Pancreas News and Research

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The pancreas is a gland organ in the digestive and endocrine system of vertebrates. It is both an endocrine gland producing several important hormones, including insulin, glucagon, and somatostatin, as well as an exocrine gland, secreting pancreatic juice containing digestive enzymes that pass to the small intestine. These enzymes help in the further breakdown of the carbohydrates, protein, and fat in the chyme.

Cancer hijacks normal wound-healing processes

Scientists have known for the last decade that a link exists between wound healing and cancer. For instance, in a 1994 experiment at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, chickens infected with a cancer virus developed tumors in areas of their body that had undergone wounding or scarring, while no tumors developed in infected areas that had not suffered wounding.

5 May 2005

Marburg virus - 275 confirmed cases

The World Health Organization (WHO) and health authorities in Angola have confirmed 275 cases including 255 deaths, in an outbreak of Marburg virus in north-western Angola since April 27 this year.

2 May 2005

Scientists add an important piece to the intricate puzzle of type-1 diabetes

For some time, scientists have known that a regenerative or repair process -- involving the development of specialized structures called tubular complexes -- is switched on during physical and chemical trauma to the pancreas (the gland that manufactures and secretes crucial insulin in the body).

27 Apr 2005

Canadian Diabetes Association, UBC partner on funding for childhood diabetes research

A new partnership announced by the Canadian Diabetes Association and the University of British Columbia (UBC) will help fund research in childhood diabetes. Not only will this research further investigate type 1 diabetes, it will also explore the areas of type 2 diabetes and obesity in children, a problem of growing concern and proportions.

23 Apr 2005

Rare surgery performed to remove pancreas, prevent diabetes and ease pain of chronic pancreatitis

In a 12-hour, dual-stage surgery known to be performed at only two other centers in the U.S., doctors at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) on Tuesday returned a patient's own insulin-producing cells to him after surgically removing his pancreas to eliminate constant, severe pain from chronic pancreatitis.

22 Apr 2005

Propensity for obesity, diabetes may occur in utero

The adage "You are what you eat" should be rephrased to include "and so are your children," based on metabolic research pioneered by researchers at the University at Buffalo.

22 Apr 2005

Researchers find promising cancer-fighting power of synthetic cell-signaling molecule

Novel anti-cancer compounds called Enigmols suppress the growth of human cell lines representing cancers of the prostate, breast, colon, ovary, pancreas, brain and blood, and reduce tumors in three animal studies, new research shows.

19 Apr 2005

World's first recipient of insulin-producing cells from a living donor

A 27-year-old diabetic woman has become the world's first recipient of insulin-producing cells from a living donor.

19 Apr 2005

Japanese researchers reverse diabetes

Japanese researchers have successfully reversed a woman’s diabetes by transplanting insulinmaking cells (islets) from a living donor’s pancreas into her, reporting their results in a research letter published online today by The Lancet. This is the first successful operation of its kind using the islets from a living donor.

19 Apr 2005

Researchers determine structure of binding site of colon-cancer drug Erbitux and its protein target

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have determined the precise molecular details of how Erbitux, a recently approved colorectal cancer drug, binds to its target on cancer cells. Knowing this chemical configuration will lead to better drug design for this family of cancer medications.

19 Apr 2005

Scientists use transcription factors to increase insulin production in diabetic mice

A group of Japanese scientists has used gene therapy to deliver three insulin transcription factors, MafA, PDX-1, and NeuroD, to the livers of diabetic mice. As a result, the mice experienced an increase in insulin gene expression and insulin production, raising the possibility that this could eventually be used to treat diabetes.

13 Apr 2005

Tissue engineering to grow bone, ligaments and cartilage

A future in which laboratory-grown organs and stimulated growth of muscle, bones and nerves could play a major role in treating medical conditions was revealed at a recent Tissue Engineering Symposium at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.

11 Apr 2005

Exposure to organochlorine compounds increases the risk of suffering colorectal cancer

A team of researchers at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, The Catalan Institute of Oncology and the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) have published a study indicating that exposure to organochlorine compounds, which we ingest in our diets, increases the risk of suffering colorectal cancer.

