Author: Staff Writers

Apple Peels, Diabetes and Muscle Wasting: You might not want to peel that apple before eating it, let alone put an apple peel down the garbage disposal or in the trash container under the sink.

Apple peels contains a good dose of ursolic acid. Ursolic acid is a natural compound found in apple peels called pentcyclic triterpenoid and helps to burn fat and build muscle. In a recent study in which mice were used, apple peel was shown to lower blood sugar levels, cholesterol and triglycerides. Ursolic acid is also known as malol, prunol, urson, 3-B-hydroxy-urs-12-en-28-oic acid.

This study was conducted by Dr. Chris Adams, an endocrinologist and senior author of the study for the University of Iowa. The study showed that the ursolic acid found in apple peels could be helpful with the wasting away of muscles that occurs in certain diseases, and also possibly help with metabolic disorders like diabetes. The study results were published in the June 2011 issue of Cell Metabolism.

From the information from his study, Dr. Adams stated, “We found that it actually promoted the growth of muscle, so the mice got bigger muscles and actually got stronger. We can measure mouse strength with a little machine called a grip strength meter.” He added, “It didn’t have any harmful effect on the kidneys or liver or anything like that which makes sense because it’s a natural compound that we actually eat.”

The mice that received the ursolic acid became leaner and had lower blood sugar levels, cholesterol and triglycerides. Further testing will be needed before it is determined that the same positive results will prove to be true for humans.

The muscle-building aspect of the ursolic acid would be beneficial in the treatment of the infirmed and elderly.

Also, it is not known whether the amount of ursolic acid that is consumed on a daily basis by humans would produce the same results.

Ursolic acid is found in apple peels, but it is also found in other plants, including bilberries, cranberries, hawthorn, prunes, elder flowers, lavender, oregano, thyme and peppermint. Ursolic acid has already been recognized as an inhibitor of various types of cancer cells.

Ursolic acid is currently used by the cosmetic industry in the manufacture of cosmetics in its topical form due to its anti-tumor (skin cancer) properties.

Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes diagnoses are growing in number each year. Every little piece of new information garnered that could help in the treatment of these conditions helps all those with these numerous conditions.

In the meantime, we might want to do what we are always told: Eat your fruits and veggies.

Zebrafish, Zinc and Diabetes: Zinc is an important trace mineral that people need to stay healthy. Only iron is in stronger form in the body than zinc. Zinc’s highest concentrations are found in the prostate gland and sperm of men, the red and white blood cells, the retinas of the eyes, the liver and the kidneys. In fact, “zinc is found throughout the body and is involved in metabolic pathways that affect the function of the immune system, the brain, reproduction and sexual development.”

In an effort to better understand zinc and its effects, a study was undertaken in England that used zebrafish to try to further the understanding of diseases like type 2 diabetes, prostate cancer and Alzhiemer’s Disease. Scientists from Queen Mary, University of London, have discovered a new way of detecting zinc in zebrafish.

This new study, run by Professor Mike Watkinson, Dr. Stephen Goldup and Dr. Caroline Brennan, all from the Queen Mary’s School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, the results of which were announced July 3, 2011, at the Sixth International Symposium on Macrocyclic and Supramolecular Chemistry, in Brighton, England, focused its efforts on the development of a sensor for zinc to be used in studies on the zebrafish.

The zebrafish is something you might see in home aquariums. It’s a pretty fish. The zebrafish (danio rerio) is a tropical freshwater fish that belongs to the minnow family. You can find this fish at your local pet store where it’s sold as “zebra danio.” The zebrafish is also very important in scientific research.

Zebrafish grow very quickly, and the babies can be grown outside the mother’s body. The embryos of zebrafish are transparent. This transparency allows the scientists to have a clear view of their organs.

The scientists in this study were able to develop a senor that could detect the zinc in the fish by switching fluorescence on the fish when zinc was present.

