Tag: Diabetes

The "lend a hand " illustration that accompanies this article shows an open palm with the five major forms of diabetes interventions are arranged in descending order of importance from thumb to little finger as follows: smoking cessation, blood pressure control, metformin therapy, lipid reduction, and glucose control.

Two surprising risk factors – diminished lung function and low serum potassium levels – appear to have nearly the same impact as obesity in explaining why African-Americans are disproportionately prone to developing type 2 diabetes, according to research done at Duke University Medicine and published in the February 2014 print edition of the Journal of General Internal Medicine. The finding points to potential new avenues for developing treatments.
 

Seven new genetic regions associated with type 2 diabetes have been identified in the largest study to date of the genetic basis of the disease. DNA data was brought together from more than 48,000 patients and 139,000 healthy controls from four different ethnic groups. The research was conducted by an international consortium of investigators from 20 countries on four continents, co-led by investigators from Oxford University's Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics. The study is published in the February 2014 issue of journal Nature Genetics.

Diabetics between the ages of 18 and 65 are at higher risk of getting the flu than are those without the condition, a new study has shown.

Chow down on chocolate, sip some tea, and eat lots of berries if you’re hoping to avoid being diabetic. That’s the advice of researchers at the University of East Anglia and King's College London who found that high intakes of phytochemicals called flavonoids and pigments called anthocyanins are associated with lower insulin resistance and better blood glucose regulation.

Cold winters can be a challenge for all of us who want to stay active. For people who have diabetes mellitus, facing the elements can be especially challenging and should be approached with caution. Georgeanne Botek, DPM Medical Director of Cleveland Clinic’s diabetic foot clinic suggests the following tips to keep feet healthy:

Two recent studies led by University of California-San Francisco scientists have shed new light on the nature of beta cells, the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas that are compromised in diabetes.

Registration is free on the site called MyDiabetes.com, an online community for patients, friends, families, and healthcare professionals. In addition to sharing personal stories and getting access the latest information on the disease, members can use a diabetes management dashboard to keep track of important personal information such as blood sugar levels, weight, blood pressure, cholesterol, and medications. Now, for 2014, the site has added new features: 

New research done in Denmark and published in the Journal of Leukocyte Biology suggests that macrophages, a specific type of immune cell, invade the diabetic pancreatic tissue during the early stages of the disease. Then these inflammatory cells produce a large amount of pro-inflammatory proteins called cytokines, which directly contribute to the elimination of insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas. , resulting in diabetes. This discovery was published in the January 2014 issue of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology