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.

Body clock and sleep patterns linked to diabetes and high blood sugar

Diabetes and high levels of blood sugar may be linked to abnormalities in a person's body clock and sleep patterns, according to a genome-wide association study published today in the journal Nature Genetics.

7 Dec 2008

Fatty liver disease and body shape

For years, pear-shaped people who carry weight in the thighs and backside have been told they are at lower risk for high blood pressure and heart disease than apple-shaped people who carry fat in the abdomen.

5 Dec 2008

SemBioSys begins phase I/II trial of insulin produced in plant seeds

SemBioSys Genetics Inc., a biotechnology company developing protein pharmaceuticals in crop plants, has announced that it has initiated a phase I/II clinical trial of its plant-produced insulin with the first injection of its drug in humans.

3 Dec 2008

Tobacco plants grown in novel mist bioreactor system provide new soure of interleukin-12

Interleukin-12 is a naturally occurring protein essential for the proper functioning of the human immune system.

3 Dec 2008

Adropin protein produced by the liver sends signal that fat is on the way in response to high-fat foods

After you eat a burger and fries or other fat-filled meal, a protein produced by the liver may send a signal that fat is on the way, suggests a report in the December issue of the journal Cell Metabolism , a Cell Press publication.

3 Dec 2008

Genaera starts trial of Trodusquemine in overweight and obese type 2 diabetes

Genaera Corporation has announced that dosing of subjects has begun in study MSI-1436C-102 (Study 102), the multiple ascending dose Phase 1b study of trodusquemine (MSI-1436) in overweight and obese type 2 diabetics.

1 Dec 2008

EGFR inhibitors show promise for obesity

Once-promising drugs that were abandoned in the fight against breast cancer still could be effective in obese patients, new research suggests.

1 Dec 2008

Bariatric surgery may resolve liver disease

Obesity is a growing epidemic in the U.S. with a significant increase in prevalence from 15 percent to 32.9 percent from 1980 to 2004. Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is an emerging problem related to the obesity epidemic, becoming one of the most common causes of liver disease in the nation.

1 Dec 2008

Vitamin K appears to slow development of insulin resistance in elderly men

Vitamin K slowed the development of insulin resistance in elderly men in a study of 355 non-diabetic men and women ages 60 to 80 who completed a three-year clinical trial at the Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University (USDA HNRCA).

26 Nov 2008

Researchers identify molecule that tells your brain your stomach is full

In studies with mice and rats, researchers have found that a chemical messenger called NAPE is made in the small intestine after the animals ate a greasy meal. After eating, NAPE - N-acylphosphatidylethanolamine, a mouthful in itself -- enters the blood and travels to the brain, where it quashes hunger signals.

26 Nov 2008

Fear of hypoglycemia a barrier to exercise for type 1 diabetics

According to a new study, published in the November issue of Diabetes Care , a majority of diabetics avoid physical activity because they worry about exercise-induced hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) and severe consequences including loss of consciousness.

26 Nov 2008

Scientists develop 'barcode chip' to revolutionize diagnostic medical testing

In less than 10 minutes, and using just a pinprick's worth of blood, the chip can measure the concentrations of dozens of proteins, including those that herald the presence of diseases like cancer and heart disease.

25 Nov 2008

A potential new procedure for treating obesity

Lining the upper portion of the small intestine with an impermeable sleeve led to both weight loss and restoration of normal glucose metabolism in an animal model of obesity-induced diabetes.

24 Nov 2008

Pancreatic duct cells identified as new source of insulin-producing cells

Researchers at the Joslin Diabetes Center have shown that insulin-producing pancreatic beta cells can form after birth or after injury from progenitor cells within the pancreas that were not beta cells, a finding that contradicts a widely-cited earlier study that had concluded this is not possible.

24 Nov 2008

Evidence of retina self-repair in mammals

Researchers at the University of Washington (UW) have reported for the first time that mammals can be stimulated to regrow inner nerve cells in their damaged retinas.

24 Nov 2008

IGF-1 not beneficial for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

A growth hormone that had shown some promise for treating people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) showed no benefit in a new study published in the November 25, 2008, issue of Neurology , the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

24 Nov 2008

Exercise helps manage anger in overweight children

Regular exercise seems to reduce anger expression in overweight but otherwise healthy children, researchers said.

24 Nov 2008

Risks associated with diabetes drug rosiglitazone may be higher than those with pioglitazone

Older adults who take the diabetes medication rosiglitazone appear to have a higher risk of death and heart failure than those taking the related medication pioglitazone, according to a report in the November 24 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.

24 Nov 2008

Helping diabetics through the holiday season

November ushers in American Diabetes Month - not only a time to be thankful for bustling basic and clinical research underway on the disease, but also the unofficial start of the holiday season.

20 Nov 2008

Scientists develop unlimited pure insulin-producing cells from mouse embryonic stem cells

These pure insulin-producing cells, which according to electron microscopy studies, have the same sub-cellular structures as the insulin-producing cells naturally found in the pancreas, were highly effective in treating diabetes in the mouse model.

20 Nov 2008