This allowed the scientists to view the zinc inside various parts of the zebrafish, including the pancreas, where the Islets of Langerhans (producers of insulin) are located. This new view of the pancreas in the fish might help further understand the role of zinc in the development of Type 2 diabetes and various other diseases.

Type 2 diabetes (formerly known as non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus or adult-onset diabetes) is a metabolic disorder that results in high blood levels in the context of insulin resistance and relative insulin deficiency. Type 2 diabetes is often managed by increasing exercise and diet modification. In some cases when exercise and diet do not bring the blood sugar levels under control, oral medication may be used to treat the condition. The cause of Type 2 diabetes has long been thought to be a combination of lifestyle and genetic factors.

Today, more and more children and adolescents are being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, and this rise in the numbers of Type 2 diabetes-diagnosed children has been attributed in many cases to lack of exercise and the excessive intake of food. As well, environmental toxins may have contributed to this increased rate of Type 2 diabetes.

The easily viewed zinc in the zebrafish will help in discovering more and more about various diseases.

Study Shows Life Expectancy Longer Now For Type 1 Diabetics: Insulin was discovered in the 1920s. Prior to that time, when a person was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes (formerly known as juvenile diabetes mellitus) that person might not live for very long, sometimes as long as only one year.

With the advent of insulin in the treatment of Type 1 diabetes (when the pancreas stops making insulin and only replacement of this insulin by artificial insulin can be done), the life expectancy of someone diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes was extended.

Because of better understanding of Type 1 diabetes, and better treatment of type 1 diabetes (better control of blood sugar levels), there has been an increase in the life expectancy for someone now diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.

A 30-year, long-term prospective study, according to a University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Healthy study that was presented at the 71st Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association in San Diego, California, in June of 2011, with lead author of the study Trevor J. Orchard, M.D., and Professor of Epidemiology, Pediatrics and Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh: “The results, found in Abstract Number 0078-OR, are based on participants in the Pittsburgh Epidemiology of Diabetes Complications (EDC) study, a long-term prospective study of childhood onset Type 1 diabetes.”

The study began in 1986. The average age of the participants was 28 when they began the study and age 44 at the study’s completion. These individuals were diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes between 1950 and 1980. There has been a lack of information, studies, that addressed the life expectancy of those with Type 1 diabetes.

These study results indicated that the 30-year mortality of the participants in the study with Type 1 diabetes from 1965 to 1980 was 11.6 percent, which was a decline from the 35.6 percent 30-year mortality of those diagnosed between 1950 and 1964.

The study indicated that the life expectancy for participants diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes between 1965 and 1980 was 68.8 years, which was a 15-year improvement when compared to those diagnosed between 1950 and 1964.

Other authors of this study were Rachel G. Miller, M.S., Aaron M. Secrest, Ph.D., Ravi K. Sharma, Ph.D., and Thomas J. Songer, Ph.D., all of the University of Pittsburgh.

This study was funded by the National Institutes of Health.

New Study On Clogged Carotid Arteries And Type 1 Diabetes: Atherosclerosis of the carotid arteries is a buildup of plaque in either the right or left carotid artery, located at the sides on the neck going up to the head. These carotid arteries supply oxygenated blood to the head and neck and are vital for survival. When either of these arteries becomes clogged with plaque, this blood flow to the head and neck can be stopped, and a stroke or a mini-stroke occurs, which could impact a person’s life forever. Usually, the buildup of plaque in the carotid arteries occurs over a period of time.

Research data from a study that is part of THE SEARCH CVD study, which is a collaborative effort between Colorado School of Public Health and the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, indicated that their study of 162 people between the ages of 17 and 23 (78 percent with Type 1 diabetes and the remainder were the control group) reflected that these diabetic patients had both thicker and stiffer carotids than the control group. These results adjusted for age, race, sex and lipids. The volunteers in the research program were adolescents and young adults with Type 1 diabetes.

