A progressively more complex and expensive array of therapys for type 2 diabetes is being prescribed to an increasing number of adults, as per a report in the October 27 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. In 2000, more than 11 million Americans had been diagnosed with diabetes, as per background information in the article. "By 2050, the number of Americans with diabetes is expected to soar to 29 million, a prevalence of 7 percent," the authors write. "The annual economic burden of diabetes is estimated at $132 billion and increasing. In 2002, more than one-tenth of U.S. health care expenditures were attributable to diabetes." As costs and prevalence increase, managing diabetes also has become increasingly complex, as physicians prescribe more medications to each patient and combine drugs from different therapeutic classes........

Affecting eight percent of America's population, diabetes can lead to blindness, kidney failure, strokes and heart disease. Thanks to Tel Aviv University researchers, a new cure -- based on advances in cell treatment -- may be within reach. Prof. Shimon Efrat from TAU's Sackler Faculty of Medicine, whose research group is among world leaders in beta cell expansion, has developed a way to cultivate cells derived from insulin-producing beta cells from human tissue in the laboratory. It may be possible to implant these new healthy cells into patients with type 1 diabetes........

Terminally ill rodents with type 1 diabetes have been restored to full health with a single injection of a substance other than insulin by researchers at. UT Southwestern Medical Center. Since the discovery of insulin in 1922, type 1 diabetes (insulin-dependent diabetes) in humans has been treated by injecting insulin to lower high blood sugar levels and prevent diabetic coma. New findings by UT Southwestern researchers, which appear online and in a future issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggest that insulin isn't the only agent that is effective. Leptin, a hormone produced by the body's fat cells, also lowers blood glucose levels and maintains them in a normal range for extended periods, they found........

A new study in the recent issue of the Journal of Lipid Research suggests an unusual form of inheritance may have a role in the rising rate of diabetes, particularly in children and young adults, in the United States. DNA is the primary mechanism of inheritance; kids get half their genes from mom and half from dad. However, researchers are just starting to understand additional kinds of inheritance like metabolic programming, which occurs when an insult during a critical period of development, either in the womb or soon after birth, triggers permanent changes in metabolism........

Taken together, studies show that diabetes increases risk of tuberculosis People with diabetes mellitus are at increased risk of developing active tuberculosis (TB), as per an analysis published in PLoS Medicine Searching for research over the past four decades containing data on the relationship between diabetes and TB, Christie Jeon and Megan Murray of the Harvard School of Public Health identified 13 studies involving more than 1.7 million participants, including 17,698 cases of TB. Combining the data from cohort studies in particular, the scientists calculated that diabetes increases the risk of active TB by about a factor of three........

A new vision screening device, already shown to give an early warning of eye disease, could give doctors and patients a head start on treating diabetes and its vision complications, a new study shows. The instrument, invented by two researchers at the University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Center, captures images of the eye to detect metabolic stress and tissue damage that occur before the first symptoms of disease are evident........

This release is available in Spanish. . Barcelona, Spain: Diabetes in men has a direct effect on fertility, a scientist told the 24th annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology today (Wednesday 9 July). Dr. Con Mallidis from Queen's University, Belfast, UK, said that, despite the prevailing view that it had little effect on male reproductive function, the Belfast group had shown that diabetes caused DNA damage in sperm........

Trans-fatty acids have been the topic of a lot of negative health news, but in the July Journal of Lipid research, a dietary study in rats suggests that trans-fats do not increase the risk of insulin resistance and diabetes, which may ease at least one area of concern. Epidemiological studies indicate that chronic consumption of trans-fats may alter muscle insulin sensitivity, as their unusual molecular shapes can reduce muscle's ability to burn energy; in turn, reduced fat oxidation may promote insulin resistance........

A study by scientists at the Joslin Diabetes Center has shown that adherence to prescribed dietary recommendations is linked to better glucose control in children with type 1 diabetes. "In recent years, diabetes management has been focused around new medications and technologies," said Lori Laffel, M.D., senior author of the paper, which is reported in the recent issue of Diabetes Care. "In this study, we were encouraged to identify the unique importance of diet on blood sugar control in children and teens with type 1 diabetes"........

In today's issue of the prestigious journal Cell Metabolism Uppsala scientists are presenting new findings that shed light on the processes that determine the release of the blood sugar-lowering hormone insulin. The discovery is based on the development of image analysis methods that make possible the detailed study of events immediately inside the plasma membrane of the insulin-secreting cells........

Hearing loss is about twice as common in adults with diabetes in comparison to those who do not have the disease, as per a new study funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). "Hearing loss may be an under-recognized complication of diabetes. As diabetes becomes more common, the disease may become a more significant contributor to hearing loss," said senior author Catherine Cowie, Ph.D., of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), who suggested that people with diabetes should consider having their hearing tested. "Our study found a strong and consistent link between hearing impairment and diabetes using many different outcomes.".......

For people with diabetes, sipping a mug of steaming, flavorful cocoa may seem a guilty pleasure. But new research suggests that indulging a craving for cocoa can actually help blood vessels to function better and might soon be considered part of a healthy diet for the prevention of cardiovascular disease........

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis working with diabetic mice have examined in unprecedented detail the immune cells long believed to be responsible for type 1 diabetes. Scientists were able to examine the immune cells from isolated insulin-making structures in the pancreas known as the islets of Langerhans. They caught the immune cells, known as dendritic cells, "red-handed" carrying insulin and fragments of insulin-producing cells known as beta cells. This can be the first step toward starting a misdirected immune system attack that destroys the beta cells, preventing the body from making insulin and causing type 1 diabetes........

Scientists at the John A. Moran Eye Center at the University of Utah and collaborative institutions have identified a gene called erythropoietin (EPO) that contributes to increased risk of severe diabetic eye and kidney diseases, called retinopathy and nephropathy. The sight-threatening form of diabetic retinopathy, termed proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR), is the most common cause of legal blindness in working-aged adults in the United States, accounting for 10% of new onset blindness overall. Diabetes is also the leading cause of kidney disease, called end-stage renal disease (ESRD), in the U.S. and the Western world........

Two major eye diseases and leading causes of blindnessage-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathycan be reversed or even prevented by drugs that activate a protein found in blood vessel cells, scientists at the University of Utah School of Medicine and several other institutions have announced in a new study........