Albert Einstein College Of Medicine To Study Impact Of Resveratrol On Prediabetes

Main Category: Diabetes
Also Included In: Endocrinology;??Nutrition / Diet;??Clinical Trials / Drug Trials
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Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have been awarded $600,000 from the American Diabetes Association (ADA) to study the effect of resveratrol, a chemical compound most notably found in red wine and grapes, on impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) in older adults. IGT occurs when blood glucose levels are higher than normal, but not high enough to be considered diabetes. The condition is also known as prediabetes.

IGT and diabetes increase dramatically with age, affecting almost 40 percent of adults over age 60. According to the ADA, those with prediabetes have a 50 percent increased risk of heart attack and stroke. Results of this study will provide critical information that is needed to plan and conduct more definitive studies of resveratrol in the prevention and treatment of type 2 diabetes.

"Our earlier work in the area has given us reason to be hopeful," said Jill Crandall, M.D., professor of clinical medicine and director of the Diabetes Clinical Trials Unit. "Given the easy availability, low cost and apparent safety of resveratrol supplementation, a positive finding could have an enormous impact on human health."

The ADA grant will fund a six-week double-blind, placebo-controlled cross-over study of thirty individuals between the ages of 50 and 80 years of age who have IGT. Study participants will be given resveratrol supplements to explore the compound's effects on post-meal blood glucose metabolism. Preliminary studies will also be conducted to explore how resveratrol works by examining cellular function (in muscle samples obtained from study participants) and testing resveratrol's effect on blood vessel function.

Resveratrol supplements are needed because diet alone is not sufficient to supply what is believed to be a therapeutic concentration of the compound. It's estimated that a person would need to drink between 100-1000 bottles of wine per day to receive the levels shown to be therapeutic in mice.

In research in cells and animals, resveratrol has been shown to prolong lifespan, prevent cancer and heart disease, and normalize glucose metabolism. Although use of this agent shows great promise in the treatment and/or prevention of diabetes, there have been no rigorously controlled, peer-reviewed clinical studies in humans.

Source: Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University

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Abbott Announces Positive Results From Phase 2 Study Of Low Dose Atrasentan For Treatment Of Diabetic Kidney Disease

Main Category: Diabetes
Also Included In: Urology / Nephrology;??Clinical Trials / Drug Trials;??Pharma Industry / Biotech Industry
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Abbott (NYSE: ABT) announced positive results from a Phase 2 dose-ranging study of atrasentan, a highly selective endothelin A receptor antagonist in development to help slow chronic kidney disease (CKD) progression in patients with type 2 diabetic nephropathy (diabetic kidney disease). Study results suggest that atrasentan, used in conjunction with renin-angiotensin system (RAS) inhibitors, may reduce albuminuria (presence of protein in urine) for patients with type 2 diabetes. Albuminuria is the main sign of diabetic nephropathy and as kidney function decreases, the level of albumin in the urine rises. Results were presented at the annual American Society of Nephrology meeting in Denver, Colorado.

Key findings from the 8-week study of three doses of atrasentan (0.25 mg, n=22; 0.75 mg, n=22; 1.75 mg, n=22) vs. placebo were:

-- Atrasentan significantly reduced urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio (UACR) in the 0.75 mg and 1.75 mg groups vs. placebo (P=0.001 and P=0.011 by repeated measures, respectively). The 0.25 mg dose had no significant effect

-- Reduction from baseline to final UACR was 21%, 42%, and 34% in the 0.25 mg, 0.75 mg and 1.75 mg groups vs. 11% in placebo (P=0.292, P=0.023 and P=0.080, respectively)

-- A statistically significant proportion of subjects achieved >40% reduction in UACR from baseline in the 0.75 mg group vs. placebo (50% vs. 17% respectively, P=0.029). The proportion of patients in the 0.25 mg and 1.75 mg groups (30% and 38% respectively) did not reach statistical significance.

-- Peripheral edema (primarily mild) was the most common adverse event (14%, 18% and 46% for 0.25, 0.75 and 1.75 mg with p=0.007 for 1.75 mg vs. 9% in placebo)

"Several large clinical trials with RAS inhibitors have demonstrated that reductions in albuminuria are associated with a delay in the progression of diabetic nephropathy," said Donald E. Kohan, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Medicine, Division of Nephrology, University of Utah Health Sciences Center, Salt Lake City, Utah and lead investigator for the study. "These study results are encouraging and suggest that atrasentan may have an additional therapeutic role for albuminuria reduction on top of the current standard of care for patients with type 2 diabetes."

