November 2002 Articles

November 2002 News Article Index

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• No Way To Go Through Life, Son (11/26/02) Stephen Furst, who portrayed the rotund Flounder in the comedy classic Animal House, has a new starring role. He's an advocate for losing weight and excercising to control type 2 diabetes, the most common form of a disease that can have catastrophic health consequences.

• U.S. Senate Approves $750 Million Funding For Type 1 (Juvenile) Diabetes (11/26/02) This week the US Senate passed a bill funding the single largest investment ever towards finding a cure for juvenile diabetes, allocating $750 million in funding over the next five years for research on the most severe form of a disease that annually accounts for almost $100 billion in health care costs in the U.S.

• Study Begins of Ovary Disorder (11/26/02) A study has been  launched for women with polycystic ovary syndrome who want to become pregnant. The goal is to test a combination of medications to bring about ovulation in women with infertility due to polycystic ovary syndrome. Women with PCOS who meet the study criteria will be assigned at random to one of three medication groups: comparing metformin XR (a sustained-release version of metformin (Glucophage)) and placebo, an inactive pill.

• Tool Can Heal Sick, Wounded (11/26/02) A disposable plastic bag is the latest tool for healing the sick and wounded. The device has been shown in studies to minimize scarring and shorten treatment times for skin wounds, such as pressure ulcers, diabetic foot ulcers, severe burns and plastic surgery.

• Starting Beta-Blocker Before Discharge in Patients Hospitalized for Heart Failure Increases Usage (11/20/02) Initiating low-dose beta-blockers prior to discharge in heart failure patients hospitalized for worsening symptoms significantly improves the use of a drug that has been shown in previous studies to reduce death and morbidity by more than 35 percent.

• New Guidelines Focus on Fish, Fish Oil, Omega-3 Fatty Acids (11/20/02) Healthy people should eat omega-3 fatty acids from fish and plant sources to protect their hearts, according to updated American Heart Association recommendations.

• Medicare Beneficiaries with Multiple Chronic Conditions 99 Times More Likely To be Hospitalized (11/20/02) Medicare beneficiaries with four or more chronic conditions such as asthma, arthritis, diabetes, or hypertension are 99 times more likely to experience one or more potentially preventable hospitalizations than those without a chronic condition, according to a study conducted by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

• High Hostility May Predict Heart Disease More Than Other Risk Factors Such As Cholesterol (11/20/02) Hostility may predict heart disease more often than traditional coronary heart disease (CHD) risk factors like high cholesterol, cigarette smoking and weight, according to research reported on in the November issue of Health Psychology, published by the American Psychological Association (APA).

• Evidence Shows Aspirin Reduces Risk of a First Heart Attack (11/20/02) Aspirin conclusively reduces the risk of a first heart attack by 32%, according to a new report by researchers at Mount Sinai Medical Center & Miami Heart Institute.

• Diabetes Among Latinos A Growing Problem (11/20/02) The number of Latinos that are being diagnosed with the disease are continuing to increase. Researchers are linking the higher rate of diabetes in Latinos with a combination of a high-fat diet and genetics.

• Diseases Responsible for Racial Disparity in Mortality Identified (11/20/02) People without a high school education were at risk of dying an average 9 years earlier than high school graduates, while blacks were at risk of dying almost 2 years earlier than their white counterparts.

• New Test is Better Than Cholesterol in Predicting Heart Disease Risk (11/20/02) Researchers are reporting that an inexpensive blood test for a protein linked to artery disease may be better than a cholesterol test at predicting a person's risk for a heart attack or stroke. The test, for the substance, C-reactive protein, may help identify people who have an increased risk even though they do not have high cholesterol.

• More Diabetics Receiving Preventive Care to Ward off Complications  (11/20/02) According to researchers with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), over the past few years, a growing number of patients with diabetes have adopted routine measures to prevent complications.

• Routine Urine Tests Not Advised for Diabetic Women (11/20/02) Treating asymptomatic bacteriuria in diabetic women was of no benefit and should not be standard practice, according to the results of a new study in the New England Journal of Medicine.

• Are Quinolones Safe for Patients with Diabetes? (11/20/02) Recent reports have shown that Tequin (gatifloxacin) can cause SEVERE hypoglycemia when taken with oral diabetes meds...glyburide...glipizide...Prandin (repaglinide)...etc.

