Category: Diabetes 101

According to new research by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, limiting carbs to dinnertime can help those who are suffering from severe or morbid obesity, reducing the risk for diabetes and cardiovascular risk.

By opting for this diet, a secretion pattern of hormones that are responsible for both satiety and hunger and hormones that are associated with metabolic syndrome are influenced. It can help to prevent diabetes and cardiovascular disease from ever occurring.

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According to new research obtained by St. Louis’s Washington University School of Medicine, vitamin D can be helpful in unclogging arteries, which causes heart disease, in patients with diabetes.

Researchers report that blood vessels are less likely to clog in patients that have an adequate amount of vitamin D in their body. In patients that have little vitamin D in their body, the immune cells that are near and around the heart become trapped with cholesterol, which will in turn block those blood vessels , causing clogged arteries, heart disease and numerous other heart problems. Vitamin D deficiency is responsible for a lot of health problems.

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According to a new study taken by the University Of Calgary’s Hotchkiss Brian Institute, there is proof that a new drug therapy called nabilione can treat by nerve pain and neuropathy.

Sixty patients with diabetic neuropathy were enrolled in a 12-week placebo controlled clinical study. When the study was over, patients stated that there was less pain and an improvement in both anxiety and sleep as well in taking nabilone as opposed to the placebo.

Dr. Cory Toth, the study’s lead researcher and a neurologist said, “This is a good option to help treat nerve pain due to diabetes, with very few side effects.”

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Two genes have been discovered by a group of international researchers that increases the risk of developing diabetes that is associated with kidney disease.

Kidney disease is a common problem when it comes to the complications of diabetes and the disease typically leads to both strokes and heart attacks. Diabetic kidney disease is known world-wide as the leading cause of kidney failure in which a kidney transplant or dialysis is used as treatment.

Researchers led a study from the Queen’s University Belfast, University College Dublin, Harvard University and the University of Helsinki in order to find significant evidence about genes associated with both diabetes and kidney disease.

The study was congratulated by Professor Bernie Hannigan, Director of HSC R&D who said, “This research consortium is tremendously productive. Their dedicated work will immediately benefit patient management and in the longer term can lead to new treatments with both health and economic impacts. Such international research collaboration can result in gains for all partners involved.”

This study is the largest of its kind, 4,750 patients with diabetic kidney disease and nearly 7,000 patients with long-standing diabetes (with no kidney disease) were recruited for the study.

A principal of the study, Professor Peter Maxwell of Queen’s University said, “Currently available drugs cannot cure the kidney failure but may slow its progression. Knowing which patients are most at risk of kidney complications will be helpful in managing their diabetes.”

Over two million DNA markers per person were analyzed and two genes were found (AFF3 and ERBB4) which were increases for kidney disease.

Professor Catherin Godson, lead investigator of the UCD group stated, “These new research findings are very important as they help accelerate development of new and effective therapies.”

Diabetes is a common problem all around the world and while many studies have shown great strides in helping to calm the disease, at best, there are still many more tests and studies that are yet to be discovered that may in fact cure diabetes once and for all.

There have been many ways to help resist and even in some cases prevent the onset of diabetes. However, there is a new study that shows that something as natural as sleep could be the beginning of a great improvement for insulin resistance and even used as a prevention method for the future onset of diabetes.

Lead author Karen Matthews, PhD, of the University Of Pittsburgh Department Of Psychiatry, “High levels of insulin resistance can lead to the development of diabetes. We found that if teens that normally get six hours of sleep per night get one extra hour of sleep, they would improve insulin resistance by 9 percent.”

During the study, the sleep duration and insulin resistance levels of 245 healthy high school students were tracked. They each provided a fasting blood sample and also completed as sleep long while also wearing a wrist actigraph for one week during a whole school year. Sleep duration was based on actigraphy averaging about 6.4 hours through the week. Weekends averaged slightly higher.

The results provided significant evidence that higher insulin resistance came with shorter sleep duration, depending on age, gender, waist circumstance, and body mass index. Matthews states that the study is the only one in, healthy adolescents that shows a relationship between shorter sleep and insulin resistance that is independent upon obesity.

One of the best ways for our bodies to rejuvenate, heal and prevent impending diseases and illnesses is to maintain great sleeping habits. Making sure teens implement one that allows them to get more than 9 hours of sleep a night can be a great way to prevent the onset of diabetes in the future.

There have been many advancements, when it comes to diabetes and a treatment for it. From medications to therapies, there are all kinds of ways that are effective. The latest treatment comes in the form of a tablet.

It is very possible that a capsule of insulin crystals a day can stop the development of type 1 diabetes. In an international TrialNet study that followed relatives of individuals with type 1 diabetes showed rather or not oral insulin could delay of even prevent the disease.

Type 1 diabetes is different from type 2 diabetes because it is autoimmune form; this means that patients with type 1 diabetes will produce insulin-producing beta cells that destroy their own immune system.

