As Suzanne Sugerbaker on the 90’s sitcom, “Designing Women,” Delta Burke was the epitome of self-assured vanity. Her successes as Miss Florida in 1974 and a long list of films since then haven’t hurt her self-confidence either. As the owner of a successful women’s fashion company, Burke has also made herself a generous fortune.

But regular viewers of “Designing Women” noticed that she was gaining weight. Burke also struggled with depression and eating disorders. For several years, she felt strange, and doctors struggled to treat her problem. Eventually, they diagnosed her with type 2 diabetes.

Burke determined to attack the problem immediately. She gave up sugar and white flour, but her blood glucose levels still spiked. Doctors told her she would need to go on insulin if she couldn’t get it under control. “That scared me enough to take action.” She became even more aggressive, losing 20 pounds. She maintained a strict diet of exclusively meat, fruits, and vegetables, which helped immensely. But the final missing piece came with a new drug. An incretin mimetic drug finally allowed Delta Burke to stabilize her sugar and live a more normal life.

Let’s Talk

As a natural communicator, Burke has used her notoriety to help others understand diabetes. She led the Let’s Talk campaign, which traveled through more than 10 U.S. cities for the purpose of diabetes awareness. Delta Burke spoke to attendees on the importance of healthier eating, exercise and proper medication.

From a high of 215 pounds down to 150, and from wobbling health to a solid pattern of healthy eating and activity, Delta Burke is a good reminder that managing diabetes simply takes hard work. This process of adjustment wasn’t easy for her, and it isn’t easy for anyone else that faces it. Thankfully, Delta Burke was transparent enough to share her struggle and make it easier for others to face the same challenges. Hopefully, more people will follow her example and be willing to talk openly about their battle with diabetes. Nobody is perfect; nobody is free from struggles. It’s time to stop pretending; it’s time to talk.

By: Daniel Threlfall

Delta Burke
Photo credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delta_Burke

]]> http://www.keyvive.com/featured/jack-tatum-famous-football-legend-with-diabetes-dies/feed/ 0 http://www.keyvive.com/featured/islet-cell-transplant-the-research-continues-the-cure-is-closer/ http://www.keyvive.com/featured/islet-cell-transplant-the-research-continues-the-cure-is-closer/#comments Wed, 28 Jul 2010 14:08:03 +0000 Diabetes Editor http://www.keyvive.com/?p=15380

If you spend any time around a diabetologist, endocrinologist or diabetes scientist, you’ll probably hear something about “islets cells,” news about a “transplant,” or whispers of a treatment for diabetes in islet cell transplantation. What is all of this, anyway? What does it mean for diabetes? And what, if any, are the problematic medical issues associated with islet cell transplantation?  

Transplantation 101

First of all, let’s make sure we understand what “islet cell transplant” is all about. Islet cells are very important little biological mechanisms that exist in a healthy pancreas. They are located in a region of the pancreas called the “islet of Langerhans,” named after the very smart German man who discovered them a long time ago. These cells produce several very important hormones called glucagon and insulin. For the person with a healthy pancreas and problem-free islet cells, the glucagon and insulin do just what they are supposed to do—regulate blood sugar levels. For the person with diabetes, however, it’s a different story. His or her very life depends on carefully regulating glucagon and insulin personally, since the immune system has destroyed the cells. Islet cells are essential to healthy living. Thus, islet cell transplantation is the procedure of taking a healthy set of islet cells from a pancreas, and transplanting them into the body of a person with diabetes. 

Transplantation and Diabetes

That’s why islet cell transplant is so important to the diabetes community. A transplant procedure could potentially heal diabetes by introducing healthy islet cells and restoring insulin production to is proper status. Right now, however, the islet cell transplant procedure is considered “experimental.” An experimental procedure means that the islet cell transplant is not yet a routine operation, described in textbooks, taught to doctors, and regularly performed upon request. To date, there have been less than 500 islet cell transplants performed. That’s a small number compared to the more than 20 million people in the United States who have diabetes, and the nearly sixty million people that live in a state of pre-diabetes. Why is it that islet cell transplantation, which one doctor calls “the next best thing to a cure,” has only been available to a very small number of people?

Transplanting Problems

Transplantation works perfectly in theory, but encounters problems in application. That problem has to do with the body’s rejection of anything it identifies as foreign. When the body’s immune system identifies something inside the body that has come from the outside, it automatically attempts to eliminate it. Normally, this is a good thing. Our immune system keeps us healthy. In the case of islet cell transplanting procedure, this can be a bad thing. The immune system identifies transplanted islet cells and attempts to destroy them. To get around this problem, doctors must suppress the immune system. Medications that suppress the immune system are expensive, however, and can actually harm the body—causing ulcers, heart problems, digestive disorders, and renal failure. Often the problems of attempting an islet cell transplant and the accompanying immunosuppression are worse than the problems that the islet cell transplant was attempting to correct.

Recent Advances in Islet Cell Transplant

Hither and yon across the field of research in islet cell transplant are glimmers of hope. One such bit of hopeful news comes from Sernova Corp., whose “cell pouch system” for protecting transplanted islet cells has proved to be successful in laboratory studies. At the recent ADA annual conference, reports were given on the moderate success of new immunosuppressant drugs and drug therapy. The goal, obviously, is to achieve islet cell transplantation without the adverse effects of rejection by the body. Because immunosuppressants are potentially harmful, many scientists are researching two primary fields for a safe alternative approach to islet cell transplants. One is called tolerance induction, currently more of an “in-theory” approach than an actual subject of research. The second approach is called encapsulation, which is what Sernova is attempting to do. 

