Dietary restriction, in conjunction with the anti-diabetic drugs metformin and liraglutide, is effective in patients with advanced diabetes.

Diabetes and obesity go hand in hand. The epidemic is rampant globally, engulfing both developed and developing countries. Westernized eating habits and lifestyle are the factors predominantly held responsible for this. Diets with low fat content and high amounts of carbohydrates are recommended by official guidelines although these have never been proved effective. A diet restricted in fat content and enriched in carbohydrates have not shown any effect in reducing heart disease connected with diabetes.

Reducing weight is an effective intervention to treat type 2 diabetes but this is difficult to achieve. Diabetic patients are often put on insulin and this cause an increase in body weight. Increased body weight further elevates the required doses of insulin injections. High insulin doses have also known to produce poor metabolic results.

Carbohydrate-rich diet is not good for the heart either. It results in raised levels of triglycerides and small dense LDL (bad-cholesterol) and low levels of HDL (good-cholesterol). Such an altered lipid profile increases the risk of heart diseases. It would therefore be wiser to adhere to a carbohydrate-restricted diet rather than the standard low fat-high carbohydrate intervention.

Liraglutide belongs to the recently introduced group of antidiabetic drugs called GLP-1 analogues. GLP-1 analogues facilitate weight reduction by inducing satiety. They also avoid hypoglycemia, a common side effect of anti-diabetic medications. Another drug called metformin is commonly used orally to treat type 2 diabetes.

Forty patients with advanced diabetes, who failed to improve even on two oral anti-diabetic drugs or insulin treatment, were enrolled in a recent 24-weeks trial. The ongoing treatment was modified. Insulin and the oral anti-diabetic drugs (except metformin) were stopped. The patients were put on a carbohydrate-restricted diet and a combination of metformin and liraglutide. They were reviewed during follow-up visits at one, two, three and six months.

Thirty-five patients completed the study. A drop in HbA1c (an important marker of the diabetic status, values lower than 7.0% are good) and body weight were noticed in most of the participants. Patients were all satisfied with the treatment. Lipid profile remained largely unaffected.

The trial was designed as proof-of-concept study without control group. This may also be viewed as a limitation of the study. However the study finding brings good news to diabetic patients since it enables reduction in medications. Patients with short duration of diabetes are benefited better. Low carb-diets alone or in conjunction with metformin may be used to treat newly diagnosed diabetes type 2 showing HbA1c values of around 9%.

Patients with long lasting diabetes whose standard treatments failed to produce metabolic control could now possibly switch to this alternative diet regimen, after consulting their physicians.


Source-Medindia

A new research has suggested the possibility of reversing aging in the central nervous system in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS).

In multiple sclerosis, the insulating layers that protect nerve fibers in the brain, known as myelin sheaths, become damaged. The loss of myelin in the brain prevents nerve fibers from sending signals properly and will eventually lead to the loss of the nerve fiber itself.

However, early in the disease, a regenerative process, or remyelination, occurs and the myelin sheaths are restored. Unfortunately, as people with MS age, remyelination decreases significantly, resulting in more nerve fibers being permanently lost.

However, the latest study in mice shows that the age-associated decline in the regeneration of the nerve's myelin sheath, or remyelination, is reversible.

The proof of principle study demonstrates that when old mice are exposed to the inflammatory cells (called monocytes) from young mice, the ageing remyelination process can be reversed.

"What we have shown in our study, carried out in collaboration with Dr Amy Wagers and colleagues at Harvard University, is that the age-associated decline in remyelination is reversible," said Professor Robin Franklin, Director of the MS Society's Cambridge Center for Myelin Repair at the University of Cambridge.

"We found that remyelination in old adult mice can be made to work as efficiently as it does in young adult mice.

"For individuals with MS, this means that in theory regenerative therapies will work throughout the duration of the disease. Specifically, it means that remyelination therapies do not need to be based on stem cell transplantation since the stem cells already present in the brain and spinal cord can be made to regenerate myelin - regardless of the patient's age," he stated.

