who have had a heart attack in the past. To see if you qualify for this free study call MedPharmics at 504-457-2721.

( 2017 WWL)

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Local study seeks to prevent heart attacks in Type-2 diabetes patients - WWLTV.com

A diet that mimics fasting temporarily put mice in a starvation state, reversing diabetes in the animals, according to a new study. The diet was also shown to reduce the risk factors in people with pre-diabetes

Research by investigators at the University of Southern California showed the special, fasting-mimicking diet triggers the development of insulin-producing cells in mice with diabetes. The study was published in the journal Cell.

In humans, an earlier study of the diet reduced the risk factors of diabetes, such as elevated blood sugar, in people who were headed toward development of the disease. An article on the diet in humans appeared in Science Translational Medicine.

In both Type 1 diabetes and in the later stages of Type 2 diabetes, the beta cells of the pancreas are destroyed. But the authors said the diet appears to "reboot" the body, switching on genes that trigger the release of stem cells, master cells responsible for organ development.

More than fasting required

However, fasting alone is not the key to restoring insulin levels. Scientists said refeeding after the brief starvation diet, with specially calibrated nutrients, is critical to kickstarting the production of new beta cells.

FILE - A woman fills a syringe as she prepares to give herself an injection of insulin.

The process of stem cell activation is the same as seen in embryos to stimulate organ growth, according to gerontology professor Valter Longo, the director of USC's Longevity Institute and senior author of both studies. He said the fasting-mimicking diet can be used to reprogram cells without any genetic alterations.

"So basically the system is using some of the same program that we use during embryonic and fetal development to regenerate the pancreas once the food comes back around," he said. "And that's the trick. It's not so much the starvation. It's really the combination of the starvation and the refeeding." And, he stressed, "the refeeding's got to be a high-nourishment one."

Study participants put on the high-fat, low-calorie, low-protein diet consumed between 800 and 1,100 calories daily for five days in a row each month for three months. After each fast, they were refed with nutrient-rich foods.

Researchers found fasting triggered the production of a protein called Ngn3, which generated new, healthy beta cells that secreted insulin. They saw production of insulin in a dish in pancreatic cells extracted from mice and from healthy human donors and patients with both types of diabetes.

Scientists found the diet replaced damaged insulin-producing cells with new functioning ones in mice placed on the diet for four days.

Heart disease, cancer risks

The investigators have also amassed evidence that the fasting-mimicking diet reduces the risk of age-related diseases, including heart disease and cancer. It may also hold benefits for people with multiple sclerosis, said researchers.

FILE - A woman who suffers from diabetes is seen walking on a treadmill as part of an exercise program to help control the disease.

But Longo said people with diabetes should not try the diet at home yet because it can drop blood sugar to perilously low levels if they don't know what they are doing. "We warn people that, particularly [for people with] Type 1 or patients that inject themselves with insulin, it can be very risky or even lethal," Longo cautioned.

He said investigators were poised to begin larger human clinical trials of the fasting-mimicking diet in the next six months.

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Fasting Diet Reverses Diabetes in Mice - Voice of America

Medscape

Youth with type 2 diabetes develop complications more often than type 1 peers National Institutes of Health (press release) Teens and young adults with type 2 diabetes develop kidney, nerve, and eye diseases as well as some risk factors for heart disease more often than their peers with type 1 diabetes in the years shortly after diagnosis. The results are the latest ... 72% of Youth With Type 2 Diabetes Have ComplicationsMedscape Youth With Type 2 Diabetes Often Face ComplicationsEveryday Health (blog) New Research: More Young People Suffer Complications From DiabetesCBS Local CU Anschutz Today (press release) -Nursing Times -MedicalResearch.com (blog) all 10 news articles »

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Youth with type 2 diabetes develop complications more often than type 1 peers - National Institutes of Health (press release)

Ever since he was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes as a fifth-grader at Claremont Elementary School, Alex Simmons has been committed to raising funds for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF).