One recent encapsulation technique involves an “islet sheet.” The islet sheet is exactly what it sounds like—a small sheet, about business card-size , of kelp polymer filled with actual islet cells. When placed into the body, either underneath the skin or even directly into the abdomen, the islets will do what they are supposed to do—ultimately control blood sugar levels through the production of insulin. The islet sheet may, however, wear out over time, and may need replacement every few years. 

From the outside looking in, it’s easy to wonder why such promising treatments are so slow in coming. After all, there are millions of people suffering with diabetes on a daily basis. Why not kick up the research a few more notches, perform a few more studies, and heal a few more people? The obstacles are legion—and are unbelievably immense in scale. Besides the nitty-gritty Gordian knots of scientific problems, there are ethical boundaries in the realm of research, there are regulatory policies in place that govern research, there is the constant shortage of funds to continue the studies, and there is the political fluctuations that assail scientific advances at every turn. It’s a wonder we’ve come this far. 

And since we have come this far, we can’t give up. All over the globe, scientists are pursuing a cure. It’s up to people like us to help pave the way, fund the research, and keep on praying.

By Daniel Threlfall

healthforworld.blogspot.com

]]> http://www.keyvive.com/featured/islet-cell-transplant-the-research-continues-the-cure-is-closer/feed/ 0 http://www.keyvive.com/featured/anniversary-of-insulin-first-isolate-millions-live-because-of-this-ground-breaking-discovery/ http://www.keyvive.com/featured/anniversary-of-insulin-first-isolate-millions-live-because-of-this-ground-breaking-discovery/#comments Tue, 27 Jul 2010 12:00:00 +0000 Diabetes Editor http://www.keyvive.com/?p=15330

On July 27, 1921 Dr. Frederick Banting, a Canadian surgeon visiting the University of Toronto, had a new idea on how to treat what was then called “Sugar Disease,” –what is known to millions today as diabetes or the fifth deadliest disease in the U.S.  

Late in the 19th century, scientists had studied the relationship between the pancreas and diabetes and determined there was an intricate connection.  They had looked specifically at cells in the pancreas called islets of Langerhans and figured out that digestive juices were killing these vital cells.  

Insulin is a hormone secreted by isles of Langerhans (islet cells), produced by the pancreas and used to regulate glucose (sugar) in the blood.  This hormone converts glucose into energy, taking it out of the blood stream and distributing it to parts of the body that it needs.  When there is no or not enough insulin in the body, sugar backs up in the blood stream causing high blood sugars or diabetes.  

If Dr. Banting could stop the pancreas from functioning but keep these isles of Langerhans working, he might be able to isolate this mystery hormone.  The head of the department of physiology at the University of Toronto John J.R. Macleod was studying glucose metabolism and diabetes and was skeptical, but let Banting use his lab, 10 experimental dogs and a medical student assistant named Charles Best.  

Banting and Best began their experiments and made conclusive results.  By extracting a substance from the islets of Langerhans (“insulin,” from Latin term “island”) and giving it to dogs with diabetes, the animal’s high blood sugars decreased.  After testing and re-testing their outcome over six weeks, they felt confident in trying it on a 14 year old boy, dying from the disease.  In 1922, insulin was administered to this individual and they determined the injection had eliminated sugar in the boy’s urine and lowered his blood glucose.  

In 1923, the Nobel Prize was awarded to Banting and Macleod.  This revolutionary discovery has saved the lives of millions of people suffering from diabetes.  Today, more than 24 million have this disease but look forward to the next major discovery –the perfection of the artificial pancreas or islet cell transplantation in the not-so-distant future.  

www.inventors.about.com

www.medicalnewstoday.com

www.wisegeek.com

bioinsulina.blogspot.com]]>

On July 27, 1921 Dr. Frederick Banting, a Canadian surgeon visiting the University of Toronto, had a new idea on how to treat what was then called “Sugar Disease,” –what is known to millions today as diabetes or the fifth deadliest disease in the U.S.  

Late in the 19th century, scientists had studied the relationship between the pancreas and diabetes and determined there was an intricate connection.  They had looked specifically at cells in the pancreas called islets of Langerhans and figured out that digestive juices were killing these vital cells.  

Insulin is a hormone secreted by isles of Langerhans (islet cells), produced by the pancreas and used to regulate glucose (sugar) in the blood.  This hormone converts glucose into energy, taking it out of the blood stream and distributing it to parts of the body that it needs.  When there is no or not enough insulin in the body, sugar backs up in the blood stream causing high blood sugars or diabetes.  

If Dr. Banting could stop the pancreas from functioning but keep these isles of Langerhans working, he might be able to isolate this mystery hormone.  The head of the department of physiology at the University of Toronto John J.R. Macleod was studying glucose metabolism and diabetes and was skeptical, but let Banting use his lab, 10 experimental dogs and a medical student assistant named Charles Best.  

Banting and Best began their experiments and made conclusive results.  By extracting a substance from the islets of Langerhans (“insulin,” from Latin term “island”) and giving it to dogs with diabetes, the animal’s high blood sugars decreased.  After testing and re-testing their outcome over six weeks, they felt confident in trying it on a 14 year old boy, dying from the disease.  In 1922, insulin was administered to this individual and they determined the injection had eliminated sugar in the boy’s urine and lowered his blood glucose.  

In 1923, the Nobel Prize was awarded to Banting and Macleod.  This revolutionary discovery has saved the lives of millions of people suffering from diabetes.  Today, more than 24 million have this disease but look forward to the next major discovery –the perfection of the artificial pancreas or islet cell transplantation in the not-so-distant future.  

www.inventors.about.com

www.medicalnewstoday.com

www.wisegeek.com

bioinsulina.blogspot.com

]]> http://www.keyvive.com/featured/anniversary-of-insulin-first-isolate-millions-live-because-of-this-ground-breaking-discovery/feed/ 0