Columbia University researchers have developed a personalized algorithm that predicts the impact of particular foods on an individual's blood sugar levels. The algorithm has been integrated into an app, Glucoracle, that will allow individuals with type 2 diabetes to keep a tighter rein on their glucose levels -- the key to preventing or controlling the major complications of a disease that affects 8 percent of Americans.

The findings were published online today in PLOS Computational Biology.

Medications are often prescribed to help patients with type 2 diabetes manage their blood sugar levels, but exercise and diet also play an important role.

"While we know the general effect of different types of food on blood glucose, the detailed effects can vary widely from one person to another and for the same person over time," said lead author David Albers, PhD, associate research scientist in Biomedical Informatics at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC). "Even with expert guidance, it's difficult for people to understand the true impact of their dietary choices, particularly on a meal-to-meal basis. Our algorithm, integrated into an easy-to-use app, predicts the consequences of eating a specific meal before the food is eaten, allowing individuals to make better nutritional choices during mealtime."

The algorithm uses a technique called data assimilation, in which a mathematical model of a person's response to glucose is regularly updated with observational data -- blood sugar measurements and nutritional information -- to improve the model's predictions, explained co-study leader George Hripcsak, MD, MS, the Vivian Beaumont Allen Professor and chair of Biomedical Informatics at CUMC. Data assimilation is used in a variety of applications, notably weather forecasting.

"The data assimilator is continually updated with the user's food intake and blood glucose measurements, personalizing the model for that individual," said co-study leader Lena Mamykina, PhD, assistant professor of biomedical informatics at CUMC, whose team has designed and developed the Glucoracle app.

Glucoracle allows the user to upload fingerstick blood measurements and a photo of a particular meal to the app, along with a rough estimate of the nutritional content of the meal. This estimate provides the user with an immediate prediction of post-meal blood sugar levels. The estimate and forecast are then adjusted for accuracy. The app begins generating predictions after it has been used for a week, allowing the data assimilator has learned how the user responds to different foods.

The researchers initially tested the data assimilator on five individuals using the app, including three with type 2 diabetes and two without the disease. The app's predictions were compared with actual post-meal blood glucose measurements and with the predictions of certified diabetes educators.

For the two non-diabetic individuals, the app's predictions were comparable to the actual glucose measurements. For the three subjects with diabetes, the app's forecasts were slightly less accurate, possibly due to fluctuations in the physiology of patients with diabetes or parameter error, but were still comparable to the predictions of the diabetes educators.

"There's certainly room for improvement," said Dr. Albers. "This evaluation was designed to prove that it's possible, using routine self-monitoring data, to generate real-time glucose forecasts that people could use to make better nutritional choices. We have been able to make an aspect of diabetes self-management that has been nearly impossible for people with type 2 diabetes more manageable. Now our task is to make the data assimilation tool powering the app even better."

Encouraged by these early results, the research team is preparing for a larger clinical trial. The researchers estimate that the app could be ready for widespread use within two years.

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Diabetes app forecasts blood sugar levels - Science Daily

A new study led by researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital has found that a single measurement of plasma glycated CD59 (GCD59), a novel biomarker for diabetes, at weeks 24-28 of gestation identified, with high sensitivity and specificity, women who failed the glucose challenge test as well as women with gestational diabetes. Plasma levels of GCD59 were also associated with the probability of delivering a large-for-gestational-age newborn. These findings are published in Diabetes Care.

Gestational diabetes is a type of diabetes that occurs during a woman's pregnancy, increasing the mother's risk of delivering a large-for-gestational-age baby, which can lead to pre-term birth, fetal injury, perinatal mortality and cesarean delivery. Gestational diabetes is also a risk factor for preeclampsia and gestational hypertension. Since treatment of gestational diabetes can lessen the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes, practice guidelines recommend screening all non-diabetic, pregnant women for the disease. The current standard of care to both screen and diagnose gestational diabetes predominantly involves a two-step approach. The first step, known as the glucose challenge test, includes administration of a sugary drink followed by a blood sugar measurement one hour later. Women who fail this screening are then sent for a longer test, called the oral glucose tolerance test, which requires fasting overnight, drinking a more concentrated sugar solution and undergoing baseline and hourly blood draws for three hours. These glucose tests, or variations thereof, are currently the only methods used to screen pregnant women for or diagnose gestational diabetes. They are time consuming, cumbersome, uncomfortable for mothers and have poor reported reproducibility.

The research team's primary goal was to assess the accuracy of the diabetes biomarker, GCD59, in predicting the results of the standard of care glucose challenge test used to screen for gestational diabetes. The team conducted a case-control study of 1,000 pregnant women who were receiving standard prenatal care at BWH: 500 women who had a normal glucose challenge test (control subjects) and 500 women who failed the glucose challenge test and required a subsequent oral glucose tolerance test (case patients). Researchers found that, when compared with the control subjects, the median plasma GCD59 value was 8.5-fold higher in the patients who failed the glucose challenge test and 10-fold higher in the subset of these patients who met diagnostic criteria for gestational diabetes in the subsequent oral glucose tolerance test.

