Outdoor air temperature may influence a pregnant woman's risk of developing gestational diabetes, a new study suggests.

Mothers-to-be in very cold climes are less likely to develop diabetes during pregnancy than women exposed to hotter temperatures, researchers say.

If borne out in other studies, these findings could have important implications for the prevention and management of gestational diabetes, said study lead author Dr. Gillian Booth.

Changes in temperature may only lead to a small increase in the risk of gestational diabetes, but the number of women affected may be substantial, said Booth. She is a scientist at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto.

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Also, areas that are getting hotter because of climate change could see more cases of gestational diabetes, the study authors theorized.

Others are less certain of this link, however.

"Temperature and risk of diabetes is a hot topic," said Dr. Joel Zonszein, director of the clinical diabetes center at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City.

However, the study doesn't show a direct cause-and-effect relationship, and Zonszein cautioned that it's too soon to consider the findings definitive.

"Pregnant women or those wanting to become pregnant should not pay attention to this finding at this time, as more studies are needed to show a true causal effect," said Zonszein, who wasn't involved in the study.

Moreover, "the findings of this study do not support that climate change, a rise in global temperatures, increases the incidence of diabetes in Canada or worldwide," he said.

Booth explained that gestational diabetes in women develops in the second trimester of pregnancy and is usually temporary. Women are screened for it at 24 to 28 weeks of pregnancy.

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If there is a connection between temperature and gestational diabetes risk, cells called brown fat might help explain it.

According to Zonszein, "Brown fat cells are cells that -- instead of storing energy -- burn energy."

Booth speculated that extreme cold triggers activity of brown fat, thus controlling weight gain. It might even lead to weight loss, improving blood-sugar levels, she noted.

However, Zonszein said that many environmental factors -- such as excessive food intake, sugary drinks, inactivity, stress and lack of sleep -- can cause gestational diabetes in women genetically susceptible to the disease.

"Genetic factors are very important," he said, "and they are affected by many environmental factors, probably temperature is one more."

For this study, the researchers analyzed about 500,000 births in the Toronto area over 12 years. The researchers also looked at the average temperature for 30 days before diabetes testing, then compared temperature readings with results of the diabetes testing.

In women exposed to extreme cold -- 14 degrees Fahrenheit or lower -- in the month before the test, gestational diabetes was less than 5 percent. But it was about 8 percent for women when temperatures averaged 75 degrees Fahrenheit or higher, the findings showed.

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Moreover, the odds of developing gestational diabetes rose slightly with every 18-degree rise in temperature, Booth said.

The association held up whether women were born in hot climates or colder regions, she added.

"Furthermore, the same association was seen when we looked at consecutive pregnancies in the same woman," Booth said.

Besides a healthy diet and physical activity to avoid excess weight, controlling temperature might be something women can do for a healthier pregnancy, Booth suggested.

"For example, turning down the thermostat and getting outside in the winter, or using air conditioning in summer, and avoiding excess layers in hot weather may help to lower the risk of gestational diabetes," she said.

An association between temperature and gestational diabetes was also reported last September in a Swedish study. In that paper, researchers found that gestational diabetes was more common in the summer than in other seasons.

Booth said the findings of the new study might also pertain to developing type 2 diabetes.

"The risk factors for gestational diabetes and type 2 diabetes are virtually the same," she said.

The report was published online May 15 in the CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

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Could warmer temperatures raise diabetes risk in pregnancy? - CBS News

A severe warning for diabetes patients could cut into J&J's Invokana sales. (Kaspars Grinvalds/stock.adobe.com)

Eli Lilly's (LLY) Jardiance will likely benefit most after the Food and Drug Administrationrequired Dow componentJohnson & Johnson (JNJ) to warn patients of leg and foot amputations associated with diabetes drug Invokana, an analyst said Tuesday.

In a letter to physicians Tuesday, the FDA cited two large clinical trials and concluded that diabetes meds Invokana, Invokamet and Invokamet XR "causes an increased risk of leg and foot amputations."

The FDA will now require Johnson & Johnson to add a boxed warning to its Invokana/Invokamet labels. The trials, dubbed Canvas and Canvas-R, showed that leg and foot amputations occurred twice as often in patients treated with Invokana vs. aplacebo.

"Amputations to the toe and middle of the foot were the most common, however, amputations involving the leg, below and above the knee also occurred," the FDA wrote. "Some patients had more than one amputation, some involving both limbs."

Leerink analyst Seamus Fernandez expects Lilly to benefit from an influx of Invokana patients transitioning to one of its diabetes meds, Jardiance. Invokana and Jardiance belong to a class of drugs calledSGLT2 inhibitors.

SGLT2 sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 is a protein that facilitates glucose reabsorption in the kidneys. These drugs block the reabsorption of glucose in the kidneys, increase glucose excretion and lower blood glucose levels.

"The increasingly differentiated labels and data to date suggest that Lilly's Jardiance likely will be a near-term beneficiary of further and perhaps accelerated market share losses for Invokana," Fernandez wrote in a note to clients.

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Whether physicians move their patients off Invokana and onto Jardiance or AstraZeneca's (AZN) Farxiga will likely depend on the full results of the Canvas and Canvas-R trials to be presented in June during the American Diabetes Association meeting.

J&J's Janssen subsidiary began theCanvas trial in December 2009 to examine the potential cardiovascular benefit of Invokana. The Canvas-R trial began in October 2013. Researchers examined benefits of Invokana on the kidneys.

Lilly's Jardiance wasapproved by the FDA in December to cut the risk of cardiovascular death in adults with Type 2 diabetes. Jardiance was the first Type 2 diabetes drug to get approval for cutting the risk of cardiovascular death.

