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Health of children with diabetes improving, report shows BBC News The health of children with diabetes in Wales is improving, a report has shown. Those with type 1 diabetes whose blood glucose is in the target range increased from 17.8% in 2014-15 to 27.2% in 2015-16. Diabetes affects the body's ability to produce ... Doctor presents patient with diabetes awardJournal Gazette and Times-Courier Take time to learn about, manage diabetesPlattsburgh Press Republican Time put into managing diabetes is well worth effortPoughkeepsie Journal Netdoctor -Walker Pilot Independent -Spartan Newsroom all 25 news articles »

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Health of children with diabetes improving, report shows - BBC News

Possible cures routinely pop up only to fade from view, their benefits never quite surpassing the simple efficacy of an insulin injection.

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Type 1 diabetes is a discouraging disease. Despite the availability of synthetic insulin and increasingly sophisticated monitoring technology, its still a condition that requires incessant vigilance: Diabetics must constantly track their blood sugar levels and carefully use that information to calibrate drug doses. Even if you manage to do all of that well, bad days remain almost inevitable. Take too much insulin, and you can spiral into a hypoglycemic delirium. Take too little, and your glucose levels will rise, filling the body with dangerous levels of ketones.

Less immediately frustratingbut no less familiar for diabeticsis the state of diabetes research. Possible cures routinely pop up only to fade from view, their benefits never quite surpassing the simple efficacy of an insulin injection. More recently, though, the field of synthetic biologya hybrid discipline that aims to construct or redesign biological components and systemshas shown the potential to produce a novel set of treatments. The solutions remain speculative, but they do offer cautious reasons for hope.

Type 1 diabetes, in theory, should be relatively easy to solve. That has been the mantra of researchers for the last 30 years. And I still take insulin every day.

John Glass, a researcher working on one such new effort, knows how maddening false hope can be, having lived with the disease for decades. Type 1 diabetes, in theory, should be relatively easy to solve, he told me over the phone. That has been the mantra of type 1 diabetes researchers for the last 30 years. And I still take insulin every day.

I had originally called Glass, a synthetic biologist with the J. Craig Venter Institute, in the hopes of better understanding how his burgeoning field was contributing to the search for a cure. Id been drawn to the topic through a seemingly promising synthetic biology study led by researchers at ETH Zurich and East China Normal University. I came away from our call fascinated instead by the promise of new research that Glass himself has recently begun to pursue. He believes it might be possible to re-engineer the genomes of skin bacteria in ways that would allow them to perform some of the functions that diabetics bodies no longer can. Whether or not that ultimately works, it exemplifies the promise of synthetic biology to provide a way around problems that have long been insurmountable for researchers.

My own interest in this topic is far from academic. Im a type 1 diabetic, and I read the study I called Glass aboutdauntingly titled -CellMimetic Designer Cells Provide Closed-Loop Glycemic Controlfrom a hospital bed where Id regained consciousness after a sudden and unexpected seizure, likely brought on by a low blood sugar episode. Though my own condition is generally well-managed, I cant help but long for a better way.

To understand the promise of the Closed Loop paper, you first have to understand what Type 1 diabetes entails. At core, its an autoimmune disease, one that results from a biological glitch that leads the body to attack the insulin-producing beta cells of its own pancreas. Beta cellsthe -cells of the papers titleserve two primary functions in a healthy organism: First, they detect blood glucose levels within the body. Second, when those levels begin to rise, the cells secrete insulin. The diabetic autoimmune assault kills off the beta cells, leaving the body with no way to process the carbohydrates it consumes.

In essence, the researchers behind this paper sought to re-engineer human embryonic kidney cells to mimic the functions of the pancreatic beta cells (the mimetic of the papers title) that immune systems of those with diabetes destroy. They then implanted these designer cells into diabetic mice, where, according to the paper, they successfully and autonomously stabilized their hosts blood sugar levels.

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Can Synthetic Biology Finally Cure Diabetes?

Its the autonomous, or closed loop, quality thats most exciting hereoffering the potential to stabilize the body without regular injections and blood sugar checks. True closed-loops recreate the healthy bodys natural processes, much as these modified kidney cells seem to do by automatically distributing insulin in response to blood sugar fluctuations. Such systems have long been the holy grail for diabetic researchers, since they would allow diabetics to go about their liveseating and exercising as they wantedwithout having to check glucose readings and juggle dosing regimens.

Medical technologists have long been at work on devices that would achieve similar results by more mechanical means: MedTronic recently received FDA approval for what it calls a closed loop combination of a digital glucose sensor and an insulin pump that it plans to roll out later this year. Its a potentially powerful device, but it still demands substantial involvement from the user, who must feed it information about carbohydrate intake, regularly recalibrate the sensor, and, of course, attach the sensors and insulin pump to their body. By comparison, synthetic biology promises a truly hands-off solution, one that wouldat least in theorysimply work.

