Scientists Have Cured Diabetes In Mice, Marking A Major Breakthrough In Tackling The Disease

Scientists have cured diabetes in mice, marking a major breakthrough in tackling the disease

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Scientists in the United States announced the breakthrough, which uses a novel approach that may eliminate Type 1 diabetes and see painful insulin injections become a thing of the past.
University of Texas Health Science Centre doctors used a virus as a carrier to introduce insulin-producing genes into the pancreas of rodent subjects.
Professor Ralph DeFronzo said researchers altered cells so they secreted insulin, but only in response to glucose — mimicking the behaviour of the body’s beta cells.
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This study bypasses the autoimmune system by altering other pancreatic cells so they can coexist with immune defences — unlike beta cells, which are rejected in Type 1 patients.
At the moment, Type 1 diabetes is treated by monitoring glucose levels and injecting artificial insulin up to four times a day. While technology has made management of the condition easier, a cure has been elusive — until now.
The patent’s co-inventor Professor Bruno Doiron said the results had never been seen before.
“It worked perfectly,” Dr Doiron said. “We cured mice for one year without any side effects.”
Dr Doiron predicted the same low-risk response in humans.
“If a Type 1 diabetic has been living with these cells for 30, 40 or 50 years, and all we’re getting them to do is secrete insulin, we expect there to be no adverse immune response.”
Dr DeFronzo said the same method of treatment has been approved almost 50 times by the US Food and Drug Administration to treat various conditions, including rare childhood diseases.
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How does diabetes affect your sex life?

Having diabetes affects much more than a person's diet - it can impact every aspect of their life, including their sexual health.
Similarly, it is not just the physical side effects of diabetes that cause problems. Diabetes can have an impact on a person's mental health, their sex drive, and their self-esteem.
How does diabetes impact the sexual organs?
Diabetes can affect the sexual health of both men and women in the following ways:
Impact on women
Damage caused by diabetes to the nerves can affect a woman's ability to sense sexual stimulation and arousal. This can affect the release of vaginal lubricant, which may result in painful sex and reduced ability to experience an orgasm.
When a woman who has diabetes goes through the menopause, she may experience sudden drops in her blood sugar levels. This may affect a woman's sexual health because she may have to check her blood sugar before having sex.
She might also experience symptoms of low blood sugar during sex. This may make sex seem more of an inconvenience than a pleasure.
Women with diabetes are also more likely to experience infections, such as thrush, cystitis, and urinary tract infections. These can all impact the ability to have sexual intercourse.
Impact on men
Men with diabetes often have reduced testosterone levels, which can affect their sex drive. However, the main sexual health problem affecting men who have diabetes is an inability to achieve and, or, maintain an erection. According to the Joslin Diabetes Center, an estimated 50 percent of men who have had diabetes for 10 years experience erectile dysfunct Continue reading

Diabetes Insipidus And Diabetes Mellitus In Dogs: Symptoms & Treatments

Diabetes insipidus and diabetes mellitus are two different types of diabetes in dogs, and both can be serious if left untreated. Diabetes insipidus is also known as “water diabetes” and is the more rare form. It affects water metabolism and prevents the body from conserving water, which results in increased urination and diluted, almost clear urine. It is not related to diabetes mellitus in canines, which is also known as “sugar diabetes.” Diabetes mellitus is a disease of the pancreas that affects the body’s ability to convert food into fuel. Here is what you should know about the symptoms and treatments for diabetes insipidus and diabetes mellitus.
Symptoms Of Diabetes In Dogs
Diabetes insipidus comes in two forms in canines, and both are related to the pituitary gland and result in similar symptoms. Central diabetes insipidus happens when the pituitary doesn’t release enough of a hormone called vassopressin, an anti-diuretic. This can be caused by birth defect, head injury, or tumor. Nephrogenic diabetes insipidus is the other form. It happens when the kidneys don’t respond to the vassopressin that the pituitary produces. It can be caused by birth defect, exposure to drugs, metabolic disorders, or renal failure. Both types will result in the following symptoms in dogs.
Excessive urination
Excessive drinking and thirst
Weight loss
Decreased urination due to dehydration
Poor coat health
Accidents in the house
Diabetes mellitus is a pancreatic condition that also comes in two forms in canines. Insulin-deficiency diabetes mellitus is when the body doesn’t pro Continue reading

Omega-3s may help to treat type 1 diabetes

Type 1 diabetes is an incurable autoimmune disorder of unknown origin. New research, however, may pave the way for novel, more efficient therapies for type 1 diabetes, as omega-3 fatty acids are found to reduce the autoimmune responses typical of the disease.
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disorder that affects approximately 1.25 million adults and children in the United States.
In type 1 diabetes, the body's immune system does not recognize its own beta cells, so it attacks and destroys them. Beta cells are responsible for creating insulin.
The body needs insulin to transport glucose into cells, where it is needed for producing energy. Without insulin-producing beta cells, the glucose builds up in the blood stream, and the body cannot use it for energy.
It is not yet known what causes type 1 diabetes, and there is currently no cure for the illness. The most common treatment option is administering insulin, but the ultimate goal of the medical research community is to stop the body's immune system from attacking its own beta cells, or reversing this process.
New research, published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation, investigates the benefits of adding omega-3 fatty acids to the diet of mice with type 1 diabetes.
Omega-3s are a class of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). They are typically found in fish, seafood, and some vegetable oils, as well as in dietary supplements.
These fatty acids are important for the good functioning of several organs, as these beneficial fats improve the activity of muscles, prevent blood clotting, help digestion, and aid the division Continue reading

The Global Diabetes Epidemic

Twelve years ago, my husband and I packed up all of our belongings and moved to Trivandrum — a steamy, tropical town at the southern tip of India in Kerala. At the time, I was a medical student interested in studying stroke. For the next six months I dressed in a sari and walked to work on jungle roads. At the hospital, I immediately began seeing a steady stream of young patients affected by strokes, many of whom were so severely disabled that they were unable to work. I initially suspected the cause was tuberculosis or dengue fever — after all, this was the developing world, where infections have long been primary culprits for disease. But I soon learned that my hunch was wrong.
One of my first patients was a woman in her mid-30s who came in with a headache, vomiting and an unsteady gait. Her scan showed a brainstem stroke. Her blood sugars were very high. The underlying cause of her stroke was most likely untreated Type 2 diabetes. Here I was, halfway around the globe, in a vastly foreign culture, but I was looking at a disease — and the lifestyle that fostered it — that was startlingly familiar.
Today, I am an endocrinologist, and diabetes has become a full-blown epidemic in India, China, and throughout many emerging economies.
In the United States, diabetes tends to be a disease that, while certainly not benign, is eminently manageable. Just this month, federal researchers reported that health risks for the approximately 25 million Americans with diabetes had fallen sharply over the last two decades. Elsewhere on the globe, however, diabetes plays out in a drama Continue reading