Common plastics chemical linked to human diseases | Health | Reuters
A study has for the first time linked a common chemical used in everyday products such as plastic drink containers and baby bottles to health problems, specifically heart disease and diabetes.
Now that we have a crackpot explanation for diabetes, I expect a crackpot cure to come along this weekend. The universe needs balance, after all.
It’s been a while since the last miracle cure for diabetes. I’m glad I can bring the latest and greatest advance in medical science that will never pan out to your attention:
Scientists Reprogram Adult Cells’ Function
Scientists have transformed one type of fully developed adult cell directly into another inside a living animal, a startling advance that could lead to cures for a variety of illnesses and sidestep the political and ethical quagmires associated with embryonic stem cell research.Through a series of painstaking experiments involving mice, the Harvard biologists pinpointed three crucial molecular switches that, when flipped, completely convert a common cell in the pancreas into the more precious insulin-producing ones that diabetics need to survive.
I think I’ll go stock up on Diet Pepsi now. . .
Finally, Disney gives diabetes some attention!
FOXNews.com - Nick Jonas Launches Type 1 Diabetes Awareness Campaign
Pop superstar Nick Jonas is already an inspiration to the millions of teens and ‘tweens’ who hang on every lyric sung by his band the Jonas Brothers.
But Jonas, who suffers from type 1 diabetes, hopes a three-year partnership he’s created with Bayer HealthCare will serve as an inspiration to others living with this disease.
I’ve been diabetic for 21 years now. I was WAY ahead of the curve on this one!
Diabetes rates skyrocket among Americans, CDC says - CNN.com
The number of Americans with diabetes has grown to about 24 million people, or roughly 8 percent of the U.S. population, the government said Tuesday.
The number of diabetics, who often use insulin pumps, has risen about 3 million over two years, says the CDC.A report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, based on data from 2007, said the number represents an increase of about 3 million over two years. The CDC estimates another 57 million people have blood sugar abnormalities called pre-diabetes, which puts people at increased risk for the disease.
But the thing is, mine is genetic. This epidemic mostly stems from people who don’t exercise enough or eat all of the wrong foods. They’re going to see the bulk of spending done on fixing them, while those of us who are just stuck with it from birth will get nothing.
Life’s so fair, isn’t it?
But Bayer is making good on a bad batch of test strips for their glucometer:
Bayer Diabetes Care has initiated a voluntary market recall of test strips (sensors) used exclusively with the Contour TS Blood Glucose Meter. In the course of its routine quality control monitoring processes the Company identified a manufacturing issue with test strips from specific lots that could result in blood glucose readings with a positive bias that is outside of our product specifications. Test results may demonstrate results 5 -17% higher.
5-17% ain’t bad, but it ain’t good, either, especially at higher numbers. There’s a difference in the amount of insulin I’d take for a 200 blood sugar, as opposed to a 234, for example. But between 80 and 85? Nada.
Glad to see a company actually utilizes their QA testing. . .
DS Game Takes Place of Glucose Monitor | Game | Life from Wired.com
The GlucoBoy, a glucose monitor that lets users play games by plugging it into a GameBoy Advance or DS, could be an important tool for helping children learn to manage their diabetes. […]
The GlucoBoy helps players manage their diabetes by awarding points whenever they perform a glucose test, with extra points given out if the test results fall within specific goals. Points can be used to unlock new games, or can be spent at GRiP (Guidance Reward Platform), a site that offers accessories, apparel, and cards for Knock ‘em Downs, one of the games featured in the GlucoBoy.
Diabetics will like this answer:
The pancreas is a completely crummy organ, without a stem cell population to help regenerate it after being damaged, that eventually craps out in nearly every human with age. I would give the pancreas a stem cell population that renews the beta cells which are responsible for insulin production, and the whole insulin system could stand to be improved to prevent insulin insensitivity with age.
While the page is completely serious and anatomically correct, there are diagrams in there that you might not want to show your five year old kid. And I agree completely about the lack of need for a prostate.
…that won’t help me one bit. It’s for Type 2, or “adult onset” diabetes.
