Monthly Archives: July 2002

Diabetes patients with low literacy are nearly twice as likely as patients with higher literacy to have poorly-controlled blood sugar and serious long-term diabetes complications.

A synthetic antioxidant developed by researchers improves the survival of islet cells used in transplants for diabetes.

Niacin, a medication once discouraged for the treatment of lipid abnormalities in patients with diabetes, has the potential ability, when given in low doses, to be well-tolerated and effective.

By cutting the time adolescents spend standing around in school physical education classes and boosting the amount of exercise they do, experts have shown they can control the children's body fat and lower their blood pressure.

Scientists have discovered that a naturally occurring hormone can cause adult islet stem cells to mature into pancreatic beta cells, the insulin-secreting cells that are depleted or compromised in diabetes.

A team of researchers has discovered a way to use adult bone marrow stem cells to form new blood vessels in the eye or to deliver chemicals that will prevent the abnormal formation of new vessels.

A report in the July issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation has found that a group of drugs currently under development for the treatment of Type II diabetes caused both increased heart rate and elevated blood pressure in animal studies.

To avert a first heart attack or stroke, physicians should routinely assess patients' general risk of cardiovascular disease beginning at age 20, according to new American Heart Association recommendations.

New research from Rutgers links acetaminophen, the medicine in pain relievers such as Tylenol, to improved heart muscle recovery following ischemic attacks – periods of reduced blood flow typical of coronary artery disease.

One or two drinks a day can raise the risk of developing hypertension in some men, according to two Japanese studies.

Stroke patients who have hyperglycemia at the time of admission to the hospital for treatment of the stroke are at higher risk of death than stroke patients with normal blood sugar levels, according to a recent study.

New findings in clinical and basic science transplantation research to be presented; results of a study that treated diabetic children with a combination of cells from a pig’s pancreas and testes, and findings from three separate studies with a common goal in mind: to wean organ transplant patients off all anti-rejection drugs less than one year after transplantation, defying the tenet that such drugs are required for life.

Findings add important new information about how leptin regulates body weight and metabolism. An enzyme called SCD-1 plays a crucial role, through the hormone leptin, in signaling the body to either store fat or burn it, report a team of scientists in the journal Science.

The NHLBI of the National Institutes of Health has stopped early a major clinical trial of the risks and benefits of combined estrogen and progestin in healthy menopausal women due to an increased risk of invasive breast cancer.

A team lead by UCSF medical researchers has discovered a new disorder that can cause severely elevated blood cholesterol levels and may affect several hundred thousand people in the U.S. and Europe to varying degrees. The malady is caused by a single gene defect.

The Food and Drug Administration today announced its approval of a new sweetener, neotame, for use as a general-purpose sweetener in a wide variety of food products, other than meat and poultry.