Category Archives: Diabetes

Science Daily

3-D visualization of the pancreas: New tool in diabetes research Science Daily The wealth of visual and quantitative information may serve as powerful reference resource for diabetes researchers. The Ume University researchers are now publishing their datasets in Scientific Data, which is a Nature Research journal for ...

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3-D visualization of the pancreas: New tool in diabetes research - Science Daily

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. Roche Diabetes Care, Inc. announced Tuesday that it will lay off 157 employees as it restructures its U.S. Commercial Operations, 42 of which are Indianapolis-based.

The company says 133 of those employees are full-time and 24 are contractors.

Roche said in a statement that it made the decision to address the competitive diabetes care market and secure the long-term viability of its business.

Roche is deeply grateful to all those who have contributed and dedicated themselves to the company and the millions of people living with diabetes, the statement read. The company is committed to supporting its colleagues in identifying other positions within the wider Roche organization where possible.

Roche says its the worlds largest biotech company, with differentiated medicines in oncology, immunology, infectious diseases, ophthalmology and diseases of the central nervous system. Its also reportedly the leader in in vitro diagnostics and tissue-based cancer diagnostics. Its headquarters is in Basel, Switzerland.

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Indianapolis workers part of Roche Diabetes Care layoffs | Fox 59 - Fox 59

Posted on March 14, 2017 | 2:53 p.m.

As the Santa Barbara International Orchid Show gets ready to open, the William Sansum Diabetes Center is offering a crowd-free peek at the colorful blossoms during its International Orchid Show Gala Preview Party, 5:30-8 p.m. Thursday, March 16, at Earl Warren Showgrounds.

Funds raised at the gala will go toward diabetes research, education and care at William Sansum Diabetes Center (WSDC). The event will include gourmet food and wine the night before the show opens to the public. Tickets are on sale now for $75.

Every 19 seconds, someone in the U.S. is diagnosed with diabetes, but the country is in a day and age of new technologies that can help diabetes research. Looking to the future, WSDC wants to aggressively pursue new pathways by marrying the old and the new toward better health.

This past year WSDC had numerous accomplishments:

It was recently named one of just 10 sites selected for the longest artificial pancreas clinical study funded by the National Institutes of Health.

There were 110 healthy babies born through WSDC's diabetes and pregnancy program.

Also, WSDC is embarking on a first-of-its-kind, 10-year study of diabetes and cardio and metabolic health among Latinos with diabetes; research that leads to prevention, treatment and ultimately a cure.

WSDC was founded in 1944 by Dr. William Sansum, who was the first U.S. physician to administer insulin in the treatment of diabetes. For more information, visit http://www.sansum.org.

The Santa Barbara International Orchid Show, March 17-19, features the leading orchid growers from the United States, South America and Japan. For more information: https://sborchidshow.com/.

Regina Ruiz for William Sansum Diabetes Center.

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Orchid Show Preview Party to Aid Diabetes Research - Noozhawk

New York Times

Patient Voices: Type 2 Diabetes New York Times Nearly 400 million people around the world have Type 2 diabetes, including about 28 million in the United States. Of those, as many as eight million don't know they have it. Type 2 diabetes can wreak havoc on the entire body, affecting everything from ... and more »

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Patient Voices: Type 2 Diabetes - New York Times

Some people believe they are healthy as horses, work out like fiends and run marathons or lift 500 pounds. However, here is a sobering message:

Those people are at the same risk of getting Type 1 diabetes as the not-so-fit folks who consider a short walk quality exercise. Type 1 diabetes doesnt care who it attacks. It can be a model, movie star, athlete or couch potato.

The Illinois Chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation is spending most of spring and summer preparing for huge fall and winter events, and during this relative down time, the group is trying to get the word out to as many people as possible that Type 1 diabetes is not just affecting juveniles any more. According to Illinois JDRF Director of Corporate and Marketing Partnerships Dana Snodgrass, 1.25 million people have Type 1, and its not just kids.

Unfortunately, its a growing disease and there is nothing you can do to prevent it, she says. Its not like its caused by you eating unhealthy foods or you are not exercising or you are overweight. You are born with it and you can be diagnosed with it at any age.

Now people are being diagnosed when they are 30, 40 and 50 years old. In the past, if you were an adult with Diabetes, you were diagnosed as Type 2. But now, more people are finding out its actually Type 1. You might be 50 years old, but for some reason, your body just stopped producing insulin. You had it all along.