• Short-term Diet & Exercise Cut Heart Risk (11/20/02) People at risk for heart disease can lower their risk dramatically and quickly with exercise and dieting.

• Ramipril Helps Prevent Diabetes & Cardiovascular Events, Among High Risk Patients (11/20/02) Treatment with the ACE inhibitor ramipril may help prevent the development of diabetes as well as lower the risk of heart attack, stroke, and cardiovascular mortality in patients at high risk for cardiovascular events.

• Advances in Care Don’t Benefit Those With Diabetes (11/20/02) Lack of financial and staff resources, poor clinical information systems, physician workload and resistance to change were all barriers to care using best management processes.

• Vascular Surgery in Diabetes Widely Embraced (11/20/02) Vascular surgery should not be withheld from patients with diabetes. The long-held belief that patients with diabetes have a markedly worse perioperative outcome after vascular surgery, compared with patients with normal sugar metabolism steadily crumbled during the 1990s.

• Nation's 'Fattest' State Feels Its Growing Pains (11/19/02) Mississippi ranks as the "fattest" state in the country. It is also the leader in heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes. Nationally, obesity is at an "epidemic" level, with nearly 100 million Americans overweight or obese, Jones said. In Mississippi, about half the population fits those categories.

• Diabetic Drivers Should Check Blood Glucose (11/19/02) Physicians should encourage their patients to measure blood glucose before driving and during long drives. This recommendation is because driving imposes a significant metabolic demand, which may lower blood glucose.
• Stem Cells May Help Diabetics (11/19/02) Embryonic stem cells were turned into insulin-making tissue that was able to keep diabetic mice alive in an experiment that experts say is an important step toward a new treatment for diabetes.
• Obesity Study Focuses on After-School Hours (11/14/02) Whether after-school hours filled with study, exercise and nutritious snacks can help turn around unprecedented obesity rates in children is the focus of a new study at the Medical College of Georgia.
• Exercise Shown to Have Positive Effect On Cholesterol (11/14/02) Duke University Medical Center researchers have demonstrated that exercise -- without accompanying weight loss -- has a positive impact on improving cholesterol levels. Furthermore, they report that it is the amount of activity, and not necessarily any changes in fitness or intensity of exercise, that is important for cholesterol improvement.
• Juvenile Diabetes Group Launches Center For Insulin Secreting Cell Replacement (11/14/02) Research to find a viable cure for juvenile diabetes, also known as type 1 diabetes, received a boost with the launch of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) Center for Beta Cell Replacement at McGill University and Universite de Montreal.The Center will address one of the major obstacles in islet transplantation: the critical shortage of beta cells available for transplants.
• Pioglitazone/Metformin Therapy Enhances Glycemic Control (11/13/02) Diabetes patients taking the insulin sensitizer pioglitazone HCl in combination with metformin experienced significantly greater improvement in triglyceride levels than patients taking rosiglitazone and metformin.
• Pre-pregnancy Diabetes Increases Risk of Birth Defects (11/13/02) Pregnant women who were diagnosed with diabetes before their pregnancy are more likely to give birth to infants with birth defects, researchers report. The most common birth defects identified in the study involved the brain, spinal cord, heart, and gastrointestinal tract.
• Metformin Study Challenges Limiting Criteria - Shown to be Safe (11/13/02) In patients with type-2 diabetes, metformin has been shown to be safe and effective, negating criteria limiting its use, according to Israeli researchers.
• International Diabetes Federation IGT/IFG Consensus Statement (11/13/02) Are the current definitions of impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) and impaired fasting glycemia (IFG) appropriate? Are IFG and IGT risk factors, risk markers or diseases?  These are just a couple of the questions addressed.
• Grandparents Diets May Affect Grandkids' Risk for Diabetes & CVD (11/13/02) A new study from Sweden has found that nutrition during childhood--particularly among boys--may influence the risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes in later generations.
• High Fasting Glucose May Flag Increased Cancer Risk (11/13/02)

  Premenopausal women with high fasting glucose levels were almost three times as likely to develop breast cancer as premenopausal women whose fasting glucose levels were low.