Now a Washington-Lee High School sophomore, he moves closer to his goal of raising $100,000 for diabetes research during a Feb. 25 event that drew more than 130 neighbors and friends to the Lyon Park Community Center.

The party, which included a silent auction, was hosted by five Arlington families who have supported Simmons since his diagnosis. The event raised more than $15,000, with all proceeds going directly to the JDRF, and boosted Alex Simmonss fund-raising totals so far to $75,500 in donations.

Ever since our son Alex was diagnosed with diabetes five years ago, the JDRF has been a big part of our lives, said Anita Simmons, a new member of the board of directors of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Greater Chesapeake and Potomac Chapter. They provide hope and guidance for so many families as we learn to cope with this diagnosis and protect our childrens health.

At the celebration, guests enjoyed a fully catered dinner by the Hard Times Caf, beverages from Dogfish Alehouse, a silent auction and the musical sounds of the Roger Taylor Quartet as they connected over a common cause.

Many Arlington businesses made donations, including local artist Sabrina Cabada, independent bookstore One More Page and SPARK Business Academy.

Previous fund-raisers have included local basketball tournaments, small parties with a purpose and a bingo night hosted by Simmons grandmother, Alease Brooks, a resident of Arlingtons The Carlin.

Bill Parsons, executive director of the Greater Chesapeake and Potomac Chapter, said the Feb. 25 event was one of the largest peer-to-peer fund-raising events his organization has seen in this area.

The commitment this family has made to bringing awareness to juvenile-diabetes issues and raising money for research has been incredible, he added. We all love the Simmons family Anita Simmons is a force of nature.

Complications of juvenile diabetes can be disabling and life-threatening. Each day, Alex Simmons who over the winter played on the varsity boys basketball team at Washington-Lee must monitor his blood sugar levels and give himself six to eight insulin shots, yet he remains focused on the positive.

I am not on this journey alone, and my close friends, family and relatives make this process much easier for me, he said. I encourage everyone who can to please donate money to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, not only for me, but for all of the children throughout the country who dont have it as easy as I do.

Alex Simmons is now a youth ambassador for the organization, and also leads a team that takes part in the annual OneWalk event on the National Mall.

Anita Simmons said their family is especially grateful to Rich Kelly and Cindy MacIntyre of the Hard Times Caf for providing all of the food for the fund-raising event, as well as for the help they extended to Alex and his family when he was first diagnosed with the disease. The Kellys daughter also has Type 1 diabetes, and they are strong supporters of Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

For information on Alex Simmons fund-raising efforts, see the Web site at http://bit.ly/2mmGi5g.

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Washington-Lee student working to raise $100000 for diabetes research - Inside NoVA

March 1, 2017 Patients with fatty liver disease may need a more intense dose of exercise. Credit: University of Queensland

Short bursts of high-intensity exercise could help people with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease reduce their risk of type 2 diabetes.

A trial led by University of Queensland School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences researcher Dr Shelley Keating will investigate if high intensity interval training (HIIT) can improve insulin sensitivity, fitness and other cardiovascular disease risk factors.

"Other than weight loss, there is no accepted therapy for improving non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) a type of fatty liver disease which is strongly linked to type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease," Dr Keating said.

"We have recently demonstrated that exercise therapy reduces liver fat in adults with obesity, but patients with NASH may need a more intense 'dose' of exercise.

"We hope to establish that high-intensity exercise is a safe, feasible and effective therapy for improving insulin resistance and other cardio-metabolic risk factors.

"Given that up to one-third of Australians have non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and the subsequent rate of progression to NASH is around 30 per cent, the impact on the community is significant."

Study participants will complete 12 weeks of HIIT supervised by an accredited exercise physiologist at UQ's St Lucia campus in Brisbane, followed by 12 weeks of HIIT at home.

"The sessions will involve short, intense bursts of exercise around four minutes on a treadmill or exercise bike at near maximum capacity - interspersed with more moderate exercise," Dr Keating said.

"Health measures including insulin sensitivity, body composition, vascular function, and fitness will be assessed before and after the supervised and home-based phases.