"We believe a dramatic impact on the class is unlikely in the wake of Jardiance's cardiovascular death claim and could be further mitigated by directionally positive results in Canvas/Canvas-R on efficacy/cardiovascular risk reduction," Fernandez wrote.

Still, the entireSGLT2 needs to grow for Jardiance to meet or beat forecasts. Fernandez sees $665 million in U.S. Jardiance sales in 2017 and $1 billion in Invokana sales in 2017. He forecasts the entire class growing to $4 billion in 2021 from $2.1 billion this year.

"So even if Jardiance were to capture 100% of Invokana's estimates sales of $1 billion in 2017 in the immediate future, a major slowdown in category growth likely would be a bigger issue relative to consensus estimates," he said.

At the closeon the stock market today, Lilly stock was down 1.6% to 78.99, after a Goldman Sachs analyst removed the stock from her conviction list. But shares of J&J, a member of the Dow Jones industrial average, advanced 0.6%, near 127.77.

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4:13 PM ET Eli Lilly and Pfizer stocks toppled to three-month lows Tuesday after sustaining a pair of downgrades.

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Lilly Could Grab Diabetes Share From Dow's J&J On Amputation Woes - Investor's Business Daily

CHICAGO, Illinois --

"I think I get two to six of these," he says, holding up a needle.

"It doesn't sleep, it doesn't take a break, it doesn't take a day off," explains his dad, Robert.

Dad sees the challenges first hand. So together, they're marching to stomp out the disease by raising money for Noah's March Foundation.

Pushing a loaded stroller, the two made their way from Key West, Florida, in January. They won't stop until they've crossed the country on a diagonal, ending up in Blaine, Washington.

"I can barely do this physically. And the idea that he's 11 and doing this, I couldn't be prouder," says dad.

In total, the duo will walk close to 4,000 miles. That's kind of like crossing the State Street Bridge - 66,979 times!

"'One time... I thought about quitting and was like 'get yourself together,'" Noah recalls, jokingly slapping himself in the face.

"Diabetes has become one of the major causes of disease and death in our country," says Dr. Siri Greeley, assistant professor of pediatrics and medicine at the University of Chicago.

He adds that it can be hard to manage blood sugar levels and avoid picking up additional health problems. In fact, Greeley explains, diabetes is a major cause of blindness.

The Centers for Disease Control says the number of Americans diagnosed with diabetes quadrupled from 1980 to 2014- and often may go unrecognized as a cause of death.

With current trends, the CDC predicts more than 100 million Americans could become diabetic by the year 2050.

And that's why you won't catch Noah Barnes dragging his feet.

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11-year-old marches cross-country for diabetes cure | abc11.com - WTVD-TV

In Brief A year after receiving a new type of islet cell transplant to treat her severe diabetes, a patient continues to do well and no longer needs insulin injections to manage her disease. A Happy Anniversary

Even the most exciting breakthrough medical treatment can be rendered obsolete by a particularly insurmountable obstacle: time. If a treatment only works temporarily, it has little chance of making a significant difference in the lives of patients, which is why the latest news from the University of Miamis Diabetes Research Institute is so exciting.

A year after transplanting insulin-producing islet cells into the omentum of a woman with a particularly unwieldy form of type 1 diabetes, the cells continue to operate as hoped. She no longer needs to receive insulin via injections or an insulin pump and is in good health.

By using the omentum, a fatty membrane in the belly, as the transplant site, the researchers were able to avoid complications associated with the traditionally used site, the liver. The longterm goal of the research is to identify a suitable location for a pancreas-mimicking mini-organ called the BioHub. Based on this patients response, the omentum is looking like it just may be the ideal spot.

Prior to this transplant, the patients entire life revolved around her diabetes. Her quality of life was severely impacted. She had to move in with her parents. And, if she traveled, she had to travel with her father, the studys lead author, Dr. David Baidal, told HealthDay.

Unfortunately, shes not alone in having diabetes control her life. According to the Centers for Disease Control, 9.3 percent of the United States population has diabetes, and 28.7 percent of those people have to inject insulin to manage their disease. If improperly treated, diabetes can lead to a range of ailments, from blindness and high blood pressure to nerve damage or even death.

This patients positive reaction to her islet cells transplant could be the first step to helping those millions of people live normal, healthy lives free from the burden of constantly managing their disease. Were exploring a way to optimize islet cell therapy to a larger population, said Baidal. This study gives us hope for a different transplant approach.

See more here:
A Patient With Diabetes No Longer Needs Insulin After Receiving A Bioengineered Pancreas - Futurism

Area residents are invited to take part in a walk this weekend to raise money for research into Type 1 diabetes, a potentially life-threatening condition that frequently develops during childhood and requires daily insulin injections.

The Corvallis Type 1 Diabetes Walk will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Crystal Lake Sports Fields, 100 S.E. Fischer Lane. Check-in starts at 9.

Participants will walk a 3-mile paved course (with options for a 1- or 2-mile walk) in a parklike setting near the Willamette River.

The event will also feature an inflatable bounce house for kids as well as coffee, a dance-off and a mini-health fair with 10 exhibitors and free screenings for relatives of people with Type 1 diabetes.

Money raised in the event will go to JDRF, formerly known as the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, to support work on a cure for the disease. So far, 252 individuals and 42 teams have signed up to take part and have generated more than $54,000 in donations.

Organizers say they hope to make the Corvallis walk an annual event.

Originally posted here:
Corvallis diabetes benefit walk on Saturday | Local | democratherald ... - Albany Democrat Herald