I dont want to overstate things here. While projects working to synthesize replacements for beta cells are impressive (and have produced exciting results elsewhere), they still exhibit a fundamental problem: the diabetic bodys seemingly irreversible autoimmune response. Because the mimetic replacements resemble natural beta cells, the immune system still recognizes them as targets and eventually kills them off. Even if they work under experimental conditions for a few weeks, their effectiveness fades in time, as Glass and other researchers explained to me. Its not immediately obvious how or if the new research would overcome that hurdle, and the researchers did not respond to requests for comment.

Chad Cowan, director of the diabetes program at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, told me that the issue has been extremely difficult to resolve. Over the course of the last two years, weve tried to talk to every immunologist and every person who works on autoimmunity, particularly if they have any focus on type 1 diabetes, he said. Our overall assessment is that there isnt an easy solution, at least in terms of modulating the immune system. Various attempts to work around the immune systems response, he said, havent done more than slightly ameliorate the disease in experimental mice or clinical trials. A Californian company called ViaCyte thinks it has found a possible solution, sheathing cells in what it calls a retrievable and immune-protective encapsulation medical device. But the results of that approach remain uncertain.

Its here that the real promise of Glass proposal reveals itself: He thinks hes found a workaround for the autoimmune problem, one that would allow the body to autonomously produce insulin as needed and without risk of disruption.

Glass own professional involvement in the field began a few years ago when Alberto Hayek, a diabetes researcher and emeritus professor from University of CaliforniaSan Diego, reached out. Hayek was curious about a project Glass had worked on in 2010, in which JCVI had created a fully synthetic bacterial organism. Wondering if the same techniques might be applicable elsewhere, Hayek called Glass attention to the work of one of his UCSD colleagues, a dermatologist named Richard Gallo, who discovered a beneficial bacteria living deep in the layers of our skin that seem to be overlooked by the immune system. Would it be possibleGlass says Hayek wonderedto harvest and modify these microbes so that they function like beta cells. Instead of making new beta cells, which the body would simply reject, they would be taking something that the body still accepts and lead it to act like a beta cell.

It seemed feasible to Glass. The idea is that hed introduce new features to the bacteria, genetically re-engineering them so that theyd be able to perform the feats that diabetics bodies no longer can. He might, as he explained to me, be able to take those cells from any given person [and] put in the machinery that would allow those cells now to sense blood glucose, there in and amongst the capillaries that are in our skin. And since the immune system usually passes over these particular microbes, it might just let the newly engineered cells go about their business. Further, he said, We also know that if you put bacteria on your skin, they very quickly make it into the deep layers, meaning it could potentially be delivered via a nonintrusive application, such as personalized skin cream.

At present, Glass work is still in its earliest stages. He and his colleagues at JCVI are currently seeking funding to conduct experiments in mice. He also freely acknowledges that the re-engineered microbes might not work in practice. For one, bacteria arent great at building the structures that constitute insulin, which means Glass and his team would have to get them to produce an experimental variant. Then, of course, there are the safety concerns: They need to build a kill switch into the engineered bacteria, lest they start producing dangerously excessive amounts of the hormone. On top of that, its also unclear how many microbes they would need to apply and whether they can make enough to do the job. Its even possible, Cowan said, that the T-cells in some diabetics would attack the modified insulin.

As any longtime diabetic will tell you, the most likely outcome is that we simply wont see results soon, if ever. Even when you have a good, workable idea, the process of medical science tends to be slow: According to Cowan, it took 15 years just to get from the idea of making beta cells out of stem cells to actually producing them.

Nevertheless, Glass enthusiasmboth for synthetic biologys broader role in diabetes research and for his own work in the fieldis infectious. When I first got into science, I used to go to seminars about trying to solve diabetes. And I found them so depressing. I was convinced I was not going to live to be 30, he says. Hes survivedas have I and so many other diabeticsthanks to powerful, but largely incremental steps forward in medical technology. Now, he thinks, he may be ready to help us make a larger leap.

Im convinced that Ive reached the point in my career where I have just the right set of skills to take this completely different approach to the problem, he told me. And Im thrilled about it.

This article is part of the synthetic biology installment of Futurography, a series in which Future Tense introduces readers to the technologies that will define tomorrow. Each month, well choose a new technology and break it down. Future Tense is a collaboration among Arizona State University, New America, and Slate.

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Can Synthetic Biology Finally Cure Diabetes? - Slate Magazine

The Oklahoma Healthy Aging Initiative (OHAI) Northeast Center of Healthy Aging will be providing the Diabetes Empowerment Education Program, a news release states.