"It is very important that individuals can continue on with HIIT in the long-term so that the health benefits can be sustained," Dr Keating said.

People with biopsy-proven NASH, or their clinicians, should contact Dr Keating (see below) for details on how to take part in the trial.

Explore further: Diet and exercise can improve kidney function in patients with fatty liver disease

Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is a potentially serious liver condition characterized by excess fat in the liver associated with inflammation and scarring. NASH may progress to cirrhosis of the liver and liver cancer, ...

(Medical Xpress)High-intensity interval training (HIIT) is touted as the fastest way to get lean, but according to ground-breaking new research from the University of Sydney's Charles Perkins Centre, only endurance exercise ...

A University of Queensland researcher is trialling a 12-minute exercise plan that aims to fight type 2 diabetes in a flash.

Listening to music may make it easier for people to adopt short duration exercise regimens that could help them stay in shape, according to researchers at UBC's Okanagan campus.

Understanding how exercise affects language learning could help patients with brain conditions such as stroke, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.

Time-poor people who do fewer repetitions during high-intensity interval training (HIIT) workouts may get better fitness benefits than those who complete more, according to a University of Stirling analysis.

Short bursts of high-intensity exercise could help people with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease reduce their risk of type 2 diabetes.

A diet designed to imitate the effects of fasting appears to reverse diabetes by reprogramming cells, a new USC-led study shows.

(Medical Xpress)A team of researchers with members from several institutions in Germany and one in the U.K. has discovered what might be a way to tell if a newborn child is likely to develop type 1 diabetes as they grow ...

People with diabetes are at high risk of developing heart disease. Despite knowing this, scientists have struggled to trace the specific biology behind that risk or find ways to intervene. Now, UNC School of Medicine researchers ...

A long-term study by Monash University researchers - the first of its kind - has found that gastric band surgery has significant benefits for moderately overweight people with type 2 diabetes. Previous studies have focused ...

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Can fast and furious exercise prevent diabetes? - Medical Xpress

When the Kansas Senate comes back after this weeks midsession break, it may consider legislation to form a comprehensive state plan to fight diabetes.

House Bill 2219 would instruct the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to conduct an analysis of state costs from diabetes, identify best practices to prevent and control the condition, and develop a budget to implement those practices.

It also would require the agency to report on the plans progress every two years.

Just before the break the House voted 117-7 to pass the bill, which is one of the main legislative priorities for the American Diabetes Association. Four other states passed similar plans in 2016, according to the organization.

According to the American Diabetes Association, diabetes affects almost 13 percent of the adult population in Kansas and leads to about $2 billion in health care costs annually.

The associations numbers include an estimated 69,000 Kansans who have undiagnosed diabetes. Numbers from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that include only those with diagnosed diabetes ranked Kansas at 21st highest in the country, at 9.5 percent.

People with diabetes are unable to produce or properly use insulin, a hormone that turns food into energy. There are two main forms:Type 1 diabetes, previously known as juvenile diabetes, andType 2 diabetes, the most common kind. Common complications of diabetes include heart and blood vessel disease, kidney damage, blindness and nerve damage.

Larry Smith is president of the National Diabetes Volunteer Leadership Council, a Kentucky-based nonprofit that testified for the Kansas bill. He said Kentucky was the first state to enact a diabetes action plan and about one-third of states have them now.

It has opened the eyes of the Legislature and the government that there is a problem and its a big drain on their budget, said Smith, whose daughter has Type 1 diabetes.

Smith said the push to fight diabetes in Kentucky began with Gov. Ernie Fletcher, a Republican physician who led the state from 2003 to 2007.

He realized the cost that diabetes put on the state budget was substantial and held them back on a number of things they wanted to do in terms of education or infrastructure and so forth, Smith said.

A similar bill died in the Kansas House in 2015. But Rep. Susan Concannon, a Republican from Beloit who brought this years bill, said the current version was voted through in part due to testimony from Rep. Blaine Finch, a Republican from Ottawa, and from his teenage daughter who has diabetes.

