Pre-diabetics patients can improve vascular reactivity through aerobic exercise

The health benefits of exercise are well known and it can be especially beneficial to diabetics helping to keep circulation healthy, improving glucose control and helping to keep the heart healthy.  Now research presented to the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) 21st Annual Meeting & Clinical Congress in Philadelphia at the weekend shows that aerobic exercise carried out regularly can improve vascular reactivity to near normal levels even without weight loss.

As part of the research patients at risk of developing diabetes were included and their heart reactivity, which is known to be associated with heart disease, and how it related to exercise, was studied.

It was found that patients exercising for at least 150 minutes a week had near normal vascular reactivity.  Patients also had significant reduction in cholesterol levels – cholesterol is known to contribute to heart disease, and reductions in markers of inflammation, something which can be associated with heart disease.

Lead author of the study, Dr. Sabyasachi Sen, MD, MRCP, FRCP, said:

“Knowing that exercise significantly improves vascular reactivity for pre-diabetic patients is substantial.”

“It appears that the pre-diabetic stage is a therapeutic window when aerobic exercise can make significant improvement in vascular reactivity and bring it back towards normalcy, before these patients progress to overt diabetes. It may be too late in the overt diabetes stage to make significant impact in vascular reactivity with exercise alone.”

Artificial pancreas given first outpatient trial

The first outpatient trial of an artificial pancreas has been launched by the University of Virginia.  The researchers say that the artificial pancreas, which uses a reconfigured smartphone to monitor an insulin pump and a continuous glucose monitor, will help make diabetes easier to manage by automating a lot of the testing that is involved in diabetes.

It is hoped that using this method will help keep make glucose levels easily to control and works to automate the constant glucose monitoring that diabetics need to do to ensure that their insulin levels are correct and that their blood sugars are at a healthy level.

The device has been tested by Charlottesville resident Justin Wood, who has been diabetic for twenty eight years.  Commenting on the two day trial, Wood said:

“The operating interface was very slick and very fast."

“The extra second or two you save pressing buttons adds up when you have to do it every day.”

He went on to say:

“The device automates a lot of the tracking and monitoring I do now."

Wood says that the new monitoring system meant that he could reduce the amount of blood tests that he has to do every day to just two instead of the three - five tests that he would usually do.

The team behind the artificial pancreas, as it is being described is led by Patrick Keith-Hynes, PhD, and Boris Kovatchev.  Outpatients tests will continue between now and into 2013 and a further 120 patients will be enrolled into the programme.

Timesulin available online from DiabetesUK

If you've been diabetic for long enough then you have probably had at least a moment or two when you can't remember whether or not you've injected your insulin.  Its only happened to me a few times but it's worrying and no one wants to risk double dosing or their blood sugar will fall too low too quickly, nor do they want to risk missing an injection.

John Sjolund, Co-Founder and CEO of Timesulin was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when he was just three years on.  Now, as a very active adult - he's competed in the London Triathlon - John had the same problem, so he created Timesulin which became available last year. 

Timesulin is designed to help people avoid some of the highs and lows which can come with diabetes by ensuring that people don't double dose or miss a dose of insulin.  The Timesulin cap fits over all major insulin pen brands and has a built in timer to show the last time an injection was given.  That certainly beats my write it down and mark it off method!

The product is available directly from the Timsulin webshop and sells for 32 euros.  Alternatively, Diabetes UK has recently given the product its backing and it is now available from the Diabetes UK online store.

Commenting in a press release, Shirley Quinn of Diabetes UK said:

“We are very excited to be working with Timesulin.” 

“This is a fantastic opportunity for the charity to be at the forefront in selling this innovative product, the aim of which is to reduce the stress of remembering how long it’s been since your last insulin injection.”

Scientists say "Type 2 Diabetes More Common, More Dangerous in Children"

Type 2 diabetes is more often than not associated with adults but a recent press release highlights the growing number of children being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes.  The study, which has been published in The New England Journal of Medicine also highlights concerns that medication usually given for Type 2 diabetes in adults  isn't effective in children.

Terri H. Lipman, Phd, and CRNP of the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing worked as co-investigator on the study.  She said:

“Increases in childhood obesity have yielded an increased incidence of Type 2 diabetes in children."

“It is important to understand that the epidemic of Type 2 diabetes in youth is secondary to high caloric intake and low activity. Both of these causes are a result of a multitude of socioeconomic factors that include food deserts and lack of safe places for activity.”

As part of the research, nearly 700 children were analysed.  The children were aged between 10-17 and all had a recent diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes.  46 per cent of the children were being treated with metformin, an oral drug used for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes in adults.  However, it was found that metformin wasn't enough stabilise the blood sugar levels of children and many of them had to begin insulin therapy within a year.

Experts say that a surge in the number of children with Type 2 diabetes first began in the nineties.  The children involved in the study were all given diabetes education to try and help them regain control of their condition, and the study was carried out with the aim of helping to find more suitable treatments for children with Type 2 diabetes, which, as the study leader points out, is a preventable disease.