Diabetes Empowerment Education Program is a six-week program designed to teach self-management tools to older adults and their caregivers who want learn how to manage diabetes to improve their overall quality of life. This program is interactive and will teach through small groups, games, activities and support conversations. Learn about management through meal planning, how diabetes affects the body, how to monitor changes, get tips on physical activity, encouraging family involvement and much more.

Each week will focus on a different aspect and provide tips to implement at home. Participants will receive supportive handouts and meet others who have diabetes.

The Diabetic Empowerment Education Program will begin at 12:30 p.m. June 5and will continue once a week through July 10,at the Honor Heights Tower Apartments, 200 N. 40th St. Instructors are provided by OHAI, a program of the Donald W. Reynolds Department of Geriatric Medicine at the University of Oklahoma.

To receive additional information or to reserve your spot in the classes, call OHAIs Northeast Center of Healthy Aging, (888) 616-8161.

Information: Sharon Elder, Oklahoma Healthy Aging Initiative (OHAI), (888) 616-8161.

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Diabetes Empowerment Education Program accepting reservations - Muskogee Daily Phoenix

Dr. Randy Hansbrough, YourNews contributor 11:12 a.m. ET May 2, 2017

Dr. Randy Hansbrough: Natural News(Photo: submitted)

STUART A powerful connection between your diet and your risk of Alzheimer's disease via similar pathways that cause type 2 diabetes has been increasingly recognized as a legitimate contributor to neurodegeneration.

Over a decade ago, a published medical paper introduced a new disease called "type 3 diabetes."Researchers learned that your brain also produces insulin, like your pancreas does.

Without insulin your brain cells will die, and a drop in insulin production in your brain may contribute to the degeneration of your brain cells. Studies have found that people with lower levels of insulin and insulin receptors in their brains often have Alzheimer's disease. Since 2005, mounting studies have documented that insulin has a much greater role in the brain than previously expected. (J Diabetes Sci Technolv.2(6); 2008)

Insulin is directly responsible for brain cell sugar usage, affecting neurotransmitters that are critical for memory, learning and many other functions. Neuroscientists have shown that cognition is impaired when insulin levels are reduced. Clinical findings have shown that the same pathological process that leads to insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes also apply to your brain.

It is clear from these studies that the over-consumption of sugars, and grains, which also convert to sugars and have added hazardous effects, contribute significantly to the the development of diabetes and may also result in type 3 diabetes (brain diabetes). Grains in general are major causes of runaway autoimmunity, including thyroid disease, especially in the U.S., where they are consumed heavily.

When the brain becomes overwhelmed by the consistently high levels of glucose, the insulin receptors eventually become numb and desensitized. This will lead to impairments in thinking and memory abilities, eventually causing permanent brain damage. And if that isn't enough, the autoimmune condition set up by the use of grains can lead to autoimmune brain disease (ABD), as a result of antibodies attacking your neurons.

Health practitioners trained in functional medicine have the training and experience to find out what is at the root of the progression that ultimately causes, or at the very least contributes to type 3 diabetes and ABD, which is often certain foods, and different per individual. Those on that path are at risk for Parkinson's, dementia, ALS, MS and Alzheimer's.

For those whose insulin receptor status has failed, are type 1 insulin dependent for survival and managed by an endocrinologist, removing sugars and grains from the diet still holds value. It is better to be a step or two ahead of that though, and that is done by not waiting for any kind of diabetes to gain hold, whether type 1, 2, or 3. This is done by unconventional functional medicine testing and a sound cooperative approach.

For more information on autoimmune brain disease and type 3 diabetes, and how you or someone you know may benefit from this effective approach while your MD manages your medications, contact Dr. Randy Hansbrough, DC, DPsc at 772-287-7701 in Stuart, or 561-277-6612 in Jupiter and Palm Beach. Visit http://www.hcfn.org

Read or Share this story: http://www.tcpalm.com/story/specialty-publications/your-news/martin-county/reader-submitted/2017/05/02/natural-news-type-3-diabetes-and-alzheimers/101194606/

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Natural News: 'Type 3' diabetes and Alzheimer's - TCPalm

Diabetes is on the rise in Crook County. According to the most recent County Health Rankings, Crook County has one of the highest diabetes rates in Oregon, and it has been climbing steadily over the last 6 years. This may be due in part to our aging population.

Individuals over the age of 65 are at a higher risk for diabetes, and its precursor, prediabetes. Lack of physical activity is also another major risk factor. 19% of Crook County adults report getting zero leisure time physical activity.

In September, the Crook County Health Department launched a Diabetes Prevention Program called Prevent T2 to help reduce rates of type 2 diabetes. Prevent T2 is a class for people with prediabetes or who have other risk factors for type 2 diabetes. People with prediabetes higher-than-normal blood glucose (sugar) levels are 5 to 15 times more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than those with normal blood glucose levels. In fact, many people with prediabetes can be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes within 5 years.

