Category: Diabetes News

Lab-Created Blood Vessels Helping Dialysis Patients: Imagine having to stop your kidney dialysis because your veins are shot? Just kaput, not one viable vein.

Then imagine a refrigerated room stockpiled with lab-created blood vessels where one can walk into the room and pick out a blood vessel that is going to fit the recipient who is in dire need of a vein to help with their kidney dialysis, help with their heart bypass surgery, help with their poor circulation in their limbs and help in any other way where a blood vessel needs to be replaced. These new blood vessels would be created without the use of artificial materials, and no stem cells would be involved in their creation.

The works are set in place to create this imaginary refrigerated room to store those newly grown blood vessels. Just think of the ease this would provide in a medical crisis where a call could simply be placed for the type blood vessel that might be needed, and the blood vessel could be sent to the OR as easily as the request is now made for a pacemaker.

The process for growing these new, straw-shaped blood vessels involves taking a snippet of skin from the back of a hand, removing cells and then growing them into a sheet of tissue that can be rolled up like drinking straws to form blood vessels.

Recently in Poland, three patients received such new blood vessels for health issues, and those vessels are still working two to eight months later. Those blood vessels that the patients in Poland received were blood vessels that were grown in a lab using donated skin.

The potential for lab-created vessels will be a lifesaver for many people. The process is in its earliest stages, but further testing is ongoing in Europe and South America on a larger scale, and the hope is that the results from these larger test studies will prove just as favorable.

This could prove to be a medical miracle for those in need of blood vessel replacement.

Blood vessels/veins are needed in so many areas of the medical field. Many diabetics have kidney failure as a result of long-term diabetes. Right now, approximately 400,000 Americans undergo kidney dialysis. When kidneys fail, a person must have kidney dialysis or they will die. Kidney dialysis involves artificially filtering the waste from the blood through a connection between the artery and a vein. This connection is called a shunt. This shunt gets poked numerous times a week in order to hook the patients up to the dialysis machine. There are many complications that can arise with the shunt – blood clots, infection and even clogging. As well, this shunt has to be inserted into a vein. Eventually, some patients run out of viable blood veins for their dialysis requirements. If a person could have a new vein inserted, this could extend the length of time they are on dialysis until a kidney transplant could become an option.

Thousands and thousands of people undergo open heart surgery each year. Think of the celebrities we hear about in the news – David Letterman, Regis Philbin, Star Jones, Barbara Walters, Robin Williams, Burt Reynolds, and many, many more. There are people you pass on the street everyday who have undergone the same process.

In fact, approximately 300,000 people a year have heart bypass operations wherein veins are removed from their legs and are used to replace the clogged arteries in their hearts. In many cases, the wound on the leg from the removal of the vein is difficult to heal and has to be watched closely for infection. If a straw-shaped, lab-created blood vessel could be used from this stockpile of blood vessels there would be no need for the surgical removal of the vessel in the leg for use in the heart.

Thus far, these straw-shaped, lab-grown blood vessels have been well tolerated by the patients who received them, so much so that there was no need for anti-rejection medication and tissue matching was not necessary.

At the present time, lab-grown skin is already used to treat many burn victims. This creation of the blood vessels in a lab is a giant step forward for the medical field.

Oakland A’s, MUG Root Beer and Juvenile Diabetes: The Oakland A’s held their annual MUG Root Beer Float Day event on June 30, 2011, at the East Side Club at the Coliseum in Oakland, California. All proceeds from this event went to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation to help in the search for a cure for diabetes and its complications.

Over the past eight years, the Oakland A’s MUG Root Beer Float Day event has raised over $300,000 for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. This year, the event raised over $29,000.

From 10:30 in the morning to 12:35 p.m., the event served MUG Root Beer Floats for $2.00 each. Any tips that were given in exchange for autographs and photos with some of the celebrity baseball A’s players were treated as donations to the JDRF. A 32-ounce mug with unlimited float refills was sold for $15.00 each, and there were mugs that had been autographed by Dallas Braden that were sold for $25.00. A number of players were in attendance and participated in the event.

This annual Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation MUG Root Beer Float Day was presented by Pepsi, and the ice cream was donated by Dreyer’s.