3 Apr 2005

Could NAADP/cholecystokinin-combo attack fat from inside and out?

One traditional approach to pharmaceutical design uses so-called “first messengers” – hormones, other natural facilitators or synthetic products – to initiate various cellular cascades for the desired physiological effect. To date, despite concerted efforts at all levels of research, this approach has failed to develop a truly successful obesity drug to address this major global health problem.

3 Apr 2005

CDC experts sent to Angola to help with Marburg epidemic

In an effort to control the Marburg virus outbreak in Angola, Health officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta will assist the World Health Organization by going to Angola to help with outbreak investigation, infection control and laboratory diagnosis of the disease.

30 Mar 2005

Scientists have found genetic regions that, when defective, allow the immune system to attack the pancreas

Scientists at Joslin Diabetes Center have found genetic regions that, when defective, allow the immune system to attack the pancreas -- the first in a series of mis-steps that lead to type 1 diabetes. Armed with these findings, published yesterday, March 22, in the journal Immunity, the researchers are now trying to hone in on the exact genes involved, in mice and in human patients.

23 Mar 2005

Chemists say they have identified a gene that appears to play a key role in the development of type 1 diabetes

In the current study, the researchers focused on the formation of the MIF protein (macrophage migration inhibitory factor), a proinflammatory protein that they showed in previous studies is elevated in diabetic animals and may be involved in the cascade of immunological events that leads to the destruction of the pancreas and the subsequent onset of type 1 diabetes.

21 Mar 2005

Q. What turns an obese person into a person with diabetes? - A. Leptin

Twin epidemics of obesity and type 2 diabetes are bearing down on the world's population, threatening the lives of hundreds of millions of people. But scientists are still trying to determine how the two conditions are linked, and what it takes to turn an obese person into a person with diabetes.

16 Mar 2005

Diabetes Busting Burgers!

Chemists with the U.S. Department of Agriculture recently presented a preliminary report to the 229th national meeting of the American Chemical Society, in which they say they have discovered a form of soluble cellulose that, if added to high-fat food. The new finding could soon benefit people who regularly eat fast-foods that are high in fat.

16 Mar 2005

ViaCell and Genzyme announce collaboration - ViaCell announces patent issuance

ViaCell and Genzyme Corporation announced today that the two companies entered into a collaboration related to diabetes.

15 Mar 2005

Pancreas News and Research

Further Reading

Cancer hijacks normal wound-healing processes

Marburg virus - 275 confirmed cases

Scientists add an important piece to the intricate puzzle of type-1 diabetes

Canadian Diabetes Association, UBC partner on funding for childhood diabetes research

Rare surgery performed to remove pancreas, prevent diabetes and ease pain of chronic pancreatitis

Propensity for obesity, diabetes may occur in utero

Researchers find promising cancer-fighting power of synthetic cell-signaling molecule

World's first recipient of insulin-producing cells from a living donor

Japanese researchers reverse diabetes

Researchers determine structure of binding site of colon-cancer drug Erbitux and its protein target

Scientists use transcription factors to increase insulin production in diabetic mice

Tissue engineering to grow bone, ligaments and cartilage

Exposure to organochlorine compounds increases the risk of suffering colorectal cancer

Could NAADP/cholecystokinin-combo attack fat from inside and out?

CDC experts sent to Angola to help with Marburg epidemic

Scientists have found genetic regions that, when defective, allow the immune system to attack the pancreas

Chemists say they have identified a gene that appears to play a key role in the development of type 1 diabetes

Q. What turns an obese person into a person with diabetes? - A. Leptin

Diabetes Busting Burgers!

ViaCell and Genzyme announce collaboration - ViaCell announces patent issuance

Breathing New Life into Diagnostics: Plasmion's SICRIT Technology

Discover how SciY empowers scientists

Why use light scattering to analyze proteins and viral vectors?

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