Type 1 diabetes is when the pancreas no longer produces insulin and can only be treated with artificial insulin. For some unknown reason, the Islets of Langerhans within the pancreas simply stop producing insulin or doesn’t produce enough. The only treatment for Type 1 diabetes is insulin.

This new information is another incentive for tight control of the blood sugar levels, not an easy thing to do, but very important. Blood sugar levels are affected by ingested food, exercise and the injection of insulin. This is a balancing act that takes dedication and hard work.

Elaine Urbina, M.D., a cardiologist at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, presented the research at the meeting of the American Diabetes Association in San Diego, California, in June of 2011. Urbina was loosely quoted as stating that there are “news tools for the early detection of cardiac and artery problems in young people with Type 1 diabetes.” With this new information that was garnered from the research, new therapies can be put in place to improve those blood sugar levels, thereby reducing the cardiovascular risk factors. As a result, there could be an improvement in the cardiovascular outcome for people with Type 1 diabetes.

It has long been known that Type 1 diabetes, formerly referred to as juvenile diabetes mellitus, usually strikes when people are of a younger age. With early monitoring of cholesterol levels (a known cause of the buildup of plaque in the arteries), and treatment when these elevated levels are detected, there could be a better outcome for some with Type 1 diabetes in regards to the heart and carotid arteries. As well, buildup of plaque in the arteries is easily detected by the use of an ultrasound run over the arteries to detect any buildup that might be occurring.

These new findings from the research may lead to closer monitoring in the younger people at a younger age for artery plaque buildup.

New Drug Delivery Mechanism For Retinopathy: A pin-sized device implanted behind the eye to treat diabetic retinopathy has been developed by a team of engineers and scientists from the University of British Columbia that could be told to release drugs to treat the damage.

This is a new drug delivery mechanism, and the information about the mechanism was published in Lab on a Chip. Lab on a Chip is a multidisciplinary journal on innovative microfluidic and nanofluidic technologies.

The study was conducted by scientists and engineers at the University of British Columbia. The lead authors are Fatemeh Nazly Pirmoradi, a recent Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering Graduate, who completed the study for her doctoral thesis; and Mechanical Engineering Associate Professor Mu Chiao, who studies nanoscience and microelectromechanical systems for biological applications. The co-authors are Professor Helen Burt and research scientist John Jackson of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences.

Currently, diabetic retinopathy (the damage of blood vessels in the eye) is treated through laser treatment and anti-cancer drugs.

With laser treatment, some peripheral vision can be lost, as well as some loss of night vision, with each new laser procedure that is done on the afflicted eye.

With anti-cancer drugs, the problem that has been encountered is that the drugs quickly clear from the bloodstream so high doses are required, and these higher doses expose other tissues to toxicity.

One of the important things about this new research is that the delivery system would be through an external magnetic field. The research showed that by sealing the reservoir of the implanted device with an elastic magnetic polydimethylisiloxane (silicone) membrane, a specific amount of the drug could be discharged, just like squeezing a little pump.

In a series of lab tests, the University of British Columbia researchers and engineers inserted the pin-sized device with the drug docetaxel (trade name Taxotere, which is an anti-mitotic chemotherapy that is mainly used for the treatment of breast, ovarian and non-small cell lung cancer at this time). After 35 days, the device had kept its integrity with negligible leakage.

It will be several years before the University of British Columbia’s device is ready for use in patients.

Diabetic retinopathy is a leading cause of blindness in American adults. It causes changes in the blood vessels of the retina. These changes in the blood vessels cause them to swell and leak fluid. As well, there can be abnormal new blood vessels that grow on the surface of the retina. The retina of the eye is the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye. You have to have a healthy retina in order to have good vision. It is very important to have your eyes checked by a specialist on a regular basis so that any internal change in your retina can be detected by your doctor.