A number of the Oakland A’s player, even former players, have had diabetes enter their lives through its effects on a number of their close family members. They have firsthand knowledge of the devastating effects of diabetes.

Type 1 diabetes, once called Juvenile Diabetes Mellitus, is when the body stops producing insulin and artificial insulin has to be introduced into the body, or the person with the chronic condition will die.

There is no cure for Type 1 diabetes, only treatment of the condition through insulin, exercise and diet control. It’s a balancing act of insulin-exercise-food. It’s a difficult balancing act, one that over 3 million Americans have to juggle every day. They have to be constantly vigilant to avoid an insulin reaction (blood sugar levels too low due to too much insulin), which can lead to a diabetic coma, or too little insulin (blood sugar levels too high), which can also lead to a coma.

As well as the balancing act of controlling their blood sugar levels, they also have to deal with the knowledge that there could be various complications down the road from the long-term effects of Type 1 diabetes – loss of vision, kidney failure, numbness in the limbs that could lead to eventual amputation, an increased risk for strokes and heart attacks, to list a few.

Insulin was discovered in the 1920s. Prior to that time, someone with a diagnosis of Type 1 diabetes did not usually survive more than a few years.

The cause of Type 1 diabetes has been attributed to genetics, viruses, autoimmune diseases or environmental effects. In Type 1 diabetes, the pancreas simply stops producing insulin. This usually occurs in young children, adolescents and young adults.

In the better-known Type 2 diabetes, which at one time was mostly limited to the older population but is now being diagnosed more and more frequently in young children and teens, the cells of the body stop using insulin properly. And as the cells need more and more insulin, the pancreas slowly stops producing enough insulin for the body.

The increase in the youth of today being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes has been connected with the rise in obesity and the sedentary lifestyles of this current generation.

The Oakland A’s have been raising money that will help in the search for a cure for diabetes. Every penny raised is a step forward in the research that is needed on this critical health condition. A cure is needed.

600 Calories Per Day A Cure For Type 2: Don’t even think about trying such a drastic diet. If you are attempting to lose weight, check with your doctor and follow his instructions to the letter. This story is written in response to the headlines from the Los Angeles Times wherein they stated: “British researchers develop ‘cure’ for Type 2 diabetes: Starve Yourself.”

In a recent British study, researchers found that 11 patients who had developed type 2 diabetes later in life and averaged at least 220 pounds were put on a doctor-supervised 600 calorie per day diet, which included a special diet drink and non-starch vegetables, such as broccoli, asparagus and cabbage, for eight weeks. After one week on the diet, patients’ fasting blood sugar had returned to normal and after eight weeks, they showed no signs of type 2 diabetes. After three months of returning to a normal diet, seven remained completely free of the disease.

This was a drastic diet, but the study’s researcher stated that the end result is noteworthy: If people lose substantial weight by normal means, they will lose their diabetes; there is no need to go on a drastic diet, just lose the extra pounds and there’s a possibility that the type 2 diabetes could be reversed.

Type 1 diabetes is controlled only through the injection of insulin, proper diet and proper exercise. There is no known cure at this time for type 1 diabetes. The pancreas very simply shuts down the production of insulin because of the death of certain cells within the pancreas that produce insulin. Without insulin, the body cannot function and the person would die without the artificial insulin being injected into their body. Even with the injection of insulin, there are still fluctuations in the blood sugar levels of these individuals which over time results in harm being done to the blood vessels in the body, resulting in complications such as stroke, heart disease, blindness and limb amputations.

Type 2 diabetes is another type of diabetes wherein the body does not use the insulin that it produces properly or there is insufficient insulin produced by the body to maintain good blood glucose levels. Type 2 diabetes is usually developed later in life and has long been considered to be a result of poor nutrition and lifestyle – overeating, lack of exercise. Even type 2 diabetes can lead to the same type complications as Type 1 diabetes if the blood sugar levels are not maintained at as normal a level as possible.

As stated above, the type of diet used in the British study is not a diet to consider on your own. If you are thinking of losing weight for whatever reason, check with your health care provider.