Aussie scientists make diabetes breakthrough - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Australian researchers have pinpointed a key cause of type 2 diabetes, in a study they say has brought them closer to developing a simpler, more effective treatment for the disease.The team has identified an enzyme in diabetics as the active agent that blocks the production of insulin, which is a hormone that helps the pancreas convert blood-sugar into energy.
To their credit, they’re discussing the ramifications this would have towards treatment, not a cure. I’ve lost count of the number of cures we’ve been promised this year already.
And this was in Canada! They’re nicer up there!
Mountie fined for punching diabetic
An RCMP disciplinary board has fined a Kamloops officer two days’ pay after he punched a diabetic man in the head because he thought, incorrectly, that the man was driving drunk.
In a recent decision, the RCMP board found Constable Burke Huschi used “excessive force” without first investigating the circumstances of the situation.
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times: Low blood sugar is as close to drunk as I’ll ever get.
As if diabetics didn’t have a bad enough reputation. . .
Discovery supports theory of Alzheimer’s disease as form of diabetes
Insulin, it turns out, may be as important for the mind as it is for the body. Research in the last few years has raised the possibility that Alzheimer’s memory loss could be due to a novel third form of diabetes.
Diabetes breath test may be possible | Tech news blog - CNET News.com
A new study shows that children with type-1 diabetes exhale significantly higher levels of methyl nitrate when their blood sugar is high. That might not sound like earth-shattering news, but it could mean that diabetics have a noninvasive way to check their blood-sugar levels down the road.
Yup, it’s time for a diabetic breathalyzer. We’re being treated like drunks now! ;-)
Still, I bet it gets to market faster than the inhalable insulin spray we’ve been promised for 20 years.
Even though bones seem to be metabolically inactive structures, nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, bones are rebuilt constantly through the action of cells known as osteoblasts while old bone is destroyed by other cells known as osteoclasts. Bones also produce red and white blood cells, help maintain blood pH and store calcium. However, exciting new research has shown that bones also act as an endocrine organ. Not only do bones produce a protein hormone, osteocalcin (pictured), that regulates bone formation, but this hormone also protects against obesity and glucose intolerance by increasing proliferation of pancreatic beta cells and their subsequent secretion of insulin. Osteocalcin was also found to increase the body’s sensitivity to insulin and as well as reducing its fat stores.
In other words, we’ve cured diabetes yet again! Someone get out the score card and let me know how many cures this makes for the calendar year 2007, please.
Random thoughts for a Wednesday:
Diabetic Man Kicked Off Train, Now Missing - News Story - KIRO Seattle
A 65-year-old St. Louis man is missing after Amtrak personnel, mistaking his diabetic shock for drunk and disorderly behavior, kicked him off a train in the middle of a national forest, according to police in Williams, Ariz.Police said Roosevelt Sims was headed to Los Angeles but was asked to leave the train shortly before 10 p.m. Sunday at a railroad crossing five miles outside Williams, reported KPHO-TV in Phoenix.
“He was let off in the middle of a national forest, which is about 800,000 acres of beautiful pine trees,” Lt. Mike Graham said.
Crossing our fingers for him. . . I’ve always said it: the closest I’ll ever come to being drunk is having low blood sugar. The similarities are surreal. (You know, from what I’ve heard about what it’s like to be drunk. . . )
ScienceDaily: ‘Virus Sponge’ Could Improve Flu Treatments, Diabetes Care, Vaccine Development
Researchers at the University of Maryland’s A. James Clark School of Engineering have created a “virus sponge” that could filter a patient’s blood in a process similar to kidney dialysis, removing the virus from the patient’s body. The concept could also be used to make vaccine production more efficient and in a pill to reduce glucose levels in diabetics, among other applications.
OK, so it’s more of an alternative treatment than a cure, but we’ll see if this one ever comes to market. . .
Augie De Blieck Jr. doesn't know when to shut up, which makes him the perfect blogger. That, and he reads a lot of other blogs. You can e-mail him, if you really wanted to.
