The great escape - boarding a diabetic pet
Filed under: Type 2, Adult Onset, Exercise, Opinion, Allie Beatty, Care, Personalities
A friend of mine told me about a friend of hers who had a cat that used to have diabetes - until she left him with the Vet. Her friend was overprotective of her little cat since it was diagnosed with diabetes. The cat was put on insulin injections. She also upgraded the entire posse of cats to low-carb cat food. Routinely she took her cat to the vet to have the blood sugar levels checked ($75 a pop!) So far, so good - the story is mundane until her friend left for a vacation and boarded the cat at the Vet's for the week.
All week her friend was worried about the welfare of her cat - even though she was safely under the watchful eye of the vet. As it turns out, upon her return from vacation - the vet notified her that her cat no longer has diabetes. She was sent home with instructions to continue feeding the cats low carbohydrate food, and to discontinue the insulin injections.
Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine says, "Some diabetic cats may lose the need for insulin, months or years after diagnosis. If diabetes has resulted from obesity, it is likely to improve a great deal-or even completely resolve-once the cat's weight is under control. If obesity or some other disorder is not a factor, the diabetes probably will not go away; however, it can be successfully managed."
So here's my question: are animals so different from human beings? Why isn't the equation so simple in curing Type 2? Simple is a grave understatement - but understanding the cause of elevated blood sugar could be the great escape from diabetes. It's more than just switching a diet to low-carb cat food, isn't it? Meow.
Asprin may be life saver for cancer patients experiencing heart attack
Filed under: Research, Daily news
According to the WHO (the World Health Organization, not the band), there are roughly 10 million cancer patients 
worldwide, of which 1.5 million may develop blood clots during their cancer treatment. As such, these individuals face great risk of dying from heart disease if they do not receive proper treatment, which, as doctors may have now discovered, includes taking aspirin to prevent heart attack.
The prevailing thought on aspirin was that because it is a blood thinner, it is not safe for people with cancer to take. Because people battling cancer typically experience low platelet counts and abnormal clotting, it was believed that aspirin would only serve to worsen these pre-existing problems. But, a recent study held by a joint team of researchers from the department of cardiology at the M.D. Anderson Center, Baylor College of Medicine, and Duke University Medical Center discovered that this may, in fact, not be true at all.
The findings of their study, which will be published in the February 1, 2007 issue of the journal Cancer, center on evidence suggesting the beneficial properties of aspirin for cancer patients experiencing heart attack. They found that 9 out of 10 cancer patients with low platelet count, and who were suffering form heart attack and who did not receive aspirin, died. By contrast, they also found that in a group of 17 similar cancer patients who did receive aspirin, only one patient died. Additionally, it was also discovered that even cancer patients who do not have low platelet counts who experience heart attack can be helped by taking aspirin, in the same manner that it helps people without cancer.
Further and more detailed information on the study will be available in the February issue of the journal Cancer.
Denver Bronco running back Damien Nash dies of heart attack
Filed under: Daily news, Celebrity news, Celebrity in memorium, Men Heart Health
Damien Nash, a Denver Broncos running back, was hosting a basketball game yesterday to benefit the Darris Nash Find a Heart Foundation, a charity that raises funds for heart transplant research. Darris Nash, the brother of Damien had to have a transplant. Darris had a weakened heart muscle condition known as dilated cardiomyopathy. The ailment can be caused by a viral infection, inflammation or other causes. Damien Nash collapsed after returning home to his wife, and was pronounced dead at the hospital at 6:41 p.m. central standard time. The family of course is in shock since he had no history of heart problems. Damien is survived by his wife Judy and a 7 month old daughter. Nash was 24. Nash was a graduate of Coffeyville Community College in Kansas and University of Missouri before getting drafted by the Tennessee Titans in 2005. Denver signed him as a free agent in 2006. He played a total of 6 NFL games.
[RESEARCH] Cancer risk among users of oral contraceptives: cohort data from the Royal College of General Practitioner's oral contraception study
Objective To examine the absolute risks or benefits on cancer associated with oral contraception, using incident data.
Design Inception cohort study.
Setting Royal College of General Practitioners' oral contraception study.
Participants Directly standardised data from the Royal College of General Practitioners' oral contraception study.
Main outcome measures Adjusted relative risks between never and ever users of oral contraceptives for different types of cancer, main gynaecological cancers combined, and any cancer. Standardisation variables were age, smoking, parity, social class, and (for the general practitioner observation dataset) hormone replacement therapy. Subgroup analyses examined whether the relative risks changed with user characteristics, duration of oral contraception usage, and time since last use of oral contraception.