7 Year Old Sydney Lyons, Congress and Diabetes: In June 2011, little Sydney Lyons of Pocatello, Idaho, testified before the Children’s Congress of the United States in Washington, D.C., on behalf of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and was also able to speak to the Congressional Diabetes Caucus. Sydney has Type 1 diabetes and was before Congress to talk about funding more research for Type 1 diabetes so a cure can be found.

Young Sydney was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes three years ago. Her life changed at that time, but she does not let the disease control her, although she knows of all the complications that can arise from having Type 1 diabetes: “There’s a lot of issues that can happen. You can lose your legs, you can die, go blind, have heart disease or disease in your kidneys,” Sydney says.

“I’m excited to tell them about why it’s important to find a cure for diabetes,” Sydney said.

A young ambassador with a strong message.

A Food and Drug Administration spokesman told the Children’s Congress that experimental guidelines for an artificial pancreas would be drafted by the end of the year. The device is currently available in several foreign countries.

There is no cure for Type 1 diabetes. The treatment for it at this time is with the injection of artificial insulin. On a typical day Sydney Lyons, and her mom, Shamae, prick Sydney’s finger numerous times a day to test her blood sugar level. At the time of an interview in her local hometown, her blood sugar level was 166, 40 points higher than a normal person’s blood sugar level, but for Sydney that was an okay number.

Sydney’s mother stated that her daughter had already helped to raise $8,000 for diabetes research through an annual walk in Idaho Falls.

Sydney has sisters. Because Sydney was diagnosed at such a young age, her younger sisters have an even higher chance of getting diabetes, too. Shamae said that, “It is nothing any parent should have to go through. You do blame yourself for a while, you carry a lot of guilt, but then the more you learn about Type 1 diabetes, there’s really nothing you can do to prevent an auto-immune disease.”

The trip affected Sydney’s blood sugar levels by spiking and dropping because of the long days and the east coast humidity. That is an added incentive for the FDA to approve testing on the artificial pancreas. “If they had found a cure, I would be happy that I didn’t have diabetes anymore because I don’t like pricking my finger and all that other stuff,” Sydney said.

There are approximately 3 million American with Type 1 diabetes, most of them young children or young adults. Type 1 diabetes is different from Type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is usually related to weight and lack of exercise. Type 1 diabetes is not related to weight or lack of exercise, but for some unknown reason (environmental or genetic), the body’s insulin-producing cells in the pancreas are killed.

To stay alive, people with Type 1 diabetes must take multiple insulin injections daily or continually infuse insulin through the use of an insulin pump. Along with the injection of insulin, the finger pricking is required to know how much insulin is needed to be injected or infused through the insulin pump. This is the more serious form of diabetes because along with balancing of the insulin dose with their food intake and physical exercise, they must also guard against a hypoglycemic (low blood sugar) reaction and hyperglycemic (high blood sugar) reaction. Both hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia are conditions that need immediate attention or could cause death. Both conditions are very life threatening and need prompt attention.

Like any good ambassador with a good cause, Sydney wants to be a doctor when she grows up, “to make sure other people do not have to feel bad.”

Study on Liraglutide (Victoza) Could Help Type 1 Diabetics: The University of Buffalo conducted an observation study in regards to the use of liraglutide, an injectable medication that is now used to treat only Type 2 diabetes, and how it might help Type 1 diabetics in achieving the very best blood sugar levels possible. This was a small study, and only a larger study that is now planned by the University of Buffalo might show that this could lead to better treatment for Type 1 diabetics. If this proves to be true, then this could be the newest treatment for Type 1 diabetics since the discovery of insulin back in the 1920s. The results of this study will eventually be in print and available in the European Journal of Endocrinology. This study received accolades at the annual meeting of the Endocrine Society in Boston. This study at University of Buffalo was headed by Paresh Dandona, a Professor of Medicine in the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and was the senior author of the study.

Approximately 23.6 million Americans have some form of diabetes, either Type 1 (the more serious and more difficult to control) or Type 2. The number of people with Type 2 diabetes is higher than those with Type 1, and a many number of people with Type 2 diabetes can manage their disease through diet, exercise and oral medication, or with the injectable liraglutide.

With Type 1 diabetes the only form of treatment is through insulin that must be injected. The insulin pump is now available, but this too involves the injection of insulin into the body.