Snodgrass says if its not diagnosed, the worst-case scenario could be a diabetic coma that can result in death.

If you see someone, you might not be able to tell they even have it, she says. Its something you have the rest of your life and its difficult to maintain. I dont think enough people know about it.

Another project for JDRF is the yearlong Bag of Hope program in which kids who are diagnosed with Type 1 learn about how to live with the disease. A teddy bear with Diabetes, Rufus, helps to get children through this ordeal.

There are books, measuring cups and a lot of other resources for children with Type 1, Snodgrass says. In Illinois, we partner with hospitals and physicians offices, and children and parents receive these Bags of Hope. It helps them after their first couple of days.

Once you are diagnosed, your entire life changes. You have to learn what you can eat and when you can eat it, how to give yourself injections, monitoring your blood. You are usually in the hospital for three days and you have all the resources there. Then you go home and all of this becomes the new normal. Its earthshattering. This bag is for the kids and parents to walk them through what needs to be done now that they are out of the hospital.

Later in the year, JDRF will host walkson September 24 and October 1that will celebratethe event's38th year and, in the past, have attracted 30,000-32,000 people per year.

Originally posted here:
JDRF works to raise Type 1 diabetes awareness - Clearfield Progress

From staff reports

Do you or a family member have diabetes and on Medicare? If so, then learn to take control of your diabetes with the upcoming "Living Healthy with Diabetes" workshop.

NC Cooperative Extension is offering the next session of theworkshop, a free self-management program which begins in May. This particular workshop is especially designed for Medicare Part B recipients (ages 65 and older) who have been diagnosed with diabetes. These individuals will be eligible for one-on-one nutrition counseling with a registered dietitian.

Were excited to be able to offer more personalized services with this session of Living Healthy with Diabetes , said Linda Minges, program facilitator for Gaston Extension. "Individuals who qualify for nutrition counseling with the dietitian will learn from other individuals with diabetes, as well as get personalized help with meal planning."

"Living Healthy with Diabetes" is a Stanford University program designed for anyone with diabetes, pre-diabetes, or at risk for diabetes. Participants will learn how to prevent low blood sugar; prevent and delay complications of diabetes; eat well; use medications effectively; manage pain, fatigue and depression; solve problems and set goals. The program is valued at more than $400 and there is no cost to participants.

'Living Healthy with Diabetes' truly makes a difference in the lives of so many people," said Minges. "Many participants report how helpful the group discussions are as well as being able to problem-solve together on health issues that impact everyone.

The program consists of six weekly sessions, scheduled for Wednesdays, May 10 through June 14 from 9 to11:30 a.m. All sessions will be held at the Lucile Tatum Center,959 Osceola St., Gastonia. There is no cost, but pre-registration is required. Participantsmust be able to attend at least four out of the six sessions. Participants receive a copy of Living a Healthy Life with Chronic Conditions workbook, a relaxation CD, tote bag, and refreshments. Pre-registration is required by contacting Linda J. Minges at 704-922-2127 or linda_minges@ncsu.edu before April 19. This program is supported by Centralina Area Agency on Aging.

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Program offers help managing diabetes - Gaston Gazette

March 14, 2017 The three-dimensional visualization, created with OPT, shows the pancreas of a healthy mouse. The individual pancreatic islets have been color-coded and their exact volume and 3-D-coordinates can be precisely determined throughout the pancreas. The exocrine pancreatic tissue (in grey) has partly been digitally removed. Credit: Ulf Ahlgren.

Ume researchers have created datasets that map the three-dimensional distribution and volume of the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. The wealth of visual and quantitative information may serve as powerful reference resource for diabetes researchers. The Ume University researchers are now publishing their datasets in Scientific Data.

The hormone insulinwhich is needed to regulate the blood sugar levels of the bodyis produced by the pancreas and plays a key role in the development of diabetes. Insulin-producing cells are organised in the so-called Islets of Langerhans (or pancreatic islets), which are scattered by the thousands in the pancreas. In diabetes research, it is often important to study the quantity and distribution of insulin-producing cells. At present, such studies are generally based upon analyses of chosen cross-sections of pancreatic tissue. These in turn form the basis for attempting to gain an overall picture of the pancreas.

"However, such analyses only provide limited information and are often ridden with relatively large margins of error since the conclusions are based only on two-dimensional data," says Ulf Ahlgren, professor in molecular medicine at Ume University and in charge of the publications.