"The impact of chronic kidney disease is a growing global public health concern but few advancements in treatment have been made in the last decade that positively affect outcomes for patients with this progressive disease," said James Stolzenbach, Ph.D., divisional vice president, Dyslipidemia and Renal, Abbott. "Longer, outcome-driven clinical trials are needed to establish the safety and efficacy of atrasentan in diabetic nephropathy, but we are encouraged by the findings from this study and look forward to further evaluating atrasentan as a candidate for treating this type of chronic kidney disease."

Study Objectives and Design

The study was a double-blind, dose-ranging, placebo-controlled study of 89 subjects with diabetic nephropathy on stable doses of renin-angiotensin system (RAS) inhibitors for >2 months with urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (UACR) of 100-3000 mg/g, eGFR >20 mL/min/1.73m squared, and NT-pro-BNP <500 pg/mL. Patients were equally randomized to placebo, atrasentan 0.25, 0.75, or 1.75 mg daily for eight weeks. The study's primary endpoint was mean change in UACR ratio from baseline to each treatment visit. The secondary endpoint was measured as the proportion of subjects achieving at least a 40 percent reduction in final UACR levels from baseline.

About Atrasentan

Atrasentan is an investigational compound belonging to a class of compounds known as selective endothelin-A receptor antagonists, which block the effect of endothelin-l (ET-l), a protein that constricts blood vessels and raises blood pressure that impact kidney functions. Atrasentan is a highly selective endothelin-A receptor antagonist that shows promise in targeting the effect of endothelin in diabetic nephropathy. Atrasentan was discovered and developed by Abbott scientists.

About Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) and Diabetic Nephropathy

CKD is a highly prevalent condition worldwide, with numbers expected to rise over the next decade. CKD is often under diagnosed due to a lack of symptoms in early stages. Data from the U.S. Renal Data System (USRDS) suggest there has been a 30 percent increase in chronic kidney disease in the United States over the past decade. CKD affects an estimated 26 million Americans. In addition, half of CKD patients also have diabetes, a percentage that is expected to grow as rates of diabetes increase. Diabetic CKD patients account for approximately 24 percent of total Medicare diabetes costs. Current treatments modestly slow the progression of CKD, and patients ultimately progress to dialysis and end-stage disease.

Source: Abbott

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Moderate drinking benefits kidney transplant recipients, study suggests

ScienceDaily (Nov. 19, 2010) ? Moderate alcohol consumption reduces one's risk for diabetes and premature death in the general population. To find if the same were true for stable kidney transplant recipients, Dorien Zelle (University Medical Center Groningen, the Netherlands) and her colleagues studied 600 renal transplant recipients who had their transplant more than one prior and followed them for several years post-transplant.

Of these, 288 (48%) were abstainers, 94 (16%) sporadic drinkers, 210 (35%) had moderate alcohol intake, and 8 (1%) were heavy drinkers. Moderate alcohol drinkers were 67% less likely to develop diabetes than other types of drinkers/nondrinkers.

During an average follow-up of seven years, moderate alcohol drinkers were 44% less likely to die than other types of drinkers/nondrinkers.

The authors concluded that in contrast with common advice for kidney transplant recipients to refrain from drinking alcohol, drinking moderate amounts of alcohol appears to protect against diabetes and premature death in kidney transplant recipients, similar to the general population. "Quality of life in renal transplant recipients is under pressure by many threats, restrictions, and recommendations," said Ms. Zelle. "Our results indicate that one of the restraints on quality of life in stable renal transplant recipients may be released. There seems no reason to advise renal transplant recipients to abstain from alcohol post-transplant."

Study co-authors include Eva Corpeleijn, Ronald Stolk, MD, PhD, Jaap Homan vd heide, MD, Willem Van son, MD, PhD, Gerjan Navis, MD, PhD, and Stephan Bakker, MD, PhD (University Medical Center Groningen, the Netherlands).

The study abstract, "Moderate Alcohol Consumption Is Associated with Low Prevalence of Post-Transplant Diabetes and Reduced Risk for Mortality in Renal Transplant Recipients," [TH-PO941] was presented as a poster on November 18, 2010 at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver, CO.

Editor's Note: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by American Society of Nephrology, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

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Diabetes drug could work against Alzheimer's, animal study suggests

ScienceDaily (Nov. 24, 2010) ? Metformin, a drug used in type 2-diabetes might have the potential to also act against Alzheimer's disease. This has been shown in a study from scientists of the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), the University of Dundee and the Max-Planck-Institute for Molecular Genetics.

