5 Stem Cell Innovations From The Past Year, From Cancer Treatment To Diabetes Therapy

Ten years ago, the topic of stem cells was shrouded in mystery, but now they're at the forefront of some of the latest innovations in biology and medicine. Stem cells have yet to change into a specific type of cell, such as a brain or skin cell. As a result, doctors can manipulate them into, well, any type of cell they want. However, the way that stem cells are being manipulated is anything but simple. Here is a run-down of five of the most fascinating stem cell innovations from the past year.
Stem Cells From Baby Teeth
Teeth are necessary for helping us chew our food, but once they fall out. they're useless; or not? The practice of tooth saving, or cryopreserving, has gained popularity, and for good reason. New research suggests the stem cells found in the pulp of teeth could be used to help people regrow their adult teeth (rather than needing a crown or dentures), and may even have other potentially life-saving regenerative medical benefits, CNN reported.
While still in its early stages, the idea behind tooth preservation is that no other stem cells work better than your own. By saving your baby teeth, or adult teeth that need to be removed through surgery, you may later harvest stem cells that may be used to fight certain cancers or even as therapy for brain injuries.
Read: Stem Cell Research: What Are Stem Cells And Why Is There So Much Controversy
Babies Cured of Leukemia
Leukemia is a type of cancer of the blood, and it starts in the bone marrow, which is where our stem cells originate. Traditional leukemia treatment involves a combination of chemotherapy and radiothe Continue reading

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Caffeine and Diabetes: How Much Is Safe to Consume?

Navigating what you can and cannot eat and drink when you have type 2 diabetes can be tricky. Of course, there’s the obvious stuff you know is good to cut out or limit in your diet, like processed sweets and other refined carbohydrates, which can cause blood sugar levels to soar when eaten in excess. But what about those murkier diet staples, which seem to straddle the line between healthy and indulgent, but are ingrained in so many of our everyday rituals?
For millions of people in various cultures around the world, caffeinated drinks are likely the sort of thing that comes to mind when we talk about food or drinks in a healthy diabetes diet that aren’t so cut-and-dried. If you’ve recently been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes or have been living with the disease for a while and are seeking better blood sugar control, the subject of caffeine in a diabetes diet is a fair concern.
Caffeinated Drinks for Diabetes: Are They Safe?
“For people already diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, studies have shown caffeine consumption decreases insulin sensitivity and raises blood sugar levels,” says Toby Smithson, RDN, CDE, who is based in Hilton Head, South Carolina. According to a review published in April 2017 in Diabetes & Metabolic Syndrome: Clinical Research & Reviews, five out of seven trials studied found that caffeine increases blood glucose and keeps levels higher longer.
That doesn’t sound good, but if you’re accustomed to having your morning java, don’t skip out on the drink just yet. Some studies suggest that other components of caffeinated coffee may offer some b Continue reading

Diabetes-related kidney disease drops among Native Americans

Native American populations, heavily afflicted by diabetes during the last several decades, have seen a dramatic decrease in kidney failures often related to the disease, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention disclosed earlier this month.
The CDC announced that between 1996 and 2013 there was a 54 percent reduction in the number of diabetes-related kidney failures, called end-stage renal disease.
The data in the CDC report stated that Type-2 Diabetes still causes two out of three kidney failures in Native Americans.
Native American communities have the highest proportion of diabetes among all U.S. populations. About 16 percent of adult Native American people have diabetes, compared with the national average for all adults of 9.3 percent, or 29 million people, according to 2014 statistics from the CDC.
According to the Indian Health Service, a federal agency charged with improving the health of an estimated 2.2 million Native Americans (AI) and Alaska Natives (AN), an aggressive campaign to educate and treat diabetes, bolstered by the support of $150 million in annual federal funding through the Special Diabetes Program for Indians (SDPI), played a large part in the reductions. “We’re very rural … Our patients don’t have access like the rest of the country. It’s getting out to those people, identifying them and getting the resources.” — Jared Eagle, director of the Ft. Berthold Diabetes Program
“This decline is especially remarkable given the well-documented health and socioeconomic disparities in the AI/AN population, including poverty, limited heal Continue reading

What Is the Connection Between Diabetes and Potassium?

Usually, your body processes the food you eat and turns it into a sugar called glucose. Your body uses glucose for energy. Insulin is a hormone your pancreas produces. Your body uses the insulin to help move glucose into cells throughout your body. If you have diabetes, your body is unable to produce or use insulin efficiently.
Type 1 diabetes isn’t preventable, but you can prevent type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes, or adult-onset diabetes, usually occurs in people ages 35 and older.
Potassium is an electrolyte and mineral that helps keep your bodily fluids at the proper level. Your body can do the following if your fluids are in check:
contract your muscles without pain
keep your heart beating correctly
keep your brain functioning at its highest capability
If you don’t maintain the right level of potassium, you can experience a variety of symptom that include simple muscle cramps to more serious conditions, such as seizures. According to recent research, there may be a link between type 2 diabetes and low potassium levels.
Although people recognize that potassium affects diabetes, research is ongoing to determine why this may happen.
Researchers in one study at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine linked low levels of potassium with high levels of insulin and glucose in people who were otherwise healthy. Low levels of potassium with high levels of insulin and glucose are both traits doctors associate with diabetes.
One 2011 study found that people taking thiazides to treat high blood pressure experienced a loss of electrolytes, such as potassium. Researchers note Continue reading

Diabetes in Thalassaemia

Diabetes - The Global Challenge
Dr Maria Barnard, Lead Consultant in Diabetes
The Whittington Hospital NHS Trust London
Honorary Senior Lecturer, University College London Medical School
Diabetes mellitus is a major global health challenge. In 2007, around 246 million people worldwide were living with diabetes and that number is predicted to increase to 380 million by 2025. In the UK, the number of people with diabetes could reach three million by 2010. Already each day in the UK, £10 million is spent on treating diabetes and diabetic complications, including heart disease, stroke, blindness, kidney disease and amputations. People with diabetes may also develop severely abnormal blood glucose (sugar) levels, requiring urgent medical attention. All this means that people with diabetes have a reduced life expectancy. Worldwide, every ten seconds, a person dies from diabetes-related causes.
How is Diabetes Diagnosed?
Diabetes is diagnosed by detecting an increased glucose level on a blood sample. If this does not give a definite answer, an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) is done, when blood glucose is measured before and 2 hours after having a glucose drink.
In some people, the blood glucose level is not high enough to diagnose diabetes, but is not low enough to be classified normal. This “impaired glucose tolerance” or “pre-diabetic syndrome” can be a precursor to developing diabetes.
Diabetes diagnosed:
Random blood glucose
³ 11.1 mmol/l
Fasting blood glucose
³ 7.0 mmol/l
OGTT: 2 hour glucose
³ 11.1 mmol/l
What Causes Diabetes?
Insulin lowers blood glucose lev Continue reading