Metabolic syndrome, diabetes and vascular disease: What do we need to know? During ECR session this important question is addressed by vascular specialist Professor Erich Minar, Assistant Head of the Department of Angiology at the Vienna General Hospital (AKH), President of the Austrian Society of Angiology, and scientific researcher working closely with research centres in the USA.
Much of the newly revealed variation in amputation rates in England is due to many diabetics not receiving nine key care processes, including checks on weight, blood pressure, blood glucose, cholesterol, urine and, in particular, consistent foot care checks.
More than doubling over the last 20 years in most EU Member States, obesity has considerable implications for health, health systems and the economy. Over half our adult population is now overweight or obese, according to the joint European Commission and OECD report "Health at a Glance: Europe 2010".
"Some progress, but the big challenges remain". This was the verdict after the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) hosted the 2010 European Summit on CVD Prevention on 30 November. The summit was attended by a broad cross-section of medical experts, healthcare organisations, national societies, regulators and representatives from the European Union (EU). The aim of this bi-annual event is to…
The exact location of Santa’s Workshop has long been kept secret, but one thing every child knows is that he lives somewhere up by the North Pole. It’s a place that has seen great changes in recent years with melting sea ice and warmer summer temperatures attributed to global warming.But climate change isn’t the only bad news facing the world’s favorite jolly old elf: research from the…
Numerous studies have shown that cocoa has a protective effect against cardiovascular diseases. The reason for this has now been uncovered by researchers at Linköping University in Sweden. When a group of volunteers devoured a good-sized piece of dark chocolate, it inhibited an enzyme in their bodies that is known to raise blood pressure.
Diabetics can face a five times increase in the risk of developing cardiovascular disease (CVD) than non-diabetics. This leads to a seven to ten year reduction in life expectancy and a higher probability of suffering a fatal heart attack. These sad statistics have prompted the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) to mark World Diabetes Day on 14 November by emphasising the simple measures that…
7,000 people from 120 countries met in Stockholm this September to hear international experts discuss the progress, solutions and challenges of one of our greatest healthcare burdens. Prevention, self-monitoring, surgery, guidelines, economic problems, drug-safety, and co-morbidities – these are just a few of the problems associated with the care of about 55 million diabetics in Europe.
On 4 October, the waste reservoir of an aluminium factory in Hungary burst. Red sludge, which is the waste resulting from the production of aluminium, flooded nearby villages. In the second week of October, researchers were granted access to the area. Doctoral student Stefan Ruyters and postdoctoral researcher Jelle Mertens of the Division of Soil and Water Management (Faculty of Bioengineering)…
A new obesity measurement for the 21st Century, which can help identify individuals at risk of illness such as heart disease, strokes and diabetes, has been officially launched this week. The Body Volume Index (BVI), designed by Select Research, uses a 3D white-light scanner to calculate risk factors associated with a person's body shape and type, through analysis of weight and body fat…
Dr Susan S Braithwaite, a visiting clinical professor in endocrinology at the Department of Medicine, University of Illinois, Chicago, specialises in the management of hyperglycaemia among hospitalised patients. Hyperglycaemia, the presence of an abnormally high concentration of glucose in the blood, is a common occurrence in adults who are hospital in-patients, especially among diabetic…
A team led by UK-based researchers has found that having diabetes doubles the risk of developing a wide range of blood vessel diseases, including heart attacks and different types of stroke. The consortium, headed by Dr Nadeem Sarwar and Professor John Danesh of the University of Cambridge, analysed data from the individual records on 700,000 people, each of whom was monitored for about a decade…
The daily management of diabetes mellitus is a complex interaction between blood glucose measuring, lifestyle aspects and drug therapy. Large epidemiological trials such as UKPDS (United Kingdom Diabetes Prospective Study) have shown that an optimal blood glucose adjustment has beneficial long-term effects on type-2 diabetics’ risk of micro- and macrovascular secondary complications.
An adequate blood glucose level (4–7 mmol/l) is important not only for a diabetic’s daily well-being but also to prevent diabetes-related illnesses. HbA1c is the central marker to evaluate the success of diabetes management. But HbA1c measurement has a crucial limitation: current blood glucose fluctuations are not taken into consideration. However, the recognition of steep post-prandial blood…
Although food for in-patients can be integral to healing, the standard of catering can be disappointingly low in some hospitals. In addition, sometimes even the help needed by those patients unable to eat or drink unaided can be overlooked. In addition, the problems of poor hospital hygiene can, at worst, result in deaths as well as legal issues for management. These two difficult areas are now…
Cancer Research UK has joined forces with the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and Diabetes UK to launch a new campaign to raise awareness of the dangers of carrying excess weight around the waist. A survey to launch the 'Active Fat' campaign found that 71 per cent of respondents admitted to carrying excess weight around their middle.
While lower intelligence scores have been associated with a raised risk of cardiovascular disease, no study has so far compared the relative strength of this association with other established risk factors such as obesity, smoking and high blood pressure. Now, a large study has found that lower intelligence scores were associated with higher rates of cardiovascular disease and total mortality at…
Computer games, TV, fast food, lack of exercise – what will be the medical consequences of rising obesity in the young and what can be done about it? Pernille Due, at the National Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark in Copenhagen, studied 162,305 adolescents in 35 countries aged 11-15 years old.
A child's blood pressure, body mass index, blood glucose level and other laboratory tests and simple office measures may predict the risk of developing type 2 diabetes nine and 26 years later, according to a report in the January issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Whilst millions of people celebrate Christmas in quiet ways, many millions see this as a time for parties and excessive indulgences in eating, drinking alcohol and spending. Stomachs, livers, minds and purses can be stretched to their limits -- and beyond. Results can range from stress and partnership breakdowns as well as serious health problems. Alcoholic poisoning cases increase in the young.…
ECCO 15 – ESMO 34, the joint congress of the European CanCer Organisation (ECCO) and the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), is Europe’s largest oncology meeting; the event drew to Berlin 15,000 participants from 120 countries this September, when more than 2,000 presentations were made. Among the presentations on prevention, treatment and survivorship, proteomics, biomarkers,…
At the European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism (ESPEN) congress in Vienna, experts highlighted the important relationship between nutrition and functionality in the elderly. They discussed the importance of an effective and flexible screening tool for the measurement of nutritional status, the impact of nutritional status on fall and fracture risk, and the role physical exercise…
Bayer Diabetes Care in the UK and Ireland has launched Didget, the first and only blood glucose meter for diabetic children that connects directly to Nintendo DS and DS Lite gaming systems.
Western societies are struggling to pay for their ever increasing medical budgets. In the US up to 393 billion US-$ were spent in 2005 for cardiovascular diseases alone. Based on epidemiologic studies in primary prevention it is reasonable to estimate that 30% of coronary heart disease and stroke could be prevented by 2.5 hours of brisk walking per week.
The difference in the prevalence of diabetes in European countries is striking. Meike Lerner asked Sir Michael Hirst, Vice President of the International Diabetes Federation, why, for example, Germany has the highest number of diabetics (about 12% of the population) whilst the United Kingdom shows just 4%.
