Bad sleepers 'at diabetes risk'

People who sleep badly may be at greater risk from developing diabetes due to a mutant gene affecting their body clock, scientists said.

The mutation not only changes the way that the hormone melatonin is controlled but also disturbs the levels of insulin - the hormone that controls blood sugar, researchers believe.

They say that the effect of the mutant strain is so significant that people who carry it have about a 20% higher chance... read more

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Why Good Health is in the Genes

<p>While we all have the same general health concerns, some people may be more at risk from certain illnesses because of their race.</p>
<p>A UK study recently suggested that black men in England are three times more likely to develop prostate cancer than white men. </p>
<p>Researchers at the University of Bristol looked at hospital records for both white and black men and found that the rate of prostate cancer was significantly higher... read more

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Genetic Screening May ID Diabetes Risk

Genetic screening can help identify people at risk for type 2 diabetes, but it adds little to traditional methods for determining risk, two new studies show.

Researchers searched for 16 recently identified genetic variants associated with an increased risk for diabetes in one study and 18 diabetes-linked variants in another.

In both studies, the more genetic variants the participants had, the greater their diabetes risk.

But genetic screening was only marginally more predictive than recognized... read more

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Study Shows ACCU-CHEK(R) Blood Glucose Monitoring Systems and Lancing Devices Are Least Painful

INDIANAPOLIS, Dec 01, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Roche announced today that a comparative study conducted to evaluate differences in perceived pain and discomfort associated with blood glucose testing showed ACCU-CHEK blood glucose monitoring systems and lancing devices were deemed least painful.
Results indicated that, overall, the ACCU-CHEK Aviva and ACCU-CHEK Compact Plus blood glucose monitoring systems and the ACCU-CHEK Multiclix, ACCU-CHEK Softclix and ACCU-CHEK Softclix Plus lancing devices were least painful when compared... read more

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Diabetics Spend Thousands More on Care

TUESDAY, Nov. 25 (HealthDay News) -- People with diabetes spend thousands of dollars more on medical costs each year than those without the disease, and that disparity increases substantially each year after the initial diabetes diagnosis.
That's the finding of a new study by researchers at RTI International, a nonprofit research institute in North Carolina.

The researchers calculated that a 50-year-old newly diagnosed diabetes patient spends $4,174 more on medical care a year... read more

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In India a New Garlic-based tablet to treat diabetes

The drug is based on vanadium and allaxin, a compound found in garlic. The study has been published in the new Royal Society of Chemistry journal Metallomics. When Hiromu Sakurai and colleagues from the Suzuka University of Medical Science, Japan, gave the drug orally to type I diabetic mice, they found it reduced blood glucose levels.

In previous work they had discovered the vanadium-allaxin compound treated both diabetes types when injected, but this new... read more

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Lung Capacity Declines Faster With Diabetes

Diabetes, the leading cause of heart disease, stroke, blindness, kidney failure and non-traumatic amputations, can also cause the lungs to deteriorate quicker than they normally do with age, a new study shows.

Although everyone experiences a decline in lung function as they grow older, research published in the April issue of Diabetes Care concluded that the lungs of people with type 2 diabetes deteriorate more quickly than normal.

The Johns Hopkins team that conducted... read more

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Elderly More Likely to Battle Sleep Disorders

Many older adults don't get enough sleep, which can increase the risk of serious health problems such as obesity, cardiovascular disease and diabetes, says the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

While sleep patterns do change as people age, disturbed sleep and waking up tired every day aren't a normal part of aging.

"As we get older, the amount of nightly sleep that we need remains the same as that of what we needed... read more

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Fooling immune systems to fight diabetes

CHICAGO, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- Doctors have tricked mouse immune systems into "thinking" cells from a donor pancreas are theirs, bringing hope to diabetes patients, U.S. researchers said.

The new technique, to fight type 1 diabetes, eliminated the need for drugs that inhibit immune-system activity in diabetic mice that had insulin-producing islet cell transplantation, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine researchers said.

Immunosuppressive drugs prevent bodies from rejecting the islet cells, but they're toxic to... read more

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Millions have diabetes and don’t know it. How about you?

November is diabetes awareness month and it’s estimated more than five million people in the U.S. are unaware that they have it.

Are you at risk?

23-million Americans have this disease and many more are at high risk of developing it.

“Pre-diabetes is a term that was used to help us identify people who have a very high risk for developing diabetes. It doesn’t say they will develop it, it just says... read more

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