Diabetes News Hound » Type 1 Diabetes

Vitamin D May Raise Type 1 Defenses

Chris Frankie — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 18:02:34 +0000

Vitamin D appears to protect against autoimmune diseases including Type 1 Diabetes.

A new genetic analysis published Genome Research suggests that the vitamin interacts with genes specific for diabetes as well as colorectal cancer, multiple sclerosis and other ailments, according to a WebMD summary.

Researchers looked at the binding of vitamin D receptors to gene regions previously identified with different diseases, finding evidence of increased binding for the diseases. Vitamin D was shown to regulate genes involved in autoimmune disease and cancer.

The next challenge for researchers is to better understand how that interaction could cause the diseases, said one of the study’s scientists, Sreeram Ramagopalan, in a WebMD interview.

Far larger doses of vitamin D than are now recommended may be in order to benefit from its disease-preventing power. Current recommendations call for 200 IU (international units) daily for those up to age 50, 400 for people 51 to70 and 600 for those over 70. Ramagopalan says 2,000 IU may be needed.

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Calif. Diabetes Rate Up 26% in Six Years

Chris Frankie — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 07:11:53 +0000

The prevalence of diabetes shot up 26% in California in just six years and most of the state’s residents are now overweight, according to a study from UCLA.

The research, culled from state health survey data, finds 7.8% of adult Californians had diabetes in 2007, compared with 6.2% in 2001. Thirty-four percent are overweight, and 23% obese.

All racial and ethnic groups experienced increases, though rates among American Indians, African-Americans and Latinos were disproportionately large. Both conditions were also more common among the poor, but all income groups as well saw increases.

The striking numbers illustrate the need for radical measures, the study’s authors say.

“When so many people of different ages, income and educational levels, and cultural backgrounds are struggling with obesity and diabetes, it suggests that going on a diet is not enough,” said co-author Allison Diamant in a press release announcing the results. “We need to take a hard look at the environmental and structural factors that contribute to these conditions.”

Among the study’s recommendations are increasing access to recreational facilities and parks, promoting policies to foster farmers markets and generally improve access to healthy food.

Diabetes is estimated to cost the state $24 billion annually, with $17 billion spent on direct medical care and $7 billion on indirect costs associated with the disease.

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D-Dog Donor Hoping to Grow

Chris Frankie — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 07:10:44 +0000

A Dallas-based nonprofit is pairing kids with diabetes-sniffing dogs.

The Diabetes Friendly Foundation will place three “diabetes-alert” pooches with children this year, says founder Cole Egger in a DogChannel.com article. Next year, the foundation is aiming to place more than 10.

The dogs are trained to sniff out dangerously high and low blood sugar levels. But there are only about 100 in the United States. Training costs range from $3,000 to $15,000, Egger says.

DFF is holding a fundraiser Nov. 12 in Dallas, and it is soliciting requests for adoptions. Recipients must be type 1 diabetics under the age of 12. Apply here.

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Production Stalled for Hot-Selling Monitor

Chris Frankie — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 14:34:59 +0000

The maker of wrist-watch-like sugar monitor Diabetes Sentry is having trouble financing its next round of production, despite having up to 400 pending orders, the Star Tribune reports.

The product, which straps on the wrist and alerts users to dangerously low blood sugar levels, sold out last year, and since then maker Diabetes Sentry Products has been trying to raise $250,000 for replenishing the inventory.

The company looking for the right investor, though the weak economy has made the search tougher, says Michael Russin, vice president of sales and marketing, in a Star Tribune interview.

Designed for people with insulin-dependent diabetes, the Sentry gauges sugar by measuring perspiration and body temperature during sleep. It is marketed as a cheaper alternative to devices such as glucose monitoring systems, which sound alarms when sugar is trending up or down.

But would-be investors are likely wary of the product’s seeming outdated in short order, according to the Star Tribune. Bigger medical technology companies — including Abbott Labs, Dexcom and Medtronic – are in the market. Medtronic is known to be studying ways to relay its monitor’s readings to cell phones.

But while the Diabetes Sentry retails for $495, Medtronic estimates that its integrated system will cost about $1,500 at first, plus $1,000 annually in maintenance fees.

Diabetes Sentry’s cost and simplicity guarantee it will have its own market, Russin says.

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Kidney Damage Heightens Mortality Risk

Chris Frankie — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 15:31:55 +0000

Minor kidney damage in people with type 1 diabetes dramatically increases the chances of premature death, a new study finds.

Diabetics presenting early and asymptomatic kidney damage, as manifested by trace amounts of protein in the urine, were six times likelier to die than the general population, according to the study, summarized at ScienceDaily.com. When the diabetics’ kidneys functioned normally over time, they were died at the same rates as non-diabetic counterparts.

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health carried out the study. They will present it at the upcoming annual Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association.

The study analyzed data from 658 men and women enrolled in a long-term prospective examination of childhood onset type 1 diabetes beginning in 1986. Participants were tested for levels of albumin, a protein flagging early kidney damage when elevated in the urine and that leads to a condition called microalbuminuria.