Results The main dataset contained about 339 000 woman years of observation for never users and 744 000 woman years for ever users. Compared with never users ever users had statistically significant lower rates of cancers of the large bowel or rectum, uterine body, and ovaries, tumours of unknown site, and other malignancies; main gynaecological cancers combined; and any cancer. The relative risk for any cancer in the smaller general practitioner observation dataset was not significantly reduced. Statistically significant trends of increasing risk of cervical and central nervous system or pituitary cancer, and decreasing risk of uterine body and ovarian malignancies, were seen with increasing duration of oral contraceptive use. Reduced relative risk estimates were observed for ovarian and uterine body cancer many years after stopping oral contraception, although some were not statistically significant. The estimated absolute rate reduction of any cancer among ever users was 45 or 10 per 100 000 woman years, depending on whether the main or general practitioner observation dataset was used.
Conclusion In this UK cohort, oral contraception was not associated with an overall increased risk of cancer; indeed it may even produce a net public health gain. The balance of cancer risks and benefits, however, may vary internationally, depending on patterns of oral contraception usage and the incidence of different cancers.
Every toenail tells a story
Filed under: Research
Diabetes can do a lot of harm to your feet. The worst case scenario is severe nerve or tissue damage necessitating amputation. Early intervention is critical for avoiding this drastic measure, and researchers are looking at various ways in which this can be done. A brand new example of this kind of research comes courtesy of the foot docs at CLEAR - Scholl's Center for Lower Extremity Ambulatory Research at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, which is located in Chicago. CLEAR researchers found that nearly three out of four diabetics who are at high risk for amputation have diseased toenails. The finding was announced recently at a conference for the American Academy of Dermatology, being held in Washington, DC. Says co-author of the study, Stephanie Wu, the study helped confirm what many suspected but was previously unproven. "It appears," said Dr. Wu, "that if you have certain pre-existing risk factors for amputation coupled with a clinically diseased nail, chances are you have a significant fungal infection based on laboratory cultures." It is hoped that this knowledge can help prevent amputations by helping physicians identify those who are at risk more quickly than might have previously been the case.
Deep belly fat not so evil after all?
Filed under: Type 2, Lifestyle, Research, Daily News
Did you hear about renowned Harvard scientist Barbara Kahn's latest published research? I blogged about it recently. Kahn and colleagues state, in a report published in Cell Metabolism (July 2007), that it's possible to use a simple blood test to detect the presence of a specific protein called RBP4. Kahn et al say the presence of RBP4 can be used to measure accumulations of deep belly fat. Underpinning this research is a belief that such accumulations of belly fat increase risk for metabolic syndrome, leading to various maladies including heart disease and diabetes.However, not everyone accepts this point of view. A Yale research team says that deep belly fat may not be so evil after all. The researchers, who are based at Yale University School of Medicine in Chevy Chase, Maryland, assert that metabolic syndrome is caused not by belly fat but by insulin resistance in skeletal muscle. This resistance, they state, makes it tough for the body to manufacture glycogen, so - in people who are insulin resistant - energy that cannot be stored as glycogen gets diverted into fatty acid production, which then contributes to metabolic syndrome.
The team compared abdominal fat levels in young and healthy individuals, some of whom were insulin sensitive and some of whom were insulin resistant. The result? "There is absolutely no difference in the volume of abdominal fat," states Yale's Gerald I. Shulman, who was lead author of the study. Abdominal fat, says Dr. Shulman, "may come later in the course of the disease [metabolic syndrome], but it's not a primary, underlying factor."
A few heart healthy tips
Filed under: Diet, Prevention, Mind Body medicine
I usually tune in to CNN to find out what's going on in the world, not to find out what's going in inside my body. But, there are always exceptions. For example, I find the BBC news to sometimes be a more accurate/less filtered account of world events. By the same token, CNN does have some valuable health info. to offer up every once in a while. Case in point, a list of "9 Secrets to a Healthier Heart" published on the news giant's website.
Simple, easy-to-follow and just plain good, sound advice. That's what I like most about this list. Rather than reiterate all of the 9 secrets, I have instead decided to paraphrase a few I found to be most helpful:
#4) Try to consume more pomegranate juice. In addition to aiding in preventing hardening of the arteries, lowering bad cholesterol, pomegranate juice may also reduce the risk of prostate cancer. Try to find a 100% version of the juice, such s the very popular Pom -- which can be found in most supermarkets.
