Link between autoimmune disorders and psychosis confirmed in new study

TheConversation: People with autoimmune disorders, a collection of diseases where the body’s immune system attacks its own cells, are more likely to have psychosis, according to our latest research. Previous research found that rates of rheumatoid arthritis were lower in people with psychosis than would be expected in the general population. But later studies showed that other autoimmune disorders, such as coeliac disease and autoimmune thyroid disorders, were more common in people with psychosis. This led scientists to the view that there is a connection between autoimmune disorders and psychosis. But conflicting findings meant that it was difficult to reach any conclusions about the relationship.

Kids at higher risk of autism if mum has diabetes

Scimex: Kids of mums who have any of the three main types of diabetes during pregnancy are at higher risk of developing autism, according to US research. The study showed that type 1 and type 2 diabetes, as well as gestational, or pregnancy related diabetes, diagnosed before 26 weeks were all linked to an increased risk of having a child with autism spectrum disorder. The authors say that, while the study cannot show that diabetes causes autism, it does suggest the severity of the mother's diabetes and the timing of exposure (early vs late in pregnancy) may be linked with the risk of children developing autism.

A new oral treatment temporarily coats intestine, reduces blood sugar spikes

Harvard: In a recently published paper in Nature Materials, a team of Harvard Medical School researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital reported results of a preclinical study in which an oral agent was administered to deliver a substance that could temporarily coat the intestine to prevent nutrient contact with the lining in the proximal bowel and avoid post-meal spikes in blood sugar.  

High efficiency synthesis of insulin by self-assembly based organic chemistry

Osaka: Researchers at Tokai University, Osaka University, Tohoku University and Fukuoka University report in the journal Communications Chemistry on the synthesis of insulin based on the self-assembly of polypeptide chains at about 40% efficiency. This new approach is expected to enable flexibility in synthesizing order made insulin compounds that cannot be produced using conventional biological approaches based on genetic engineering. Insulin is a hormone that acts to lower the rise in blood glucose level after meals and is used as a therapeutic agent for diabetes. Since insulin has a characteristic molecular structure in which two peptide chains (A and B chains) are connected by two disulfide bridges (SS bonds), chemical synthesis has been considered as being difficult achieve. Currently, insulin is manufactured by a genetic engineering process.

Stem Cells Pave the Way for new treatment of diabetes

Copenhagen: A new stem cell study conducted at the University of Copenhagen shows how we may increase the vital production of insulin in patients suffering from diabetes. The discovery helps to more efficiently at less cost make insulin-producing beta cells from human stem cells. Therefore, the research paves the way for more effective treatment of diabetes. The method may also prove significant to the treatment of a series of other diseases.

Scientists identify 2 hormones that burn fat faster, prevent and reverse diabetes in mice

UCLA geneticists have created a technique to hunt for hormones that influence how organs and tissues communicate with each other. The method enabled them to find naturally occurring molecules that play major roles in Type 2 diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease.

In particular, they discovered:

• Two hormones called “notum” and “lipocalin-5” that speed up the body’s ability to burn fat.
• Lipocalin-5 protected mice from developing diabetes — or cured the disease after they developed it.
• Lipocalin-5 also enhanced muscle tissue’s ability to metabolize and absorb dietary nutrients, reducing the risk of obesity and diabetes.

The findings could deepen scientists’ understanding of the mechanisms behind obesity and common risk factors for heart disease and diabetes.

Clinical Trial Tests Tattoo Sensor as Needleless Glucose Monitor for Diabetes Patients

UCSD: For Angela Valdez, being diagnosed with diabetes was an awakening. The disorder ran in her family, but she didn't think it would happen to her. And when it did, she acted by modifying her diet and physical activity. She was doing everything right — almost. "I don't handle monitoring my diabetes as I should," said Valdez. "I have the diet down a lot better now and I take my medication as I should, but the finger pricking is a struggle for me. I only test if I feel bad. If I don't feel my blood sugar level is high, and I'm taking the pill every day, I think I'm alright. Which is really bad thinking, but the pin prick is terrifying."

Vitamin D Deficiency Linked to Greater Risk of Diabetes

UCSD: An epidemiological study conducted by researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Seoul National University suggests that persons deficient in vitamin D may be at much greater risk of developing diabetes.
The findings are reported in the April 19, 2018 online issue of PLOS One. The scientists studied a cohort of 903 healthy adults (mean age: 74) with no indications of either pre-diabetes or diabetes during clinic visits from 1997 to 1999, and then followed the participants through 2009. Vitamin D levels in blood were measured during these visits, along with fasting plasma glucose and oral glucose tolerance.

Artificial pancreas is a safe and effective treatment for type 1 diabetes

BMJ: Use of an artificial pancreas is associated with better control of blood sugar levels for people with type 1 diabetes compared with standard treatment, finds a review of the available evidence published by The BMJ today. The findings show that artificial pancreas treatment provides almost two and a half extra hours of normal blood glucose levels (normoglycaemia) a day, while reducing time in both high (hyperglycaemia) and low (hypoglycaemia) blood glucose levels. While further research is needed to verify the findings, the researchers say these results support the view that “artificial pancreas systems are a safe and effective treatment approach for people with type 1 diabetes.”

How rare sugars might help control blood glucose

ACS: In an era when the label “natural” hits a sweet spot with consumers, some uncommon sugars emerging on the market could live up to the connotation. Preliminary animal studies have suggested that allulose and other low-calorie, natural rare sugars could help regulate glucose levels. Now, researchers are investigating how they might exert such effects. They report their findings in ACS’ Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

Why do insulin-producing Beta cells often fail to proliferate in people with diabetes?

