Insulin News and Research

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Insulin is a hormone that is needed to convert glucose, starches and other food into energy needed for daily life. Insulin allows cells to use glucose for fuel and is secreted by beta cells in the islets of Langerhans. The release of insulin from the pancreas is stimulated by increased blood glucose, vagal nerve stimulation, and other factors. Insulin is obtained from various animals and available in a variety of preparations. Commercial insulin preparations differ in a number of ways, including differences in the animal species from which they are obtained; their purity, concentration, and solubility; and the time of onset and duration of their biologic action. An oral hypoglycemic agent is not a form of insulin therapy.

Transplantation of new neurons into damaged area of the brain could restore brain functions

Without neurons reacting to the blood leptin level, the brain does not control the feeling of hunger and fullness. This type of genetic defects results in severe obesity in humans and animals.

25 Nov 2011

Researchers take a step toward neuronal replacement therapy

A new study has revealed that immature neurons taken from healthy mouse embryos can repair damaged brain circuitry and partially normalize metabolism when transplanted into adult mice that have grown morbidly obese due to a genetic deficiency.

24 Nov 2011

Carefully selected young, healthy neurons can repair brain circuitry

Neuron transplants have repaired brain circuitry and substantially normalized function in mice with a brain disorder, an advance indicating that key areas of the mammalian brain are more reparable than was widely believed.

24 Nov 2011

Just a few drugs responsible for majority of emergency hospitalizations

Latest research shows that just a few drugs are responsible for a majority of the emergency hospitalizations for bad events related to medication use in older U.S. adults.

24 Nov 2011

Benefits of vitamin D-fortified yoghurt drink for people with diabetes

People with diabetes are known to have an increased risk of heart disease. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Medicine shows that regular consumption of a vitamin D-fortified yoghurt drink improves cholesterol levels and biomarkers of endothelial dysfunction, a precursor of heart disease, in diabetics.

24 Nov 2011

Takeda submits alogliptin plus metformin NDA to FDA for treatment of type 2 diabetes

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (Takeda) announced today that its wholly-owned subsidiary Takeda Global Research & Development Center, Inc., U.S., submitted a New Drug Application (NDA) to the United States (U.S.) Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the fixed-dose combination therapy alogliptin/metformin, which combines alogliptin with metformin in a single tablet.

24 Nov 2011

Knocking out one copy of IGF1 receptor fails to increase life span of male mice

Scientists studying longevity thought it might be good to lack a copy of a gene, called IGF1 receptor, that is important in insulin signaling. Previous studies showed invertebrates that lacked the copy lived longer, even if their bodies were less responsive to insulin, the hormone that lowers blood sugar.

24 Nov 2011

New procedure could be adapted for use with X-ray techniques in studying human health

For more than a century, the use of X-rays has been a prime diagnostic tool when it comes to human health. As it turns out, X-rays also are a crucial component for studying and understanding molecules, and a new approach -- just published by researchers at the University of Georgia -- may dramatically improve what researchers can learn using the technique.

23 Nov 2011

EpiGen to collaborate with Nestl- Research Center in Switzerland

The EpiGen Consortium, an international alliance of the world's leading epigenetics researchers (Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), National University of Singapore, University of Southampton, Medical Research Council - Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit, AgResearch Limited, Auckland UniServices Limited) are pleased to announce the creation of a research collaboration with Nestl- Research Center in Switzerland.

23 Nov 2011

Treatment of Type 1 diabetes patients with DiaPep277- may have several medical benefits

The clinical trial was random, regulated, double-blinded and broad-based. The drug was tested on 457 patients, aged 16-45, who had been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes a short time before joining the trial. The trial took place in around 40 medical centers in Europe, Israel and South Africa. The patients in the trial were randomly assigned to one of two groups: One received the trial drug (DiaPep277-) through a subcutaneous injection once every three months, for a period of two years, while the control group was given a placebo in the same way.

23 Nov 2011

FDA approves Medtronic's iPro2 Professional continuous glucose monitoring system

Medtronic, Inc. today announced the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of iPro2, a next generation Professional continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) system and the latest in a series of recent diabetes technology approvals and innovations from the company.

From Medtronic 22 Nov 2011

Coffee may protect against womb cancer: Study

For the study the researchers looked at coffee consumption and endometrial cancer risk in more than 67,000 women aged between 34 and 59 enrolled in the long-running Nurses' Health Study. The researchers found that women who took more than four cups of coffee a day over a 26-year period were 25 percent less likely to get the cancer.

22 Nov 2011

Oral delivery of PYY hormone can help obese people lose weight

Most people understand that serious weight loss requires changing attitudes toward what they eat and how often they exercise. But, what if the process could be aided by simply chewing a stick of gum after meals? That's the question a team of scientists, led by Syracuse University chemist Robert Doyle, is trying to answer. In a groundbreaking new study, Doyle's team demonstrated, for the first time, that a critical hormone that helps people feel "full" after eating can be delivered into the bloodstream orally.

22 Nov 2011

FDA approves EUSA's orphan drug ERWINAZE for acute lymphoblastic leukemia

EUSA Pharma, a transatlantic specialty pharmaceutical company focused on oncology, oncology supportive care and critical care, today announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved its orphan drug ERWINAZE (asparaginase Erwinia chrysanthemi) for the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in patients with hypersensitivity to E. coli-derived asparaginase.

19 Nov 2011

FDA assigns new PDUFA date for Takeda's investigational type 2 diabetes therapy, alogliptin

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Takeda Global Research & Development Center, Inc., U.S., today announced that the company received notification from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that its review of investigational type 2 diabetes therapy alogliptin, and thus the fixed-dose combination therapy alogliptin/pioglitazone, will be delayed.

18 Nov 2011

NYU Langone cardiovascular experts present new research findings at AHA 2011

Experts from the Cardiac & Vascular Institute at NYU Langone Medical Center presented new research findings at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2011 held November 12-16, 2011 in Orlando, Florida.

18 Nov 2011

Research into role of insulin in obesity-related cancers

Niyati Parekh, an assistant professor at New York University's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, has received a $720,000 Research Scholar Grant from the American Cancer Society to study the role of insulin in obesity-related cancers.

17 Nov 2011

Mediterranean diet can reduce risk of future heart disease

A team of Johns Hopkins researchers has uncovered further evidence of the benefits of a balanced diet that replaces white bread and pasta carbohydrates with unsaturated fat from avocados, olive oil and nuts — foods typical of the so-called "Mediterranean diet."

17 Nov 2011

Insulin sensitivity in the ovaries and the pituitary linked to infertility

Infertility is common among obese women, but the reasons remain poorly understood and few treatments exist. Now a team of Johns Hopkins Children's Center scientists, conducting experiments in mice, has uncovered what they consider surprising evidence that insulin resistance, long considered a prime suspect, has little to do with infertility in women with type-2 diabetes, polycystic ovary syndrome and metabolic syndrome, all obesity-related conditions.

16 Nov 2011

Molecular level insights into connection between cancer and diabetes

Developing type 2 diabetes is a lengthy process. An early sign that it has begun is high levels of insulin in the blood. As long as the insulin-producing beta cells are able to compensate for the increased demand, for example when the individual is overweight, the blood sugar levels remain normal. It is not until the capacity for insulin secretion falls below the level needed that type 2 diabetes becomes a fact. The latter stage generally goes quickly, as the stressed beta cells work themselves to death.

16 Nov 2011