It was a little more meaningful for us this year to have one of our colleagues make it more personal, Concannon said.

Andy Marso is a reporter for KCURs Kansas News Service, a collaboration of KCUR, Kansas Public Radio and KMUW covering health, education and politics in Kansas. You can reach him on Twitter@andymarso. Kansas News Service stories and photos may be republished at no cost with proper attribution and a link back to kcur.org.

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Anti-Diabetes Plan Progressing In Kansas Legislature | KCUR - KCUR

February 28, 2017 4:21 PM

Wounds that wont heal can become a major health risk for diabetics and protecting yourself is the best prevention according to Dr. Nathaniel Holzman, Medical Director of the St. Mary Wound Healing Center in Langhorne. He says patients can help themselves by keeping their diabetes in good control, eating a healthy diet, exercising regularly, and maintaining healthy skin. He says cracks in the skin can allow bacteria to enter which may lead to infection. He also urges people to regularly see a podiatrist for preventative foot care to manage risk factors before wounds occur.

If a patient does present with a wound that has been an issue for a while, there are different treatments available. First, Dr. Holzman makes certain there is sufficient blood flow to the region, as blood flow is essential in wound healing. Also, swelling must be controlled and is initially managed with compression. Establishing healthy eating patterns for good sugar control is also very important. Some times, wounds present with infection that may require antibiotics. At times, surgery may also be necessary. Dr. Holzman says hyperbaric oxygen therapy may also be needed to aid in the healing process.

Unfortunately, diabetes is on the rise as people gain weight and adopt more sedentary lifestyles. As diabetes is a chronic condition, patients need to do everything possible to keep it under control and maintain good health. He urges people to eat nutritious food, maintain a healthy weight, keep active, and adopt a good skin care regimen.

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Non-Healing Wounds Related to Diabetes - CBS Philly

AstraZeneca (AZN) stock gained in early London tradingTuesday after it received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for a type-2 diabetes medication.

The London-listed drugmaker said it had received approval for Qtern, a once-daily treatment for type-2 diabetes, which affects more than 29 million American. The approval comes after the company's breast cancer treatment, Lynparza, was shown to be more effective than chemotherapy.

AstraZeneca shares were marked 1.07% higher at 4,658 pence each by 08:45 GMT, extending a 9.46% gain in the past three months, largely in-line with the 8.9% advance for the Stoxx Europe TMI Pharmaceuticals Index.

"Type-2 diabetes is a complex disease that is at epidemic proportions ... The approval of Qtern is good news for patients who may benefit from improved glycaemic control by adding a DPP-4 inhibitor to a SGLT-2 inhibitor in a convenient once-daily tablet," said AstraZeneca's vice president and head of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases Elisabeth Bjork.

Qtern combines two anti-hyperglycaemic agents with complementary mechanisms of action in a once-daily tablet: Dapagliflozin, a sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT-2) inhibitor; and saxagliptin, a dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitor.

Diabetes is a core therapy area for the company, focusing on research and development efforts on diverse populations and patients with other disease such as cardiovascular disease, obesity, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis and chronic kidney disease.

The company earlier this month said that a new oncology treatment Lynparza has shown to be more effective than chemotherapy in treating metastic breast cancer.

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AstraZeneca Shares Rise After FDA Approval for Type-2 Diabetes Treatment - TheStreet.com

New research shows that a diet which mimics fasting might be able to push beta cells in the pancreas to repair themselves and start making insulin again.

BBC news reported that for the research study, mice in the lab were put on a modified form of the fasting-mimicking diet. The diet is similar to the human practice of spending five days on a low-calorie, low-protein, low-carbohydrate diet. It resembles a vegan diet with nuts and soups, but with around 800 to 1,100 calories a day. Then they have 25 days eating what they want so overall it mimics periods of feast and famine, says BBC news.

A press release on Eureka Alert explained that the researchers used two different mouse models of two types of diabetes to study how the diet affected the mice. One group had a gene mutation that causes insulin resistance and loss of insulin secretion, which mimicked type 2 diabetes. The other group was treated with a chemical to destroy the mices beta cells, which was the model for type 1 diabetes. Both groups were put on the diet for three cycles.

