Monthly Archives: February 2017

Makayla Mattei, 15, went missing from her Virginia home on Friday morning. Her mom is worried that a stranger online lured her daughter to Georgia. Makayla is diabetic.

Ellison Barber and 11Alive , WUSA 12:54 PM. EST February 21, 2017

DUMFRIES, VA (WUSA9) - The family of a missing 15-year-old is afraid their daughter is with a stranger she met on the internet.They are originally from Atlanta and the mom said it is possible the teen may try to make her way toward Georgia.

"We haven't seen her. We haven't heard from her," said Chermene Shaw. "It feels like someone just ripped my heart out of my chest and there's a hole."

Shaws daughter, Makayla "Kayla" Phyllis Mattei, was last seen on Friday morning when she left to attend school at Forest Park High School in Dumfires, Virginia. Shaw says Makayla did not show up for school and hasn't been seen or heard from since.

This is the first time Makayla has ever left home, Shaw told WUSA9, and she's afraid the teen did it because of someone she met on the internet.

A few months ago, Shaw said she noticed her daughter talking to someone through social media.

"We believe she was talking to someone that she believed to be her age We think that this may be an adult, Shaw explained. "They don't live around here. They don't go to school anywhere."

Makayla has diabetes and needs insulin injections. Shaw said when her daughter left home she had medication with her, but she might not use it properly and she does not have a phone.

The mom took her phone away when she noticed her daughter talking to the stranger, and she had started to look through it.

"I had already taken it from her to look into. Even to hand off to the police initially, because my concern already was that there was possibly an adult trying to maybe even lure my child. It seemed so farfetched at the time, she said.

"You know your great fear, you think is to not have your child near to you but to not have them near to you and have them near to someone that possibly means them harm - I feel paralyzed."

Shaw says she and her family have spent days handing out missing flyers to as many people as they can.

"I want Makayla to know that we love her. Everyone is looking for her. Your family. We miss you, Shaw said. "We just want you to come home. If anyone has my daughter - we will find you. I will never stop looking until I get my baby back."

Makaylawas last seen wearing jeans, a pink hoodie, and carrying a dark book bag with the words Georgia State University on the front pocket.

Shaw said the family moved to Dumfries about a year ago. They are originally from Atlanta and Shaw said it is possible Makayla may try to make her way toward Georgia.

If you have any information about Makayla's whereabouts, please contact the Dumfries Police Department at (703)-792-6500.

( 2017 WUSA)

Link:
Missing teen with diabetes believed to be headed to Georgia - 11alive.com

February 21, 2017 by Mark Derewicz Top Row: Heart arteries in normal mice, diabetic mice, and normal mice with deleted IRS-1 gene. Bottom row: when artery is wounded, diabetic mice with less IRS-1 and normal mice with deleted IRS-1 gene show much greater blockage due to over-proliferation of smooth muscle cells. Credit: Clemmons Lab, UNC School of Medicine

People with diabetes are at high risk of developing heart disease. Despite knowing this, scientists have struggled to trace the specific biology behind that risk or find ways to intervene. Now, UNC School of Medicine researchers have hunted down a possible culprit - a protein called IRS-1, which is crucial for the smooth muscle cells that make up veins and arteries.

According to a study published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, too little of IRS-1 causes cells to revert to a "dedifferentiated" or stem-cell like state, and this may contribute to the buildup of plaque in the heart's arteries, a condition known as atherosclerosis, which increases the risk of heart attack, stroke, and other forms of heart disease.

"When diabetes is poorly managed, your blood sugar goes up and the amount of this protein goes down, so the cells become subject to abnormal proliferation," said senior author David R. Clemmons, MD, Sarah Graham Kenan Professor of Medicine at the UNC School of Medicine. "We need to conduct more studies, but we think this cell pathway may have significant implications for how high blood glucose leads to atherosclerosis in humans."

