Insulin News and Research

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Insulin is a hormone that is needed to convert glucose, starches and other food into energy needed for daily life. Insulin allows cells to use glucose for fuel and is secreted by beta cells in the islets of Langerhans. The release of insulin from the pancreas is stimulated by increased blood glucose, vagal nerve stimulation, and other factors. Insulin is obtained from various animals and available in a variety of preparations. Commercial insulin preparations differ in a number of ways, including differences in the animal species from which they are obtained; their purity, concentration, and solubility; and the time of onset and duration of their biologic action. An oral hypoglycemic agent is not a form of insulin therapy.

Rare disease day focuses on new approach to finding treatment

2,200 babies will be born in the UK on 29th February, of which 30 will die of a rare disease before they are five years old.

29 Feb 2016

Penn State researchers develop self-powered enzyme pumps

A new way to use the chemical reactions of certain enzymes to trigger self-powered mechanical movement has been developed by a team of researchers at Penn State University and the University of Pittsburgh. A paper describing the team's research, titled "Convective flow reversal in self-powered enzyme micropumps," is published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

27 Feb 2016

Mice with lymphatic defects develop obesity late in life

Lymphatic vessels play multifaceted roles in the body, including the absorption of dietary lipid in the intestines as well as the movement of immune cells throughout the body. Previous work by Guillermo Oliver and colleagues showed that mice with lymphatic defects due to loss of one copy of the Prox1 gene developed obesity late in life.

27 Feb 2016

NUS scientists formulate recipe for making healthier bread

A team of food scientists from the National University of Singapore has successfully formulated a recipe for making healthier bread by adding a natural plant pigment, called anthocyanin, extracted from black rice. This new bread option gets digested at a slower rate - hence improving blood glucose control - and is high in antioxidants, among other health benefits.

26 Feb 2016

Medical scientists examine potential new tool for helping prevent stroke, heart attack

Medical scientists just vetted a potentially powerful new tool for helping prevent stroke and heart attack. In a study recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers show that a drug reduced the risk of stroke or heart attack by almost a quarter in patients who had previously suffered a stroke or mini-stroke.

26 Feb 2016

Insulet partners with Mode AGC to develop OmniPod Artificial Pancreas system

Insulet Corporation, the leader in tubeless insulin pump technology with its OmniPod Insulin Management System (OmniPod System), today announced a license agreement and partnership with Mode AGC (Automated Glucose Control LLC), to develop and incorporate the advanced artificial pancreas algorithm created by renowned researchers Francis Doyle PhD, Eyal Dassau PhD, and Howard Zisser MD.

25 Feb 2016

New study allows researchers to see how insulin in islets responds to sugar

"Scientists and doctors have wanted to know how much insulin a person has in their body, but haven't been able to know the exact amount without the patient being deceased and actually removing the pancreas," says Peter Arvan, division chief of Metabolism, Endocrinology & Diabetes at the University of Michigan.

25 Feb 2016

Ground-breaking discovery could lead to new treatments for diabetes

Why would a bacteria-killing protein be present in an area of the body that is not normally exposed to bacteria, like the pancreas? Researchers at The Ottawa Hospital and the University of Ottawa puzzled over this question for some time, until they eventually discovered that the protein in question was doing something entirely unexpected - it was actually helping the pancreas regenerate and produce insulin.

25 Feb 2016

Losing just 5% of weight has significant health benefits for patients with obesity

For patients with obesity trying to lose weight, the greatest health benefits come from losing just 5 percent of their body weight, according to a new study at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

23 Feb 2016

Diabetes researchers develop novel technique to monitor insulin resistance

Diabetes researchers at Sweden's Karolinska Institutet have developed a novel technique that makes it possible to monitor insulin resistance in a non-invasive manner over time in mice. The new method, presented in the journal Scientific Reports, can be used to assess insulin resistance during progression and intervention of metabolic diseases.

22 Feb 2016

Intestinal microbiota necessary for optimum postnatal growth

The intestinal microbiota is necessary to ensure optimum postnatal growth and contributes to determining the size of adult individuals, notably in the event of undernutrition.

22 Feb 2016

Exocrine tissue could play a role in diabetes treatment

Diabetes describes a disease where the body is not receiving a sufficient supply of insulin. It commonly inflicts the pancreas, the organ responsible for insulin production. More specifically, it inflicts the cells that produce insulin, which are found in the endocrine tissue of the pancreas.

22 Feb 2016

Calgary researchers develop new class of nanomedicines to treat autoimmune diseases

A new study from the University of Calgary could change the way researchers understand and treat autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis.

22 Feb 2016

Air pollution exposure increases obesity risk

Laboratory rats who breathed Beijing's highly polluted air gained weight and experienced cardio-respiratory and metabolic dysfunctions after three to eight weeks of exposure.

22 Feb 2016

New approach could open door to more personalized medications for diabetes patients

New research from the University of Copenhagen points to an entirely new approach for designing insulin-based pharmaceuticals. The approach could open the door for more personalized medications with fewer side effects for Type 1 Diabetes patients.

19 Feb 2016

High-fat diet can lead to weight gain and health complications

A new study has revealed following a low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet for just eight weeks can lead to rapid weight gain and health complications.

19 Feb 2016

Findings offer new approach to treating metabolic disorders

A new research study has revealed an important relationship between proteins secreted by the heart and obesity, glucose intolerance, and insulin resistance. The findings, published today in Obesity, offer a new approach to treating metabolic disorders, including type 2 diabetes, by targeting the pathway that controls the proteins' concentration in the blood.

18 Feb 2016

Tackling insulin resistance may reduce recurrence after stroke

Giving pioglitazone to stroke survivors with insulin resistance but no overt diabetes reduces their risk of having a recurrent vascular event, shows the randomised Insulin Resistance Intervention after Stroke trial.

18 Feb 2016

Study provides new paradigm for understanding role of immune system in type 1 diabetes

Researchers from The University of Colorado, in collaboration with St Vincent’s Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne, have identified what may be the initial target of the immune response that causes type 1 diabetes.

18 Feb 2016

Beiging of white fat could be harnessed to combat diabetes

Researchers are getting closer to learning how to turn white fat cells into brown fat cells, in a process called "beiging," to bring down blood sugar levels and fight diabetes. The team, led by Joseph Baur, PhD, an assistant professor of Physiology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania published their findings this month in the journal Diabetes.

18 Feb 2016