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.
In type 2 diabetes, which is occurring at alarming rates, the hormone insulin does not work effectively to lower blood sugars and patients also do not make enough insulin. These two processes have been widely considered as separate. However, a surprising discovery was made by Joslin Diabetes Center researchers in animal models of diabetes: insulin is important in regulating its own production.…
A study published this week in Lancet suggests that low A1C levels may be just as dangerous as high A1C levels in diabetes patients with respect to mortality and cardiovascular outcomes. Upon review of the study, The Endocrine Society released a statement recommending against any wholesale change in glycemic goals and strongly encourages patients to discuss these issues with their diabetes-care…
Now firmly established within the social media world - with over 10,000 Facebook fans, over 2,500 followers on Twitter, and many more supporters across other sites - we need our online supporters to help with our 'Get Serious' campaign.
According to estimates up to 450 million patients will suffer from diabetes in the year 2025 (currently 250 million). In view of this, glucose monitoring is of utmost importance. Scientific studies and practical experiences with glucose monitoring at the point of care (POC) were evaluated recently during a meeting of experts in Vienna.
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.
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.
Expert advises specific strategies should be developed to deal with this relatively new patient group.
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.
Common European guidelines for self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) designed to improve glucose management in diabetics
Vienna, Austria 30 September - 2 October
Type 1 diabetes is a life-long autoimmune disease with onset in early childhood. The diagnosis will initially turn the everyday life of children and their families topsy-turvy due to blood glucose testing, insulin injections, thorough calculation of meals, etc. It takes time before all these new and often frightening procedures become part of the daily routine of small diabetics.
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%.
Four different population-based studies, recently published in Diabetelogia, the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD), examine a possible link between insulin glargine (brand name, Lantus) and cancer.
Martin Steinberg reports
The global prevalence of Type 2 diabetes mellitus is rapidly accelerating towards a disastrous impact in just two decades.
The fact that child diabetics (type I) in Russia do not receive necessary and qualitative therapy was again highlighted during the 7th Russian conference 'The priority national project - Health - and the tasks of children's endocrinologists' held in Saint-Petersburg this June.
In recent years wound management has been primarily nurse-led, and not benefited from a multi-disciplinary approach. This must change, said Madeleine Flanagan, Principal Lecturer at the University of Hertfordshire's school of Post Graduate Medicine in the faculty of health and human science, where she runs the MSc in Dermatology and an MSc in Skin Integrity; she is also Principal of the European…
A telemedicine programme, run through Leicester University Hospitals since last November, allows parents and young patients with Type 1 diabetes to use their mobile phone to record blood sugar levels.
This April, scientists, physicians, nurses, diabetes organisation heads, patients and representatives from Bayer HealthCare Diabetes Care gathered in Basel, Switzerland, for the third European Media Workshop on Diabetes. The event was hosted by Bayer HealthCare Diabetes Care, which is celebrating 40 years of innovative blood glucose monitoring.
Among 2,552 European R&D projects (clinical phases I-III) conducted by small and mid-size biotechnology firms (under 600 employees), 64 are focused on diabetes, according to a large, detailed study carried out by Novumed Life Science Consulting.
The Wound Care Unit at the Clinic Pasteur in Toulouse, France, was successfully set up to deliver a multidisciplinary approach to diabetic wound care.
Healthcare services often do not reach the target groups because socio-cultural preferences and values of patients and their relatives are not properly considered.
Professor Rudolf A Weiner, head of the surgical department at Sachsenhausen Hospital, Germany, reports that some developing procedures result not only result in weight loss but also in the systematic elimination of metabolic disorders, and that many new developments in the field promise hope for both the obese and their doctors
The hugely increasing numbers of diabetics is a medical and financial burden worldwide. Diabetics can, for example, suffer eye and kidney problems and more - five percent of them develop vascular diseases, leading to lower limb and feet ulcerations, which frequently result in amputations if not treated in time. Percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) can heal ulcers and, because it is…