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Researchers led by UC's Robert Krikorian, Ph.D., found that adding blueberries to the daily diets of certain middle-aged populations may lower the chances of developing late-life dementia. Krikorian explained that about 50% of individuals in the U.S. develop insulin resistance, commonly referred to as prediabetes, around middle age. Prediabetes has been shown to be a factor in chronic diseases, he said. "We had observed cognitive benefits with blueberries in prior studies with older adults and thought they might be effective in younger individuals with insulin resistance," said Krikorian. "Alzheimer's disease, like all chronic diseases of aging, develops over a period...

Benefits of the blood pressure medication verapamil include delayed disease progression, lowered insulin requirements, and preservation of some beta cell function. Use of the drug verapamil to treat Type 1 diabetes continues to show benefits lasting at least two years, researchers report in the journal Nature Communications. Patients taking the oral blood pressure medication not only required less daily insulin two years after first diagnosis of the disease, but also showed evidence of surprising immunomodulatory benefits. Continuing medication was necessary. In the two-year study, subjects who stopped daily doses of verapamil at one year saw their disease at two years...

More than 100,000 Americans died from diabetes in 2021, marking the second consecutive year for that grim milestone and spurring a call for a federal mobilization similar to the fight against HIV/AIDS. The new figures come as an expert panel urges Congress to overhaul diabetes care and prevention, including recommendations to move beyond a reliance on medical interventions alone. The nation’s toll from diabetes has increased sharply, surpassing 100,000 deaths in each of the last two years and representing a new record. Diabetes-related deaths surged 17% in 2020 and 15% in 2021 compared to the prepandemic level in 2019. …"Type...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – 12/28/2021 – Cranford, New Jersey, Viona Pharmaceuticals Inc., is voluntarily recalling thirty three (33) lots of Metformin Hydrochloride Extended-Release Tablets, USP 750 mg to the retail level. Reason for the recall is an Out of specification result observed for the said product, Lot number M008132, “N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) (By GC-MS/MS)” test at 17 Month(s), 25°C/60%RH Long-term stability samples. As a precautionary measure firm voluntarily recall all the marketed 33 batches having valid shelf life. This product was manufactured by Cadila Healthcare Limited, Ahmedabad, India for U.S. distribution by Viona Pharmaceuticals Inc. Risk Statement: NDMA is classified as...

An implant which secretes insulin could one day replace the constant need for injections for people with diabetes. An international team of scientists says the device, created using human stem cells, could help countless patients keep their blood sugar levels in check. People with type 1 diabetes do not produce enough insulin, a hormone which helps the body convert sugar (or glucose) into energy. They therefore have to take insulin injections on a regular basis – often between two and four times a day, to regulate their blood sugar levels. Now, scientists have developed cells that produce insulin for more...

Human insulin-secreting beta cells under the microscope. (Millman Laboratory) A technique capable of converting human stem cells into insulin-producing cells could hold huge promise for future diabetic treatments, if results seen in a recent experiment with mice can be successfully replicated in humans. In a 2020 study, researchers figured out a new way to coax human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) into pancreatic beta cells that make insulin. When these insulin-producing cells were transplanted into mice induced to have an acute form of diabetes, their condition was rapidly cured. "These mice had very severe diabetes with blood sugar readings of more...

Insulin resistance in people with type 2 diabetes was predictive of stroke, according to a Swedish nationwide cohort study. Patients with type 2 diabetes with less insulin resistance as measured by estimated glucose disposal rate (eGDR) saw a significantly lower risk for any kind of first-time stroke over a median 5.6 years of follow-up, reported Alexander Zabala, MD, of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. This association also appeared to be graded, with the less insulin resistance a person had correlating with an even lower risk for stroke in a fully adjusted model, Zabala said in a presentation at the virtual...

Stanford Medicine scientists have linked insulin resistance to an increased risk of developing major depressive disorder. Upward of 1 in 5 Americans experiences major depressive disorder sometime during their lives. Symptoms include unremitting sadness, despair, sluggishness, sleep disturbances and loss of appetite. But insulin resistance is preventable: It can be reduced or eliminated by diet, exercise and, if need be, drugs. A common but silent condition Studies have confirmed that at least 1 in 3 of us is walking around with insulin resistance—often without knowing it. The condition does not arise from a deficiency in the pancreas's ability to secrete...

States are putting caps on prices, and Semglee, the first interchangeable biosimilar in the United States, may exert some downward pressure. More than 30 million Americans have diabetes, according to the American Diabetes Association, and many rely on insulin. But insulin prices have been rising in recent years, and that has put many people with diabetes at risk because the price leads to people skipping doses or not taking insulin altogether. The latest figures from the American Action Forum show that the price of insulin rose 14% a year, on average, between 2012 and 2018, and the past few years...

While the California recall, Nicki Minaj’s thoughts on the COVID vaccine and testicles, and General Milley’s insane rogue operation are dominating headlines, the Biden administration is quietly moving ahead with a plan that will cost many taxpayers a lot at the pharmacy. This follows the media’s complete ignoring of Mississippi launching a lawsuit against insulin makers for actions that allegedly held insulin prices up artificially high, the media’s constant depiction of Democrats as the only party focused on drug prices even though a bunch of proposals Democrats are now pursuing actually emanated from Donald Trump, the media ignoring Sen. Charles...