#6) Pointing to a research study conducted at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, the article sites the importance of laughter. Its healing power, if you will. Apparently, people who watched comedy films such as "There's Something About Mary" had better blood flow than those who watched dramas like "Saving Private Ryan."
#8) Relaxed, control breathing can help lower your blood pressure. The article suggests trying to take 10 breaths per minute rather than the average 16 to 19. By doing so, you can slow your body's excretion of salt, which, in turn, will help keep your blood pressure down.
As I said, these are simple and effective strategies to help keep your heart healthy. To read all 9, click HERE.
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What does the Vagas Nerve have to do with Diabetes?
Filed under: Type 2, Adult Onset, Research, Daily News
According to scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, interrupting nerve signals to the liver can prevent diabetes and hypertension in mice.
Mice were treated to become diabetic with glucocorticoids, a class of steroid hormones characterized by an ability to bind with the cortisol receptor. Once diabetes was established, the researchers surgically removed the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve is the only nerve that starts in the brainstem and extends all the way down to the abdomen. More impressive is the fact that once the nerve was removed from the diabetic mice, insulin resistance and high blood pressure was prevented or reversed. This is an interesting discovery because people with asthma, arthritis, and organ transplants often rely on steroid treatments. It just so happens that many of them go on to develop insulin resistance.
Don't go ripping your vagus nerve out just yet. A fun fact about the vagus nerve is that it's name is taken from the Latin word meaning "wanderer". The vagal nerve pathway can influence seizures, depression and other disorders. Although the research is thoroughly enlightening, it is still very green. Hang on to your vagus nerve while the research continues.
Researchers examine risk faced by endurance athletes
Filed under: Research, Exercise
I can distinctly recall hearing the news of the tragedy. I was in my early teens at the time, probably just turned thirteen. Basketball was my life, as sports are to many kids of that age. I also remember watching both pro and college basketball games whenever I myself was not playing for one of the eight thousand teams (recreation league, school team, CYO team, etc.) I played on, looking up to these men as demigods. But then, the news struck that one of these players, one of these sports idols of mine, had suddenly collapsed and died during a basketball game. His name was Hank Gathers, a rising star at Loyola Marymount University that was well on his way to being drafted into the NBA.
It was determined that Gathers suffered from an abnormal heartbeat, exercise induced ventricular tachycardia. Since then, there have been reports over the years at different times about athletes who either collapsed during a game or were held back by doctors from playing a game because of a similar condition. There was not much information being circulated about the cause and origin of this condition, leaving the public to wonder why these athletes were suffering from an abnormal rate and rhythm of the heart. However, researchers at the University Hospital Gasthuisberg at the University of Leuven in Belgium have begun examining this issue.
After conducting a study on 22 endurance athletes who were referred to them with ventricular arrhythmia between 1997 and 2005. The researchers discovered that most of these athletes have dysfunctional right ventricles. At the present time the researchers are still examining the dangers of this condition in endurance athletes, and are doing so by ruling out such external factors as family history. Whether or not long-term, strenuous endurance activity can lead to ventricular arrhythmia or tachycardia remains unknown for now.
Portion-control plates help curb apetite
Filed under: Type 2, Diet, Lifestyle, Research, Daily News
It's often said that serving food on smaller plates makes a diner inclined to eat less. Well, a Canadian researcher decided to put that theory to the test. Sue Pedersen, who is an endocrinologist at the University of Calgary, conducted a study designed to evaluate the efficacy of a specially designed "portion-control plate." The plates, designed by Diet Plate Limited of England, are marked with lines indicating how much of the day's main meal should be divided amongst the various food groups. For six months, sixty-five study participants ate their food from regular dishes, while sixty-five others ate their food from the portion-control plates. All of the participants were type 2 diabetics and clinically obese. End result? The plates worked quite well at getting subjects to curb their appetites. After six months, those using the plates lost an average of 1.8 percent of their body weight, whereas the control group lost an average of only 0.1 percent. Interestingly, those on insulin regimens did the best of all, with an average of 2.5 percent weight loss.
The fatal flaw? What happens when the white lab coat crew aren't charting your intake any more? Call me a naysayer, but I'm predicting some major snacking in the future of those study subjects. Because special plate or not, you have to have the will to cut portion intake, and it's hard to maintain that will long-term.
The results of Pedersen's study have been published in the Archives of Internal Medicine (June 2007). Check out the Diet Plate website too.