The researchers have found out that the diabetes drug metformin counteracts alterations of the cell structure protein Tau in mice nerve cells. These alterations are a main cause of the Alzheimer's disease. Moreover, they uncovered the molecular mechanism of metformin in this process.

"If we can confirm that metformin shows also an effect in humans, it is certainly a good candidate for an effective therapy on Alzheimer's diseases," says Sybille Krauß from DZNE.

Their results have been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (Nov. 22, 2010).

Alzheimer's disease is a form of dementia that affects almost exclusively elderly people. Today, about 700,000 people are suffering from Alzheimer's disease in Germany. Neurons in their brains die, leading to cognitive impairment. At the molecular level, the disease is characterized amongst others by the formation of Tau protein deposits in nerve cells. Tau is a molecule that usually binds to the supportive cytoskeleton and performs a function in the transport system of the cell. In Alzheimer's disease, Tau is tipped too strongly with phosphate groups. This phosphorylation causes removal of Tau from the cytoskeleton and aggregation.

To counteract this problem, researchers aimed at regulating the protein PP2A. This protein is normally responsible for removing phosphate groups from Tau protein. In Alzheimer's disease, PP2A is not active enough -- leading to an increased phosphorylation and deposition of Tau. The scientists around Sybille Krauß and Susann Schweiger (University of Dundee) therefore looked for a drug that increases the activity of PP2A. "So far there is no drug on the market that targets the formation of tau aggregates," says Krauß.

In cell culture experiments with mouse nerve cells, the researchers showed that metformin directly protects PP2A against degradation by preventing the binding to special degradation proteins. This mechanism of metformin has been unknown so far. In addition, an increase in PP2A activity leads to a reduction in Tau phosphorylation. In a next step, the scientists added metformin to drinking water of healthy mice. This also led to a reduction of Tau-phoshorylation in brain cells. In further experiments, the researchers now intend to investigate, whether metformin prevents the deposition of tau proteins also in mouse models of Alzheimer's disease and improves cognitive performance of the animals. The effect in humans will then be tested in clinical studies. There is no risk of unexpected side effects, due to the fact that the drug is already used against diabetes.

Editor's Note: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres.

Journal Reference:

E. Kickstein, S. Krauss, P. Thornhill, D. Rutschow, R. Zeller, J. Sharkey, R. Williamson, M. Fuchs, A. Kohler, H. Glossmann, R. Schneider, C. Sutherland, S. Schweiger. Biguanide metformin acts on tau phosphorylation via mTOR/protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) signaling. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2010; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0912793107

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

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Treatment that includes surgery results in better blood flow to heart, study suggests

ScienceDaily (Nov. 16, 2010) ? Treatment that included early surgical procedures to open blocked arteries resulted in better blood flow to the heart than aggressive medical treatment alone in patients with both diabetes and heart disease, according to a study presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2010.

Previously, researchers in BARI 2D (Bypass Angioplasty Revascularization Investigation 2 Diabetes) found that over five years there were no fewer deaths and heart attacks in people who had medical treatment along with prompt vessel-opening surgery (revascularization) than in those who received only intensive treatment to manage blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol levels (with surgery performed later only if their condition worsened).

"Even though the main trial showed no difference in clinical outcomes, this study revealed that revascularization had a greater benefit in reducing the extent of ischemia (areas with reduced blood flow), which is often important in controlling symptoms," said Leslee J. Shaw, Ph.D., lead author of the study and professor of medicine at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, Ga.

In the current sub-study of BARI 2D, 1,505 participants underwent an imaging procedure that located and measured areas of heart muscle receiving sufficient blood flow. One year into the trial, researchers found:

Fifty-nine percent of revascularization patients and 49 percent of medical patients had normal results with no drug-induced ischemia.Reductions in blood flow involved 3 percent of the heart tissue in revascularization patients and 9 percent of heart muscle in medical patients.More ischemia was associated with a greater risk of death or heart attack.

The results indicate the value of scanning patients with diabetes and heart disease who are being managed with medication and lifestyle interventions.

"The benefits of lifestyle and medication take several months, so scanning after a year can provide a barometer of how effective your treatment has been at reducing ischemia," Shaw said. "Because nerves can be damaged by high blood sugar levels, people with diabetes don't always get chest pain when blood flow is reduced. This test can show reductions in blood flow whether or not you have symptoms, and a normal test can be very reassuring."