Life with type 1 diabetes is a juggling act of diet, exercise, and insulin therapy to maintain normal blood sugar levels. While there's no shortage of solutions in the works for trying to make diabetics' lives easier, a promising new approach focuses on the insulin itself. Michael Weiss, a biochemist from the School of Medicine at Indiana University in the US, and colleagues have gone back to the drawing board on the insulin molecule, tweaking the structure to respond to the presence of a simple carbohydrate, with the aim of reconnecting the activation of insulin with internal levels of blood...

"The United states will purchase an additional half billion doses from Pfizer, Pfizer vaccine, that will donate nearly 100 low and lower middle income countries, they will be the beneficiaries." =========================================================================== The Biden administration quietly ended President Donald Trump’s policy that saw many Americans receive lower cost insulin and epinephrine pens on the same day he promised to purchase 500 million COVID-19 vaccines to be sent to foreign countries. Yesterday, Biden promised world leaders at the G7 summit that the United States of America would finance the purchase of 500 million COVID-19 vaccines to be given to poor countries at...

Diabetics who require insulin for survival are finding outrageous costs after Biden rescinded President Trump's insulin cost reduction plan. One patient, Anna , saw her insulin costs rise from $50 per bottle to $300 per bottle. She now spends $1200 out of pocket per month to stay alive. Where is the media coverage on Biden's assault on diabetics? Why aren't legislators screaming about this injustice? Those are questions that Anna and her fellow diabetics are asking.

Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) recently made waves claiming that pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) are to blame for the volatility of insulin prices. It's a bold statement, to be sure. But here's the thing: the senator is absolutely right — and PolitiFact has confirmed as much. On January 31, 2021, PolitiFact partnered with The Daily Iowan to release a fact-check on Grassley's statement, ultimately providing the senator with its highest rating of "True" on the organization's Truth-O-Meter™. "With their complicated discount negotiations," PolitiFact concludes, PBMs play a role in driving upward the cost of insulin in America. One fact that may...

A revolutionary technology developed within the Trabolsi Research Group at NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) could dramatically improve the wellbeing of diabetic patients: an insulin oral delivery system that could replace traditional subcutaneous injections without the side effects caused by frequent injections. Using prepared layers of nanosheets with insulin loaded in between layers to protect it, the researchers developed gastro-resistant imine-linked-covalent organic framework nanoparticles (nCOFs) that exhibited insulin protection in the stomach as well in diabetic test subjects whose sugar levels completely returned to normal within two hours after swallowing the nanoparticles. Led by NYUAD's Research Scientist Farah Benyettou and Program...

In his first week in office, President Biden’s administration froze a plan that was promoted by the Trump administration as reducing the cost of insulin. In doing so, he raised the cost of the life-saving medication to around $1000 per month, which isn’t manageable for most families, especially in a massive economically deprive epidemic that’s impacted millions of American’t livelihoods. VIDEO AT LINK........................

Big Pharma did not like Donald Trump, but they certainly like Joe Biden – especially now. In an ongoing frenzy to undo everything Trump did over the last four years, Joe Biden froze a December rule aimed at lowering prescription drug prices for insulin and epinephrine. On Thursday, Biden’s Department of Health and Human Services announced the new rule would be put on hold, along with several other Trump-era orders pending a 60 day review, The Federalist reports. Biden Chief of Staff Ron Klain directed federal agencies on Wednesday to pause orders that had been signed and published by Trump’s...

President Joe Biden’s United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Thursday stopped executive orders from his predecessor designed to significantly lower prescription drug prices for Americans, including insulin and epinephrine. The new administration will apparently re-evaluate the executive action from President Donald Trump toward the end of March. It remains unclear if it will be reinstated. “The HHS Thursday froze the former Trump administration’s December drug policy that requires community health centers to pass on all their insulin and epinephrine discount savings to patients,” Bloomberg Law reported Thursday. “Centers that don’t pass on the savings wouldn’t qualify...

This Sunday, Nov. 2, will mark the end of daylight saving time for 2020. I am pleased to share that, finally, serious legislative considerations — in several states — are underway in the quest to end the biannual rituals of changing from standard time to daylight saving time (DST). During the last 3 years, 13 states enacted legislation to provide for year-round daylight saving time if Congress were to allow such a change and, in some cases, if surrounding states would enact the same legislation, according to the website of the National Conference of State Legislatures. Full-time DST is not...

Yellow staining shows CD*+T cells poised to target preproinsulin. The white outline on the right shows the perimeter of an insulin-containing islet in a patient with type 1 diabetes. The image shows that the preproinsulin-specific T cells can wait very close islets, probably poised to destroy the beta cells inside. Credit: Von Herrath Laboratory, La Jolla Institute for Immunology ============================================================================= Your pancreas is studded with cell clusters called islets. In most people, special beta cells live snug in the islets, happily making the insulin that the body uses to regulate blood sugar. But in people with type 1 diabetes, the...