Insulin is a possible new treatment for Alzheimer’s disease. Insulin may slow or prevent Alzheimer’s disease. – Insulin, by shielding memory-forming synapses from harm, may slow or prevent the damage and memory loss caused by toxic proteins in Alzheimer’s disease, reported by researchers at Northwestern University.
Losing weight helps women reduce urinary incontinence at least 70 percent according to a clinical research. – Reducing urinary incontinence can now be added to the extensive list of health benefits of weight loss, according to a clinical trial funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) and the Office of Research on Women’s Health (ORWH), both part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
The number of people diagnosed with diabetes mellitus is growing faster than ever as new figures show that one person is diagnosed with diabetes every three minutes. – One person is diagnosed with diabetes every three minutes in the UK, according to new figures from Diabetes UK. The charity reports that the number of people diagnosed with the condition is growing faster than ever.
Obesity: Reviving the promise of leptin; The first known leptin-sensitizing agents induce mice to lose weight. – The discovery more than a decade ago of leptin, an appetite-suppressing hormone secreted by fat tissue, generated headlines and great hopes for an effective treatment for obesity. But hopes dimmed when it was found that obese people are unresponsive to leptin due to development of leptin resistance in the brain. Now, researchers at Children’s Hospital Boston report the first agents demonstrated to sensitize the brain to leptin: oral drugs that are already FDA-approved and known to be safe. Findings were published January 7 by the journal Cell Metabolism.
Adult-onset diabetes slows mental functioning in several ways, with deficits appearing early – Adults with diabetes experience a slowdown in several types of mental processing, which appears early in the disease and persists into old age, according to new research.
University of Maryland researchers identify common gene variant linked to high blood pressure. STK39 gene produces protein involved in regulating how kidneys process salt. – Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine have identified a common gene variant that appears to influence people’s risk of developing high blood pressure, according to the results of a study being published online Dec. 29, 2008 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
In patients with type 2 diabetes, 6-month treatment with a low?glycemic index diet resulted in moderately lower HbA1c levels compared with a high?cereal fiber diet. – Persons with type 2 diabetes who had a diet high in low-glycemic foods such as nuts, beans and lentils had greater improvement in glycemic control and risk factors for coronary heart disease than persons on a diet with an emphasis on high-cereal fiber, according to a study in the December 17 issue of JAMA.
Long term use of oral diabetic drugs doubles the risk of fractures in women with type 2 diabetes. – Long term use of a popular class of oral diabetic drugs doubles the risk of fractures in women with type 2 diabetes, revealed by researchers at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine and the University of East Anglia.
Genetic screening no better than traditional risk factors for predicting type 2 diabetes, Value of screening may improve as more risk genes identified. – Screening for a panel of gene variants associated with the risk for type 2 diabetes can identify adults at risk for the disorder but is not significantly better than assessment based on traditional risk factors such as weight, blood pressure and blood sugar levels.
In US, diabetic patients have nearly doubled their spending on drugs for the diabetes disease in last 6 years. – Because of the increased number of patients, growing reliance on multiple medications and the shift toward more expensive new medicines, the annual cost of diabetes drugs nearly doubled in only six years, rising from $6.7 billion in 2001 to $12.5 billion in 2007 according to a study in the Oct. 27, 2008, issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.
University of Wisconsin-Madison Research team discovers brain pathway responsible for obesity. – University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers, for the first time, have found a messaging system in the brain that directly affects food intake and body weight.
US action to reduce BPA exposures may offer an effective intervention for improving health and reducing the burden of some of the most consequential human health problems. – Researchers found a significant relationship between urine concentrations of the environmental estrogen bisphenol A (BPA) and cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and liver-enzyme abnormalities.
