FreeStyle Libre: Questions And Answers From #DX2Melbourne

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

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Temples diabetes prevention program has positive impact

Temples diabetes prevention program has positive impact
Pictured from left to right: Edoris Lomax, program coordinator, diabetes prevention program, Temple University Health System; Ronni Whyte, director, Population Health, Temple Center for Population Health; and Eric Scott, a diabetes prevention program participant. Abdul Sulayman/Tribune Chief Photographer
A Philadelphia police officer is crediting a preventative health program with helping him make significant lifestyle changes.
For the last six months, Eric Scott has participated in Temple University Health Systems Diabetes Prevention Program.
The goal of the long-term program is to help people prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes, which occurs when the body doesnt produce enough insulin to regulate blood glucose. Diabetes can increase the risk of heart attack, kidney failure, nerve damage or stroke.
The American Diabetes Association notes there are about 30 million Americans living with the condition, while 86 million have prediabetes. Prediabetes occurs when your blood sugar levels are higher than normal, but not high enough to be classified as diabetes.
The free yearlong program, which is led by the Temple Center for Population Health, was launched back in 2014. Since its inception, 22 people have graduated from the program which is funded with a grant from the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Innovation and the Philadelphia Department of Public Health.
Scott was introduced to the Diabetes Prevention Program through Law Enforcement Health Benefits in October 2016.
I thought the program would be g Continue reading

The Secret Carb that Doesn't Spike Your Blood Sugar

The Secret Carb that Doesn't Spike Your Blood Sugar
Wouldnt it be wonderful if we could eat tasty meals that are high in carbohydrates without driving our blood sugar through the roof?
In fact, even those of us who have diabetes can do this.
Anyone who has had diabetes for some time knows that when we chow down on carbs our blood sugar level is sure to go up. But theres an exception. In the United States this food is a little-known secret, but in India its a well-known fact.
Im partly to blame for keeping this special carbohydrate food a secret. I have known about it ever since 1994 when I began to gather information on the Glycemic Index. Im not sure when I first wrote about it on my own website , but it was in 1998 or earlier, and I have eaten it since then even as I otherwise follow a very low-carb diet. I have mentioned this food in passing here at HealthCentral.com , but I just realized that I never previously gave it the attention here that it deserves.
Now the secret is out: Im talking about chana dal, which in India is sometimes also known as Bengal gram dal (or dhal) or chholar dal. Its scientific name is Cicer arietinum Linn, which actually doesnt help us, because this the same scientific name as that of garbanzo beans (chick peas), which have a higher Glycemic Index.
Chana dal and garbanzo are different market classes, according to Dr. Hans-Henning Mndel, research scientist (plant breeder) at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Research Centre in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada.Distinguishing between chana dal and garbanzo beans by looking at them either raw or Continue reading

Topical antimicrobial agents for treating foot ulcers in people with diabetes

Background
People with diabetes are at high risk for developing foot ulcers, which often become infected. These wounds, especially when infected, cause substantial morbidity. Wound treatments should aim to alleviate symptoms, promote healing, and avoid adverse outcomes, especially lower extremity amputation. Topical antimicrobial therapy has been used on diabetic foot ulcers, either as a treatment for clinically infected wounds, or to prevent infection in clinically uninfected wounds.
Objectives
To evaluate the effects of treatment with topical antimicrobial agents on: the resolution of signs and symptoms of infection; the healing of infected diabetic foot ulcers; and preventing infection and improving healing in clinically uninfected diabetic foot ulcers.
Search methods
We searched the Cochrane Wounds Specialised Register, CENTRAL, Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid MEDLINE (In-Process & Other Non-Indexed Citations), Ovid Embase, and EBSCO CINAHL Plus in August 2016. We also searched clinical trials registries for ongoing and unpublished studies, and checked reference lists to identify additional studies. We used no restrictions with respect to language, date of publication, or study setting.
Selection criteria
We included randomised controlled trials conducted in any setting (inpatient or outpatient) that evaluated topical treatment with any type of solid or liquid (e.g., cream, gel, ointment) antimicrobial agent, including antiseptics, antibiotics, and antimicrobial dressings, in people with diabetes mellitus who were diagnosed with an ulcer or open wound of the foot, whether clinically Continue reading

Immunotherapy, gene editing advances extend to Type 1 Diabetes

Immunotherapy, gene editing advances extend to Type 1 Diabetes
December 13, 2017, Seattle Children's Research Institute
Dr. Jane Buckner of the Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason and Dr. David Rawlings at Seattle Children's Research Institute are leading research to develop an immunotherapy for type 1 diabetes. Credit: Seattle Children's
Advances in engineering T cells to treat cancer are paving the way for new immunotherapies targeted at autoimmune diseases, including type 1 diabetes. Now, researchers are also investigating therapies that reprogram T cells to "turn down" an immune response, which may hold promise for curing type 1 diabetes, as well as a number of diseases where overactive T cells attack a person's healthy cells and organs.
"Instead of stimulating the immune system to seek and destroy cancer cells , treating autoimmune conditions will require programming a patient's own T cells to tell rogue immune cells to calm down," said Dr. David Rawlings, director of the Center for Immunity and Immunotherapies at Seattle Children's Research Institute and chief of the Division of Immunology at Seattle Children's Hospital.
Harnessing gene-editing techniques pioneered by Seattle Children's, Rawlings and colleagues have already made headway in equipping T cells with the instructions needed to potentially reverse type 1 diabetes . In a new $2 million research project funded by The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, researchers will leverage these recent successes using this new form of T-cell immunotherapy into first-in-human clinical trials. Continue reading