Ulf Ahlgren and his research colleagues at the Ume Centre for Molecular Medicine (UCMM) have previously developed new methods to create three-dimensional images of the insulin cell distribution in intact pancreas based on so-called optical projection tomography (OPT). This technique in many ways bears resemblance to a medical CT scanner, but instead of x-rays it uses regular light.

"We believe that the current publication represents the most comprehensive anatomical and quantitative description of the insulin cell distribution in the pancreas. By making these datasets accessible to other researchers, the data will be available for use as a powerful tool for a great number of diabetes studies. Examples may include planning of stereological analyses, in the development of non-invasive imaging techniques or various types of computational modelling and statistical analyses," says Ulf Ahlgren.

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The datasets now published in Scientific Data consist of tomographic and 3D images. The datasets also include information on the individual volume of the Islets of Langerhans and their 3D coordinates and appearance throughout the entire pancreas in both healthy mice and obese mice (ob/ob), at different ages. The obese mice used in the study have a mutation that make them prone to develop obesity and diabetes.

The datasets highlight that islets differ in size and quantity within, and between, the various lobes of the pancreas. According to the research team, this emphasises that the pancreas should not be seen as a homogenous organ when experimental diabetes researchers study the insulin-producing Islets of Langerhans.

Visualising changes in the Islets of Langerhans

The datasets presented in Scientific Data form the basis of another recently published study in Scientific Reports. In that study, the researchers used the 3D data to identify changes in the Islets of Langerhans in the obese (ob/ob) mice. This animal model is often used to study initial metabolic changes that can lead to the development of type 2 diabetes. With the help of their refined techniques, the researchers could show that these mice to a great extent develop lesions in the Islets of Langerhans, manifesting as cyst-like structures. The study shows that these lesions are caused by internal bleeding as a consequence of an increased blood flow and instability of the blood vessels.

"Obese (ob/ob) mice have been described in thousands of publications. But the large prevalence of such internal islet lesions have never before been identified and visualised," says Ulf Ahlgren.

The researchers now want to study if similar intra-islet lesions also form in other models of type 2 diabetes and in humans, and if these may contribute to the diabetic phenotype.

Explore further: Lesions found within pancreatic islets provide clue for diabetes research

More information: Scientific Data, dataset: Spatial and quantitative datasets of the pancreatic -cell mass distribution in lean and obese mice. Authors: Saba Parween, Maria Eriksson, Christoffer Nord, Elena Kostromina and Ulf Ahlgren. DOI: 10.1038/sdata.2017.31

Scientific Reports, article: Intra-islet lesions and lobular variations in -cell mass expansion in ob/ob mice revealed by 3D imaging of intact pancreas. Authors: Saba Parween, Elena Kostromina, Christoffer Nord, Maria Eriksson, Per Lindstrm and Ulf Ahlgren. DOI: 10.1038/srep34885

Dryad Digital Repository, datasets from: Spatial and quantitative datasets of the pancreatic -cell mass distribution in lean and obese mice. Authors: Parween S, Eriksson M, Nord C, Kostromina E, Ahlgren U. DOI: 10.5061/dryad.pk8dv

Journal reference: Scientific Reports

Provided by: Umea University

Researchers at the Ume Center for Molecular Medicine have created the first 3D spatial visualization of an obese mouse pancreas showing the distribution dynamics of insulin producing beta cells. The results show significant ...

Pulses of the sugar glucose can restore normal insulin release in mouse pancreas cells that have been exposed to excess glucose, according to a study published in PLOS Computational Biology. This finding could improve understanding ...

Professor Ulf Ahlgren and associates at Umea University in Sweden are a leading research team in the world in the development of optical projection tomography. With the aid of this imaging technology, they have now described ...

(Medical Xpress) -- Research from Karolinska Institutet shows that insulin secretion in the pancreas is not under direct neural control, as has previously been thought. The few nerves that are present are connected to blood ...

Diabetes researchers at Sweden's Karolinska Institutet have developed a novel technique that makes it possible to monitor insulin resistance in a non-invasive manner over time in mice. The new method, presented in the journal ...

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have found an innovative way to study glucose regulation in the body: by transferring the vital insulin-producing cells from the pancreas to the eye, the latter can serve as ...

