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Researchers have previously demonstrated an association between diabetes and virus infection. New research shows that, among children with newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes (T1D), treatment with antiviral drugs could help preserve the production of insulin. The result shows that it is possible to slow down and eventually prevent type 1 diabetes. The study built upon research that previously established a link between enterovirus and T1D and investigated the effect of antiviral treatment on insulin production. Those recently diagnosed with T1D who received the antiviral medication maintained a higher level of insulin production after one year than those who did not...

Credit: Fussenegger Lab / ETH Zurich / Annelisa Leinbach Swiss researchers have developed a sugar-powered implant that automatically produces insulin when blood glucose levels are high — potentially giving people with diabetes an easier, less-painful way to manage their condition. Diabetes management: For people with type 1 diabetes (T1D), the body doesn’t produce enough (or any) insulin, a hormone that converts blood sugar into energy. To prevent their blood glucose levels from being dangerously high, they need regular injections of synthetic insulin. People who manage their diabetes manually must give themselves these painful injections multiple times a day. Those who...

A study shows that verapamil, a drug commonly used to treat high blood pressure and heart conditions, can have a beneficial effect on the pancreas in children with newly-diagnosed type 1 diabetes (T1D). Results of the CLVer clinical trial showed that oral verapamil taken once a day improved the pancreas' insulin secretion by 30% over the first year following diagnosis of T1D when compared with a control group that received a placebo. "The beneficial effect of verapamil observed in the trial is extremely exciting," said Antoinette Moran, MD. "Although we don't know whether the beneficial effect of verapamil on insulin...

Artificial Pancreas Successfully Trialed for Use by Type 2 Diabetes Patients Scientists at the University of Cambridge have successfully trialed an artificial pancreas for use by patients living with type 2 diabetes. The device – powered by an algorithm developed at the University of Cambridge – doubled the amount of time patients were in the target range for glucose compared to standard treatment and halved the time spent experiencing high glucose levels. Around 415 million people worldwide are estimated to be living with type 2 diabetes, which costs around $760 billion in annual global health expenditure. According to Diabetes UK,...

Jeenah Moon for The New York Times On most afternoons, people arrive from across New York City with backpacks and plastic bags filled with boxes of small plastic strips, forming a line on the sidewalk outside a Harlem storefront. Hanging from the awning, a banner reads: “Get cash with your extra diabetic test strips.” Each strip is a laminate of plastic and chemicals little bigger than a fingernail, a single-use diagnostic test for measuring blood sugar. More than 30 million Americans have Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, and most use several test strips daily to monitor their condition. But...

The 51-year-old mother of five is in kidney failure, a result of her Type 2 diabetes. Lucia (whose last name has been withheld at her request because of her family’s immigration status) is one of an estimated 6,500 undocumented immigrants in the United States who are living with end-stage renal disease, She feels grateful for the limited care she receives here in the United States, because she is acutely aware of the reality that she would not be entitled to any care in her native Mexico and would almost certainly have died by now.

Paramedics were called to the Washington home of Justice Sonia Sotomayor Friday morning, but a Supreme Court spokeswoman said the justice was not hospitalized and went to work Friday after being treated for low blood sugar. "She experienced symptoms of low blood sugar at her home this morning. She was treated by emergency medical services and is doing fine," court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg told POLITICO. "She's at work and following her usual schedule and will be participating in all planned activities over the weekend." The episode caused concern to some neighbors of the 63-year-old justice, who lives in an apartment...

Automated insulin delivery system will ease some of the burden of living with the condition "This first-of-its-kind technology can provide people with type 1 diabetes greater freedom to live their lives without having to consistently and manually monitor baseline glucose levels and administer insulin," Dr. Jeffrey Shuren, director of the FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health, said in an agency news release. The device -- Medtronic's MiniMed 670G -- is what's known as a hybrid closed-loop system. That means it monitors blood sugar and then delivers necessary background (also known as basal) insulin doses. The device will also shut...

A study led by researchers from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine has found a correlation between vitamin D3 serum levels and subsequent incidence of Type 1 diabetes. The six-year study of blood levels of nearly 2,000 individuals suggests a preventive role for vitamin D3 in this disease. The research appears the December issue of Diabetologia, a publication of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD). "Previous studies proposed the existence of an association between vitamin D deficiency and risk of and Type 1 diabetes, but this is the first time that the theory has...

