Diabetes News and Research

Latest Diabetes News and Research

Primary care gets boost from stimulus money, experiment on 'medical home'

"Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius announced Tuesday that $200 million will be available for grants, loans, loan repayments and scholarships for the training of some 8,000 health professionals by the end of fiscal 2010," Congressional Quarterly reports.

30 Jul 2009

Deferoxamine could help diabetics heal wounds

A drug used to remove iron from the body could help doctors fight one of diabetes' cruelest complications: poor wound healing, which can lead to amputation of patients' toes, feet and even legs.

28 Jul 2009

Repeated stress signals made in cells with metabolism-associated disease encourage the growth of invading bacteria

Mitochondrial diseases disrupt the power generating machinery within cells and increase a person's susceptibility to bacterial infection, particularly in the lungs or respiratory tract.

28 Jul 2009

System 50 years out of date for chronic illness

Many people with chronic health conditions have more than one disease, which makes caring for them much more complex. Unfortunately, the way our health system is structured now, and the way it is paid for, reflects the health needs our society had about 50 years ago.

27 Jul 2009

Intensive glucose control halves complications of longstanding type 1 diabetes

Near-normal control of glucose beginning as soon as possible after diagnosis would greatly improve the long-term prognosis of type 1 diabetes, concludes a study published in the July 27, 2009, issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, which updates information about the clinical course of type 1 diabetes.

27 Jul 2009

Obesity expert says rates of severe childhood obesity have tripled

Rates of severe childhood obesity have tripled in the last 25 years, according to a recent study by an obesity expert at Brenner Children's Hospital.

27 Jul 2009

Researchers identify women at risk of gaining excessive weight with Depo-Provera

Researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston have identified women who are likely to gain weight while using depot medroxyprogesterone acetate, more commonly known as Depo-Provera or the birth control shot. These findings dispel the myth that all women who use DMPA will gain weight and will help physicians to counsel patients appropriately.

24 Jul 2009

Insurers ‘spinning’ some data to shape health reform

Insurers sometimes cherry-pick facts to make their case against certain aspects of reform efforts, including a public plan, The Washington Post reports.

22 Jul 2009

Expert says the benefits of breastfeeding are oversold

Michael Kramer, a professor of pediatrics says that much of the evidence used to persuade mothers to breastfeed was either wrong or out of date.

22 Jul 2009

Researchers say decreases likelihood of chronic diseases

Research undertaken by the Universities of Reading, Cardiff and Bristol has found that drinking milk can lessen the chances of dying from illnesses such as coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke by up to 15-20 %.

22 Jul 2009

Prehypertension, obesity and kidney disease risks

People with prehypertension are not at increased risk of kidney disease if their body mass index (BMI) is under 30.0 kg/m2, a first-ever examination of the combined effect of blood pressure and body weight on the risk of kidney disease shows.

21 Jul 2009

New drug compound Salirasib brings hope to pancreatic cancer patients

Every year, 42,000 Americans are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Few live very long, and less than 5% are still alive five years after diagnosis.

20 Jul 2009

Oxygen therapy may prevent diabetics losing limbs

Researchers say on a daily basis around 275 Australians develop type 2 diabetes and worldwide, every 30 seconds a person somewhere has a lower limb amputated because of diabetic foot disease.

16 Jul 2009

South American health ministers gather in Argentina to discuss H1N1 preparedness

The health ministers of six South American countries gathered in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Wednesday to "coordinate defenses against" the H1N1 (swine flu) virus which has killed nearly 200 people in the region," the AFP/Google.com reports.

16 Jul 2009

Obesity increases risk of complications in pregnancy

Expectant mothers who are obese are much more likely to suffer from minor complications such as heart burn and chest infections during pregnancy, a study suggests.

16 Jul 2009

HELP Committee approves protection for high tech drug companies from generics

"Senators agreed Monday to give high-tech biologic drugs 12 years of market protection before generic versions can compete," according to The Associated Press.

15 Jul 2009

Obama announces Regina Benjamin as Surgeon General pick

Dr. Regina Benjamin is President Obama's pick for surgeon general. The Alabama family physician has been an advocate for universal care, and is expected to have a role "at the table" in health reform, which would be an unusual degree of influence over policy for a surgeon general. Obama said Benjamin "represents what's best about health care in America."

15 Jul 2009

Many Washington State hospitals skimp on required charity care

"As the recession has cost more people their jobs and their health insurance, local hospitals have seen more patients show up with no way to pay," reports KUOW, a Washington State public radio station.

12 Jul 2009

Elevated insulin levels linked to increased breast cancer risk

Elevated insulin levels in the blood appear to raise the risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women, according to researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University. Their findings are published in the online version of the International Journal of Cancer.

9 Jul 2009