The research could bring scientists one step closer to finding drugs to help stave off heart disease in people with diabetes, who are twice as likely to have heart disease or experience a stroke, as compared to people without diabetes. People with diabetes also tend to experience major cardiac events at a younger age.

The study focused on the cells that form the walls of veins and arteries, known as vascular smooth muscle cells. The main function of these cells is to contract whenever the heart beats, helping to push oxygen-rich blood to the body's tissues. When plaque builds up along the arterial walls, these cells gradually lose their ability to contract.

In their previous work, Clemmons and colleagues discovered that diabetes can trigger an abnormal cell signaling pathway that causes vascular smooth muscle cells to proliferate, which contributes to atherosclerosis. But their attempts to correct the abnormal signaling pathway didn't seem to completely solve the problem, leading them to suspect another factor.

In the new study, the team found that IRS-1 acts as an inhibitor of the abnormal signaling pathway thereby keeping the vascular smooth muscle cells differentiated, or specialized. In the absence of IRS-1, the cells revert to a stem-cell like state, which in turn activates the abnormal signaling pathway and promotes cell proliferation.

In people with diabetes, the presence of IRS-1 is strongly influenced by how well - or how poorly - blood sugar is kept in check. Previous studies have shown that patients who frequently or consistently have high blood sugar show dramatic reductions in IRS-1. The new study is the first to link this reduction with a predisposition for heart disease.

"The study suggests that you can't just inhibit the abnormal signaling, which we've already figured out how to do," Clemmons said. "Our work suggests you probably have to restore the normal signaling pathway, at least to some extent, in order to completely restore the cells to normal cell health, differentiation, and functioning."

As a next step, the Clemmons lab will look for things that might stimulate the synthesis of this protein even in the presence of high blood glucose.

To prove that IRS-1 acts as a brake on the abnormal signaling pathway that leads to cell proliferation, the team conducted experiments in three different types of mice: healthy mice, diabetic mice, and nondiabetic mice that were genetically engineered to produce no IRS-1. The scientists made a small incision in the blood vessels of the animals and then watched to see how the vascular smooth muscle cells reacted. In healthy mice, the incision stimulated wound healing but little cellular proliferation. In both the diabetic animals and the nondiabetic IRS-1 deficient animals, the researchers observed a marked increase in abnormal cellular proliferation.

The findings suggest that it may be possible to counteract the deleterious effects of high blood sugar on atherosclerosis by developing drugs that boost IRS-1.

Clemmons said the activities of IRS-1 might also play a role in other diabetes complications, such as eye and kidney disease. The researchers plan to study those potential links.

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Why do some people get Type 2 diabetes, while others who live the same lifestyle never do?

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I was diagnosed with type 2 Diabetes and put on Metformin on June 26th, 2016. I started the ADA diet and followed it 100% for a few weeks and could not get my blood sugar to go below 140. Finally i began to panic and called my doctor, he told me to get used to it. He said I would be on metformin my whole life and eventually insulin. At that point i knew something wasn't right and began to do a lot of research. On August 13th I found Lisa's diabetes story (google " HOW EVER I FREED MYSELF FROM THE DIABETES " ) I read that article from end to end because everything the writer was saying made absolute sense. I started the diet that day and the next morning my blood sugar was down to 100 and now i have a fasting blood sugar between Mid 70's and the 80's. My doctor took me off the metformin after just three week of being on this lifestyle change. I have lost over 30 pounds and 6+ inches around my waist in a month

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Researchers implicate suspect in heart disease linked to diabetes - Medical Xpress

VOL. 132 | NO. 38 | Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Dr. Kashif Latif dedicated his life to the research and treatment of diabetes after his son, who is now 20 years old, was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes when he was just 11 months old.

Dr. Kashif Latif has expanded treatment of diabetes beyond the walls of AM Diabetes and Endocrinology Center, establishing a 5K run for juvenile diabetes, providing education on a radio program and more.

