Walking to work cuts risk of diabetes and high blood pressure
People who walk to work are around 40 per cent less likely to have diabetes as those who drive, according to a new study
Diabetes
"Excellence across Borders" fosters practical diabetes management
Bayer HealthCare supports local projects under the "Excellence across Borders" program in order to improve care of people with diabetes. Among the projects is a Diabetic School Awareness Program in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which is planned to start in autumn this year.
Point of care testing
Demand is increasing for point of care (POC) diagnostic testing, particularly for tests that help foster clinical decision-making within 30 minutes or less.
Promise for controlling'blood-brain barrier'
Working with mice, Johns Hopkins researchers have shed light on the activity of a protein pair found in cells that form the walls of blood vessels in the brain and retina, experiments that could lead to therapeutic control of the blood-brain barrier and of blood vessel growth in the eye.
Indispensible in many medical specialties – the seca mBCA
Until now doctors had to use complex methods to get an accurate picture of a patient's body composition. The seca mBCA simplifies that complicated technology and after less than 20 seconds, it delivers all medically relevant data.
EKF Diagnostics launches a new low cost POC HbA1c analyser
EKF Diagnostics, a worldwide manufacturer of point-of-care (POC) in-vitro diagnostic devices, has announced the European launch of its Quo-Lab POC HbA1c analyser.
Onset of Type 1 diabetes prevented in mice
Swedish researchers from the Karolinska Institutet managed to prevent onset of Type 1 diabetes in mice genetically susceptible to the disease by injecting them with specifically prepared cells.
Diabetes and CAD
Anja Behringer reports on a neglected risk factor. With an aging population multimorbidity is increasingly a major challenge for hospital care. Diabetes is one of the medical conditions frequently encountered in multimorbid patients since cardiac and vascular diseases are often accompanied by dysfunctions of the blood sugar metabolism.
Surgery proves successful for Type 2 diabetes remission
Obesity is physically debilitating – and costly for healthcare. Losing excess weight has positive effects on the entire metabolism and improves life expectancy. However, for patients who cannot lose their morbid, excess weight through diet, today’s surgical interventions can help towards permanent weight loss – and reduction in insulin dependency for diabetics.
Risks and benefits of first line diabetes treatment
Although the drug metformin is considered the gold standard in the management of type 2 diabetes, a study by a group of French researchers published in this week's PLoS Medicine suggests that the long-term benefits of this drug compared with the risks are not clearly established - an important finding given that currently, thousands of people around the world are regularly taking metformin to…
Dysglycaemia
Dysglycaemia is a new term in critical care that recognises the vital importance for glucose monitoring of patients in the intensive care unit (ICU). Beyond the clinical consensus over this word for grouping critically ill patients with hyperglycaemia, hypoglycaemia or high blood sugar, there is no broad agreement on how best to manage these patients. Report: John Brosky.
The 16th IFSO World Congress
September saw the international crème de la crème of bariatric surgery descend on Hamburg for the 16th World Congress of the International Federation for the Surgery of Obesity and Metabolic Disorders (IFSO 2011). Among their discussions: new minimally invasive procedures, the importance of aftercare and the lack of recognition of the importance of surgical treatment of the severely obese in…
The pancreas as we’ve never seen it before
Professor Ulf Ahlgren and associates at Umeå University in Sweden are a leading research team in the world in the development of optical projection tomography. With the aid of this imaging technology, they have now described aspects of how the pancreas develops during embryonic development and how the so-called islets of Langerhans are distributed in the adult organ. The findings are important…
When overweight kids become heart condition adults
A modern-day childhood totally differs from what was common just a few decades ago. It is mostly spent sitting -- at school desks, in front of TV screens or before computer monitors – all combined with the sweet temptations of the kid’s food industry. According to a WHO worldwide estimate, an estimated 10% of school-age children between five and 17 years old are overweight or obese. The…
The Norfolk Diabetes Prevention Study
UK -- Family doctors (GPs) in Norfolk are inviting patients aged over 40, with a Body Mass Index above 30 and a family history of diabetes, to take part in the Norfolk Diabetes Prevention Study (NDPS). Funded by the National Institute for Health Research, the innovative £2.2million project will run for five years at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital (NNUH) and will involve 10,000…
Two sides of the coin
Too much unhealthy food, too little exercise – the risk factors for the development of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and Type 2 diabetes are not only similar but also form a life-threatening alliance.
Germany to limit test strips prescriptions
Since the German Federal Ministry of Health did not oppose the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA) decision to eliminate reimbursement for urine and blood sugar test strips for Type 2 diabetics not dependent on insulin from the services provided by statutory medical insurers, from this October test strips will only be prescribed in exceptional cases.
SWEET news: A paediatric diabetes network
For three years the SWEET project, funded by the EU and the International Society for Paediatric and Adolescent Diabetes (ISPAD), has been preparing the establishment of centres of reference (CORs) for childhood diabetes. Now, the first 12 European CORs that are certified by SWEET have joined forces to promote improved cross-border cooperation in the treatment of young Type 1 and Type 2 diabetics.
Cardiac conundrum
France – Re-opening clogged arteries with metal stents has proved a life-saver for a majority of patients with coronary disease. Yet the high rates of complications and mortality for patients with diabetes following a percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) continue to baffle cardiologists. Report: John Brosky
Diabesity surgery
Morbid obesity is a chronic, lifelong, multifactorial, constitutional disease with negative medical, psychological, physical, social and economic side-effects. Obesity-related secondary diseases are Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension or sleep apnoea. Report: Holger Zorn
Bariatric surgery: A last resort -- or the only way to go?
More than half of the European population is overweight, or worst, obese. When diet and lifestyle changes do not result in permanent weight reduction in obese patients, bariatric surgery is now considered a final option. But, that’s far too late, says Professor Rudolf A Weiner, head of the surgical department at Sachsenhausen Hospital in Frankfurt/Main, Germany, and President of the German…
Artificial pancreas
Two small randomised trials published on bmj.com suggest that closed loop insulin delivery (also referred to as an artificial pancreas) may improve overnight blood glucose control and reduce the risk of nocturnal hypoglycaemia in adults with type 1 diabetes.
Charter promotes rights of people with diabetes
The International Diabetes Federation* (IDF) today launched the first ever Charter setting out the fundamental rights of more than 300 million people living with diabetes.
Imaging for diabetes and vascular occlusive disease
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.