Posts Tagged ‘insulin dependent diabetes’

Online Diabetes Community Invited to Contribute to Video Project

June 17, 2011 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Diabetes Control, Diabetes Resources and Tools, Living with Diabetes 
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Photo Credit: Alton

Kim Vlasnik, an insulin dependent type 1 diabetic since the age of six, found welcome support through the online diabetes community. She has been writing the cheeky diabetes blog Texting My Pancreas (a name inspired by her insulin pump) since 2010. “Living with diabetes feels much more bearable when I think of it as a team sport,” she writes on her About Me page.

Now the ambitious Vlasnik has launched a companion video project to strengthen the online community and to lessen the isolation, depression, anxiety and frustration often caused by diabetes. The project, called You Can Do This, invites diabetics to create and share videos of their personal challenges to show others they can get through the tough times.

Vlasnik believes that everyone with diabetes struggles at one time or another, and that validation and community can lighten the emotional load. “Tell us your stories,” she invites her readers, “Show others what living with diabetes is really like – no sugar-coating.  Talk about the tough stuff. Show us how you’ve dealt with it. Let others see their own struggles and feeling through your words.”

Launched June 15th, 2010, the site had almost fifty videos uploaded in its first two days, and numerous positive comments posted by grateful fans.  Texting My Pancreas and the You Can Do This Project can be found at www.textingmypancreas.com.

Antibodies Associated with Insulin Resistance Raise Hope of a Diabetes Vaccine

April 28, 2011 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Diabetes Medication, Diabetes Research and News 
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Doctors and researchers have known for a while that excess weight, diet and lack of exercise can all be contributing factors in the development of type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance. Unlike type 1 diabetes, which is known as an immune disease, type 2 diabetes is generally considered a metabolic disorder, and is attributed to poor lifestyle choices. A new study shifts some of the responsibility for the development of their condition away from the patients by shedding light on other possible influences.

For this study, the results of which were published in Nature Medicine, researchers tested blood samples of 32 obese people, and found that the half who had insulin resistance had antibodies that were not present in the half who were obese but not insulin resistant.  This suggests that type 2 diabetes may be an immune disorder, and that there is a possibility of developing a vaccine for the condition. Read the full article

Texas Researchers Hopeful They Can Eliminate the Need For Insulin Therapy

February 4, 2011 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Diabetes Research and News, Insulin Injections 
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Photo credit: jscreationzs

Research conducted at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center raises the exciting prospect of eliminating the need for insulin in type 1 diabetics by “turning off” the hormone glucagon, which plays a major role in blood sugar regulation.

Like insulin, glucagon is a hormone secreted by the pancreas. Glucagon has the opposite effect of insulin, increasing blood glucose levels rather than lowering them. The pancreas releases glucagon when blood sugar is low, causing the liver to release glucose into the blood stream, and stimulating the release of insulin.
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Diabetes Sniffing Dogs Alert Diabetes Patients to Low Blood Sugar

January 25, 2011 by · 4 Comments
Filed under: Diabetes - Did You Know?, Diabetes Control, Diabetes Monitoring and Supplies 
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Photo credit: Pinheirolg

Diabetes alert dogs, also known as hypoglycemia alert dogs, are trained to detect slight changes in breath and body odors associated with high or low blood sugar, and to alert someone when they detect them. Depending on the odor, a dog’s sense of smell is said to be 1000 to 100,000 times greater than a human’s.

According to researchers and trainers, a sweet, fruity smell is associated with high blood sugar, while an acidic, almost rusty smell is a sign of low blood sugar. “We found that dogs are incredibly accurate,” says Claire Guest from Britain’s Cancer and Bio-detection Dogs, “They can warn someone immediately when their blood sugar is dropping to a dangerously low level.”
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Insulin Producing Cell Pouch Approaching Clinical Trials in Humans

January 7, 2011 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Diabetes Research and News, Insulin Delivery 
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Photo: Kriss Szkurlatowski

A Canadian health sciences company focusing on innovative medical technology has successfully tested an organ-like device containing insulin producing islet cells in animals, and is pursuing FDA approval to conduct clinical trials in humans in 2011. There were no adverse side effects associated with the device during the study, during which the diabetic pigs receiving the insulin delivery system achieved long-term blood sugar control.

Sernova Corporation’s patented Cell Pouch System is implanted under the skin, where it develops into what the company refers to as “a  tissue engineered pancreas” when infused with islet cells. The islet cells deliver insulin to the body, much as the islet cells of the pancreas do in people and animals without insulin dependent diabetes.
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