The Past Year Has Brought Many Discoveries In The Study Of Diabetes

The Past Year Has Brought Many Discoveries In The Study Of Diabetes.
Even as the omen of diabetes continues to grow, scientists have made significant discoveries in the over year that might one broad daylight lead to ways to stop the blood sugar plague in its tracks. That's some good news as World Diabetes Day is observed this Sunday. Created in 1991 as a dive project between the International Diabetes Federation and the World Health Organization to bring about more attention to the public health threat of diabetes, World Diabetes Day was officially recognized by the United Nations in 2007.

One of the more intoxicating findings in type 1 diabetes research this year came from the lab of Dr Pere Santamaria at University of Calgary, where researchers developed a vaccine that successfully reversed diabetes in mice. What's more, the vaccine was able to quarry only those vaccinated cells that were top for destroying the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas. "The hope is that this work will translate to humans," said Dr Richard Insel, manager scientific officer for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. "And what's rousing is that they've opened up some pathways we didn't even know were there".

The other avenue of sort 1 research that Insel said has progressed significantly this year is in beta chamber function. Pedro Herrera, at the University of Geneva Medical School, and his team found that the adult pancreas can literally regenerate alpha cells into functioning beta cells. Other researchers, according to Insel, have been able to reprogram other cells in the body into beta cells, such as the acinar cells in the pancreas and cells in the liver.

This category of stall manipulation is called reprogramming, a different and less complex process than creating induced pluripotent quell cells, so there are fewer potential problems with the process. Another exciting development that came to consummation this past year was in type 1 diabetes management. The first closed wind artificial pancreas system was officially tested, and while there's still a long way to go in the regulatory process, Insel said there have been "very positive results".

Unfortunately, not all diabetes news this past year was encomiastic news. One of the biggest stories in type 2 diabetes was the US Food and Drug Administration's firmness to restrict the sale of the type 2 diabetes medication rosiglitazone (Avandia) into the middle concerns that the drug might increase the risk of cardiovascular complications. The manufacturer of Avandia, GlaxoSmithKline, was also ordered to get an unlimited review of clinical trials run by the company.

Special Report On Environmentally Induced Cancer

Special Report On Environmentally Induced Cancer.
The United States is not doing enough to lose weight the occurrence of environmentally induced cancers, a risk that has been "grossly underestimated," a special statement released Thursday by the President's Cancer Panel shows. In particular, the authors acuminate to the apparent health effects of 80,000 or so chemicals, including bisphenol A (BPA), that are hand-me-down daily by millions of Americans. Studies have linked BPA with different types of cancer, at least in monster and laboratory tests.

So "The real burden of environmentally induced cancer greatly underestimates vulnerability to carcinogens and is not addressed adequately by the National Cancer Program," said Dr LaSalle D Leffall Jr, chairperson of the panel and Charles R Drew professor of surgery at Howard University College of Medicine in Washington, DC "We scarcity to expel these carcinogens from workplaces, homes and schools, and we need to start doing that now. There's ample possibility for intervention and change, and prevention to protect the health of all Americans".

The American Cancer Society, however, has painted a less ghastly picture of progress in the last several decades. "What does not come across is the very large extent that has been learned about the causes of cancer and prevention efforts to address them," said Dr Michael Thun, corruption president emeritus of epidemiology and surveillance research at the American Cancer Society. "Tobacco lead is probably the single biggest public health accomplishment of the past 60 years. They are advocates for this peculiar focus of cancer prevention, but cancer prevention is much broader than this".

Despite advances, cancer is still a critical public health problem in the United States and about 41 percent of Americans will be diagnosed with cancer at some spike in their lives, the report stated. Twenty-one percent will kick the bucket of the disease. The panel is an advisory group appointed to monitor the development and enactment of the National Cancer Program. The group's report addresses a different topic every year.

Hairdressers Against AIDS

Hairdressers Against AIDS.
Could the inhibiting of HIV infection and AIDS be a comb, fuzz ball and blow-dry away? That's the idea behind an innovative new national outreach effort, Hairdressers Against AIDS, which got its fling Tuesday at the United Nations in New York City, up ahead of Dec 1, 2010, World AIDS Day. The initiative - described as "one of the largest HIV/AIDS mobilization campaigns in US history" - has tresses mind giant L'Oreal joining forces with nonprofits such as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria (GBC). The object is to empower America's 500000-plus locks stylists to use the relationships they have with millions of clients for salon-based chats on the how, why and what of HIV.

So "Today there is no vaccine," distinguished GBC president and CEO John Tedstrom, speaking to 500 hairdressers who'd gathered at the UN for the launch. "There is no cure. We're getting there. But today there is only information. The more we talk, the more we educate, the more we stave off the plate of this epidemic," Tedstrom explained.

And "You'll dream of millions of people hearing about HIV from community that they know," he said. "They'll be hearing effective time-tested messages about HIV prevention, and they'll be able to embezzle those messages back to their personal relationships. And then whether it's a mom talking to her daughter or a girlfriend talking to her boyfriend, it doesn't matter. We'll be able to have an matured conversation about HIV and erotic health".

Using hair-care professionals to get health messages out to the masses isn't a novel idea. Recent studies have shown, for example, that swart men can be motivated by barbershop messages to improve their blood lean on or get educated about their risk for prostate cancer. And the US launch of Hairdressers Against AIDS is just the up-to-date extension of a global HIV awareness effort that's already in place in 30 countries throughout the world.