The study has just published in the journal Cell Stem Cell.

Source-ANI

After a decade of research, scientists have finally confirmed that a method of positron emission tomography (PET) safely and accurately detects dementia, including the Alzheimer's disease.

Researchers reviewed numerous PET studies to evaluate a molecular imaging technique that combines PET, which provides functional images of biological processes, with an injected biomarker called 18F-FDG to pinpoint key areas of metabolic decline in the brain indicating dementia.

Having physiological evidence of neurodegenerative disease by imaging patients with PET could give clinicians the information they need to make more accurate diagnoses earlier than ever before.

"The new data support the role of 18F-FDG PET as an effective addition to other diagnostic methods used to assess patients with symptoms of dementia," said Nicolaas Bohnen, MD, PhD, lead author of the study and professor of radiology and neurology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich.

"The review also identified new literature showing the benefit of this imaging technique for not only helping to diagnose dementia but also for improving physician confidence when diagnosing a patient with dementia. This process can be difficult for physicians, especially when evaluating younger patients or those who have subtle signs of disease," he stated.

Physicians can use FDG-PET with high accuracy to not only help diagnose dementia but also differentiate between the individual disorders. The role molecular imaging plays in the diagnosis of dementia has expanded enough that the official criteria physicians use to diagnose patients now includes evidence from molecular imaging studies.

After reviewing 11 studies that occurred since the year 2000 and that met more stringent study review standards, researchers conclude that 18F-FDG is highly effective for detecting the presence and type of dementia.

"Using 18F-FDG PET in the evaluation of patients with dementia can improve diagnostic accuracy and lead to earlier treatment and better patient care," said Bohnen.

"The earlier we make a diagnosis, the more we can alleviate uncertainty and suffering for patients and their families," he added.

This research is featured in the January issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine.

Source-ANI

Exposure to nitrogen oxides in air causes increased risk of type 2 diabetes and hypertension in African-American women, a new study has revealed.

Researchers from the Slone Epidemiology Center (SEC) at Boston University assessed the risks of incident hypertension and diabetes associated with exposure to nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matter (PM2.5) in a cohort of approximately 4,000 African American women living in Los Angeles.

NOx are indicators of traffic-related air pollution. From 1995-2005, 531 incident cases of hypertension and 183 incident cases of diabetes occurred among the participants in the Los Angeles area.

The risk of diabetes increased by a significant 24 percent, and the risk of hypertension by 11 percent, for each 12 ppb increase in exposure to NOx. There also were suggestive increases in risks of both diseases associated with exposure to (PM2.5), but the evidence for this was weaker than for NOx.

"A link between air pollution and the risks of diabetes and hypertension is of particular importance to African American women, because the incidence of both conditions is almost twice as high in African American women as in white women and African Americans live in more highly polluted areas than white Americans," said Patricia Coogan, D.Sc., the study's lead author," Coogan said.

"In addition, even a modest effect of air pollutants on the risks of hypertension and diabetes will have significant public health impact due to the high incidence of these conditions and the ubiquity of exposure to air pollution," she added.

The study has been published online in the journal Circulation.

Source-ANI

Zhang Wen, dressed in a low-backed wedding dress, stood at Guanggu Square in Wuhan, the capital city of Hubei province, on January 3.

Shivering in the cold wind, she held 10 roses and asked for kisses from male passers-by, with a friend standing nearby holding a board saying, 'Kiss me for a rose in exchange'.

It also said 'I'm an HBV (hepatitis B virus) carrier, I also long for love'.

According to Changjiang Times, Wen is 30 and unmarried. Ten roses were handed out within one hour in exchange for kisses, China Daily reported.

She also got hugs from passers-by who were moved by her courage and honesty.

The event was to raise awareness about the misunderstanding and discrimination against HBV carriers and letting people know that HBV is not so horrible.

Source-ANI