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.

MD Anderson Orlando receives donation to fight against pancreatic cancer

MD Anderson Cancer Center Orlando has received a generous donation to help in the fight against pancreatic cancer. A $75,000 grant, funded by the Shirley E. Noland Foundation, will support the Pancreatic Cancer Translational Research Project at MD Anderson - Orlando.

17 Jan 2012

Processed meat and pancreatic cancer risk: Study

Swedish researchers have found a link between eating processed meat, such as bacon or sausages, and pancreatic cancer. They said eating an extra 50g of processed meat, approximately one sausage, every day would increase a person's risk of getting pancreatic cancer by 19%. But the chance of developing the rare cancer remains low they added.

16 Jan 2012

Smart injectable nanotherapeutics could improve treatment for Type I diabetes

A research collaboration between the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University and Children's Hospital Boston has developed "smart" injectable nanotherapeutics that can be programmed to selectively deliver drugs to the cells of the pancreas. Although this nanotechnology will need significant additional testing and development before being ready for clinical use, it could potentially improve treatment for Type I diabetes by increasing therapeutic efficacy and reducing side effects.

13 Jan 2012

Scientists discover specific immune system T cells that trigger destruction of type 1 diabetes

Researchers at the La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology have proven - for the first time in human tissues -- the specific immune system T cells which trigger the destruction of type 1 diabetes in the pancreas. The finding is an important advance that verifies in humans several important disease characteristics shown in mouse studies and provides a key focal point for interrupting the disease process.

13 Jan 2012

Prevalence of cirrhosis may climb among older Americans

Older patients with cirrhosis have significant functional disability, require twice the amount of informal caregiving, and contribute added strain on the health care system, according to U-M research published in Hepatology.

11 Jan 2012

Oramed files provisional patent application with USPTO for combination diabetes therapy

Oramed Pharmaceuticals Inc., a developer of oral drug delivery systems, announced today that it has filed a provisional patent application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office for a combination therapy of its lead compound, ORMD-0801 in combination with its oral exenatide formulation, ORMD-0901. There is no such approved combination product available on the market today.

11 Jan 2012

UCSF, Sanofi enter $3.1 million collaboration to identify diabetes drug targets

The University of California, San Francisco has signed an alliance with international pharmaceutical company Sanofi to share expertise in diabetes research and identify drug targets that could lead to new therapies for both type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

11 Jan 2012

Enrollment complete in Diamyd Phase II study for type 1 diabetes

A total of 50 children aged four and older with a high risk of developing type 1 diabetes have been enrolled in a researcher-initiated Phase II study, DiAPREV-IT, with Diamyd Medical's diabetes vaccine Diamyd. The study is thus fully recruited.

9 Jan 2012

UCSD surgeons perform west coast's first ex-vivo liver resection

A team led by Alan Hemming, MD, transplant surgeon at UC San Diego Health System, has successfully performed the west coast's first ex-vivo liver resection, a radical procedure to completely remove and reconstruct a diseased liver and re-implant it without any tumors. The procedure saved the life of a 27-year old mother whose liver had been invaded by a painful tumor that crushed the organ and entangled its blood supply.

6 Jan 2012

ACS report shows decline in overall cancer death rates

The American Cancer Society's annual cancer statistics report shows that between 2004 and 2008, overall cancer incidence rates declined by 0.6% per year in men and were stable in women, while cancer death rates decreased by 1.8% per year in men and by 1.6% per year in women.

5 Jan 2012