Diabetes News and Research

Latest Diabetes News and Research

Three sequencing companies join 1000 Genomes Project

Leaders of the 1000 Genomes Project announced today that three firms that have pioneered development of new sequencing technologies have joined the international effort to build the most detailed map to date of human genetic variation as a tool for medical research. The new participants are: 454 Life Sciences, a Roche company, Branford, Conn.; Applied Biosystems, an Applera Corp. business, Foster City, Calif.; and Illumina Inc., San Diego.

11 Jun 2008

Drug combo offers new approach for reversing type 1 diabetes

Promising results from a study that tested a new approach for reversing Type 1 diabetes are being presented this week at the American Diabetes Association's 68th Annual Scientific Session in San Francisco.

11 Jun 2008

High prevalence of periodontal disease in rheumatoid arthritis found

Over 1.3 million Americans suffer from rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a chronic, inflammatory disease of the joints. RA is a disabling condition, and can lead to long-term joint damage resulting in persistent pain and loss of function in affected areas. higher prevalence of periodontal disease in rheumatoid arthritis patients

11 Jun 2008

Memory loss linked to sleep apnea

For the first time, UCLA researchers have discovered that people with sleep apnea show tissue loss in brain regions that help store memory.

11 Jun 2008

Government and nurses call for a major shake-up of Australia's health system

Plans by the federal government to address the dire shortage of general practitioners by making better use of other health professionals is in some ways in line with calls from the Australian Nursing Federation (ANF) for a major reform to the way health services are funded and delivered.

11 Jun 2008

Study finds obese people have higher lifetime medical costs despite shorter life expectancies

Obese U.S. residents in their 20s will incur lifetime medical bills between $5,340 and $29,460 more than their healthy-weight peers despite shorter life spans, according to a study published online in the journal Obesity, USA Today reports.

11 Jun 2008

Having heart surgery? Watch your blood sugar

Nearly half of all heart surgery patients may experience blood sugar levels high enough to require temporary insulin treatment after their operation, even though they've never had diabetes, according to a new study from the University of Michigan Health System.

10 Jun 2008

Low levels of vitamin D in men linked to heart attack

Low levels of vitamin D appear to be associated with higher risk of myocardial infarction (heart attack) in men, according to a report in the June 9 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.

9 Jun 2008

Diabetes explosion on the cards for Brits

According to a charity in Britain, unless there is a major change in lifestyle, by 2025 there will be 3.6 million people with diabetes in England.

9 Jun 2008

Latest research suggests tight glucose control for diabetics

It has been found that keeping tight control of blood sugar levels in type 2 diabetics reduces the risk of kidney disease by 21 percent, and that weight gain, the use of multiple drug combinations and getting blood sugar too low, too quickly may all have been factors in causing early deaths.

9 Jun 2008

Australia to enter the race to clone human embryo cells for stem-cell research

Melbourne's Monash University may be granted the first licence in Australia to clone human embryo cells for stem-cell research.

9 Jun 2008

Study finds wide racial, geographic health care disparities among Medicare beneficiaries

Race and place of residence can have a significant effect on the quality of care a Medicare beneficiary receives, according to a report released Thursday by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the New York Times reports.

8 Jun 2008

Sun and vitamin D levels may play a strong role in risk of type 1 diabetes in children

In this new study, the researchers found that populations living at or near the equator, where there is abundant sunshine (and ultraviolet B irradiance) have low incidence rates of type 1 diabetes. Conversely, populations at higher latitudes, where available sunlight is scarcer, have higher incidence rates.

5 Jun 2008

Discovery of new signal pathway important to diabetes research

Scientists at Karolinska Institutet and Miami University have discovered that cells in the pancreas cooperate - signal - in a way hitherto unknown. The discovery can eventually be of significance to the treatment of diabetes.

4 Jun 2008

Prostate Cancer Foundation 'beefs up' cancer research

The Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF) has committed more than $19 million in new research funding for scientific investigations focused on discovering new treatments for recurrent prostate cancer. A total of eight programs representing 18 leading research institutions and 36 researchers were selected as part of the foundation's 2008 Challenge Awards. The funded programs will receive the first of three annual payments, ranging between $500,000 and $1.0 million per program, this week.

4 Jun 2008

Long-term pesticide exposure may increase diabetes risk

Licensed pesticide applicators who used chlorinated pesticides on more than 100 days in their lifetime were at greater risk of diabetes, according to researchers from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The associations between specific pesticides and incident diabetes ranged from a 20 percent to a 200 percent increase in risk, said the scientists with the NIH's National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI).

4 Jun 2008

Human stem cells show promise against fatal children's diseases

Scientists have used human stem cells to dramatically improve the condition of mice with a neurological condition similar to a set of diseases in children that are invariably fatal, according to an article in the June issue of the journal Cell Stem Cell.

4 Jun 2008