"This is the first study to demonstrate that a single measurement of plasma GCD59 can be used as a simplified method to identify women who are at risk for failing the glucose challenge test and are at higher risk for developing gestational diabetes," says Jose Halperin, MD, a physician and researcher, Director of the Hematology Laboratory for Translational Research at BWH and senior author of the publication.

The researchers also found that higher plasma GCD59 levels at gestational week 24-28 were associated with higher prevalence of large-for-gestational-age newborns, with the higher the level, the higher the risk (4 percent higher risk for patients in the lowest quartile of GCD59 plasma levels, and 14 percent in the highest quartile). Out of the 58 large-for-gestational-age babies born to mothers that failed the glucose challenge test in this study, 80 percent were born to mothers who did not meet oral glucose tolerance test criteria for gestational diabetes, but had median plasma GCD59 levels 7-fold higher than control women with a normal glucose challenge test. These findings are consistent with other studies showing that women who fail the glucose challenge test, but do not meet criteria for gestational diabetes, are still at a higher risk of abnormal pregnancy outcomes, including delivering large for gestational age babies. Currently there are no practice guidelines for the management of women who fall between normal and abnormal glucose tolerance levels, and, therefore, their management is the same as that for women with a normal glucose challenge test results.

"These results suggest that a single measurement of plasma GCD59 during weeks 24-28 may also help stratify the risk for delivering larger infants among women with gestational glucose intolerance." says Halperin. "Our studies opened an avenue for larger multicenter studies to further assess the clinical utility of plasma GCD59 for screening and diagnosis of gestational diabetes among the general population of the United States. If our results are confirmed, we're hopeful that the GCD59 test could be available in clinical practices within the next few years."

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Imagine taking out your smartphone and asking, Can you control my blood sugar now? Ideally, you wouldnt even have to askif the smartphone were part of a loop that wirelessly connected your glucometer and an implanted population of cells engineered to secrete insulin on demand.

Such a setup, assembled by scientists based at the Shanghai Key Laboratory of Regulatory Biology, was recently shown to keep blood sugar levels within normal limits in diabetic mice. Details of this work, a synthetic biology tour de force, appeared April 26 in the journal Science Translational Medicine, in an article entitled Smartphone-Controlled Optogenetically Engineered Cells Enable Semiautomatic Glucose Homeostasis in Diabetic Mice.

Using a multidisciplinary design principle coupling electrical engineering, software development, and synthetic biology, we have engineered a technological infrastructure enabling the smartphone-assisted semiautomatic treatment of diabetes in mice, wrote the articles authors. A custom-designed home server SmartController was programmed to process wireless signals, enabling a smartphone to regulate hormone production by optically engineered cells implanted in diabetic mice via a far-red light (FRL)responsive optogenetic interface.

Essentially, the researchers added the cells to a soft biocompatible sheath that also contained wirelessly powered red LED lights to create HydrogeLEDs that could be turned on and off by an external electromagnetic field. Implanting the HydrogeLEDs into the skin of diabetic mice allowed the researchers to administer insulin doses remotely through a smartphone application. When the cells in the hydrogel were stimulated by the red LED lights, they produced a short variant of human glucagon-like peptide 1 (shGLP-1) or mouse insulin.

The scientists, led by Haifeng Ye, Ph.D., not only custom-coded the smartphone control algorithms, but also designed the engineered cells to produce insulin without any "cross-talk" between normal cellular signaling processes. The scientists went on to pair the system with a Bluetooth-enabled blood glucose meter, creating instant feedback between the therapeutic cells and the diagnostic device that helped diabetic animals rapidly achieve and maintain stable blood glucose levels in a small pilot experiment over a period of several weeks.

In vivo production of shGLP-1 or mouse insulin by the engineered cells in the hydrogel could be remotely controlled by smartphone programs or a custom-engineered Bluetooth-active glucometer in a semiautomatic, glucose-dependent manner, the authors continued. By combining electronic devicegenerated digital signals with optogenetically engineered cells, this study provides a step toward translating cell-based therapies into the clinic."

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A local organization recently got a grant to help area residents who have diabetes. (Photo: Contributed)

A local nonprofit just landed a $35,000 grant to create a nutrition and wellness program that will help people with diabetes who don't have access to health insurance.

Volunteers in Medicine Chattanooga, a free clinic thatprovides primary and preventive health care to financially eligible individuals and families who don't have insurance,was one of 33 organizations across the country to be awarded a CVS Health Foundation Grant.

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The organization serves people between the ages of 19 and 64 who are at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level.

Services are provided by licensed medical professionals who donate their time without charge to Volunteers in Medicine Chattanoogapatients.

For more information about how to start the program, click here, call 423-855-8220 or go by the clinic, which is located at 5705 Marlin Road, Suite 1400.