• Diabetic Heart Disease Risk Studied (11/12/02) Cooking food at minimum safe temperatures for short periods of time may lower the risk of heart disease for diabetics.
• Diabetes Can Cause Major Problems With Your Lower Limbs (11/11/02) Few people with diabetes realize how the disease can devastate their feet. But diabetes is the number one cause of lower limb amputations in the United States, and among people who do have an amputation, only 30 to 40 percent are still alive after five years.
• 25% Saudis Are Diabetic, New Statistics Reveal (11/11/02) The number of diabetics in the Kingdom is growing alarmingly, with four million people — or 25 percent of the population — already suffering from the debilitating disease. Of these, 600,000 have developed complications of the feet.
• Waiting for a Diabetes Cure Part 3: What's on the Horizon? (11/11/02) Since the discovery of insulin in 1921, doctors have been searching for a cure for diabetes. After eighty years of research, they're closer than ever to finding it. hey're transplanting islet cells -- the cells that make insulin.
• Lifestyle Choices Threaten World Health (11/08/02) A major new report from the World Health Organization shows that many of the biggest factors leading to death and disease worldwide could be prevented if people simply made healthier lifestyle choices. The report shows alcohol, tobacco, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol are the leading causes of disease in both developing and developed countries.
• Coffee Consumption Affects Diabetes (11/08/02) A new study published in this week's medical journal The Lancet shows coffee consumption is associated with a substantially lower risk of type 2 diabetes.
• Herbs & Supplements - What's Right and Wrong For People With Diabetes (11/07/02) A recent Canadian study found that nearly one-third of people with diabetes used alternative remedies. Increased use has not been accompanied by increased knowledge of how to use supplements safely.
• Women Can Fight An Almost Secret Syndrome (11/07/02) A disorder first identified nearly 70 years ago that affects as many as 10 percent of women would still be unrecognized by many doctors and in most of those who have it. But that is the case with a condition called polycystic ovary syndrome, or PCOS, a bodywide metabolic disorder characterized by abnormal hormone levels that can result in distressing and sometimes life-threatening problems, including infertility, obesity, acne, excessive facial and body hair, diabetes, heart disease and uterine cancer.
• Diabetes Checklist (11/07/02) Here is a summary of the guidelines that will help you manage your diabetes for a lifetime of good health.
• Ask Your Pharmacist (11/07/02) Have you stopped taking a medication because you think it's not working? Do you have difficulty taking your medicines correctly? What can be done to lower the cost of drugs? Perhaps you should ask your pharmacist.
• Going To See Your Doctor (11/07/02) It is intimidating for most of us to see our physicians. The situation can make even the most assertive person feel like a child. Here are several tips that will help you to get the most out of your appointments.
• Be Aggressive:  Control Type 2 Diabetes (11/07/02) It is important to take steps now to keep your blood sugar at or near normal levels so you can prevent or delay serious complications in the future.
• Using Computers to Help With Control (11/07/02) The right software program can help you and your healthcare team see patterns in your blood glucose levels by displaying the data in easy-to-understand graphs. If you use a program that uploads data from your meter to the computer, you may never have to write down your blood glucose numbers at all.
• Nicotine By-Product Reacts with Proteins; May Contribute to The Pathology of Diabetes, Cancer, Aging, and Alzheimer’s Disease (11/07/02) Researchers have uncovered a previously unrecognized chemical process through which nornicotine — which is naturally present in tobacco and is also produced as a metabolite of nicotine — reacts with the body’s proteins.
• New Study Shows Weight Loss Decreases ACE Enzyme That Controls Blood Pressure (11/07/02) New research suggests that losing even modest amounts of weight can pay off in better health. The study showed for the first time that shedding excess pounds decreases activity of a key enzyme known to play a central role in high blood pressure. Less body weight translates into lower blood pressure, the study confirmed, and hence lower risks for cardiovascular disease, stroke, kidney disease and other health problems.
• Neurontin Illegaly Promoted for Off Label Use in Diabetic Patients (11/06/02) Executives promote drug to treat pain in diabetic patients, rather than perform the clinical studies needed to prove the medicine was safe for such patients.