Åke Lernmark, Professor of Experimental Diabetes Research at Lund University in Sweden said “We know that if a person has two auto-antibodies and one of them is against insulin, there is a 50% risk that they will develop type 1 diabetes within five years. It doesn’t matter how old you are. There are indications that oral insulin may prevent or delay the clinical onset of type 1 diabetes among individuals with auto antibodies against insulin, who are thus in the risk zone.”

Lernmark is referring to a study that was presented earlier in the year by Canadian and American researchers. This study ran between 1994 and 2003 and participants with relatives who have type 1 diabetes and at least two auto-antibodies, one of those being insulin, to the oral insulin or a placebo capsule which contained an inactive substance. The results proved disappointed at first because just as many people became ill with the oral insulin as the placebo group.

Lernmark said, “However, the subsequent analyses showed something different. Among those who had high levels of insulin auto antibodies at the start of the study, the oral insulin had an effect and the development of type 1 diabetes was delayed. The delaying effect lasted for as long as the participants took the insulin.”

It is undefined at the moment on how helpful oral insulin can be in stopping type 1 diabetes. Lernmark believes that a possible explanation could be that the immune system could grow accustomed to the lower daily doses of insulin and therefore, the insulin capsules could become ineffective.

A new study from the University of Ulster reveals a possible drug that is designed to treat diabetic patients who suffer from neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease.

Alzheimer’s disease has long been associated with type 2 diabetes. When insulin cannot get to the brain, it can cause damaged nerve cells, which leads to different neurodegenerative diseases. It is believed by scientists that the same drugs can also have positive benefits for keeping brain cells healthy as well.

Professor Christian Hölscher and his team from the Biomedical Sciences Research Institute on the Coleraine campus used an experimental drug called (Val8) GLP-1.

Through the drug, a protein called GLP-1 is stimulated. This helps the body control its response to blood sugar. The study scientists treated healthy mice with this drug and then studied the effects that appeared on the brain. It is typically hard for drugs to pass from the blood to the brain however the study team found that when the drugs entered the brain they appeared to have no side effects as well, in the dosage amount that was tested.

On the other hand, the drug did promote new brain cell growth in the hippocampus, which is the area of the brain that controls memory, motor/cognitive skills. In finding this, it shows that the GLP-1 may be very important for the production of new nerve cells, the mouse’s brain.

By blocking the effect of the GLP-1 in the mouse’s brain, the mice did poorly when it came to its memory and in learning. However, in booting the GLP-1, it appeared to have no effect.

“Here at the Biomedical Sciences Research Institute, we are really interested in the potential of diabetes drugs for protecting brain cells from damage and even promoting new brain cells to grow. This could have huge implications for diseases like Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s, where brain cells are lost.” Professor Hölscher said.

“It is very encouraging that the experimental drug we tested, (Val8) GLP-1, entered the brain and our work suggests that GLP-1 could be a really important target for boosting memory. While we didn’t see benefits on learning and memory in these healthy mice, we are keen to test the drugs in mice with signs of Alzheimer’s disease, where we could see real improvements.”

“We are pleased to have supported this early stage research, suggesting that this experimental diabetes drug could also promote the growth of new brain cells. While we know losing brain cells is a key feature of Alzheimer’s, there is a long way to go before we would know whether this drug could benefit people with the disease.” Dr. Simon Ridley, Head of Research at Alzheimer’s Research UK, said.

“This research will help us understand the factors that keep nerve cells healthy, knowledge that could hold vital clues to tackling Alzheimer’s. With over half a million people in the UK living with the disease, learning more about how to keep our brain cells healthy is of vital importance. Funding for dementia research lags far behind that of other common diseases, but is essential if we are to realize the true potential of research like this.”

Diabetes is a common problem all around the world. In just America alone, more than 24 million people have type 2 diabetes. Diabetes can cause many different complications with different parts of the body. One recent discovery showed that those with higher blood sugar (more than the normal range) may end up with greater chance of brain shrinkage, which also occurs in aging and diseases like dementia.

Study author Nicolas Cherbuin, PhD, with Australian National University in Canberra said, “Numerous studies have shown a link between type 2 diabetes and brain shrinkage and dementia, but we haven’t known much about whether people with blood sugar on the high end of normal experience these same effects.”

This study involved 249 people who were aged 60 to 64. Each participant had a normal range of blood sugar that was defined by the World Health Organization. At the beginning of the study, each participant started with a brain scan and also had a brain scan four years later.

Participants with higher fasting blood sugar ranging from the normal range to below 6.1 mmol/l were more likely to have a loss of a brain volume in areas of the brain, the hippocampus and the amygdale. These areas control memory and cognitive skills. A fasting blood sugar that is considered impaired or pre-diabetic is a level of 6.1 mmol/l and a fasting blood sugar level of 10.0 mmol/l is considered diabetes.