Excitingly, this diet showed the possibility of regeneration of insulin-producing cells in the pancreas which had stopped or slowed production of insulin in people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes, respectively.

Senior author of the study, Dr. Valter Longo of the University of Southern California School of Gerontology and Director of the USC Longevity Institute, told Eureka Alert, Our conclusion is that by pushing the mice into an extreme state and then bringing them backby starving them and then feeding them againthe cells in the pancreas are triggered to use some kind of developmental reprogramming that rebuilds the part of the organ thats no longer functioning.

Studies suggest the diet could be a way to reboot the body by inducing it to slow down aging and regenerating new cells, reports Eureka Alert.

Dr. Longo told BBC: Medically, these findings have the potential to be very important because weve shown at least in mouse models that you can use diet to reverse the symptoms of diabetes. Scientifically, the findings are perhaps even more important because weve shown that you can use diet to reprogramme cells without having to make any genetic alterations.

The intermittent fasting diet has been trialed on humans for various purposes, and it has shown improved blood sugar levels. However, people are advised not to try this diet on their own because it could have a detrimental impact on their health if not done with proper medical guidance.

A BBC reporter, Peter Bowes, took part in a separate trialwith Dr. Valter Longo several years ago .

Bowes told BBC: During each five-day fasting cycle, when I ate about a quarter of the average persons diet, I lost between 2kg and 4kg (4.4-8.8lbs).

But before the next cycle came round, 25 days of eating normally had returned me almost to my original weight. But not all consequences of the diet faded so quickly.

According to the BBC, his blood pressure was lower as was a hormone called IGF-1, which is linked to some cancers.

On February 15, Longos team published a Phase II study that was carried out in 100 humans who were exposed to three rounds of the same diet. According to Eureka Alert, their IGF1 levels decreased and their fasting glucose levels improved, among other findings.

However, the team says more research is needed before the findings can be validated for application in humans. Longo told Eureka Alert that future clinical trials are already being planned.

The research findings were originally published in the journal Cell.

Elizabeth Rowley is the Founder and Director of T1International. She was born in the United States and has lived with type 1 diabetes for 25 years. Elizabeth moved to London in 2011 to complete her Masters degree in International Development at the London School of Economics and Political Science and has worked with non-profits, diabetes and health organizations ever since. She believes that where you were born should not determine whether you live or die with diabetes, and she is confident that by working together we can find solutions to the complex problems faced by people with diabetes.

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Fasting Diet for People With Diabetes Could Regenerate the Pancreas - A Sweet Life

People with diabetes have to think about their condition and make treatment decisions constantly and all that extra work and worry can lead to psychological distress at times.

"Diabetes distress" isn't the same as depression, diabetes experts note. It's a condition unique to the 24/7 demands that come with diabetes, particularly for people dependent on insulin.

"The day you develop diabetes, it's like the universe just handed you a new full-time job that you have to do in addition to whatever else you're doing. It's a special job that has a big impact on the rest of your life. There's no pay and no vacation," said William Polonsky, president of the Behavioral Diabetes Institute in San Diego.

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Alicia McAuliffe-Fogarty, vice president of lifestyle management at the American Diabetes Association, put it this way: "Diabetes distress is the extra burden that people with diabetes have to carry. They have to do everything that other people do take care of work, family, finances and in addition they have to make sure to check their blood sugar, remember to take their medicine and/or adjust their insulin doses, count carbohydrates when they eat.

"It's a day-to-day and minute-to-minute burden. It's doing everything 'right' and still seeing your blood sugar levels go up," she added.

Diabetes distress is a range of different emotional responses that come with dealing with the burdens of caring for diabetes, Polonsky explained.

"It's being fed up and overwhelmed with the demands and concerns of diabetes. It's feeling powerless in the face of diabetes. It's knowing that despite your best actions, sometimes those [insulin] numbers go up and down and it seems beyond your ability to influence. And it can negatively influence one's quality of life," he added.