The BARI 2D trial compared various treatment strategies for patients with both type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

More than 17 million adults in the United States have diabetes, which is one of the strongest risk factors for heart disease.

Co-authors are: Manuel Cerqueira, M.D.; Maria M. Brooks, Ph.D.; Veronica V. Sansing, M.S.; George A. Beller, M.D.; Rodica Pop-Busui, M.D.; Raymond Taillefer, M.D.; Bernard R. Chaitman, M.D.; Raymond J. Gibbons, M.D.; and Ami E. Iskandrian, M.D. Author disclosures are on the abstract. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute funded the study.

Editor's Note: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by American Heart Association, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

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Adding pharmacists to doctors' offices helps patient outcomes, study shows

ScienceDaily (Nov. 15, 2010) ? Adding pharmacists to the primary care team right in doctors' offices may help patients with chronic diseases such as diabetes better manage associated risks, a new University of Alberta study had found.

The blood pressure of patients with Type 2 diabetes dropped significantly when pharmacists were included in the on-site clinical examination and consulting process, the U of A study showed. Among 153 patients whose hypertension was inadequately controlled at the beginning of the study, the 82 who had advice from a pharmacist were more likely to reach blood pressure treatment targets recommended by the Canadian Diabetes Association.

As well, the study showed that with input from pharmacists, the predicted 10-year risk of cardiovascular disease for patients with Type 2 diabetes will drop by three per cent.

The results were reported online by Diabetes Care, and are scheduled to appear in the January 2011 issue of the journal.?

"Pharmacists can play a more active role in primary care and community clinics," said Scot Simpson, lead author of the study. "We've already been actively collaborating on health care teams for years in hospitals."

Placing pharmacists in the doctor's office instead of in a more traditional role at the neighbourhood pharmacy allows for a more collaborative frontline approach to medication management in primary care, Simpson said.

"The doctors, nurses and pharmacists can directly discuss issues specific to any one patient, and by doing so, have the best outcome for the patient."

High blood pressure and other cardiovascular risk factors are common in people with diabetes, so effective management of medications is key to helping reduce the risk of heart attacks and stroke, Simpson added.

Editor's Note: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by University of Alberta, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Journal Reference:

S. H. Simpson, S. R. Majumdar, R. T. Tsuyuki, R. Z. Lewanczuk, R. Spooner, J. A. Johnson. Effect of Adding Pharmacists to Primary Care Teams on Blood Pressure Control in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes: A Randomized Controlled Trial (ISRCTN97121854). Diabetes Care, 2010; DOI: 10.2337/dc10-1294

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

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Non-invasive Glucose Measurements In The Eye Highly Effective In Clinical Study

Main Category: Eye Health / Blindness
Also Included In: Diabetes
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Freedom Meditech, Inc., the developer of non-invasive, ophthalmic-based products to detect and manage diabetes, today announced results of a clinical study that showed a high correlation between low to high blood glucose levels and non-invasive glucose measurements in the eye in a live animal model.

Results of the study of Freedom Meditech's I-SugarX™, non-invasive glucose monitoring system were presented at the Diabetes Technology Meeting in Bethesda, Maryland.

The study showed that the I-SugarX™ non-invasive polarimetric based measurements of glucose in the aqueous humor of eye tracked glucose measurements in the blood with 93 percent of readings in the A zone and the remaining seven percent in the B zone of the Clarke Error Grid (CEG). The CEG is a "gold standard" for determining the accuracy of glucose measurements - with zones A and B designated as acceptable for therapy decisions. No data fell outside the acceptable zones. The reference glucose sensors used in the study were the Johnson and Johnson LifeScan One Touch Ultra glucose meter and the Yellow Springs Instrument glucose analyzer. Seven New Zealand White rabbits were tested in the study with 41 data points collected over average study durations of 60 minutes. The average time delay between blood glucose readings and ocular readings was less than four minutes.

"The eye can be thought of as an optical window into to body for the painless measurement of glucose in the ocular fluid as opposed to the blood, and is well suited for our proprietary optical polarimetric based measurements," said John F. Burd, Ph.D., Chief Science Officer of Freedom Meditech. "Based on the results of this, and other studies, we plan to begin human clinical studies as we continue our product development."