• Answer to Why Patients with Insulin-Dependent Diabetes Cannot Sense their Need to Take Life-Saving Glucose (11/06/02) An appetite stimulant from the brain is the answer. It was known that specific nerves in the brain sense the levels of glucose in the body. But how these nerves operate and how the brain tells us we need to eat or we are full, which can help maintain glucose levels, has remained a mystery. Understanding these mechanisms is a major goal of diabetes research.
• "Hypertriglyceridemic Waist" Predicts Presence of Insulin Resistance Syndrome (11/06/02) More than two-thirds of middle-aged men with a waist size of 35 inches (90 cm or more) and triglyceride levels of 180 mg/dL (2.0 mmol/L)  or more have metabolic abnormalities of insulin resistance syndrome.
• Adolescent Hypertension Associated With Insulin Resistance (11/06/02) Hypertension in adolescence may be an early manifestation of insulin resistance syndrome. Czech researchers report. In addition, they found that folate-homocysteine disturbances may play a role in its development.
• Cereal Fiber Intake Is Protective Against Diabetes (11/06/02) Another case for increasing fiber content into our diets. Cereal fiber intake was inversely associated with the risk of diabetes in both blacks and whites, but this association reached statistical significance only in whites.
• Systolic Blood Pressure Key For Gauging Heart Disease Risk (11/06/02) Researchers find that patients with uncontrolled systolic blood pressure were almost 2.5 times more likely to die of heart disease than patients with controlled blood pressure.
• Miglitol Reduces Blood Glucose and Modifies Appetite in Obese Patients (11/06/02) Miglitol decreased hunger and increased feelings of satiety after a meal in obese, diabetic patients which resulted in a lower caloric intake for those patients, according to researchers in the U.S. and Australia.
• Feds to Pay Docs According to A1c’s? (11/06/02) The National Academy of Sciences said today that Medicare, Medicaid and other government programs should reward high-quality health care by paying higher fees or bonuses to the best doctors, hospitals, nursing homes and health maintenance organizations.
• Excess Fat Can Cancel Benefits of Exercise (11/06/02) Regular exercise does not cancel out all the health risks of being overweight, according to study results in the TK issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology. It's the normal-weight people who are in shape who can expect to live the longest.
• Ultrasonic Patch to Deliver Insulin (11/06/02) A patch about the size and weight of a matchbook that be worn on the body and with ultrasound can deliver therapeutically effective doses of insulin,  has been developed by Penn State engineers.
• Cost of Diabetes is Exploding (11/06/02) Cost of medical care for a person with diabetes: $10,071 per year, compared with $2,669 for a person without diabetes.
• 1/3 of Americans Have Pre-Diabetes Syndrome (11/06/02) That’s more than 60 million Americans that could become diabetic. As many as one in three Americans has a condition called insulin resistance syndrome, putting them at high risk of diabetes and heart disease, a panel of doctors said on Tuesday. But diet and exercise can take care of the condition in many, if not most, cases, and a few simple tests can tell doctors and patients who is at most risk, the experts said.
• Claims Milk Health Risks Hidden (11/01/02) In New Zealand, dairy giant Fonterra is denying claims it has covered up possible health risks from drinking milk. The claims are part of a high court case being brought by a rival. A2 Milk Corporation is producing a new type of milk, one without the protein, linked by research, to heart disease, diabetes and mental disorders.
• Diabetes: Low Vision - New Technology Provides Some Help (11/01/02) Diabetes is the leading cause of adult blindness in Canada. In the past decade, the advances in new computer technology have closed the gap for people who are visually impaired to become fully independent at work, school and at home in reading and writing skills.
• Risk Factors In Children Associated With Family History Of Heart Disease (11/01/02) Obesity in children is rapidly becoming a national crisis in the United States. The current study sought to predict heart disease events based on suspected risk factors. The researchers concluded that higher body mass index and lipoproteins, combined with a positive family history, can predispose children to future heart disease.
• UK (University of Kentucky) To Test Diabetes Vaccine (11/01/02) The vaccine could eliminate or decrease the need for insulin injections among up to 25 percent of people with adult-onset diabetes -- up to 3.2 million Americans.
• Diabetes Hospital Admissions Up 16.8 Percent In Pennsylvania (11/01/02) ''Despite the efforts of many health-related organizations, state and federal agencies and dedicated individuals, hospitalizations resulting from diabetes and its complications continue to increase.'' ''There's an epidemic of Type 2 diabetes,'' the most common form, he said. ''It will only get worse for a long time. It could even take a generation to turn around.''
