Author Interviews, Diabetes, Endocrinology, Hormone Therapy / 19.09.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jon Rasmussen, MD, PhD fellow Department of Internal Medicine Herlev Hospital, Denmark MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Abuse of anabolic androgenic steroids has become highly prevalent among young men involved in recreational strength training. A recent meta-analysis estimated that approximately 18% of young men involved recreational strength training abuse anabolic steroids. Well-known adverse effects following abuse of anabolic steroids include hypogonadism (For those who have interest, we have recently published a paper concerning this issue, it can be read and downloaded at: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0161208). Yet, we have a poor understanding on the adverse effects these compounds might have on the metabolism and insulin sensitivity. (more…)
Author Interviews, Diabetes, OBGYNE / 19.09.2016

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. (more…)
Author Interviews, Diabetes, Social Issues, Weight Research / 16.09.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: 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. (more…)
Author Interviews, Diabetes, Vitamin D / 16.09.2016

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. (more…)
Author Interviews, Diabetes / 16.09.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: 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. (more…)