Harvard: If you become resistant to insulin, a condition that is a precursor to type 2 diabetes, your body tries to compensate by producing more of the beta cells in the pancreas that produce the critical hormone. Researchers have long sought to understand why these cells often fail to proliferate in people who go on to develop the disease. Studying both humans and mice, Harvard Medical School scientists at Joslin Diabetes Center now have pinpointed one key biological mechanism that can prevent the cells from dividing successfully.

From mother to baby: ‘Secondhand sugars’ can pass through breast milk

USC: Add breast milk to the list of foods and beverages that contain fructose, a sweetener linked to health issues ranging from obesity to diabetes. A new study by researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of USC indicates that a sugar called fructose is passed from mother to infant through breast milk. The proof-of-concept study involving 25 mothers and infants provides preliminary evidence that even fructose equivalent to the weight of a grain of rice in a full day’s serving of breast milk is associated with increased body weight, muscle and bone mineral content.

Fasting-mimicking diet may reverse diabetes

USC: A diet designed to imitate the effects of fasting appears to reverse diabetes, a new USC-led study shows. The fasting-like diet promotes the growth of new insulin-producing pancreatic cells that reduce symptoms of Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes in mice, according to the study on mice and human cells led by Valter Longo, director of the Longevity Institute at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology.

Severe gum disease may be early sign of undiagnosed diabetes

BMJ: Severe gum disease, known as periodontitis, may be an early sign of type 2 diabetes, reveals research published in the online journal BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Care. Screening patients visiting their dentist for the treatment of severe gum disease, to try and stave off the complications associated with longstanding diabetes, would be feasible and worthwhile, suggest the researchers. They base their findings on 313 predominantly middle-aged people attending a university dental clinic: 109 had no gum disease; 126 had mild to moderate gum disease; and in 78 it was severe, affecting the supporting structures of the teeth.

Common Virus Tied to Diabetes, Heart Disease in Women Under 50

UCSF: A type of herpes virus that infects about half of the U.S. population has been associated with risk factors for type 2 diabetes and heart disease in normal-weight women aged 20 to 49, according to a new UC San Francisco-led study. A research team, headed by first author Shannon Fleck-Derderian, MPH, of the UCSF Department of Pediatrics, and senior author Janet Wojcicki, PhD, MPH, associate professor of pediatrics and epidemiology at UCSF, found that women of normal weight who were infected with cytomegalovirus (CMV), which typically causes no evident symptoms, were more likely to have metabolic syndrome. This condition includes risk factors such as excess abdominal fat, unhealthy cholesterol and blood fat levels, high blood pressure and elevated blood glucose.

Youth with type 2 diabetes develop complications more often than type 1 peers

NIH: Teens and young adults with type 2 diabetes develop kidney, nerve, and eye diseases – as well as some risk factors for heart disease – more often than their peers with type 1 diabetes in the years shortly after diagnosis. The results are the latest findings of the SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth (link is external) study, published Feb. 28 in the Journal of the American Medical Association (link is external). Funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), SEARCH researchers examined how quickly and often youth developed signs of kidney, nerve and eye diseases, among the most common complications of diabetes. They also measured several risk factors for heart disease. Participants had diabetes an average of under eight years at the end of the study.

Diabetes in your DNA? Scientists zero in on the genetic signature of risk

Ann Arbor: Many different mutations linked to Type 2 diabetes all occur in key stretches of active DNA within pancreatic islet cells, interfering with the activity of a master regulator. Why do some people get Type 2 diabetes, while others who live the same lifestyle never do? For decades, scientists have tried to solve this mystery – and have found more than 80 tiny DNA differences that seem to raise the risk of the disease in some people, or protect others from the damagingly high levels of blood sugar that are its hallmark.

Gastric band surgery significantly reduces health risks in overweight people with diabetes: study finds

Melbourne: A long-term study by Monash University researchers – the first of its kind – has found that gastric band surgery has significant benefits for moderately overweight people with type 2 diabetes. Previous studies have focused on obese people. The five-year study by Monash’s Centre for Obesity Research and Education (CORE), found that gastric or Lap-band surgery improved the patients’ chances of diabetes remission, reduced the need for diabetes medication and dramatically enhanced their quality of life.
Diabetes, along with obesity, is occurring in epidemic proportions. According to Diabetes Australia, an estimated 1.7 million Australians currently have the disease. Nearly 90 per cent of people with type 2 diabetes are overweight or obese.

Prediabetes results in damage to small blood vessels

Maastricht: When type 2 diabetes is diagnosed, serious complications such as damage to the retina, kidneys, heart nerves and brain may already exist. What all these complications have in common is small blood vessel damage, which has showed to be present already in the preliminary stage of diabetes, referred to as prediabetes. This discovery, made by doctors and researchers at Maastricht UMC+ as part of the Maastricht Study (De Maastricht Studie), has far-reaching consequences. The main consequence is namely that measures have to be taken much sooner, in fact during the prediabetes stage. Given the fact that almost 25% of people in the Netherlands between 40 and 75 years of age have prediabetes, a large number of whom will actually develop type 2 diabetes, this is a health problem that must not be underestimated.

'Anti-ageing' hormone could unlock new treatments for kidney and heart disease

London: A new study by researchers at King’s College London has found that patients with diabetes suffering from the early stages of kidney disease have a deficiency of the protective ‘anti-ageing’ hormone, Klotho. The study, published today in Diabetologia (the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes [EASD]), suggests that Klotho may play a significant role in the development of kidney disease, which is often prevalent in patients with diabetes. This could mean that Klotho levels have the potential to be used as a risk marker to predict kidney disease, as well as being a target for developing new treatments to prevent kidney disease in patients with type 1 diabetes.