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.

HCI researchers find cell mechanism that may trigger pancreatic cancer

Researchers at Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah have found that defects in how cells are squeezed out of overcrowded tissue to die, a process called extrusion, may be a mechanism by which pancreatic cancer begins. From these findings, they may have identified an effective way to reverse the defective extrusion's effects without destroying normal tissues nearby.

28 Jan 2015

Dr. Hans Clevers receives ISSCR's McEwen Award for Innovation

The International Society for Stem Cell Research has awarded Dr. Hans Clevers, senior author on two important papers published recently in the scientific journal Cell, the society's McEwen Award for Innovation.

23 Jan 2015

NCCS launches human clinical trial of new cancer vaccine

The National Cancer Centre Singapore has launched a clinical trial of a new cancer vaccine administered to human patients for the first time in the world. Cancer immunotherapy (the harnessing of the body's defence system to fight the patient's cancer, has emerged as one of the most exciting medical breakthroughs in the past two years.

22 Jan 2015

Mount Sinai study measures ability of artificial pancreas in preventing hypoglycemia in T1D patients

A newly launched clinical research study at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is examining whether an artificial pancreas (AP) can prevent too low blood sugar levels or hypoglycemia in patients with type 1 diabetes (T1D) as they sleep. People fast as they sleep and nighttime hypoglycemia can cause seizures, and coma or death in rare cases, among the more than three million Americans with type 1 diabetes.

22 Jan 2015

Bariatric surgery can improve obesity-related health problems in children, adolescents

Bariatric surgery--as a last resort when conservative interventions have failed--can improve liver disease and other obesity-related health problems in severely obese children and adolescents, according to a position paper in the Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition, official journal of the European Society for Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition and the North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition.

21 Jan 2015

Long years of diabetes research now ripe for reinterpretation

Years of diabetes research carried out on mice whose DNA had been altered with a human growth hormone gene is now ripe for reinterpretation after a new study by researchers at KU Leuven confirms that the gene had an unintended effect on the mice's insulin production, a key variable in diabetes research.

21 Jan 2015

CAR T-cell therapy enters into Phase I clinical trial

Cancer fighting chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells, developed in the Sentman laboratory of Dartmouth's Norris Cotton Cancer Center, are taking the next step into a Phase I clinical trial beginning early in 2015.

15 Jan 2015

Study finds difference between results from IHC and quantitative molecular techniques

The cause of type 1 diabetes remains unknown. Several studies using immunohistochemistry (IHC) have independently reported hyperexpression of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I on pancreatic islet cells in young patients with recent-onset type 1 diabetes. Investigators have therefore suggested that HLA hyperexpression may be an important first step in the development of type 1 diabetes.

12 Jan 2015

Family history could help physicians identify prostate cancer risk

A discovery by researchers at Huntsman Cancer Institute shows that looking at whether a man's uncles and great-grandparents, among other second- and third-degree relatives, had prostate cancer could be as important as looking at whether his father had prostate cancer. A more complete family history would give physicians a new tool to decide whether or not a PSA test was appropriate.

12 Jan 2015

LJI researcher awarded $1.6 million grant to study factors that trigger onset of type 1 diabetes

The American Diabetes Association has awarded La Jolla Institute researcher Stephanie Stanford, Ph.D., a $1.6 million grant to investigate the genetic and environmental factors that trigger the onset of type 1 diabetes.

11 Jan 2015

Stress can trigger diabetes, depression and other autoimmune diseases

Stress is an ability of humans to fight or flee when faced with problems affecting the individual. By changes in the organism, adaptation to various physical conditions is achieved: burns, bruises, bleeding or psychosocial traumas.

2 Jan 2015

Scientists image zinc atoms released by fertilized mammalian egg

Sparks literally fly when a sperm and an egg hit it off. The fertilized mammalian egg releases from its surface billions of zinc atoms in "zinc sparks," one wave after another, found a Northwestern University-led interdisciplinary research team that includes experts from the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory.

24 Dec 2014

Two hormones better than one for hypoglycaemia prevention with artificial pancreas

Artificial pancreas systems significantly improve glycaemic control in adolescents and adults with Type 1 diabetes, shows a head-to-head trial of single- and dual-hormone systems versus a conventional insulin pump.

22 Dec 2014

Findings show effective treatment for type 1 diabetes patients with severe hypoglycemia

Type 1 diabetes (T1D) patients who have developed low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) as a complication of insulin treatments over time are able to regain normal internal recognition of the condition after receiving pancreatic islet cell transplantation, according to a new study led by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, published online in Diabetes.

18 Dec 2014

Researchers examine why Mexican-Americans at increased risk for Type 2 diabetes

While people of Mexican ancestry are nearly twice as likely to develop Type 2 diabetes as people of European heritage, the majority of research in this area has focused on those of European origin.

18 Dec 2014

New interoperability standards for diabetes devices

JDRF and the Centre for Global eHealth Innovation at the University Health Network in Toronto announced publication of interoperability standards for diabetes devices. The work is the result of JDRF Canadian Clinical Trial Network funding to Dr. Joseph Cafazzo at UHN to pilot the development of standard communication protocols that define how diabetes devices, such as insulin pumps, blood glucose meters, and continuous glucose monitors, communicate with one another and with other devices.

12 Dec 2014

Male hormone testosterone may increase risk of colon cancer

Previous cancer research has revealed that women are less likely than men to suffer from non-sex specific cancers such as cancer of the colon, pancreas and stomach. Scientists theorized that perhaps this trend was due to a protecting effect created by female hormones, such as estrogen, that help prevent tumors from forming. Now, researchers at the University of Missouri have found evidence suggesting that the male hormone testosterone may actually be a contributing factor in the formation of colon cancer tumors.

11 Dec 2014

Scientists identify brain mechanism that drives our appetite for glucose-rich foods

Scientists have discovered a mechanism in the brain that may drive our appetite for foods rich in glucose and could lead to improved treatments for obesity.

10 Dec 2014

Highly-paid doctors make more money by ordering multiple procedures for patients: UCLA

In results characterized as "very surprising," UCLA researchers found for the first time that higher-earning clinicians make more money by ordering more procedures and services per patient rather than by seeing more patients, which may not be in patients' best interest.

9 Dec 2014

Triple hormone reduces body weight, improves insulin sensitivity

Recently, the researchers had constructed several single molecules with dual hormone action. Now, for the first time, the researchers succeeded in designing a substance that combines three metabolically active hormone components (GLP-1, GIP and glucagon) and offers unmatched potency to fight metabolic diseases in pre-clinical trials.