Over the next 20 years, 152 study participants with microalbuminuria had died — 6.2 times as many as the general population when controlled for age and gender.

The findings should motivate physicians to monitor diabetics’ kidney health even more closely, said lead study author Aaron Secrest.

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Court Curtails Stem Cell Research

Chris Frankie — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 14:29:38 +0000

A federal court decision has blocked a White House policy allowing more embryonic stem cell research, a change that research advocates say will postpone long-awaited breakthroughs.

The ruling by chief judge Royce Lamberth of Federal District Court for the District of Columbia, granted a temporary injunction rescinding a 2009 executive order by President Obama loosening constraints on the research, saying that the president had violated a ban on federal money being used to destroy embryos.

Obama’s order had let federally funded scientists research 75 stem cell lines created with private money, compared with 21 allowed under President Bush. It is not clear, however, if the injunction means that work financed under the Obama standard had to cease immediately or merely that future grants must apply the old standard.

Health institutes officials tell The New York Times that the Justice Department would interpret the ruling for them; a Justice spokeswoman tells the times that agency lawyers were reviewing the decision.

Research into cures and treatments for diseases such as diabetes and Parkinson’s will have to wait, though the delay may be temporary, said the New York Stem Cell Foundation in a press statement.

“Although we are confident that the court’s decision will not be upheld, the net effect of this decision is to slow the progress of advancing revolutionary new therapies that have the potential to advance cures and successful treatments for a broad range of the diseases and conditions, including diabetes.”

Lisa Hughes of the Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research called the ruling “a blow to the hopes of millions of patients and their families suffering from fatal and chronic diseases and disorders.”

But she too expressed hope for a judicial remedy. ”We have full confidence that the extensive, deliberative process that shaped federal guidelines now in place will be upheld upon further review,” she said.

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Raised Glucose Fosters Infections

Chris Frankie — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 14:29:17 +0000

Unhealthy glucose levels in diabetics can severely inhibit defenses against bacterial and fungal infections, new research shows.

The study carried out at the UK’s University of Warwick finds that the raised glucose can create a sugar coating that serves to impair the body’s attempts to fight off such infections, according to a summary at dLife.com.

Specialized receptors that recognize molecules associated with bacteria and fungi are in effect blinded when glucose levels surpass healthy levels, the researchers say. The excess glucose also binds in a way that blocks the chemical processes that typically follow to attack such infections.

The findings help to explain why diabetic complications often include heightened risk of viral infections such as influenza and inflammatory conditions such as cardiovascular disease.

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‘Diabetes Dude’ Headed to ‘Today Show’

Chris Frankie — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 14:28:46 +0000

Members of the “Flamingo Flock” diabetes-awareness campaign are planning to attend the Thursday airing of NBC’s “Today Show.

The campaign was begun this year by the family of 9-year-old type 1-diabetes sufferer Noah Brokmeier, aka “the Diabetes Dude.” It distributes blue plastic flamingos carrying letters urging recipients to send photos with the lawn ornament to Brokmeier’s informational website.

The Taunton, Mass.-based group, which has garnered mainly regional media attention, is hoping to broaden into a national campaign.

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Lab Banking Dental Stem Cells For Type 1 Therapy

Chris Frankie — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 12:33:49 +0000

A Massachusetts lab is banking stem cells from children’s freshly extracted teeth to provide a potential source of cell-regeneration therapies for ailments including type 1 diabetes.

Provia Laboratories of Lexington stresses that its Store-A-Tooth service is an investment in a still-developing technology, according to Diabetes Mine. Dental stem cells have not yet been used to treat diabetes — right now they are being used for bone regeneration and periodontal disease — but researchers do see potential, says Provia chief Howard Greenman.

Australian researchers have show the cells can induce nerve regeneration and differentiate into neurons, while a study in Spain shows the cells can bolster cardiovascular function in rats following heart attacks.

The fee for Provia’s service starts out at $649 for the tooth collection and processing, plus $120 annually for keeping the tissue preserved. The baby teeth or wisdom teeth must be freshly removed in order for the stem cells to be extracted intact.

Among Provia’s customers are parents who, unaware their children would develop diabetes, missed the opportunity to preserve their child’s core blood stem cells at birth, Greenman says.

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Nanotech Research Yield Type 1 Vaccine

Chris Frankie — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 14:55:43 +0000

Researchers at the University of Calgary say they have developed a nanoparticle vaccine for type 1 diabetes.

The vaccine, which has tested successfully on mice, was designed to prevent the autoimmune response responsible for causing Type 1 in children without damaging immune cells protecting against disease and infection, according to an article in Diabetes.co.uk.

It not only cured mice infected with type 1 but slowed the disease’s onset in mice deemed at-risk. The mice’s general immune systems did not seem to suffer and indeed they did not contract diseases or infections at higher rates than control mice.

The vaccine has been licensed to Parvus Therapeutics commercial development, according to the blog The Future of Things. The researchers’ study has been published in the journal Immunity, but it is not available via the journal’s website.

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