(Daily News/Andrew J. Breig)

Now two decades later, Latif operates the AM Diabetes and Endocrinology Center in Bartlett, a comprehensive care facility for patients with diabetes and North Americas only specialized Insulin Pump Center.

Dealing with diabetes firsthand, I realized that there was a lot more to it than just the perception part, and I decided I wanted to make an impact for patients who are dealing with this disease day in and day out, Latif said. So I went back and trained, and then developed the center where we have a whole scope of services, with dieticians, diabetes educators and pathologists in order to give patients a more holistic approach to treatment.

His reasons for opening the center are multi-faceted. Not only does he want to right perceptions related to the disease, he also seeks to evaluate the disease at all stages, along with the impact on a persons life and the community.

Memphis is an epicenter for diabetes, with Tennessee ranking fifth in the nation in its adult obesity rate. More than 29 million people in the U.S. have diabetes, with an estimated 8 million of those being undiagnosed.

Patients whose bodies do not produce enough insulin are called Type 1 diabetics. Type 2 diabetics produce enough insulin, but they have insulin resistance so there are times when medication, lifestyle changes and sometimes insulin are needed.

We offer services catered specifically to both classifications of diabetes, Latif said. The cornerstone of treatment is lifestyle changes, and we are very specific about the kinds of exercise and dietary changes people need to undertake to treat the disease.

Educating newly diagnosed patients and their families about diabetes and its treatment is a big emphasis for the clinic.

We really take pride in our education here, said Lesley Draffin, a registered nurse at the clinic. We have a comprehensive diabetes class every Wednesday and at the end of every month.

The center also offers services involving medication, and one of the ways to administer insulin is an insulin pump.

We have a longstanding experience with using insulin pumps, so for the last three years we have created a separate space or a sub-center for patients who are on insulin pumps, he said. All of the personnel that they come in contact with have an added level of expertise as far pump functions, etc.

In fact, all of the staff at the AM Diabetes and Endocrinology Center are required to try out wearing one of the pumps.

The patients really like that because it lets them know that we know what theyre feeling, said Draffin.

This spring, a more advanced insulin pump that can automatically administer insulin based on a blood-glucose sensor placed under the skin will be available for use in the marketplace. Latif presented research gathered at his clinic on the effectiveness of the new pumps at the American Association of Clinical Endocrinology national meeting last year, and the FDA approved the closed loop system last September.

We showed that just by moving patients under the specialized insulin pump center model, we were able to reduce their A1C levels, which is a measure of how much the blood glucose is controlled, significantly, Latif said. Once we publish more research and get the word out, I hope well see more insulin pump centers across the country because I think that is the way of the future.

His center works at the community level to raise awareness and funds for research.

His center also is intimately involved with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) and its efforts of fundraising, awareness and treatment of the disease, Latif said.

Five years ago, the center started the Sugar Run 5K, which has to date raised more than $120,000 all going to JDRF for juvenile diabetes research. The run is held every year in November at Jonathan Park in Collierville.

The center partners with radio host Betty Lamar every Saturday at noon for a diabetes and endocrinology hour, The Betty Lamar Show, on KWAM-990. Her show helps educate the public about diabetes care in general as well as services available at AM Diabetes.

At the center, they actually sit down so they can do a one-on-one with people, so no matter what your educational level they really give a wonderful class and all kinds of great reading material, said Lamar, who has a close family member who receives treatment for a thyroid problem at AM Diabetes.

Another goal of the center is to get the appropriate care to underprivileged children.

So many underprivileged children with juvenile diabetes really dont get the care they need, said Lamar, whose father had diabetes. You just cant get an insulin pump if you are poor. He wants to reach out and get those children on an insulin pump, or at least under his care.

Next, Latif hopes over the next couple of years to develop an online monitoring system for patients who wear glucose sensors as well as develop a registry for patients with Type 1 diabetes in Shelby County and the surrounding areas.

More:
Son's Diagnosis Fuels Multifaceted Approach to Treating Diabetes - Memphis Daily News