The study showed that liraglutide (Victoza) along with insulin helped control blood sugar much better for tighter Type 1 diabetes management. Liraglutide, or also known as Victoza, is an acylated human glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist.

An A1C test is a blood test that is taken by diabetics approximately every three months by their physician. This A1C test result tells the physician and the patient how well they have controlled their blood sugar levels over those past months. If the A1C test is below 7, this is considered the best. If their A1C is higher than 7, then they know they need to take steps to better control their blood sugar levels, because the more out of control the blood sugar levels are, the more likely it is for severe complications to arise down the road. These complications include, but are not limited to, vision loss, kidney failure, and heart disease.

This was an unfunded study and was an analysis of data and was conducted at Kaleida Health’s Diabetes-Endocrinology Center of Western New York.

The study involved 14 Type 1 diabetic patients whose hemoglobin A1C levels were under the preferred “7.” In the study, these patients were deemed well controlled diabetics. Even though they were considered well controlled, even these patients had fairly wide swings in their blood sugar levels, some from 150 mg/dl to 250 mg/dl, and sometimes even higher than 250 mg/dl. So though deemed well controlled, they still had periods when their blood sugar level was too high for comfort.

With the addition of liraglutide to their insulin, these patients showed that they had fewer occasions when their blood sugar levels were too high, as well as a lessening in the amount of insulin they were injecting. A decrease in appetite was also noted.

Within a matter of days of the addition of liraglutide to their insulin, a positive result was seen. When the liraglutide was discontinued, their blood sugar levels again rose at times to higher levels than desired. This indicated that it was the addition of liraglutide that created the better controlled blood sugar levels.

More research is needed to understand the mechanics of the improvements in blood sugar levels with the addition of liraglutide to insulin, but it is thought that with the addition of liraglutide to insulin there is a decrease in the post-meal glucagon, which is the hormone that causes the increase in blood sugar levels in Type 1 diabetics.

With this further research, the researchers plan a multicenter study of patients with Type 1 diabetes and hopefully find more information on how the liraglutide suppresses the glucagon that raises the blood sugar levels to an unsafe level.

These patients took liraglutide for periods of one week to 24 weeks. There were 14 adult patients with Type 1 diabetes.

Hopefully, this new research that is planned will be expanded quickly and help even more in the care of Type 1 diabetes in the control of their blood sugar levels, an everyday battle for many people.

Can eating 37 strawberries a day lessen diabetes complications: That old advice, an apple a day keeps the doctor away, might be switched around a bit to “a strawberry a day keeps the doctor away.” Keeping the doctor away, yes, but, more importantly, not only the doctor and/or endocrinologist, but also neurologist and possibly the oncologist.

But 37 strawberries work better than one, according to a recent study that was undertaken at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, Cellular Neurobiology Laboratory (CNL), with the results to be published in a June 2011 issue of PLoS ONE. David Schubert, Ph.D., Professor and Head of the CNL, is a co-author of the paper and Pam Maher, Ph.D. a Senior Staff Scientist, is the corresponding author of the paper.

Strawberries contain fisetin. Fisetin is a flavonol. Flavonol is a structurally distinct chemical substance that belongs to the flavonoid group of polyphenols. It is the color in the plants and the fruits of those plants. Grapes, spinach, oranges, blueberries, kale, apples, and so on. News reports have shown us for years that any flavonoid helps fight cancer and has positive effects on other illnesses, such as Alzheimer’s Disease. In other words, like mama told you, eat your fruits and veggies.

In this study conducted by CNL, the study involved the use of Akita mice, a very “robust” mice model of type 1 diabetes, formerly known as juvenile diabetes mellitus, which can be treated only with insulin. Mostly affecting young children, this form of diabetes over the passage of years most often leads to severe complications such as blindness, kidney failure, neuropathy, strokes and heart attacks; whereas type 2 diabetes, until recently, was more often diagnosed in the older population and can be treated with oral medication, along with a good diet and having an exercise program in place. Those with type 2 diabetes do develop complications, but they tend to take longer to arise than those complications arising from type 1 diabetes.