The phenomenon hasn't been well-studied Polonsky said he and his colleagues are in the middle of a study on diabetes distress that will hopefully answer some questions about the condition that affects an estimated 30 percent of people with diabetes at some point in their lives.

"It's not everybody, and it's not all the time, but it's pretty darn common, and a whole lot more common than depression" among those with diabetes, Polonsky added.

Diabetes distress and other psychological conditions are common enough that the American Diabetes Association added a section to its guidelines, published recently in the journal Diabetes Care, suggesting that providers screen all of their diabetes patients for these mental health concerns.

Juggling job with no breaks

There are two main types of diabetes: Type 1 and Type 2.

People with Type 1 diabetes don't make enough insulin, a hormone the body needs to use the carbohydrates in food for fuel. Because of this, people with Type 1 rely on insulin injections or insulin delivered through a tiny catheter inserted under the skin and then attached to an insulin pump worn outside the body. People with Type 1 diabetes using shots may need five or six insulin injections daily.

In people with Type 2 diabetes, the body is no longer able to use insulin properly. Most (95 percent) of diabetes cases involve the Type 2 form. Sometimes, people with Type 2 diabetes also need to use insulin injections.

Using insulin is a difficult balancing act too much or too little can cause problems, even life-threatening ones. When blood sugar levels drop too low from too much insulin, people can become disoriented, and if levels drop even further, they may pass out. Blood sugar levels that are too high and left untreated over time can cause complications such as kidney troubles, eye problems and heart disease.

To keep track of blood sugar levels when using insulin, most people rely on glucose meters and a lancing device that pricks the finger to draw out a drop of blood. This may be done as few as 4 times a day, or as many as a dozen or more times daily, depending on how blood sugar levels are fluctuating.

Many factors besides insulin can influence blood sugar levels. Food, alcohol, physical activity, emotions such as stress, and illness all can cause unpredictable changes in blood sugar levels.

Strength in numbers

Both Polonsky and McAuliffe-Fogarty said it's important to recognize and treat diabetes distress because it can have a negative impact on blood sugar management.

"In some studies, diabetes distress can impact diabetes care more than depression," McAuliffe-Fogarty said.

Antidepressants aren't likely to help someone with diabetes distress, according to Polonsky.

McAuliffe-Fogarty suggests checking in with your health care provider so you can go over your current diabetes management regimen. It's possible that changes in your management might help, she said.

Or, it might help to have a visit with a diabetes educator to go over some of the basics again, she recommended. Many people with Type 1 diabetes are diagnosed as children, and as adults may not realize they're missing some of the basics of diabetes education.

"Maybe pick one or two things that would make the most impact on your management and focus on those one or two small things, and you'll likely achieve those goals. Then set one or two more goals and move along like that not everything needs to happen at once," McAuliffe-Fogarty said.

Both experts agreed that support is an important component of treating diabetes distress. "You don't want to do diabetes alone. If you have someone who's rooting for you, that really helps," Polonsky said.

He said parents or spouses can give a person with diabetes a break by taking over the management of the disease for a little while. It gives them a "diabetes vacation."

For some, distress can get more serious. McAuliffe-Fogarty said about one in every four or five people with diabetes will experience depression at some point.

She said signs that suggest you need to speak with a mental health professional include: changes in appetite and sleep patterns, having no interest in activities you once enjoyed, social isolation, feeling persistently sad or hopeless, and having a down mood on more days than not.

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Dealing with diabetes distress - Chicago Tribune

The parents of a teenage boy who died as a result of starvation and untreated diabetes have been sentenced to life in prison without parole for 25 years.

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Alexandru Radita, 15, weighed just 35 pounds when he was found dead at his home in Calgary, Canada, after suffering years of untreated diabetes.

WHO IS 'BABY SARAH'? POLICE USE DNA TO HELP SOLVE 42-YEAR-OLD COLD CASE

His parents Emil, 60, and Rodica Radita, 54, had made it their mission to isolate Alex from anyone who could monitor his insulin treatment since his diagnosis at the age of two, a court heard.

