Australian doctors develop diabetes cure
Australian doctors have developed a new pump for type-one diabetes patients to avoid life-threatening seizures and comas. Tim Jones, head of the Department of Endocrinology at Princess Margaret Hospital for Children in Perth, Australia, and his team had developed an artificial “pancreas-like” pump that delivers and suspends insulin in diabetes patients, Xinhua reported Friday.
The new device can identify a potentially fatal coma in patients and suspend the supply of insulin when their blood-sugar levels get dangerously low.
“Some patients will notice symptoms like a pounding heart and shakiness as their blood glucose drops,” Jones said. “Other people don’t experience any warning signs at all, meaning the reliance on this technology is even greater,” Jones added. Jones said the new pump can help patients avoid episodes of hypoglycemia or low blood glucose. Mike Wilson, chief executive of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, said the development has brought Australia a step closer to the creation of fully automated artificial pancreas. (IANS)
New treatments to tackle allergies
Scientists have zeroed-in on new treatments for people with allergies to grasses and to dust mites, says a study. The treatments are from a new class of therapy, known as ‘synthetic peptide immuno-regulatory epitopes’, or SPIREs. There are two treatments, one for grass allergy, which is commonly known as hay fever, and the other for dust mite allergy. These are expected to help people who, as a reaction to grass pollen or the tiny bugs that live in house dust, have sneezing bouts, itching eyes and a running nose, impacting their productivity at school or work.
The two studies were conducted by Adiga Life Sciences, a joint venture between McMaster University and Circassia, a UK-based biotechnology company, and was supported by St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton. It is estimated that these allergens together are responsible for more than 50 percent of allergic respiratory disease. Between 15 and 25 per cent of the population in North America and Europe is sensitive to pollen from different grass species. One in four people is sensitised to house dust mites, more than any other common allergen, which includes millions of people in these regions, reports Science Daily. (IANS)
5 regular meals a day reduces risk of obesity
A new study has revealed that eating five meals –breakfast, lunch, dinner and two snacks- a day might protect adolescents from obesity. The aim of the research based on Finnish population with more than 4,000 participants was to identify early-life risk factors associated with obesity, to investigate the association between meal frequencies, obesity and metabolic syndrome, and to examine whether meal frequency could modulate the effect of common genetic variants linked to obesity. According to the results, a regular five-meal pattern was associated with a reduced risk of overweight and obesity in both sexes and with a reduced risk of abdominal obesity in boys. Moreover, the regular five-meal pattern attenuated the BMI-increasing effect of the common genetic variants. Conversely, skipping breakfast was associated with greater BMI and waist circumference. (ANI)
How sleep, hunger are related
Researchers have discovered a function in a molecule in fruit flies which may help provide an in sight into the complicated relationship between sleep and food. Brandeis University researchers report that sNPF, a neuropeptide long known to regulate food intake and metabolism, is also an important component in regulating and promoting sleep. When researchers activated sNPF in fruit flies, the insects fell asleep almost immediately, awaking only long enough to eat before nodding off again. The flies were so sleepy that once they found a food source, they slept right on top of it for days — like falling asleep on a giant hamburger bun and waking up long enough to take a few nibbles before falling back to sleep. When researchers returned sNPF functions to normal, the flies resumed their normal level of activity, leaving behind their couch potato ways. The researchers, led by professor of biology Leslie Griffith, concluded that sNPF has an important regulatory function in sleep in addition to its previously known function coordinating behaviors such as eating and metabolism. (ANI)
Why some of us ‘eat like pigs’
Indian-born Australian researcher is studying pigs to find out why humans indulge in excessive eating. The newly study – led by professor Haja Kadarmideen, a professor and research group leader from the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences at University of Copenhagen – is the first in the world looking at pig to human comparative genetic mapping to reveal key genes on the human genome that are known to be involved in obesity. Kadarmideen realized it would be impossible to monitor the eating behaviour of 1,200 humans every single hour of every day, so he turned to Danish pigs to find out why do humans pig out. Over a period of four years, nearly 1,200 pigs were given unlimited access to food. With the help of the Pig Research Centre from the Danish Agriculture and Food Council, each day the pigs were monitored for how often they would eat, how much time they spent visiting the feeder, how much they had eaten and what kind of food they were eating, while constantly mapping their overall weight gain. Each of the 1,200 pig’s DNA was assessed using a genomic chip technology that simultaneously created a genetic profile at 60,000 locations across the entire DNA of each pig. Kadarmideen and his team discovered big differences in the variability of the pigs eating habits. (ANI)