Brazilian and American stem cell research (always politically correct and the cure for everything else) has now cured diabetes. Here’s more on the same story.

In other news: A diabetes blogger wants Apple’s help in designing better equipment for diabetics. That would be cool. Me, I just want Aventis to stop putting insulin in such cheap crappy thin glass vials that break if you so much as exhale on them, forcing me to renew my prescription early and being denied insurance coverage on it and costing me $80 a bottle. Thanks, Aventis! Why don’t you try a little quality control once in a while? Eli Lilly’s Humalog bottles wouldn’t break if you threw them at a brick wall. They know what they’re doing.

Previous cures for diabetes around the world:

• Diabetes has been cured again! (December 16, 2006)
• Juvenile Diabetes Reversal (November 27, 2006)
• Chinese Diabetes Remedy (June 9, 2006)
• Still curing diabetes (March 28, 2006)
• Canadians Cure Diabetes (March 20, 2006)
• Yet Another Cure for Diabetes (February 27, 2004)

• The Grand Canyon Skywalk: Bitter Big Time Disappointment. $75 per person! And you can’t take your camera out.
• You can now hack with Perl on the AppleTV.
• Even better - TVShows automatically subscribes you to BitTorrent feeds of your favorite TV shows. Remember kids: It’s wrong to steal. But if you have an Apple TV, I would understand how tempting this might be.
• Video game makers are rushing to make Wii titles, as they jumped onto the bandwagon a little late.
• Geek Fight: Smalltalk versus Ruby!
• Is the Google Brain Drain coming? Will Google be the victim of its own successes? The IPO money can start flowing freely out the door now, temping many to take the money and run. I think it’s only natural for some to want to make their own way in the world, start up their own ventures, or just plain old retire. But I also think (I Am NOT A Google Employee) that Google has created an environment that is very inviting to its employees, and that’ll keep the brains on campus. I wish other employers would learn that lesson.

Monitor your blood sugar readings on-line.

I’m learning Ruby on Rails right now. I could have come up with this idea and made a fortune from the Diabetes community, right? ::sigh::

Oh, and the site that includes this feature is, indeed, built on Ruby on Rails.

Nevermind.

ESPN.com - MLB - Padres’ Wells has diabetes but vows to ‘beat it’

David Wells revealed Sunday that he has been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, but he vows to beat the disease and he has already drastically changed his lifestyle in order to do so.

A man his size?  Type 2 diabetes?  SHOCKING!

Wow, I didn’t know it could hurt to put my tongue that far into my cheek. . .

I used to work for Novartis a few years back. This news makes me happy:

Biology Goes Open Source - Forbes.com

Novartis, the Basel, Switzerland, drug giant, has helped uncover which of the 20,000 genes identified by the Human Genome Project are likely to be associated with diabetes. But rather than hoard this information, as drug firms have traditionally done, it is making it available for free on the World Wide Web.

“It will take the entire world to interpret these data,” says Novartis research head Mark Fishman. “We figure we will benefit more by having a lot of companies look at these data than by holding it secret.”

Researchers at Novartis partnered with Switzerland’s Lund University and the Cambridge, Mass.-based Broad Institute, a joint venture between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard that is funded by billionaire Eli Broad. This international team compared the genomes of 1,500 people who had diabetes with 1,500 who were disease-free. All the patients were from Sweden. To do this quickly, the scientists used gene chips from biotech Affymetrix that allowed them to track 500,000 places in the genetic code where past experience has shown that there are likely to be differences.

The result: a library of genetic differences that are likely to increase a patient’s risk of diabetes.

Diabetes breakthrough

In a discovery that has stunned even those behind it, scientists at a Toronto hospital say they have proof the body’s nervous system helps trigger diabetes, opening the door to a potential near-cure of the disease that affects millions of Canadians.

Diabetic mice became healthy virtually overnight after researchers injected a substance to counteract the effect of malfunctioning pain neurons in the pancreas.

“I couldn’t believe it,” said Dr. Michael Salter, a pain expert at the Hospital for Sick Children and one of the scientists. “Mice with diabetes suddenly didn’t have diabetes any more.”

The researchers caution they have yet to confirm their findings in people, but say they expect results from human studies within a year or so. Any treatment that may emerge to help at least some patients would likely be years away from hitting the market.

Give it another year or two and we’ll see how this cure will also kill us and we’ll all be back to the drawing board.

Nintendo Says You Need To Be In Shape To Play The Wii - Gizmodo

A Nintendo PR rep said, “If people are finding themselves sore, they may need to exercise more.” Wow, how’s that for motivation. You know you’re out of shape when a Nintendo PR rep tells you to hit the gym. The rep also said that the Wii is not Jenny Craig and should not be viewed as such. Ouch.

Also, there’s the chance you’re just not playing it right. If you’re flailing all about with the Wii, you might just be working too hard at it. For me, Wii Sports Tennis is the most active game, having to continuously judge whether the hit coming at you is a forehand or a backhand — then having to judge the spin and what counter-spin you want to use — then adjust your timing to hit across the court or straight up — and then how quick to flick your wrist at it — all the while figuring out which of two players on your side should hit the ball back –
But, most of all, it’s learning that flailing your arm wildly will not lead to a faster return on your swing. It’s mostly in the wrist, not the arm. That said, it’s a lot more fun to play the game standing up and pretending you’re a tennis player in a slight crouch with your spare art counter balancing you all the way. . .

I’ve not had any pains from playing the Wii, but then I only ever play it for an hour or so at a time, maximum. If it’s any longer than that, I’ll switch up games to exercise different muscles.