There are various stages of diabetic retinopathy:

1. Mild nonproliferative, which is small areas of balloon-like swelling in the retina’s tiny blood vessels.
2. As the retinopathy goes unchecked, some blood vessels that nourish the retina are blocked.
3. A lot more blood vessels in the retina are blocked, stopping several areas of the retina from their blood supply. At this stage, the retina sends signals to the body to grow new blood vessels for nourishment.
4. Advanced stage of retinopathy: Many more blood vessels are blocked, depriving several areas of the retina with their blood supply. These areas of the retina send signals to the body to grow new blood vessels for nourishment. This is called “proliferative retinopathy.” The new blood vessels that are grown are abnormal and fragile. They grow along the retina and along the surface of the clear, vitreous gel that fills the inside of the eye. These new blood vessels do not cause symptoms or vision loss. But, these new blood vessels are thin and have fragile walls. When leakage of blood occurs, severe vision loss and blindness can occur.

Any new treatment that is being worked on by researchers and engineers in the treatment of diabetic retinopathy is a step forward in preventing blindness in diabetic patients. In the meantime, have your eyes checked regularly.

New Drug Potential from Squibb and AstraZeneca for Type 2 Diabetes: Metformin is used a lot by those diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. It’s an oral medication that is well tolerated by many people.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and AstraZeneca PLC stated Sunday, July 3, 2011, that their studies of combining a compound called dapagliflozin with metformin had better sustained success in lowering blood sugar levels than those who took the combination of glipizide with metformin. This combination of metformin with dapagliflozin has the potential of being a new drug for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. More clinical studies are needed, but the outlook is favorable.

A side benefit that was noted in the study was that those patients who took dapagliflozin had fewer episodes of low blood sugar levels (hypoglycemia) during the two-year study and also showed signs that they were more likely to lose weight.

Another important point of interest was that those patients taking dapagliflozin also reported a “higher risk of genital infections and urinary tract infections.”

Bristol-Myers Squibb and AstraZeneca have undertaken a combined effort since 2007 to work on finding new treatments for type 2 diabetes patients.

The Food and Drug Administration is reviewing this new compound.

Type 2 diabetes is where the body does not produce enough insulin or the cells just simply do not use the insulin that is provided by the pancreas. Type 2 diabetes is usually treated with modifications in the diet and an increase in exercise, or with an oral medication if the blood sugar levels cannot be brought under control through diet and exercise. Type 2 diabetes is the more common form of diabetes.

Type 1 diabetes is diagnosed when the body produces no insulin, and insulin has to be injected into the body.

Either type of diabetes is a serious condition, and should be treated as such, but type 1 diabetes is the more serious form of the condition.

Lee Iacocca has donated over $30 million to diabetes research seeking a cure for the disease, which can lead to debilitating and fatal complications. In 1983, Mary McCleary Iacocca, Lee Iacocca’s wife, died from complications of Type 1 diabetes. In 1984, Iacocca created the Iacocca Family Foundation, a foundation dedicated to funding promising research projects in the search for a cure for diabetes.

Lee Iacocca is known as a world-famous American businessman, especially for his rise in the ranks at Ford Motor and then the man who rescued the Chrysler Corporation in the 1980s. At that time, his face was all seen around the world on TV and in the newspapers about that huge endeavor. And he succeeded. He pulled Chrysler out of the pits of doom and turned the company around.

The Iacocca Family Foundation has been one of the main patrons of the research of Denise Faustman at Massachusetts General Hospital. In 2000, Iacocca founded Olivio Premium Products, which manufactures the Olivio line of food products made from olive oil. He donates all profits from the company to diabetes research. Many profits from the sale of his numerous books have also gone to finding a “cure.”

In 2004, Iacocca launched Join Lee Now, a national grassroots campaign, to bring Faustman’s research to human clinical trials in 2006.