The Raditas were found guilty of first degree murder on Friday at the end of a trial that saw harrowing testimony from witnesses, including a social worker who tried desperately to save the boy.

Paramedic Deborah Baumback gave distressing evidence regarding the condition of Alexs body when she was called to the scene of his death in 2013.

She described him as emaciated to the point where he appeared mummified, Judge Karen Horner said at the couples sentencing hearing.

His face had no visible flesh left and his left jaw had open sores so deep she could see his jawbone.

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Parents sentenced in murder of emaciated teen with untreated diabetes - Fox News

ELDRIDGE Rylie Rucker was losing weight rapidly. She was getting out of bed and going the bathroom at least five times a night. She could not make it through a two-mile middle school cross country race without walking.

Her mother, Dena, knew something was wrong.

The symptoms resulted in a visit to Trinity Hospital in the Quad-Cities before she was transported to the University of Iowa Hospital and diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. The date is stamped firmly in her mind: Sept. 7, 2013.

I was so emotional that first day, Rucker said. After that, it sunk in thats how life is going to be for me. You cant do anything about it so youve got to make the best of it.

It has not stopped Rucker from living an active life.

The sophomore is a starter on the Class 4A eighth-ranked North Scott girls basketball team, which opens state tournament play at 6:45 p.m. Tuesday against second-ranked Nevada at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

Type 1 diabetes is a chronic, lifelong disease where the body doesnt produce enough insulin, a hormone to convert sugar, starches and other food into energy needed for daily life.

For Rucker, it is a daily struggle. She is required to monitor her blood sugar constantly and takes six insulin shots per day on average.

We all know what she really has to go through, but a lot of people dont realize it, senior teammate Erica Loussaert said. She puts on a really tough face and comes out and plays basketball every day. Nobody knows how hard that really is for her. It is just inspiring to see.

Rucker wears a glucose monitor device, part of it clipped to her athletic shorts and a patch under her tricep, that tracks her blood sugar count every five minutes. North Scott assistant coach Devvin Rolston receives the numbers and monitors it closely during workouts and games.

If Rucker is too high or too low, she sits.

Usually during games, Im not low because of the adrenaline, she said. It really kicks into my blood sugar and pumps it up. Im usually 300 during games which is not good.

There have been occasions shes been too low. She was scratched from the starting lineup in one meeting against Bettendorf this season and played sparingly because of it.

She was a spectator at the start of last Fridays practice because of a low count.

Every day you get to see what she goes through, coach TJ Case said. The girls really respect her and know what shes battling.

They know if Rylie can fight through some of this stuff, then some of the stuff theyre dealing with isnt that bad. It is very inspirational to us.

Rucker is a key component of North Scotts success. She is the teams second-leading scorer at 8.5 points per game, shoots almost 80 percent at the foul line and is among its best defenders.

She would go through a brick wall for her teammates, Case said. She does a lot of the little things for us and cleans up things defensively. Shes always around the ball, a very smart offensive player. We lean on her a lot.

Nobody else in Ruckers immediate family has diabetes.

So when she was diagnosed, there was an initial shock. She spent more than two days in an Iowa City hospital room.

The details of that September Saturday are still fuzzy for Rucker. Her older sister, Karli, the teams leading scorer, remembers it well.

Karli was a freshman and playing volleyball at the Muscatine Invitational. Afterward, she and her grandmother met the family in Iowa City.

Everyone was emotional, Karli said. Just that initial time seeing her in that hospital bed, it hurt in your heart because you knew her life just got changed a lot. It is an every day thing, and it is not going to go away until maybe one day they can find a cure.

Rucker tries to keep her blood sugar count between 120 and 180. She doesnt recall what it was at the time of her diagnosis, but she knows it has been as high as 400 during a basketball game.

When it gets like that, I just space out and cant pay attention at all, Rucker said. My mouth gets super sticky.

Conversely, Rucker gets fatigued when the number dips below 100.

