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.

Obese patients are at higher risk for pancreatic surgery complications

Obesity may contribute to a greater likelihood of post-operative complications for patients having pancreatic surgery, a surgeon at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital has found.

1 Jun 2007

Groundbreaking robotic pancreatectomy

Surgeons at the University of Illinois Medical Center at Chicago performed a groundbreaking robotic pancreatectomy in a 39-year-old man to relieve him of debilitating pain.

1 Jun 2007

Researchers successfully treated type 1 diabetic mice with a vaccination

The vaccine they designed in this model included structures that the immune system mistakenly attacks in type 1 diabetes.

28 May 2007

Researchers engineer adult stem cells derived from human umbilical cord blood to produce insulin

The researchers announced their laboratory finding, which caps nearly four years of research, in the June 2007 issue of the medical journal Cell Proliferation, posted online this week.

28 May 2007

First ever lung transplant on HIV patient performed in Italy

Italian surgeons have performed the world's first lung transplant on an HIV patient.

28 May 2007

Patients with myelodysplastic syndromes treated with Revlimid are living longer and remaining transfusion independent

New updated results from a pivotal Phase II trial evaluating Revlimid in patients with an incurable blood cancer known as myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) were presented by Dr. Alan List, from the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, at the 9th International Symposium on MDS currently taking place in Florence, Italy.

18 May 2007

Glucose plays a key role in enabling healthy beta cells

A key aspect of how embryos create the cells which secrete insulin is revealed in a new study published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

18 May 2007

Researchers catch moving proteins in mid-fold

Any photographer can vouch for the difficulty of capturing a clear picture of a moving target.

17 May 2007

Glucosamine-like dietary supplement suppresses autoimmune response in multiple sclerosis and type-1 diabetes mellitus

This finding shows the potential of using a dietary supplement to help treat autoimmune diseases, said Demetriou, an assistant professor of neurology, and microbiology and molecular genetics.

15 May 2007

Epidemiology of obesity, pathophysiology, associated disease and management

Due to the gastrointestinal tract's role in body weight regulation, gastroenterologists should work closely with other medical disciplines to oversee and coordinate the care of obese individuals, according to an American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Institute Obesity Task Force Report.

15 May 2007

Thin people may be obese on the inside

British researchers have found that those who control their weight through diet rather than exercise are more likely to have major deposits of internal fat, even if they are otherwise slim.

14 May 2007

Swedish 'snus' linked to a doubled risk of pancreatic cancer

People who use Swedish moist snuff (snus) run twice the risk of developing cancer of the pancreas.

11 May 2007

Adult stem cells play no role in insulin production

Diabetes researchers, investigating how the body supplies itself with insulin, discovered to their surprise that adult stem cells, which they expected to play a crucial role in the process, were nowhere to be found.

8 May 2007

Diabetes drug rosiglitazone boosts power of platinum chemotherapy

A widely used diabetes drug dramatically boosted the potency of platinum-based cancer drugs when administered together to a variety of cancer cell lines and to mice with tumors, scientists from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute report.

8 May 2007

Scientists discover way to distinguish pancreatic cancer from non-cancerous tissue

The research examined pancreatic cancer cells for tiny molecules called microRNA (miRNA). It shows that relative levels of certain miRNAs can distinguish pancreatic cancer from nearby noncancerous tissue and from inflamed pancreatic tissue.

2 May 2007

Expression pattern of microRNA may be useful in differentiating between chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic cancer is a lethal disease, with the annual deaths nearly equaling the incidence of 33,000 in the United States, according to background information in the article.

2 May 2007

Laparoscopic gastric banding surgery improves insulin resistance

A new study examining the overall and gender-related effects of laparoscopic gastric banding surgery (LGBS) on insulin resistance, body composition, and metabolic risk markers six months post-surgery has found significant improvements in insulin resistance.

2 May 2007

Biomarker discovery bodes well for better cancer diagnostics

While new findings from Ohio State University scientists suggest a genetic marker that could help distinguish between chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer and gauge who will do well with cancer treatment, a pharmacologist at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson in Philadelphia sees the discovery as much more.

2 May 2007

Scientists discover pathway that promotes muscle cell survival in mice

Scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have identified an enzyme that pumps up a cell's ability to maintain healthy muscle and restores normal muscle function in genetically engineered mice with weak muscles.

30 Apr 2007

The convergence of embryonic and cancer signaling pathways: role in tumor cell plasticity

In earlier work, Northwestern University scientist Mary J.C. Hendrix and colleagues discovered that aggressive melanoma cells (but not normal skin cells nor less aggressive melanoma cells) contain specific proteins similar to those found in embryonic stem cells.

30 Apr 2007