From June 24 to June 28, 2011, The American Diabetes Foundation held its 71st Session in San Diego, California, at the San Diego Convention Center. At that conference, Faustman, Director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Immunobiology Laboratory, presented abstracts from a clinical trial that was funded by the Iacocca Family Foundation.

Faustman presented information regarding the vaccine Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG). This was a Phase 1 human (and mice) trial, which indicated that BCG vaccine, which was developed to prevent tuberculosis and is currently used to treat bladder cancer, might possibly kill the T-cells that cause the pancreas to stop producing insulin. This BCG vaccine is approximately 80 years old and apparently temporarily reversed Type 1 diabetes in the human trial.

Phase 2 of the clinical trial by Faustman will soon be underway at the Massachusetts General Hospital Immunobiology Laboratory.

Type 1 diabetes usually strikes the young, and can only be treated with the injection of insulin, as the pancreas no longer produces insulin. The body must have insulin in order to live. Without insulin, the person dies.

Type 1 diabetes causes peaks and lows in the blood sugar levels of those with diabetes. It is very difficult to keep these levels under control, even with the use of insulin and even with the insulin pumps that are now in use. With these peaks and lows in the blood sugar levels, damage is slowly done to the body. Over time, this damage leads to severe complications, such as kidney failure, blindness, numbing (neuropathy) of the limbs which can eventually lead to amputation, and other serious effects, such as strokes and heart attacks, that can cause the person to die from the complications.

There is no cure for Type 1 diabetes. There is ongoing work all around the world to find a cure, and we all wait for this cure. We hope for a cure in time to help our own children. The Iacocca Family Foundation is one of the major foundations in place to help find this cure. A great undertaking by a great man.

Hopes for an Artificial Pancreas Down The Road: Findings of some of the newest data working towards the creation of an artificial pancreas will be presented at the Juvenile Diabetes Association meeting in San Diego, California, in June 2011.

Before a precise artificial pancreas can be developed, many studies have to be conducted. Mayo Clinic has been working on developing an artificial pancreas and is working on it at this time. This artificial pancreas that is being created would include a “blood sugar monitor, an automatic insulin pump, a set of monitors that attach to the body and a central processing unit.” This version is referred to as the “Closed Loop System.” Clinical trials have been underway and continue to take place in the development of this artificial pancreas.

“The Mayo Clinic is likely to begin clinical trials of the artificial pancreas in November of this year with a handful of inpatient volunteers.” This study would involve a strict diet, exercise and insulin. This information gathered will then be fed into an “insulin-delivery algorithm which mimics the body’s natural process of monitoring and responding to glucose levels in the bloodstream.”

At this time, Mayo Clinic endocrinologists Yogish Kudva, MBBS, and Ananda Basu, MBBS, MD, are helping in the work of developing the artificial pancreas that will automatically deliver insulin with a precision that is not available at this time.

One aspect of their study has been to study the everyday effects of everyday diabetes. Movement, sitting, standing, eating. How you move, what you do before and after you eat, etc. This type study has not been undertaken in the past and sounds like it has the potential for providing necessary information to help in creating a precise artificial pancreas.

The studies of Kudva and Basu are reported to have shown that any type of physical activity after ingesting food has a large impact on the blood sugar level. In fact, the results indicate that any regular physical activity after ingesting food in those with Type 1 diabetes reflected blood sugar levels close to those without Type 1 diabetes (people with a regular functioning pancreas). The folks who did no activity at all after eating had increased blood sugar levels.

The more you move, the better the insulin works and lowers the blood sugar levels.

Kudva and Basu have been doing research for nearly 15 years on various aspects of diabetes and obesity. Their work has contributed to the creation of the artificial pancreas. Their new information will be presented at this planned meeting of the Juvenile Diabetes Association in San Diego.