Here’s the funny thing, though: It affects my blood sugar. Exercise is good for a diabetic. And all that standing up and lunging around and swinging your arms is a good way to keep yourself active, and a nice way to help regulate your blood sugar. It’s in no way a substitute for a long walk or a stint on the elliptical machine, but it’s ten times better than sitting in front of the computer or watching TV passively. I noticed a slight moderation in my blood sugar levels in the hours after playing with the Wii. I don’t have any hard statistics to back that up, but I’m certain that the limited activity on the Wii has been a help to my overall health, within reason. I’ll keep playing it because it’s fun, but enjoying it a little extra for the help it provides my pancreas.

One other thing: I’ve never had the Wiimote fly out of my hand to the point where the wrist strap had to catch it, posing the potential of it breaking and the Wiimote flying into my TV. If you play the games with just a modicum of self-control, I’m sure you won’t have that problem, either.

New data from NIH lab confirms protocol to reverse type 1 diabetes in mice

New data published in the Nov. 24 issue of Science provide further support for a protocol to reverse type 1 diabetes in mice and new evidence that adult precursor cells from the spleen can contribute to the regeneration of beta cells.

In 2001 and 2003, researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) demonstrated the efficacy of a protocol to reverse of type 1 diabetes in diabetic mice. Three studies from other institutions published in the March 24, 2006 issue of Science confirmed that the MGH-developed protocol can reverse the underlying disease but were inconclusive on the role of spleen cells in the recovery of insulin-producing pancreatic islets.

This research is being done by the team that Lee Iacocca’s organization is financing.

And how about that: Good news for juvenile diabetics, for a change.

Researchers develop blood sugar-monitoring contacts - Engadget

They’ve reportedly developed special molecules that can detect glucose at very low levels which, when incorporated into a pair of contact lenses, should be adequate for detecting the amount of glucose in the wearer’s tears — which is about one tenth the amount in blood. What’s more, unlike previous versions of the technology — which required an additional device to read the results — Geddes’ new lenses will be able to simply display the results as a dot in the wearer’s field of vision, changing colors to indicate low or high blood sugar levels.

It’s like a video game HUD for your blood sugar! Very cool.

(Thanks, Adam!)

I’ve been lucky thus far that I’ve never had a problem with bringing my insulin or needles on board a plane with me. I’ve never had my bag inspected or anyone ask to see any documentation. (I have everything labeled.) With the latest round of “no liquids allowed” rules, I’m glad I don’t have to hop on a plane in the next six months.

I think this guy is a bit more fragile a diabetic than I, but it’s a scary story, anyway:

Airline’s medicine ban leaves passenger in coma - 01 Nov 2006 - Health & fitness

A diabetic man fell into a coma because airport staff refused to let him take his insulin on board a flight from Auckland to Christchurch.Qantas yesterday apologised to Tui Peter Russell, who had a severe attack on the plane and was in hospital for two weeks.

Mr Russell said check-in staff at Auckland Airport told him he could not take his medication on board because it was dangerous.

This would be the third or fourth this year, I think. I’m still not holding my breath.

BBC NEWS | Health | Chinese remedy ‘treats diabetes’

A gardenia fruit extract used in Chinese medicine for centuries to treat adult onset diabetes is effective, scientists have found.

The US team found a chemical from the fruit blocks the action of an enzyme which stops the production of insulin.

Technorati Tags: diabetes

I think I liked it better when I was in a more exclusive club. . .

Significant increase diabetes prevalence in US

More than one out of every three individuals in the United States have diabetes and another 26 percent have impaired fasting glucose, which increases the risk of developing diabetes, new study findings suggest.

The prevalence of diagnosed diabetes has increased in recent years, while undiagnosed diabetes and impaired fasting glucose has remained constant over the past decade.

Technorati Tags: diabetes

USATODAY.com - Diabetics getting better at controlling their blood sugar

People with diabetes are doing a better job of keeping their blood sugar levels under control, an analysis of more than 14.3 million lab tests shows.

If the trend continues, it could mean lower medical costs and fewer long-term complications for the nation’s nearly 21 million diabetics.

An unpublished study by Quest Diagnostics, a chain of medical labs, examined results of tests that measure blood sugar control called the hemoglobin A1c. The American Diabetes Association says people with diabetes should aim for an A1c score of 7% or less. In the Quest analysis, the percentage of tests that met the ADA target grew from 36% in early 2001 to 56% by the end of 2005.

I think mine was around 7.1 last it was tested. I’d have to double check that. . .

Technorati Tags: diabetes

Lee Iacocca started a non-profit group to help fund the efforts of one Dr. Denise Faustman. She has a procedure which has helped reverse diabetes in lab rats.

Some scientific types argued her conclusions and methodologies, but recently three separate reports have verified her research.

Join Lee Now

In short what all three papers show is that when the autoimmune attack is interrupted regeneration of the beta cells is possible. What is unclear is the source of regeneration. In Dr. Faustman’s original research from 2003, she believed regeneration was coming from cells in the spleen; this was not confirmed. Although we would prefer 100% confirmation, the real value of this science and the basis of the human clinical trial is regeneration–not the source.

It’s never too late to donate.

Technorati Tags: diabetes

Artificial sweetener cleared of cancer link - Cancer - MSNBC.com

A huge federal study in people — not rats — takes the fizz out of arguments that the diet soda sweetener aspartame might raise the risk of cancer.

No increased risk was seen even among people who gulped down many artificially sweetened drinks a day, said researchers who studied the diets of more than half a million older Americans.

Now, can we look into the whole cell phone/brain cancer thing some more?