Cell-Centered: Scientists Embrace Cell-Replacement Therapy For Type 1 Diabetes

Cell-Centered: Scientists Embrace Cell-Replacement Therapy for Type 1 Diabetes

Cell-Centered: Scientists Embrace Cell-Replacement Therapy for Type 1 Diabetes
A century ago, type 1 diabetes was a death sentence. Now, its a daily struggle. When blood sugar soars, diabetics risk damage to their eyes, kidneys, and nerves. And when blood sugar dips too low, vital organs like the heart and brain shut down, leading to lightheadedness or even coma.
Normally, the pancreas regulates blood sugar. A special population of cells, known as beta cells, make insulin, which helps the body soak up excess blood sugar after a meal. In type 1 diabetes, the immune system kills these cells. To compensate, patients inject themselves with insulin and check their blood sugar levels before and after meals.
Its a stressful task, though recent advances have helped. The major insulin makers including Sanofi, Novo Nordisk, and Eli Lilly offer slow- and fast-acting insulins to help patients control their blood sugar throughout the day. And in 2016, the FDA approved the first artificial pancreas, a device that combines a blood sugar monitor and an insulin pump to automatically give patients the dose of insulin that they need.
These treatments aim to make up for the loss of beta cells. But a group of scientists has another solution: put the beta cells back in. The idea may sound too simple to be true, but its already yielded promising results and could free type 1 diabetics from having to inject insulin.
What we would like to put back into diabetic patients is not just the hormone insulin, we would love to put back the beta cells, said Matthias Hebrok, Ph.D., director of the Continue reading

Rate this article

Total 1 ratings

Holiday Eating for Diabetes: Tips, Management, and Food

Got diabetes? Well, holiday eating can still befun
Christmas, Hannukah, New Year bring on the festivities! Its the season of celebrationand for most people, its also the season of food: Home-baked goods, work lunches, family dinners, cocktail parties theyre all a huge part of the holidays. But enjoying all the festive eats and treats is a different story when you have diabetes .
As someone living with diabetes, I know that finding balance during the holidays can be really challenging. Trying to loosen up and enjoy yourself, while keeping your blood sugar in check, is no easy feat. But managing blood sugar has never been smooth sailing. Its more like taking the role of captain 24/7 instead of turning on autopilot. With diabetes, its essential for long-term health to watch your blood sugar. Its also the key to feeling good, staying energetic, and being able to actually let go and enjoy yourself!
In my 11 years living with type 1 diabetes with many ups and downs and lots of trial and error I've been able to find what works best for me to maintain and control my blood sugar, especially during the holiday season. Here are some of my tips that can be helpful for managing both type 1 or type 2 diabetes .
1. Get familiar with the carb counts of foods you frequently eat or see
This tip is a real lifesaver when it comes to managing diabetes . Get to know your body and how certain foods affect your blood sugar. Sweet potatoes, brown rice, and fruit smoothie-bowls are my everyday staples, so Ive become really familiar with how much insulin I need to cover these foods. But kn Continue reading

Managing Type 2 Diabetes with CrossFit 4504

The focus of our program here at CrossFit 4504 is about guiding our members to find wellness and avoid the current rate people are succumbing to chronic diseases such as metabolic diseases, lack of function in body e.g. unable to move themselves, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and a whole raft of others.
CrossFit the training methodology has a different focus than CrossFit the sport and thats an important differentiation to make. We are training and supporting our members to get more from life and to lead a better quality of life.
Lee’s story below is an example of how successful our program can be, when used in conjunction with a healthy diet, and working closely with allied health professionals to guide their progress. Having a medical condition doesn’t mean you have to or should opt out of physical activity, with the right team behind you and the right advice and support, you can improve from where you are now, and have better long term outcomes.
Coach Lisa
When I was young I put a lot of weight on very quickly.
In high school I was pretty active, I ran, played sports but in my first six months out of school I had a “uni student” diet and no exercise at all. The result of this sudden surge of inactivity, processed food and weight gain was that I would be diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes at twenty years old.
Twenty years later I still live with Diabetes but I’m proud to say that it’s managed well through a combination of food, medication and of course CrossFit.
It wasn’t always like this though.
At twenty, nothing will kill you. At least that’s what you subc Continue reading

New resource helps teachers keep kids with type 1 diabetes safe

New resource helps teachers keep kids with type 1 diabetes safe
Parents of kids with type 1 diabetes live in fear of their kids blood sugar dipping too low at school. A new resource is here to help.
One day, when Trudy Adams son, Dylan, was lying down for his afternoon rest period in junior kindergarten , he began convulsing and lost consciousness. Dylan has type 1 diabetes , and this was exactly the kind of crisis his parents feared when they sent him off to school: Dylans blood sugar had dropped so low he needed a life-saving injection of a medication called glucagon, which wasnt on hand, since school personnel had been reluctant to learn how to administer it. Thankfully, Dylans dad, who got to school faster than the ambulances, was able to give the shot, and Dylan bounced back.
Adams is one of many parentswho worries about their diabetic kid every day. One in every 300 Canadian kids has type 1 diabetes, and according to new survey data released by the Canadian Paediatric Society, the Childrens Hospital of Eastern Ontario, and the Hospital for Sick Children, nearly one-third of Ontario parents whose kids have the condition arent confident the school staff can keep their kids safe, and nearly 13 percent have to go to school at least once a week to monitor their childs care.
However, a new online resource for parents and school staff should help prevent near-misses like Dylans, while providing peace of mind for the parents of kids with type 1. Intended to ensure kids with the condition can participate fully and safely in all aspects of school life, [email protected] fea Continue reading

FreeStyle Libre: Questions and Answers from #DX2Melbourne

I’m back home today after a whirlwind two days spent at Abbott’s Diabetes Exchange event in Melbourne. The event was filled with such insightful and stimulating conversation, that my mind was still buzzing at 11.20pm last night when I finally crawled into bed at home.
Abbott covered my travel expenses from Perth to be there, but they did not pay for my opinions here or anywhere else. I am really grateful that Abbott are continuing these consumer conversations after last year’s DX2Sydney event, when they clearly didn’t need to. Perhaps my views are biased because I was a part of these conversations, but I am really enthusiastic about the FreeStyle Libre. My experience with it has been largely positive, and it continues to be a part time member of my diabetes toolbox.
It was fantastic to hear the Abbott team acknowledge and even encourage those little tips and tricks that people out there are already doing, even if they couldn’t technically endorse them. Like letting the sensor sit for a day after application before starting it up. Or the Rockadex patches and other adhesives that people are buying from small businesses online. I loved that they were somewhat aware of what people are doing out there in the real world.
Through my blog, through e-mails and through my circles here in Perth, I have received a great deal of feedback on the FreeStyle Libre. People either love it or hate it. Today, I thought i’d start by sharing some of the feedback I received from Abbott over the past two days. While I’m doing my best to relay what I heard and talked about, I can’t g Continue reading