Prevent T2 is a program developed by the CDC. It is based upon research that showed that people with prediabetes who lost 5 to 7 percent of their body weight (10 to 14 pounds for a 200-pound person) by making modest lifestyle changes reduced their risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 58 percent. For persons over the age of 60 their risk is cut by 71%.

In the program individuals work with a trained lifestyle coach to learn how to eat healthy, add physical activity to their routine, manage stress, stay motivated and solve problems that can get in the way of healthy changes. Prevent T2 groups meet for a year weekly for the first 6 months, then once or twice a month for the second 6 months to maintain healthy lifestyle changes. Participants of the group that started in September have finished the first 6 months and many have reached their weight loss goals.

The most valuable part of this class for me has been knowing that I have accountability to someone and that it is an extended period of time," said Sue Barnhouse, a current class participant. The information presented in the class has been valuable and given me a reason to continue to make changes in my activity and eating habits that really do make a difference in how I feel.

Crook County Health Department will be offering another class starting May 25th. in partnership with St. Charles. This new class will meet Wednesdays from 5:15 6:30pm at the IronHorse Lodge community room 435 NE Wayfinder Dr. Prineville. The class will be led by two trained lifestyle coaches, Kylie Loving the Diabetes Prevention Coordinator for Crook County, and Carlyn Young, a registered dietitian at St. Charles in Prineville. This class free and open to the public. Interested individuals can come to the first class May 25th to learn more and sign up for the program.

Prediabetes is a condition that often goes undiagnosed, but it is estimated that one in three Americans has it. People are more likely to have prediabetes and type 2 diabetes if they:

Are 45 year of age or older;

Are overweight;

Have a family history of type 2 diabetes;

Are physically active fewer than three times per week;or

Have been diagnosed with gestational diabetes during pregnancy or gave birth to a baby weighing more than 9 pounds.

To participate in the Prevent T2 program, a person must be 18 years of age or older, have a clinical diagnosis of pre-diabetes, or have the risk factors listed above.

To find out more about the Crook County Diabetes Prevention Program, contact Kylie Loving at 541-447-3260 ext. 133 or email her at Kloving@h.co.crook.or.us.

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Crook County offers diabetes prevention program - KTVZ

Renal and Urology News

Diabetes Increases Post-Transplant Mortality Risk - Renal and ... Renal and Urology News Diabetes in both the donor and recipient of a transplanted kidney was associated with greater risks of death, according to researchers. and more »

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Diabetes Increases Post-Transplant Mortality Risk - Renal and ... - Renal and Urology News

MUSCATINE Kim Seligman has had a busy year.

Her organization, the Muscatine Diabetes Walk Project, rolled out several programs, including a year-long wellness and nutrition diabetes prevention program and two monthly support groups for Type 1 and Type 2 diabetics. With several more programs in the pipeline, including cooking classes and a diabetes prevention program for third graders, Seligman hopes to live up to her mission to support, empower and encourage diabetics in Muscatine County.

On Friday, Seligman will celebrate that progress with the second annual Muscatine Diabetes Walk. Seligman, whose late son was a Type-1 diabetic, has made it her goal to connect people living with diabetes with the resources and support they need.

I know that these programs and outreach activities were needed in the community and it feels good just to see them coming to fruition and being able to support individuals that live with all types of diabetes here in Muscatine County, she said.

The annual walk was one of the first things Seligman did 13 years ago when she decided she wanted to support people living with diabetes. Initially, she partnered with the Watermelon Stampede to raise money for diabetes research. The annual walk evolved from there, but last spring it became the Muscatine Diabetes Walk, with the majority of the funds raised from the walk going to support programs in Muscatine.

Ninety-five percent of this years proceeds, she said, will go toward local programs, with 5 percent going to diabetes research.

I think (diabetics) need to feel that someone cares about them, she said. Living with diabetes 24/7 is not an easy journey and this is one way that we can celebrate all individuals that live with diabetes and let them have a fun event, come and feel loved by the community, supported by the community and just let them know the programs that we have available for them.

At the walk, Seligman will highlight some of her community partners, including Hy-Vee, whose dietician helps with the diabetes support groups, and UnityPoint HealthTrinity Muscatine, whose clinicians assist with the diabetes prevention program.

Seligman said there is still much to be done in Muscatine County.

I definitely want to see our Muscatine diabetes prevention program grow; we definitely want to grow that program, she said. We want to reduce the percentage of individuals that are at risk for pre-diabetes and Type 2 diabetes here in Muscatine County.

As she has thus far, Seligman hopes to collaborate with organizations who offer wellness services and connect people with services already available to them.

There are many good things (in the community) and its just connecting everything together, she said. If thats what our purpose is, I am so excited about that.

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Muscatine Diabetes Walk Project funds support, research - Muscatine Journal