"We are thrilled to be recognized by the CVS Health Foundation as a recipient of a CVS Health Foundation Grant," Executive Director Ashley Evans said. "The foundations support makes it possible for our organization to continue helping our diabetic patients manage this chronic disease."

If left untreated, diabetes can cause the loss of limbs, blindness and kidney failure, she said.

But many of the organization's patients ignore chronic conditions because they don't have the resources to make it to appointments.

In 2016, the organization treated more than 100 patients with diabetes through medication oversight, diet plans and quarterly education talks.

Of those patients, about 70 percent maintained or reduced their blood sugar to normal levels.

The grant will be used to develop, implement and evaluate a lifestyle education program specifically to help patients prevent, reverse and manage diabetes.

It will allow the organization to work with 60 patients and do a 21-day food program in which the participants stay on a plant-based diet. The organization will provide lunch and dinner to participants for the 21 days. That will be coupled with weight loss and nutrition classes, as well as health screenings.

"I don't expect a lot of people will stick with being completely vegan after this, but ... [we're hoping] that when people see they've lost weight and their diabetes might be completely under control that will make an impact on them," Evans said.

The program is set to start in May.

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(WJBK) - In just over two weeks, Miss Michigan Krista Ferguson will be traveling to Las Vegas to compete for the title of Miss USA.

While she has the spotlight, she's using the attention to raise awareness about diabetes. She was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes two years ago.

Type 1 diabetes, also known as juvenile-onset, is where the body's immune system destroys the cells that release insulin, versus Type 2 diabetes in which your body can't use insulin the right way. Type 2 typically develops in adulthood.

Krista is giving herself about four shots every day, as well as pricking her finger multiple times to check her blood sugar. She also keeps a patch on her leg that continuously checks her blood sugar, and she gets alerts on her phone if her levels are changing too quickly.

Krista wants others to know that your illness doesn't define you.

"It may be a part of you but it will never stop you from conquering your dreams and achieveing your goals," she says.

You can watch Krista compete in the Miss USA competition right here on FOX 2 on May 14, 2017 at 7 p.m.

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LONDON, April 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Diabetes management is on the verge of being disrupted by innovative technologies such as artificial pancreas, non-invasive glucose monitoring sensors, wearables, apps, and inhalable insulin. This research study captures all the innovative developments across the segments of wellness, diagnosis, monitoring, and therapy of the diabetes care continuum, covering the global market.

Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/4842301/

Diabetes remains one of the top causes of mortality, and health expenditure on the disorder and its complications is set to rise 19% annually until 2040, to reach $802 billion. Beyond the traditional focus and high-interest areas of monitoring and therapy, rising diabetes prevalence and costs are resulting in the focus gradually shifting to preventing diabetes, and on the overall wellbeing of diabetics and pre-diabetics, resulting in the highest double-digit growth of the wellness segment. Diagnosis, however, remains a neglected aspect of diabetes and novel approaches may be necessary to improve screening and diagnosing patients earlier to save on long-term costs. Monitoring developments that help improve the quality of life of diabetics include blood glucose monitoring tech advances (traditional glucometers and also semi-invasive, implants, and non-invasive continuous glucose monitoring systems), data analytics support, care delivery support, and overall diabetes management support in the form of apps, telehealth, and insulin dosing calculation support. Therapy, the largest segment, is also seeing several improvements in terms of better drugs, combination drugs, better insulin forms, and better delivery mechanisms. Of course, the main development in this segment is that of artificial pancreasthere is one commercially available system and several being developed with varying approaches and features. The other notable "permanent cure" approach is cell therapy involving regenerative medicine techniques with variations in the approaches for transplantation.

The study provides an exhaustive coverage of the overall diabetes ecosystem, with strong focus on startups, apart from the existing stakeholders. It also analyzes the role that technology giants such as Alphabet (ne Google) and IBM are playing in the diabetes space. An overview of several innovative diabetes care delivery models from across the world is also included. The study would be valuable for diabetes stakeholders to chart out their strategies for future collaborations and partnerships, while keeping a watchful eye on the competition.

Key questions this study will answer: How is the diabetes burden evolving across the globe? How are market forces and trends shaping the diabetes market and the segments of wellness, diagnosis, monitoring, and therapy? What gaps in diabetic care need to be filled to address the unmet needs of diabetics? What are the technological developments in the industry that attempt to address such unmet needs? How have some care models perfected diabetes management, catering to local needs? What are some future perspectives for the industry? Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/4842301/

About Reportbuyer Reportbuyer is a leading industry intelligence solution that provides all market research reports from top publishers http://www.reportbuyer.com

For more information: Sarah Smith Research Advisor at Reportbuyer.com Email: query@reportbuyer.com Tel: +44 208 816 85 48 Website: http://www.reportbuyer.com

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/future-of-diabetes-care-paradigms-forecast-to-2022-300447395.html

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Future of Diabetes Care Paradigms, Forecast to 2022 - Yahoo Finance - Yahoo Finance