UCD develops pathway to help diabetes

For all those Type 1 diabetes sufferers out there, I found some interesting information regarding research and findings on controlling the risk of cardiovascular disease in type 1 patients. Check out this article for more details.

Article source: http://www.dailydemocrat.com/news/ci_7737992

"Researchers at UC Davis Health System have discovered a novel pathway that results in increased inflammation of blood vessels in patients with type 1 diabetes. Their findings suggest that, with good diabetes control, this inflammation may be reduced, possibly resulting in a reduction of cardiovascular disease as well.

In a study now available both in the online edition of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism as well on the National Institutes of Health's PubMed, the researchers provide the first-ever demonstration of increased expression and signaling in type 1 diabetics of two key receptors within the body's innate immune system. Called TLR2 and TLR4, they are part of a family of pattern recognition receptors known as Toll-like receptors (TLRs), so-called because of their similarities to the well-defined Tollgene found in much-studied fruit flies."

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What can you do to raise awareness about diabetes?

I read this week about a young girl named Jordan Hickey, she is only 8 years old but as a sufferer of diabetes she is running with her classmates to help others understand about diabetes and raise money for research. Good on you Jordan! As Jordan has been quoted as saying "It's not contagious. They can touch me and they won't get it" Thats right, many people are so ignorant of this condition. Let's all do our part and help educate others about diabetes.

The students at Jordan's school were hoping to raise over $5000 for research and education purposes. What can you do?

Transporters may help delay diabetes-related retinal damage

Here is an update on some help to prevent blindness in diabetics - the leading cause of blindness in working age persons. Very interesting!

Article source: http://www.news-medical.net/?id=33061

Two transporters that deliver alternative energy sources to the eye may help delay retinal damage that can occur in diabetes, researchers say.

The transporters, SMCT1 and SMCT2, can circumvent the eye's protective blood-retinal barrier, delivering energy sources lactate and ketone bodies to a healthy eye, says Dr. Pamela Martin, biochemist at the Medical College of Georgia.

In diabetes, characterized by plenty of glucose but the inability of cells to use it, the retina may turn to those alternate sources for survival.

"Glucose is your primary energy source," says Dr. Martin. "But in diabetes, the retina undergoes a lot of stress, there is oxidative damage and a lot of other things going on. These transporters, we believe, may be instrumental in bringing in additional substrates which the cells can use for energy to try and prevent death."

Diabetic retinopathy, the leading cause of blindness in working-age adults, results in death of retinal neurons, at least in part because glucose availability is compromised for this high-energy-consuming tissue, says Dr.