Approximately 3 millions Americans live with Type 1 diabetes, formerly referred to as juvenile diabetes mellitus. Of the two different types of diabetes, Type 1 is the most difficult to control. When Type 1 diabetes is the diagnosis for an individual, that means that the pancreas in that person’s body no longer produces insulin and in order to live, that person must take artificial insulin for the remainder of his/her life. This artificial insulin is injected into the body in the form of either an insulin pump or through a syringe filled with insulin. In Type 2 diabetes that cannot be controlled with oral medication, diet modifications and an exercise program, insulin injections are used at times. Type 1 diabetes cannot be controlled through oral medication, diet modifications or an exercise program. Type 1 diabetes can only be controlled through insulin, with the help of diet control and exercising to keep blood sugar levels under better control.

An artificial pancreas would stop the need for these injections. An artificial pancreas is one of the fervent hopes for anyone with Type 1 diabetes.

Lab-Created Blood Vessels Helping Dialysis Patients: Imagine having to stop your kidney dialysis because your veins are shot? Just kaput, not one viable vein.

Then imagine a refrigerated room stockpiled with lab-created blood vessels where one can walk into the room and pick out a blood vessel that is going to fit the recipient who is in dire need of a vein to help with their kidney dialysis, help with their heart bypass surgery, help with their poor circulation in their limbs and help in any other way where a blood vessel needs to be replaced. These new blood vessels would be created without the use of artificial materials, and no stem cells would be involved in their creation.

The works are set in place to create this imaginary refrigerated room to store those newly grown blood vessels. Just think of the ease this would provide in a medical crisis where a call could simply be placed for the type blood vessel that might be needed, and the blood vessel could be sent to the OR as easily as the request is now made for a pacemaker.

The process for growing these new, straw-shaped blood vessels involves taking a snippet of skin from the back of a hand, removing cells and then growing them into a sheet of tissue that can be rolled up like drinking straws to form blood vessels.

Recently in Poland, three patients received such new blood vessels for health issues, and those vessels are still working two to eight months later. Those blood vessels that the patients in Poland received were blood vessels that were grown in a lab using donated skin.

The potential for lab-created vessels will be a lifesaver for many people. The process is in its earliest stages, but further testing is ongoing in Europe and South America on a larger scale, and the hope is that the results from these larger test studies will prove just as favorable.

This could prove to be a medical miracle for those in need of blood vessel replacement.

Blood vessels/veins are needed in so many areas of the medical field. Many diabetics have kidney failure as a result of long-term diabetes. Right now, approximately 400,000 Americans undergo kidney dialysis. When kidneys fail, a person must have kidney dialysis or they will die. Kidney dialysis involves artificially filtering the waste from the blood through a connection between the artery and a vein. This connection is called a shunt. This shunt gets poked numerous times a week in order to hook the patients up to the dialysis machine. There are many complications that can arise with the shunt – blood clots, infection and even clogging. As well, this shunt has to be inserted into a vein. Eventually, some patients run out of viable blood veins for their dialysis requirements. If a person could have a new vein inserted, this could extend the length of time they are on dialysis until a kidney transplant could become an option.

Thousands and thousands of people undergo open heart surgery each year. Think of the celebrities we hear about in the news – David Letterman, Regis Philbin, Star Jones, Barbara Walters, Robin Williams, Burt Reynolds, and many, many more. There are people you pass on the street everyday who have undergone the same process.

In fact, approximately 300,000 people a year have heart bypass operations wherein veins are removed from their legs and are used to replace the clogged arteries in their hearts. In many cases, the wound on the leg from the removal of the vein is difficult to heal and has to be watched closely for infection. If a straw-shaped, lab-created blood vessel could be used from this stockpile of blood vessels there would be no need for the surgical removal of the vessel in the leg for use in the heart.

Thus far, these straw-shaped, lab-grown blood vessels have been well tolerated by the patients who received them, so much so that there was no need for anti-rejection medication and tissue matching was not necessary.

At the present time, lab-grown skin is already used to treat many burn victims. This creation of the blood vessels in a lab is a giant step forward for the medical field.