These Akita mice showed all the usual effects of Type 1 diabetes, namely increased blood sugar levels, but also “display pathologies seen in serious human complications of both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes.” In this study, the Akita mice were given supplementation of fisetin. The Akita mice that were fed an enriched diet of fisetin remained diabetic, but kidney enlargement was reversed and high urine protein levels fell. With high urine protein levels, it’s an indication that the kidneys are becoming diseased. As well, fisetin ingestion affected anxiety-related behaviors of the diabetic mice. “A mouse not suffering with anxiety tends to move around when put in a large area, but a mouse suffering from anxiety does not move around. The diabetic mice showed anxiety behavior, but when fed fisetin their movement returned to normal.”

The study also defined a possible molecular mechanism that resulted in these results. Those conducting the study saw that blood and brain levels of “sugars affixed to proteins known as advanced glycation end-products (AGEs)” were reduced in fisetin treated Akita mice as compared to untreated Akita mice. There is evidence that increased AGE levels is implicated in many, if not all, diabetic complications. This study was the first study that indicated that any compound can enhance glyoxalase 1 activity, which fisetin seemed to do on these Akita mice.

It is thought that really high AGE levels might increase cancer risks.

These tests were conducted on mice, and only time will tell if the same results can be manifested in humans, and the possibility that there would be a supplement available to get your fisetin rather than eating those 37 strawberries a day.

In the meantime, think about eating the colors of the rainbow as often as possible, the darker in color the better.

Tom Martinez, Facebook And A Donor: Back in June of 2011, famous quarterback coach Tom Martinez announced on his Facebook page that his complications stemming from diabetes and other ailments gave him only one month remaining to live because he needed a simultaneous heart and kidney transplant. Martinez, a very well-respected coach who has worked with many, many quarterbacks over the years, is probably most well known for working so closely with Tom Brady, the winner of three Super Bowl titles while he’s been with the New England Patriots.

In June when Martinez gave his dire prognosis for his imminent death on Facebook, it was a blow for the football world that was difficult to absorb. The football world mourned. Martinez at that time stated, “My medical test numbers say I’m basically gone. My blood pressure is too low for me to continue with dialysis, and without dialysis poisons build up in my body. Doctors say without dialysis I have a week to go. We’re looking into transplants. I would need both heart and kidney transplants done simultaneously.”

Coach Martinez retired in 2005 from coaching at the College of San Mateo, California, because of his health issues, but he still worked with quarterbacks at camps and on an individual basis. Martinez will always be one of the best coaches from the junior college ranks and is a member of the College of San Mateo’s Hall of Fame.

Facebook can do wonders. Since those announcements by Martinez back in June, he was contacted by eight people who offered Martinez a kidney. Through testing, a suitable donor was found that matched Martinez’s blood type. The heart situation seems to have been corrected through a pacemaker that was adjusted just last week. Now, it seems that Martinez just needs that kidney to keep on going.

After Martinez finishes up with the camp that he’s now visiting, he will return to UCLA for more internal tests to see if he is well enough to undergo the kidney transplant and stated that, “They might try to do a double transplant if everything works.”

This is great news for the football world, his family and those who love him. Most importantly, it’s great news for Coach Martinez. There might be a new young kid out there somewhere with a great throwing arm that needs Martinez’s guidance, and catches Martinez’s eye. Coach Martinez has never walked away from a good challenge, particularly when it comes to quarterbacking, but especially when it comes to his diabetes.

New Discoveries Made in Conquering Kidney Disease in Diabetic Patients: Diabetes and kidney failure go hand in hand. The kidneys do not fail simply because one has either Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes, but the kidneys fail because increased blood sugar levels over time damage blood vessels and the internal organs. Researchers worldwide are seeking to find the answers to why a person develops diabetes, how to stop the complications that arise from having these elevated blood sugar levels caused by diabetes and how to protect the organs. The kidneys, along with the eyes, are at times the main targets of these complications. With the eyes, there is vision loss. With the kidneys, there is kidney failure, which could lead to kidney dialysis. Many people live with the help of kidney dialysis, waiting for a transplant to become available.

According to the latest issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Professor Dr. Tobias Huber, a kidney expert at the Nephrology Division of the University Medical Center Freiburg, Germany (a teaching hospital and medical research unit of the University of Freiburg and well known for its advanced research), along with the help of the Cluster of Excellence BIOSS (Center for Biological Signaling Studies), and his team have been able to make new discoveries as to why the kidneys fail as a result of diabetes.