• Family History is a Better Way to Screen For Type 2 Diabetes in Children (11/01/02) Focusing on children who are obese or who have a family history of the disease appears to be a better way to identify kids at risk. Testing adolescents across the board for type 2 diabetes may not offer much benefit, study findings indicate.
• Family Physicians Can Play Important Role in Screening for Diabetic Retinopathy (11/01/02) Family physicians can learn to identify patients with obvious retinopathy with the right equipment, but they still need to refer patients with diabetes to eye care specialists.
• Diabetes Education is Critical in Preventing Accidents In Driving (11/01/02) While the risk of causing traffic accidents through hypoglycemia is higher in insulin-treated diabetics than in the general population, it is rare for such events to occur during driving.
• Metaglip^® Approved for Type 2 Diabetes Treatment (11/01/02) Metaglip combines glipizide and metformin HCl -- two widely prescribed oral antidiabetic agents -- in a single pill.  These agents work in complementary fashion to improve blood sugar in patients with type 2 diabetes. In clinical trials, Metaglip was shown to be more effective at lowering blood sugar levels than either glipizide or metformin used alone in patients with type 2 diabetes.
• Treating Pre-Diabetes Saves Beta Cells and Prevents Type 2 Diabetes (11/01/02) Among women at high risk for type 2 diabetes, beginning treatment before they actually develop the disease can preserve the health of their insulin-producing cells and stave off diabetes. 
• Weight Loss Decreases ACE Enzyme That Controls Blood Pressure (11/01/02) People who find it hard to lose all the weight they want, need to know that even losing modest amounts of weight can pay off in better health.
• Prandin (Repaglinide) Approved for Combination Therapy With Insulin Sensitizers (11/01/02) Studies Show Greater Glycemic Improvements With Prandin and Sensitizers Compared to Monotherapy in Treating Type 2 Diabetes.
• Atorvastatin Every Other Day as Effective as Daily Dose in Lowering Cholesterol (11/01/02) Giving atorvastatin every other day was as effective in lowering low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels as giving it daily, saving more than $269/patient.
• Visceral Fat Removal Stops Insulin Resistance (11/01/02) Visceral fat removal can halt a decrease in insulin action and delay the onset of diabetes researchers report in the October issue of Diabetes.They propose that "specific interventions to reduce intra-abdominal fat could vastly improve insulin action as we age."
• Excess Mortality Risk Seen Among Diabetic Adults (11/01/02) At least 3.6% of all deaths and 5.2% of cardiovascular disease (CVD) deaths in US adults are attributable to diabetes.
• Even With Motivation Patients Fail to Change Life Style (11/01/02) In a recent study of patients with diabetes, dyslipidemia, cardiovascular disease, and hypertension, investigators found that study subjects with these diet-modifiable disorders were motivated to eat less fat. Nonetheless, most of these individuals were overweight or obese, consumed a diet high in fat and low in fruits and vegetables, and performed very little physical exercise.
• Short-term Diet and Exercise Program for Obese Men Experience Dramatic Improvements (11/01/02) After 3 weeks of the program, there were significant reductions in body weight and body mass index, without elimination of obesity. There were substantial decreases in systolic and diastolic blood pressure (14% and 10%, respectively) and in fasting glucose (7%). There was also a significant improvement in the ratio of total cholesterol to HDL cholesterol.
• Improved Outcomes Using the Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) for Three Days (11/01/02) The CGMS is a Holter-type monitor that makes minute-by-minute recordings of glucose levels. Patients wore the device for 3 days. At 3 and 6 months after the 3-day study, HbA1c levels were significantly reduced from baseline values.
• Low Fat Alternatives (11/01/02) In 2000, obesity among adults was nearly 20 percent, or about 40 million people. Black, non-Hispanic Americans, and Americans between ages 50 and 59 had the highest rates of obesity. Dieticians say there are simple changes you can make to drop some weight.
• Waiting for a Diabetes Cure Part 2: Treating the Complications (11/01/02) Blindness, kidney disease, nerve damage, amputations, heart disease, stroke -- Everyday fears for people with diabetes. Now, new treatments may change the outlook for many patients.
• Waiting for a Diabetes Cure Part 1: Life-Saving Tests (11/01/02) There are five specific tests every diabetic should be taking to stay one step ahead of their disease.

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