The I-SugarX™ is a non-invasive, handheld, ocular glucose measurement device that is intended to provide people with diabetes a convenient, pain-free, and bloodless way to monitor daily glycemic control. The I-SugarX™ aims to become a superior alternative to the current "finger prick" glucose monitoring test. The global market for diabetes glucose monitoring is estimated to be $12 billion annually.

Source:
Freedom Meditech

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posted by Asha Swarup on 17 Nov 2010 at 1:11 am

The article mentions a handheld device but exactly what do you do with it to measure ocular glucose levels? It is an eyepiece to place over your eye for a few minutes? Do you look into the instrument? It would have been useful to include a description in this article. Still, it's exciting news. Thanks.

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Study Opens New Avenue For Obesity And Diabetes Drug Development

Main Category: Obesity / Weight Loss / Fitness
Also Included In: Diabetes;??Bio-terrorism / Terrorism;??Sleep / Sleep Disorders / Insomnia
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UC Irvine researchers have discovered that circadian rhythms - the internal body clock - regulate fat metabolism. This helps explain why people burn fat more efficiently at certain times of day and could lead to new pharmaceuticals for obesity, diabetes and energy-related illnesses.

The study was headed by Paolo Sassone-Corsi, Donald Bren Professor and chair of pharmacology. A leading expert on circadian rhythms, he discovered many of the key molecular switches governing these biological processes. He and his colleagues found that one of these, a protein called PER2, directly controls PPAR-gamma, a protein essential for lipid metabolism. Since circadian proteins are activated by 24-hour, light-dark patterns, PER2 turns on and off PPAR-gamma's metabolic capabilities at regular intervals.

"What surprised us most, though, is that PER2 targets one specific amino acid on the surface of the PPAR-gamma molecule," Sassone-Corsi said. "This kind of specificity is very rare in cell biology, which makes it exciting, because it presents us with a singular target for drug development."

Daniele Piomelli, Louise Turner Arnold Chair in Neurosciences at UCI, and Todd Leff, associate professor of pathology at Wayne State University in Detroit, collaborated on the study, which appears this month in Cell Metabolism.

Twenty-four-hour circadian rhythms regulate fundamental biological and physiological processes in almost all organisms. They anticipate environmental changes and adapt certain bodily functions to the appropriate time of day. Disruption of these cycles can profoundly influence human health and has been linked to obesity, diabetes, insomnia, depression, heart disease and cancer.

Last year, Sassone-Corsi helped discover that proteins involved with circadian rhythms and metabolism are intrinsically linked and dependent upon each other to ensure that cells operate properly and remain healthy.

Rajesh H. Amin and James G. Granneman of Wayne State University and UCI's Benedetto Grimaldi, Marina Maria Bellet, Sayako Katada, Giuseppe Astarita and Jun Hirayama contributed to the current study, supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Source:
Tom Vasich
University of California - Irvine

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Inhaled steroids increase diabetes risk, study suggests

ScienceDaily (Nov. 1, 2010) ? Patients taking inhaled corticosteroids are at increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, and more so with higher doses, say researchers at the Jewish General Hospital's Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research (LDI) In Montreal. The risk is of special concern for patients suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD), and much less significant for asthmatics.

"These medications are very effective in asthma, so the benefits clearly outweigh the risk for asthmatics," said Dr. Samy Suissa, Director of the Centre for Clinical Epidemiology at the LDI, and lead author of the study published in the American Journal of Medicine. "However, their effectiveness is questionable in COPD, where they are also used in higher doses. This is a very different risk/benefit situation."

Inhaled corticosteroids are administered in the form of aerosol sprays and micropowders, and include drugs like fluticasone (Flonase®, Advair®), budesonide (Pulmicort®, Rhinocort®) and beclometasone (QVAR®, Beclovent®), among others.

Oral corticosteroids like predinisone have long been known to increase the risk of diabetes, but this is the first time the effect has been observed with the inhaled form.

Suissa and his colleagues used the extensive databases of Quebec's provincial health insurance board to study a cohort of nearly 400,000 patients treated for COPD or asthma. They determined that inhaled corticosteroids increased the rate of onset of diabetes from 14 people per 1000 to 19 per 1000, or 34 percent, every year of use. In other words, 5 additional people for every 1000 users in the study -- people who otherwise would not have been affected -- developed diabetes from the use of the drug.

"These are not insubstantial numbers," said Dr. Suissa, also a professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at McGill University in Montreal. "Over a large population the absolute numbers of affected people are significant.