The study looked to different aspects of each participant such as age, high blood pressure, smoking, alcohol used and other aspects. Researchers found that high blood sugar accounted for 6 to 10 percent of brain shrinkage.  Cherbuin said, “These findings suggest that even for people who do not have diabetes, blood sugar levels could have an impact on brain health. More research is needed, but these findings may lead us to re-evaluate the concept of normal blood sugar levels and the definition of diabetes.”

With diabetes becoming an even bigger problem around the world, more and more medical advances are being discovered to try and find a cure for the disease.

Recently, researches have designed a fresh type of biosensor which can identify small amounts of concentrations of glucose in the body’s natural fluids such as urine, tears and saliva. This new biosensor could be manufactured at a very low cost because it does not require very many procession steps in order to produce it.

Jonathan Claussen, a former Purdue University doctoral student and now a research scientist at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory said “It’s an inherently non-invasive way to estimate glucose content in the body.”Because it can detect glucose in the saliva and tears, it’s a platform that might eventually help to eliminate or reduce the frequency of using pinpricks for diabetes testing.  We are proving its functionality.”

Leaders of the project were Claussen, Purdue doctoral student Anurag Kumar, a Purdue professor of mechanical engineering Timothy Fisher, D. Marshall Porterfield, a professor of agricultural and biological engineering and other researchers at the university’s Birck Nanotechnology Center.

“Most sensors typically measure glucose in blood. Many in the literature aren’t able to detect glucose in tears and the saliva. What’s unique is that we can sense in all four different human serums: the saliva, blood, tears and urine. And that hasn’t been shown before.” Claussen said.

There are three main parts to the sensor: the layers of nanosheets, which resemble tiny rose petals that are made from the material, graphene. Graphene is a single-atom-thick film of carbon, platinum nanoparticles and the enzyme glucose oxidase.

Within each petal are a few layers of stacked graphene. Each edge of the petals has incomplete, dangling chemical bonds which are defects where platinum nanoparticles can attach to. Electrodes are then formed by combining the nanosheet petals and platinum nanoparticles. The enzyme the convert’s glucose into peroxide which then generates a signal on the electrode.

Kumar said, “Typically, when you want to make a nanostructure biosensor you have to use a lot of processing steps before you reach the final biosensor product. That involves lithography, chemical processing, etching and other steps. The good thing about these petals is that they can be grown on just about any surface, and we don’t need to use any of these steps, so it could be ideal for commercialization.”

“Because we used the enzyme glucose oxidase in this work, it’s geared for diabetes. But we could just swap out that enzyme with, for example, glutamate oxidase, to measure the neurotransmitter glutamate to test for Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, or ethanol oxidase to monitor alcohol levels for a breathalyzer. It’s very versatile, fast and portable.” Claussen said.

The biosensor is also being used with a variety of chemical compounds to test for other medical conditions as well, other than diabetes.

A trial led by Carla Greenbaum, MD, Diabetes Research Program director at Benaroya Research Institute (BRI) at Virginia Mason and sponsored by the Immune Tolerance Network (ITN) and funded by the National Institutes of Health shows a new break in reversing autoimmunity in Type 1 diabetes.

The trial involved a two-pronged approach; two drugs were administered as a combination. The first drug in the combination interferes with the immune response that ultimately causes type 1 diabetes. The second drug boosts the part of the immune response that regulates overactive immune cells.

There are over one million people in the United States that have type 1 diabetes and that number is growing every year. With type 1 diabetes, the body’s immune system begins to attack and destroy insulin-producing cells that are in the pancreas which are referred to beta cells. When diagnosed with type 1 diabetes there are still a number of beta cells that are active in the body. Because these beta cells are natural insulin producers and can decrease over the long-term effects of diabetes, there are many therapies that are needed for the cure of diabetes.

The two drugs Proleukin (IL-2) and Rapamune (sirolimus) were administered to patients to find out whether or not the drugs would affect the immune system and halt the autoimmune destruction of the remaining beta cells. The researchers of a study describe a flourishing boost of regulatory components of the immune system also were prolonged that were not expected. Due to the temporary impairment of the beta cell function that was lead by the researchers, they concluded that the drug combination was not having a desired effect. Monitoring of the insulin production in the nine subjects indicated that the beta cell preservation goal was therefore not achieved and the study was then halted.

Dr. Greenbaum said, “This study result has been extremely important to scientists looking for ways to stop the immune attack. Our aim would be to harness the good effects of this therapy while preventing the bad effects.” Participants who haven’t yet completed the study will continue to be followed.”

Gerald Nepom, MD, PhD, Director of ITN said, “The clinical and mechanistic findings from this study can help guide future treatments that boost good immunity. This was an important clinical trial that will improve the design of subsequent trials to rescue beta cells in Type 1 diabetes.”