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3-D visualization of the pancreasnew tool in diabetes research - Medical Xpress

Bel Marra Health

Going gluten-free might actually increase your risk of diabetes Men's Fitness But those people who mistakenly think that going gluten-free is healthier may end up with higher risk of developing type-2 diabetes, say the researchers. Their study, which analyzed almost 200,000 people from three long-term studies and 4.24 million ... Type 2 diabetes linked to low gluten dietsBel Marra Health Could Going Gluten Free Raise Your Risk Of Diabetes?Coach all 9 news articles »

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Going gluten-free might actually increase your risk of diabetes - Men's Fitness

KNOXVILLE (WATE) The frequency of people being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes has tripled in the past 20 years in the United States, according to Tennova Healthcare. March 28 is Diabetes Alert Day.

Diabetes affects nearly 30 million people in the United Statesa stunning 10 percent of the overall population, said Cheri Johnston, M.D., a family medicine physician with Tennova Primary Care Farragut. And recent research reveals that diabetes is now the third leading cause of death and not the seventh, as was previously thought. Perhaps the most alarming statistic is that one in four people living with diabetes is unaware that he or she even has the disease.

Tennova says the prevalence is due to an increase in sugary diets and sedentary lifestyles. One-third of Americans will have diabetes by 2050, according to researchers.

The disease can cause kidney failure, blindness, limb amputations and death if left untreated.

People with a family history of type 2 diabetes are at risk. Also, above-average body weight can lead to an increase. The disease is more common in Native Americans, African-Americans, Hispanics and Asian Americans.

On the positive side, diabetes is almost always avoidableeven reversiblewith appropriate lifestyle changes, Dr. Johnston said. Early diagnosis and treatment are critical to preventing significant damage to your health and longevity. Awareness and access to quality medical care are key.

Tennova suggests five ways to help reduce the risk of getting the disease:

As part of your annual physical, talk to your doctor about the results of your fasting blood sugar test and A1C test, which provides information about your average glucose levels over a three-month period, Dr. Johnston said. If your numbers are heading in the wrong direction, acting quickly may get things back on the right track.

For more information, call 1-855-TENNOVA or visit Tennovas website.

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Tennova brings awareness to Diabetes Alert Day | WATE 6 On Your ... - WATE 6 On Your Side

March 13 at 10:00 AM

Gluten-free diets are all the rage, but shunning gluten may offer no benefit to overall health for most people, a new analysis suggests.

In fact, the people in the study who ate more gluten were 13 percent less likely to develop Type 2 diabetes over the 30-year study than those who ate less gluten, the researchers found.

For some individuals, there are health reasons to avoid gluten, a protein found in grains such as wheat, rye and barley. Certain people, for example, have an intolerance to gluten, which can lead to abdominal pain, bloating or fatigue. Others have celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder that affects mostly the small intestine; when people with this disease eat gluten, their immune system responds by attacking the intestines lining.

However, even some people who do not have celiac disease or an intolerance to gluten believe that gluten-free diets are healthier than those that include gluten products, and the researchers wanted to see whether this belief might have any scientific merit, said lead study author Geng Zong, a nutrition research fellow at Harvard Universitys T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston.

[Science you can eat]

In the study, the researchers looked at surveys conducted every two to four years in which nearly 200,000 people reported what they ate. The researchers estimated the participants gluten intake based on this information, and then looked at which participants went on to develop Type 2 diabetes over the 30-year study period. Type 2 the most common form of diabetes occurs when the body has lost the ability to use insulin efficiently. This inability leads to high blood sugar levels, which can damage blood vessel walls, nerves and other tissues.

The researchers focused on studying the participants risk of diabetes because this condition is one of the leading causes of death in the United States, Zong said.

By the end of the study, nearly 16,000 particIpants had developed Type 2 diabetes. The researchers found that those who ate the most gluten had a 13 percent lower risk of developing Type 2 diabetes during the study period than the people who ate the least gluten.

These findings suggest that there might be a link between gluten consumption and risk of diabetes, the researchers said. However, it is not clear why the people who ate more gluten were less likely to be diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes than those who ate less gluten, the researchers said.

One possible explanation is that the people who consumed more gluten also ate more fiber, which, as previous research has suggested, may help to lower a persons diabetes risk. However, more research is needed to examine the relationship between gluten consumption and diabetes, the researchers said.

Live Science

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Gluten-free diets may be tied to an increased risk of Type 2 diabetes - Washington Post