"We recommend that physicians reserve the use of inhaled steroids for the patients who truly benefit from these medications, namely asthmatics, and curb their use in COPD to the few patients for whom they are indicated. In all cases, patients using high doses should be assessed for possible hyperglycemia and the lowest effective dose targeted."

Editor's Note: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by Jewish General Hospital, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Journal Reference:

Samy Suissa, Abbas Kezouh, Pierre Ernst. Inhaled Corticosteroids and the Risks of Diabetes Onset and Progression. The American Journal of Medicine, 2010; 123 (11): 1001 DOI: 10.1016/j.amjmed.2010.06.019

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Study Links Early Abuse To Diabetes Risk In Women

Main Category: Diabetes
Also Included In: Women's Health / Gynecology;??Preventive Medicine
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A new study of nearly 70,000 women found a clear association between abuse in childhood and adolescence and the risk of type 2 diabetes in adult women.

"Much, although not all, of this association is explained by the greater weight gain of girls with a history of abuse," said lead study author Janet Rich-Edwards. "The weight gain seems to start in teenage years and continues into adulthood, increasing the risk of diabetes."

She added, "Weight gain explained only 60 percent of the association, however, implying that the experience of abuse gets incorporated into the body through other mechanisms, as well."

Rich-Edwards is director of developmental epidemiology at the Connors Center for Women's Health and Gender Biology at Brigham and Women's Hospital.

"We need to understand how this happens," she said. "One theory is that abused women develop disordered eating habits as a compensatory stress behavior, leading to excess weight gain. Another theory suggests that child abuse may increase levels of stress hormones that later cause weight gain and insulin resistance, characteristic of diabetes."

The study appears online and in the December issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Participants included 67,853 registered nurses from the Nurses' Health Study II. On receiving the questionnaire about violence mailed in 2001, "several said, 'It's about time you asked about violence!'" Rich-Edwards said.

A stunning 54 percent of nurses reported physical abuse and 34 percent reported sexual abuse before age 18. Moderate and severe physical and sexual abuses were associated with 26 percent to 69 percent higher risks of diabetes in maturity.

"Child abuse can leave an enduring imprint on health in adulthood," said Rich-Edwards. "We hope to alert clinicians to the possible role of abuse in the histories of some patients that they see with pre-diabetes and diabetes. We also need to help families prevent child abuse and we need to learn the best ways to reduce the long-term health burden that it imposes."

Fred Rogosch, Ph.D., director of research at the Mt. Hope Family Center at the University of Rochester, called the study "powerful" and said it provides the most compelling evidence to date of the influence of child physical and sexual abuse on the development of type 2 diabetes in women.

"The deleterious effects of child abuse extend beyond the time period of occurrence, resulting in a chain reaction of long-term consequences that impair both physical and mental health across the life course." Rogosch said. "Preventing child abuse and ameliorating its effects hold promise for improving public health."

Rich-Edwards J, et al. Abuse in childhood and adolescence as a predictor of type 2 diabetes in women. Am J Prev Med 39(6), 2010.

Source:
Health Behavior News Service

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Potential drug therapy for diabetic retinopathy under study

ScienceDaily (Nov. 8, 2010) ? One drug's startling ability to restore retinal health in the eyes of diabetic mice has researchers wanting to learn more about how it works and whether it might do the same for people.

"We want to know if this drug has the potential to block the visual devastation that can occur with diabetes," said Dr. Sylvia Smith, retinal cell biologist and co-director of the Vision Discovery Institute at the Medical College of Georgia. "That means we need to know more about how and when it is effective."

Diabetic retinopathy, the leading cause of blindness in working-age Americans, results from the destruction of the retina, a thin layer at the back of the eyeball that converts lights to signals that the brain can interpret as images. The retina, which deals with daily assaults from the sun and other external forces, is slowly injured by the high glucose levels of diabetes then further injured when it grows more blood vessels in an attempt to get more blood and oxygen to dying cells.

At least in the early stage of diabetes in mice, MCG researchers appear to have interrupted the first wave of cell destruction with the drug (+)- pentazocine -- known for its pain-relieving power -- by reducing cell stress. A new $1.5 million grant from the National Eye Institute will enable scientists to test their cell stress theory and fill in missing pieces about how and when the drug works.

Smith and her colleagues have evidence that oxidative stress, believed to be a key player in the cell damage resulting from diabetes, increases the binding of sigma receptors to BiP, a stress protein. Sigma receptors are believed to help cells cope with stress.