Shes very disciplined and a really healthy eater, Karli said. If her numbers are low, she has a really good mindset about it. She doesnt get down about it.

Rucker has learned to embrace the numbers game. Some days are better than others.

Ive just had a determination to not let it get the best of me, she said. It hasnt just been me having to do everything on my own.

My family has been so supportive and helped me through it. It is part of who we are now.

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Lancers' Rylie Rucker refuses to be sidelined by diabetes - Quad City Times

DUARTE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--An international team of researchers led by City of Hopes Bart Roep, Ph.D., the Chan Soon-Shiong Shapiro Distinguished Chair in Diabetes and professor/founding chair of the Department of Diabetes Immunology, has been able to justify an alternative theory about the cause of type 1 diabetes (T1D) through experimental work. The study results were published online today in the journal, Nature Medicine.

T1D, previously known as juvenile diabetes, affects an estimated 1.5 million Americans and is the result of the loss of insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. The prevailing belief was that the root cause of T1D was the immune system mistakenly identifying those insulin-secreting beta cells as a potential danger and, in turn, destroying them.

Now Roep, along with researchers from the Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands, have found a mechanism in which stressed beta cells are actually causing the immune response that leads to T1D.

Our findings show that type 1 diabetes results from a mistake of the beta cell, not a mistake of the immune system, said Roep, who is director of the Wanek Family Project for Type 1 Diabetes, which was recently created with gifts from the Wanek family and anonymous donors to support the institutions goal of curing T1D in six years. The immune system does what it is supposed to do, which is respond to distressed or unhappy tissue, as it would in infection or cancer.

In order to gain a better understanding of why the immune system attacks the bodys own source of insulin the pancreatic beta cells in the islets of Langerhans the team took some clues from cancer molecules that are targeted by the immune system after successful treatment of the cancer with immunotherapy.

One of these cancer targets is a so-called nonsense protein, resulting from a misreading of a DNA sequence that makes a nonfunctional protein. It turns out that the same type of protein error is also produced by the beta cells in T1D. Therefore, Roep and the other researchers believe it is a wrong read of the insulin gene itself that proves to be a major target of the immune system. This error product of the insulin gene is made when beta cells are stressed, Roep said.

Our study links anti-tumor immunity to islet autoimmunity, and may explain why some cancer patients develop type 1 diabetes after successful immunotherapy, he added. This is an incredible step forward in our commitment to cure this disease.

According to the paper titled, Autoimmunity against a defective ribosomal insulin gene product in type 1 diabetes, the findings further support the emerging concept that beta cells are destroyed in T1D by a mechanism comparable to classical antitumor responses where the immune system has been trained to survey dysfunctional cells in which errors have accumulated.

The results of the study give Roep new insight, he said, for his work in developing new vaccines to desensitize the immune system so that it will tolerate islets again, as well as for research into combining immunotherapy with more traditional diabetes treatments to reinvigorate islets.

Our goal is to keep beta cells happy, Roep said. So we will work on new forms of therapy to correct the autoimmune response against islets and hopefully also prevent development of type 1 diabetes during anti-cancer therapy.

The work described in the Nature Medicine paper was supported by the Dutch Diabetes Research Foundation, the DON Foundation and the JDRF.

About City of Hope

City of Hope is an independent research and treatment center for cancer, diabetes and other life-threatening diseases. Designated as one of only 47 comprehensive cancer centers, the highest recognition bestowed by the National Cancer Institute, City of Hope is also a founding member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, with research and treatment protocols that advance care throughout the world. City of Hope is located in Duarte, California, just northeast of Los Angeles, with communityclinics throughout Southern California. It is ranked as one of Americas Best Hospitals in cancer by U.S. News & World Report. Founded in 1913, City of Hope is a pioneer in the fields of bonemarrowtransplantation, diabetes and numerous breakthrough cancer drugs based on technology developed at the institution. For more information about City of Hope, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or Instagram.

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City of Hope Researchers Discover New Potential Cause of Type 1 Diabetes - Business Wire (press release)