An experimental cure for Type 1 diabetes has a nearly 80 percent success rate in curing diabetic mice. The results, to be presented Saturday at The Endocrine Society's 93rd Annual Meeting in Boston, offer possible hope of curing a disease that affects 3 million Americans. "With just one injection of this gene therapy, the mice remain diabetes-free long term and have a return of normal insulin levels in the body," said Vijay Yechoor, MD, the principal investigator and an assistant professor at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. Yechoor and his co-workers used their new gene therapy in a nonobese...

Remarkable research pointing to a potential new treatment for diabetes was announced this week at Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, D.C. Scientists succeeded in transforming spermatogonal stem cells, early precursors of sperm cells, into insulin-secreting cells. It is likely that the work represents significant progress in accomplishing the Holy Grail of diabetes research, the replacement of insulin-secreting cells lost to the disease.In type I diabetes, the early onset form of the disease that often occurs in young children, cells of the pancreas called islet cells or beta cells, which normally secrete insulin, are lost due to autoimmunity. The...

ScienceDaily (Aug. 26, 2008) — Terminally ill rodents with type 1 diabetes have been restored to full health with a single injection of a substance other than insulin by scientists at UT Southwestern Medical Center. Since the discovery of insulin in 1922, type 1 diabetes (insulin-dependent diabetes) in humans has been treated by injecting insulin to lower high blood sugar levels and prevent diabetic coma. New findings by UT Southwestern researchers, which appear online and in a future issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggest that insulin isn't the only agent that is effective. Leptin, a...

BETHESDA, Maryland, July 26, 2008 (Reuters) — Researchers working on an artificial pancreas believe they are just a few years away from a nearly carefree way for people with diabetes to monitor blood and inject insulin as needed. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Related Topics Health and Fitness Internal Medicine Medical Specializations Medicine Science and Technology Ads by GoogleAdvertise here -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Blood Sugar Levels guide Looking to find Blood Sugar Levels? See our Blood Sugar Levels guide. Friendsofanimals.ComDiabetes Treatment Order Products to Lower your Blood Sugar Without Having to use Drugs. believe they can link two current technologies -- continuous glucose monitoring and insulin...

Ahmedabad: There is good news for diabetes patients as there may be a stem cell cure for the disease. Dr H L Trivedi and his team from Ahmedabad claim that they have discovered a cell that is present in human fat that can produce insulin, when cultivated. "If we could transplant stem cells which have the ability to cure diabetes, then it's the final of final and ultimate of ultimate as far as cure for diabetes is concerned,” says Dr Trivedi, who is the director of Institute of Kidney Diseases, The miracle stem cell can be transplanted into the liver,...

Diabetics Warned About Fake Test Strips From Associated Press October 14, 2006 6:26 AM EDT WASHINGTON - The government warned diabetics Friday to watch for counterfeit versions of test strips commonly used to monitor blood sugar levels. The test strips, for use in glucose monitors made by a Johnson & Johnson company, were distributed nationwide, the Food and Drug Administration said in a public alert. The phony test strips are for use with various models of LifeScan Inc.'s OneTouch brand of blood glucose monitors. LifeScan is part of New Brunswick, N.J.-based Johnson & Johnson. The counterfeit test strips could give...

(AP) Having one type of diabetes is bad enough, but two? Doctors are seeing a new phenomenon dubbed double diabetes that makes it harder to diagnose and treat patients — especially children. The mix can strike at any age, and comes in various forms: Children who depend on insulin injections because of Type 1 diabetes gain weight and then get the Type 2 form in which their bodies become insulin resistant, for example. Or someone with classic Type 2 symptoms isn't responding to therapy, and tests reveal they also are developing the insulin-dependent form of the disease. Or they may...

China working to contain bird flu, foot-and-mouth disease Fri May 27, 1:22 PM ET BEIJING (AFP) - China was battling two separate disease outbreaks after more than 1,000 migratory birds died from bird flu and thousands of cattle were culled following a foot-and-mouth outbreak. The number of birds found dead from the H5N1 strain of avian flu is far higher than previously acknowledged. "Up to May 26 a total of over 1,000 birds have been found dead, including bar-headed geese, great black-headed gulls and cormorants," Jia Youling, director of the Ministry of Agriculture's veterinary bureau, said Friday at a press...

http://cbs11tv.com Step Towards Type 1 Diabetes Cure Jun 3, 2003 10:41 am US/Central There is good news for the estimated one million American sufferers of type 1 diabetes. Researchers have announced an important step toward a cure of the disease. The Early Show medical correspondent Dr. Emily Senay explains that type 1 diabetes is a disease where a person lacks the insulin-producing cells, or islets cells, in the pancreas that regulate sugar. People who suffer with the type 1 diabetes must inject insulin on a daily basis for their whole lives. Now, researchers are testing a new treatment for...