Diabetes Mellitus News and Research

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Diabetes mellitus is a severe and debilitating chronic disease that develops in nearly 5 percent of the world’s population. People with this disease have a shortage of insulin or a reduced ability to use insulin, the hormone regulating blood glucose levels, which is normally produced by the pancreas. In the United States alone, an estimated 18 million people have diabetes, and each year about 1 million Americans are diagnosed with the disease. It is the sixth leading cause of death in the US and is responsible for over 200,000 deaths a year. Insulin-dependent (type I) diabetes accounts for around 10% of diabetics. For those patients, suffering from an inability of their pancreas to produce insulin, the only practical treatment possible is regular insulin replacement by multiple daily injections. Transplantation of a pancreas or pancreatic tissue would be beneficial to millions of such patients in that it would restore their normal ability to produce self insulin. Transplantation of human pancreas or pancreatic islets is a practiced and time-honored such therapeutic approach, but is extremely limited by the severe shortage of human donor organs. Tissera's R&D efforts in this domain are directed towards the development of a universally available and reliable source of animal fetal donor pancreatic precursor tissue, suitable for transplantation and eventual normal structural and functional growth in human diabetics.

Psoriasis sufferers more likely to have higher levels of leptin

Patients with the skin disease psoriasis appear more likely to have higher levels of leptin (a hormone produced by fat cells that may contribute to obesity and other metabolic abnormalities) than persons without psoriasis, according to a report in the December issue of Archives of Dermatology.

15 Dec 2008

Neither vitamin E nor selenium reduce risk of prostate cancer

In perhaps the largest cancer chemoprevention trial ever conducted, researchers have found that supplementation with vitamin E or selenium, alone or in combination, was not associated with a lower risk of prostate cancer or other cancers.

10 Dec 2008

Cases of major eye disease projected to increase among diabetics

Based on projected increases in the prevalence of diabetes, the number of people with diabetes-related retinal disease, with glaucoma and with cataracts is estimated to increase significantly by 2050, according to a report in the December issue of Archives of Ophthalmology.

8 Dec 2008

A new approach improves prioritization of disease-associated SNPs

The more often a gene is differentially expressed, the more likely it is to contain disease-associated DNA variants.

5 Dec 2008

Genetic variation for persons with diabetes linked to greater risk of coronary artery disease

Patients with type 2 diabetes who have poor glycemic control and a certain genetic variation have an increased risk of coronary artery disease, according to a study in the November 26 issue of JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association.

25 Nov 2008

First study to look at health of centenarian offspring

A recent study appearing in the November issue of Journal of American Geriatrics Society revealed that centenarian offspring (children of parents who lived to be at least 97 years old) retain important cardiovascular advantages from their parents compared to a similarly-aged cohort.

20 Nov 2008

Pelvic girdle syndrome linked to diabetes

Diabetes appears to be linked with an increased risk of pelvic girdle syndrome. This is shown in a new study from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health and Akershus University Hospital.

16 Nov 2008

New study highlights potential for cost effective NHS policy

A new University of Leicester study reveals that screening people who are at risk of developing diabetes could be a cost-effective health policy and improve the lives of patients.

11 Nov 2008

Drug-eluting better than bare metal stents in diabetics

Drug-eluting stents reduced the risk of revascularization, heart attack and death in diabetics as compared with bare-metal stents in the largest observational comparison, researchers reported at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2008.

11 Nov 2008

Sleep disorders linked to eye disease

If a good night's sleep helps the brain and body perform better, it's a good guess that sleep problems can cause more than just fatigue.

11 Nov 2008

Low-dose aspirin does not appear to reduce risk of CV events in patients with diabetes

Low-dose aspirin as primary prevention did not appear to significantly reduce the risk of a combined end point of coronary, cerebrovascular and peripheral vascular events in patients with type 2 diabetes, according to a new study in JAMA.

10 Nov 2008

Diabetics more likely to lose their vision

Experts in the United States have found that vision loss is more common in people with diabetes than those without the disease.

14 Oct 2008

Visual impairment more common in people with diabetes

Visual impairment appears to be more common in people with diabetes than in those without the disease, according to a report in the October issue of Archives of Ophthalmology.

13 Oct 2008

Major study aims for new approaches to cardiovascular disease management

The Consortium for Southeastern Hypertension Control (COSEHC), headquartered at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, is launching a major five-year study designed to update current guidelines for treating cardiovascular diseases, improve disease management and reduce heart attacks and strokes in the Southeast.

24 Sep 2008

Advances in the management of diabetes mellitus

The need for long term studies to establish the best means of treating Diabetes, was underlined by Prof John Cleland from the University of Hull at the ESC Congress in Munich. Prof Cleland listed the latest treatment available for patients and voiced his concern about the side-effects and efficacy of available anti-diabetic drugs.

1 Sep 2008

Intima media thickness of the carotid artery

Both in the clinic and in the research area we look for a toll to identify subjects who will develop cardiovascular disease. Decades of silent arterial wall alterations precede vascular clinical events, which then reflect advanced atherosclerotic disease.

1 Sep 2008

DES in diabetic patients

The issue of using or not using DES in patients with diabetes will be debated between Professor Wijns, who discourages DES and Professor Silber, who feels that they should be used.

31 Aug 2008

Study first to show range and severity of birth defects associated with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes

Women who receive a diagnosis of diabetes before they become pregnant are three to four times more likely to have a child with one or even multiple birth defects than a mother who receives a diagnosis of diabetes while pregnant or a mother who is not diabetic, according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), released in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology

29 Jul 2008

Disruption of blood sugar levels after heart surgery is common

A study reveals today that inadequate blood sugar control in patients having heart surgery is associated with a four fold increase in post-surgery death and major complications - and that the blood sugar disturbances occur in patients with and without diabetes.

7 Jul 2008

Hypertension, insulin resistance and immune suppression links

Many of the 75 million Americans with essential hypertension also develop diabetes and other complications in addition to their high blood pressure, and researchers have discovered a common molecular mechanism in a strain of rat that explains why such metabolic disorders arise together in mammals.

30 Jun 2008