While some results of the union are unclear, it is clear that in the mice, (+)- pentazocine reduces binding between the two to a more usual, non-stressed level and restores the typically well-stratified retina to a more healthy state. Smith termed the result "phenomenal" when it was published in Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science in 2008. In fact, subsequent research has shown, (+)- pentazocine improves the look of the multi-layer retina in a healthy mouse.

"We know (+)- pentazocine binds to sigma receptors, but one of the things we don't know is if the binding blocks or promotes sigma receptor action," Smith said. Working with Dr. Eric Zorilla at The Scripps Research Institute in California, Smith now has mice with sigma receptors deleted that will help her better determine their role and how (+)- pentazocine intervenes.

Dr. Alan Saul, MCG electrophysiologist skilled in measuring the response of the retina to light, is helping her objectively measure the impact on mouse vision. Much like an EEG measures the electrical activity of the brain, Saul, a faculty member in the MCG Department of Ophthalmology, helps measure the electrical response of the retina -- which is part of the brain -- to light as an objective vision test to accompany the more common vision chart.

Without a mouse vision chart, it's hard to be certain that a better-looking retina translates to better vision, Smith said. In fact, Saul has seen it go both ways in patients: an eye exam indicates good vision while the retinal test shows differently, and vice versa. "You are surprised a lot of the time," Saul said. In fact, they are beginning to find some surprises in mice with a related problem. Diabetes essentially doubles the glaucoma risk and as their mice with glaucoma reach the equivalent of their 20s and 30s in human years. Saul's electrical exams show early changes in their optic nerves -- which extend from the retina to the brain -- even though they look normal on microscopic exam.

To help fill in the knowledge gaps, the scientists are inducing diabetes in the mice missing sigma receptors, comparing them to healthy mice and applying non-diabetic stressors to the sigma receptor knockouts. They suspect that other stressors, including age, also cause retinal damage.

Goals include determining if retinal appearance improves as a result of the interaction between the sigma receptors and (+)- pentazocine and consequent reduction of cell stress. To help explore the therapeutic potential, they also want to see whether the drug is effective if given later in the disease process. In their earlier studies, the drug was given immediately after mice became diabetic, an unlikely stage of diagnosis for most human diabetics.

"If we can get answers to these questions we'll know better whether (+)- pentazocine has the potential to help patients, which is our ultimate goal," Smith said.

To help prevent progression of diabetic retinopathy, patients are encouraged to control glucose and cholesterol levels as well as blood pressure. Laser treatment can help destroy excessive blood vessels that hinder vision and reduce swelling often associated with the condition.

Editor's Note: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by Medical College of Georgia. The original article was written by Toni Baker.

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

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Anti-obesity program for low-income kids shows promise, study finds

ScienceDaily (Nov. 1, 2010) ? An approach that attempted to prevent childhood obesity in African-American girls produced beneficial changes in cholesterol, diabetes risk and depressive symptoms but had little effect on youths' weight, in a trial conducted by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital.

Although researchers had hoped to see a change in body mass index across the entire study population from the program -- culturally-tailored dance classes and screen time reduction for African-American girls in low-income neighborhoods of Oakland, Calif. -- they did find statistically significant benefits to weight reduction among two high-risk subgroups of children: girls from single-parent households and those who watched a lot of TV. They also noted that the large-scale, randomized trial produced other important benefits: It lowered participants' total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol levels, reduced the onset of high insulin levels and reduced symptoms of depression.

Researchers said that those results are important signs of progress in the efforts to design health-promotion and disease-prevention campaigns for populations that are most plagued by obesity and also the most difficult to reach. And they added that the lack of better weight loss results underscore the challenges these programs face.

"Although we had obstacles we had to overcome, we had tremendous successes as well," said Thomas Robinson, MD, professor of pediatrics and of medicine and the primary author of the new research. He noted that almost 85 percent of families stayed in the study at least two years. "It's important that people not be discouraged from doing research in areas that have the greatest need, because that's where we really need answers to help the populations that are at highest risk."

The findings will be published in the November issue of Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine.

"Low-income African-American girls are one of the groups at highest risk of obesity and its complications, yet very little had ever been done to try to address this group," said Robinson, who also directs the Center for Healthy Weight at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital. "Our focus was on intrinsic motivation: trying to identify behaviors kids would enjoy doing for their own sake that also happen to be health-promoting."

