EASD16 Tag
19 Sep Rates of Gestational Diabetes Higher in Summer
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Anastasia Katsarou PhD LUND University MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The study is using data from the Mamma study which screened pregnant women during 2003-2005. During this period, we gathered results from the oral glucose tolerance tests that the women underwent at the 28th week of pregnancy. We used data on the 2hour blood glucose levels from these tests and the frequency of women who were diagnosed with gestational diabetes and grouped them into months and seasons. We gathered also data on the mean monthly temperatures from the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute. We observed that the 2hour glucose levels and the frequency of women diagnosed with gestational diabetes were statistically significantly higher during the summer months.16 Sep Socio-Economic Factors Influence Genetic Tendency Toward Obesity
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_27851" align="alignleft" width="200"]
Prof. Timothy Frayling[/caption]
Professor Timothy Frayling PhD
Professor of Human Genetics
University of Exeter Medical School
Exeter, UK
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: We know that genes and environmental factors influence our Body mass index. We know less about if and how they interact.
We wanted to answer the question of whether or not aspects of the environment and our lifestyles accentuate any genetic predisposition to obesity. The question is important as it may highlight aspects of the environment that cause some people to be particularly susceptible to gaining weight. Previous, separate, studies have suggested that specific aspects of the environment are to blame. These included sugary drinks, fried food and TV watching.
16 Sep Can Vitamin D Reduce Insulin Resistance in Muscles of Type 2 Diabetics?
[caption id="attachment_27954" align="alignleft" width="133"]
Elisa Benetti, PhD[/caption]
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Elisa Benetti PhD
Department of Drug Science and Technology
University of Turin
Turin, Italy
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: The idea for this study comes from the debate on the role of vitamin D supplementation in the prevention or progression of type 2 diabetes (T2DM). Epidemiological data point at a strong association between vitamin D deficiency and T2DM prevalence, however a causal relationship is still lacking.
Here we wanted to explore the effect of vitamin D administration on insulin-sensitivity, particularly focusing on skeletal muscle, which is a crucial tissue in the maintenance of glucose homeostasis and which was suggested to be a tissue target of vitamin D.
Using a murine model of insulin-resistance induced by a High Fat-High Sugar Diet (HFHS), we demonstrated that a vitamin D supplementation (7 μg•kg-1, i.p. three times/week) was able to revert the deleterious effects evoked by the diet, including the increase in body weight and in the HOMA-IR (a parameter of insulin resistance) and the glucose tolerance impairment. Consistently, at the muscle level, vitamin D increased the insulin sensitivity by reducing tissue inflammation and fat accumulation (myosteatosis).
These effects are due, at least in part, to the inhibition exerted by vitamin D on carboxymethyl-lysine (CML) production, one of the main Advanced Glucose End-products (AGEs), and on its receptor RAGE.
Collectively, our data indicate the ability of vitamin D to reduce the development of muscle insulin resistance, the primary defect in T2DM patients.
16 Sep Progressive Incremental Benefits of Targeting Lower HbA1c on Type 2 Diabetes Complications Rates
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_27951" align="alignleft" width="125"]
Dr. Samiul Mostafa[/caption]
Dr. Samiul Mostafa
Honorary Clinical Lecturer
Diabetes Trials Unit
University of Oxford
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: In managing people with Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), international guidelines recommend individualisation of HbA1c (glucose) targets for long term maintenance; however, few data are available on the potential
benefits that different blood sugar control targets might achieve.
Therefore, there is a need to learn more about the incremental benefits
of progressively lowering blood sugar levels.
In this computer modelling study, we used the UKPDS Outcomes Model
version 2.0 to estimate 10-year event rates for myocardial infarction
(MI, heart attack), stroke, blindness and amputation by entering
baseline risk factor variables (for example, weight, height,
LDL-cholesterol, systolic blood pressure) taken from a for a current
population of 5766 people with T2DM. Complication rates were estimated
with HbA1c levels held constant at 10%, 9%, 8%, 7% and 6% for each
individual whilst maintaining their risk factors at their baseline
values. Standard statistical methods were used to calculate relative
risk reductions of complications at each HbA1c level.