Blood Sugar News and Research

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Blood sugar concentration, or glucose level, refers to the amount of glucose present in the blood of a human or animal. Normally, in mammals the blood glucose level is maintained at a reference range between about 3.6 and 5.8 mM (mmol/l). It is tightly regulated as a part of metabolic homeostasis.

Combinatorial approach found to reverse the onset of type 1 diabetes

A major finding, which represents an important step toward a potential cure for type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes, has been made by a research team at the La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology (LIAI). The team, led by Matthias von Herrath, M.D., an internationally recognized expert on the molecular basis of type 1 diabetes, used a combinatorial treatment approach in laboratory mice and found it reversed recent onset type 1 diabetes in the majority of animals tested.

28 Apr 2006

Drug combo might beat type 1 diabetes

Scientists in California have developed a cocktail of drugs which can reverse diabetes and say the discovery is an important step towards a potential cure.

23 Apr 2006

Genetic data from an island population proves to be a useful tool in understanding disease

With fewer than 4,000 residents, the genetically isolated Micronesian island of Kosrae, in the West Pacific, provides an ideal population in which to research heritability of disease.

20 Apr 2006

Study shows results of tight glucose control

Here's what we know about controlling blood glucose (blood sugar) in people with diabetes: It's not easy, but it can be done. It requires vigilance and resolve. And it can save your life.

19 Apr 2006

New guidelines for treating severely injured patients

If someone is injured in an automobile collision or is severely burned, emergency room physicians across the country would probably take similar steps to stabilize each condition. But subsequent treatment in the intensive care unit or operating room is less well established and may vary significantly.

19 Apr 2006

New research links metabolism and appetite suppression, opening door to obesity treatments

A team led by a Canadian researcher has discovered a process by which a small protein acts directly within muscles to increase the body's metabolism to burn fat while simultaneously suppressing appetite.

19 Apr 2006

Short acting insulin analogues versus regular human insulin in patients with diabetes mellitus

Fast-acting artificial insulin drugs work just as well as regular human insulin, but it's unclear how they could affect the health of people with diabetes over the long run, according to a new review of recent studies.

18 Apr 2006

Almost half of elderly Beijing residents have metabolic syndrome

As more people in China adopt Western diets and lifestyles, many are developing a cluster of cardiovascular disease risk factors, according to a new study in the April 18, 2006, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

17 Apr 2006

Approval of integrated insulin pump and continuous glucose system a significant step towards artificial pancreas technology

The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) has said that the federal government's approval of an insulin pump that also provides real-time, continuous glucose monitoring is a significant step on the path to the development of an artificial pancreas, with the potential to significantly improve diabetes care and lower the risk of complications.

13 Apr 2006

Passive smoking increases diabetes risk

A study published on the British Medical Journal website shows for the first time that breathing other people's smoke raises the risk of developing glucose intolerance, the precursor to diabetes.

11 Apr 2006

Role of hepatic STAT3 in brain-insulin action on hepatic glucose production

New research in Cell Metabolism identifies a key player in the body's ability to respond to insulin action in the brain by ratcheting down the export of blood sugar from the liver.

6 Apr 2006

High glucose-uptake tumors can be identified with PET scans

Cervical cancers that take up a lot of blood sugar, or glucose, are more resistant to treatment than those that are less glucose-hungry, according to research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

4 Apr 2006

Procedure cures some diabetic mice, but not in the way previously reported

Researchers attempting to reproduce a controversial 2003 mouse experiment suggestive of a cure for type 1 diabetes have found evidence that the experimental procedure does eliminate diabetic symptoms in a small fraction of the mice exposed to it.

28 Mar 2006

Study provides a boost for efforts to reverse type-1 diabetes

Researchers have been able to confirm most but not all of the results of a high-profile study that brought new hope to diabetes patients. This study provides a boost for efforts to reverse type-1 diabetes in recently diagnosed patients but not for efforts to grow new islets from spleens.

27 Mar 2006

Grape seed extract appears to lower blood pressure

Grape seed extract lowered the blood pressure of patients who participated in a UC Davis study of the benefits of the supplement on people with high blood pressure.

27 Mar 2006

Latest diabetic medications more costly, but users have fewer hospital visits

Diabetics who were prescribed newer medications to control their illness were more likely to take these drugs as instructed than were other patients who were prescribed drugs that have been on the market for several decades.

22 Mar 2006

Diabetics benefit less from anti-hypertensive treatment to reduce enlarged heart

Standard blood-pressure-lowering treatment to reduce dangerously enlarged hearts is much less effective and less beneficial in diabetic vs. nondiabetic patients, a team led by NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center researchers reports in this month's issue of Circulation.

20 Mar 2006

Forget the bathroom scales and get out the tape measure!

A new study has found that waist measurements are a better indicator of cardiovascular disease (CVD) than body mass index (BMI).

16 Mar 2006

Management of diabetic patients in a primary care setting can be improved by an intervention aimed at physicians

The intervention was individualized to each physician's record of action when patient glucose levels were high, and featured regular feedback on their performance.

15 Mar 2006

Emergency departments score poorly in child-saving drills

A mock-drill study conducted in a third of North Carolina's hospital emergency departments (EDs) revealed that nearly all failed to properly stabilize seriously injured children during trauma simulations, according to a team of researchers at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center and Duke University Medical Center.

13 Mar 2006