The researchers tested a two-year program of dance classes for 134 randomly assigned pre-teen African-American girls in Oakland. In addition to learning hip-hop, step and traditional African dancing, participants received home visits to encourage them to watch less TV, an intervention that has previously been shown to reduce obesity. The comparison group consisted of 127 similar girls who received health education classes. Health assessments and measures of such behaviors as TV watching and physical activity were collected regularly during the study.

"We designed this intervention to be culturally relevant to the children participating," said Robinson, who is also the Irving Schulman, MD, Professor in Child Health. "They were learning about the history of dance and the important contributions traditional African dance has made to contemporary hip-hop dance." The dancers also had several opportunities to perform at community events.

Onset of elevated insulin, or pre-diabetes, was 65 percent lower among the dance and screen-time-reduction girls than the comparison group, and the total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol reductions in the dancers were large enough to translate into substantial reductions in cardiovascular risk, according to the researchers.

The smaller-than-expected effect on obesity may have been due in part to challenges faced in the neighborhoods where the study was conducted, Robinson said. For instance, attendance at dance classes was hampered by six changes of venue that resulted from changes in community-center leadership and violent crime at or near centers where the classes were held. Dance classes were offered five days per week, and the researchers hoped girls would attend three days each week, but median attendance was less than one class per week.

The next step in the research is to translate the connection between fun and health promotion to many other settings. Robinson's team is now evaluating a variety of "stealth interventions" for weight-gain prevention and control: ways to tap people's intrinsic motivations to engage in behaviors that also happen to be healthy. For example, they are using interest in climate change and environmental sustainability to encourage people to eat healthier diets.

"Weight loss is considered a chore -- it shouldn't be," Robinson said. "If, instead of focusing on weight, which is very difficult to change, you can focus on behaviors that provide more positive rewards, the health benefits can come along as a side effect."

Robinson's collaborators at Stanford were Donna Matheson, PhD, senior research scholar at the Stanford Prevention Research Center; Helena Kraemer, PhD, emeritus professor of biostatistics in psychiatry; Darrell Wilson, MD, professor of pediatric endocrinology; Nikko Thompson, research assistant; former postdoctoral scholars Sofiya Alhassan, PhD and Tirzah Spencer, PhD; Farish Haydel, database manager; Michelle Fujimoto, data aide; Ann Varady, statistical analyst; and Joel Killen, PhD, professor of medicine at the Stanford Prevention Research Center.

The research was funded by a grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, which also collaborated on the study.

Editor's Note: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by Stanford University Medical Center. The original article was written by Erin Digitale.

Journal Reference:

T. N. Robinson, D. M. Matheson, H. C. Kraemer, D. M. Wilson, E. Obarzanek, N. S. Thompson, S. Alhassan, T. R. Spencer, K. F. Haydel, M. Fujimoto, A. Varady, J. D. Killen. A Randomized Controlled Trial of Culturally Tailored Dance and Reducing Screen Time to Prevent Weight Gain in Low-Income African American Girls: Stanford GEMS. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, 2010; 164 (11): 995 DOI: 10.1001/archpediatrics.2010.197

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

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Oramed Pharmaceuticals To Present Results Of An Oral Insulin Administration Study At The Tenth Annual Meeting Of The Diabetes Technology Society

Main Category: Diabetes
Also Included In: Conferences;??Pharma Industry / Biotech Industry
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Oramed Pharmaceuticals Inc. (OTCBB: ORMP.OB), a developer of oral drug delivery systems, announced today that its work entitled "Extended exposure to an oral insulin formulation yields decreased insulin secretion in Type II diabetes subjects," will be presented at the Tenth Annual Meeting of the Diabetes Technology Society, to be held in Bethesda, Maryland this November.

"The selection of Oramed as one of the companies to present at the Diabetes Technology Conference is a great opportunity for us to appraise the diabetes science community on the important progress we have made," said Nadav Kidron, Oramed CEO.

Oramed's poster will be presented on Thursday November 11, 2010, at 5:30 PM.

Forward-looking statements

Some of the statements contained in this press release are forward-looking statements which involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the company, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward looking statements, including the risks and uncertainties related to the progress, timing, cost, and results of clinical trials and product development programs; difficulties or delays in obtaining regulatory approval for our product candidates; competition from other pharmaceutical or biotechnology companies; and the company's ability to obtain additional funding required to conduct its research, development and commercialization activities. Please refer to the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a comprehensive list of risk factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements of the company to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward looking statements. The company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements.

Source: Oramed Pharmaceuticals Inc.

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