This new research data was able to identify a signaling path that affects the progression of kidney disease in diabetic patients. mTOR (which belongs to the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase-related kinase protein family) is a metabolic enzyme that controls the growth and reproduction of cells. Through research, it has been shown that diabetes, either Type 1 or Type 2, causes the mTOR signaling path to become overactive. When the signaling path becomes overactive, it causes damage to the kidney cells which in turn leads to kidney failure.

Basal activation of mTOR may be proven to be vital for the regular function of renal corpuscles during human development, but the overactive mTOR can result in breakdown of kidney filtering in diabetic patients, which eventually leads to the total shutdown of the kidneys.

Using animals for testing, the researchers were able to stop the signaling path and able to stop the kidney disease in its tracks. If applied to diabetic patients with kidney failure in the future, this is a chance for the end of kidney failure in those suffering from any form of diabetes.

Kidney failure affects approximately 288,000 American citizens who are currently undergoing kidney dialysis. Kidney dialysis involves removing waste and excess water from the blood. Like artificial insulin being placed into the body to replace insulin no longer produced by the body, dialysis takes away the excess waste products for people with lost kidney function. Kidney failure can develop over months or years. Acute kidney failure is not reversible and kidney dialysis is required in order for the patient to live. Many consider kidney dialysis as the waiting period until a kidney transplant can be performed.

Through the new research results from Dr. Huber and his team there might be hope on the horizon for those new patients in the future who suffer from kidney failure. This new research information might lead the way for the discoveries necessary to eliminate the need for kidney dialysis. There may be hope that those with diabetes may never have to face the possibility of kidney failure and dialysis.

High-Fat Diet Pregnancy Could Lead to Diabetes in Children: A study created by the University of Illinois suggests that a high-fat diet throughout one’s pregnancy could lead to diabetes in the child even if the mother herself is not a diabetic or even obese.

A University of Illinois professor of nutrition, Yuan-Xiang said, “We found that exposure to a high-fat diet before birth modifies gene expression in the livers of offspring so they are more likely to overproduce glucose, which can cause early insulin resistance and diabetes. He also noted, “The high-fat diet that caused these changes was a typical Western diet that contained 45 percent fat, which is not at all unusual. In recent years, the American diet has shifted to include many high-energy, high-fat, cafeteria-type, and fast foods.”

Based off of the study, researchers hope that doctors will be able to screen newborns through a diagnostic tool in which cam help keep children’s blood sugar in the normal range, which in the end will give them a better chance at lessening the risk of diabetes.

During the study, doctoral student Rita Strakovsky was able to feed obesity-resistant rats with a high-fat or a controlled diet from the first day of their gestation period. The rats were not obese at all, which means they were able to see that the diet alone was very helpful in slowing the risk of diabetes.

Strakovsky said, “At birth, offspring in the high-fat group had blood sugar levels that were twice as high as those in the control group, even though their mothers had normal levels. The high-fat offspring also had epigenetic modifications to genes that regulate glucose metabolism. One of these modifications, the acetylation of histones, acts by loosening the DNA, making it easier for the gene to be transcribed.”

Through the study it was quickly understood that diabetes cannot be stopped but the chances can be lessened with a low-fat diet.

Pan said, “We’d like to see if diet after birth could alleviate this problem that was programmed before birth,” During the study epigenetics was used as the diagnostic tool but Strakovsky states “The importance of making dietary recommendations for pregnant women more available so they are able to prevent this health problem.

She also stated, “Obstetrics patients rarely see a dietitian unless they’re having medical problems like gestational diabetes or pre-eclampsia. Doctors now tend to focus on how much weight a woman should gain in a healthy pregnancy. Although healthy weight gain is extremely important, nutritional guidance could be invaluable for all pregnant women and their babies.”

A pregnant woman’s diet should consist of foods that are low in saturated fats such as fish, walnuts, whole grain bread, poultry, sunflower seeds and eggs. Fast foods, pastries and fattier cuts of meat are all bad, high-fat foods that are leading to more diabetic patients.