Health and Tips:Are You At Risk For Diabetes?

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Greetings…

About 57 million Americans have prediabetes—and most don’t
know they have it. While everybody’s blood sugar goes up
after eating, those with prediabetes have blood sugar levels
that go up considerably higher than normal and often remain
so long after eating.

So are you at risk for prediabetes? If you’re an average
American over 45, you probably are, especially if you
answer yes to any of the questions in the Health Tips Secion.

Enjoy today’s issue…

Be Well,
Kris

HEALTH TIP: Are You At Risk For Diabetes?

Are you overweight? The more fatty tissue you have, the more
resistant your cells become to insulin, a hormone that helps
your body metabolize sugar and get it out of your bloodstream.
And body shape is a significant factor: you’re at higher risk
if you’re apple-shaped—storing fat around the middle—rather
than pear-shaped.

Are you inactive? It’s not just that people who are sedentary
are likely to be overweight. Exercise actually helps your body
use insulin and process glucose. In fact, a lack of exercise
impedes this process.

Are you genetically predisposed? If you have a parent or a
sibling who has type 2 diabetes, this increases your risk for
developing prediabetes. In addition, the condition is more
common among certain ethnic groups: African Americans, Latinos,
American Indians, and Asian Americans.

Are you numerically predisposed? Your risk of prediabetes rises
if you have high blood pressure, low “good” HDL (high-density
lipoprotein) cholesterol (35 milligrams per deciliter or less),
or high triglycerides—fats—in the blood (250 mg/dL or more).

If you’re at risk, it’s important to be screened before you
experience symptoms of prediabetes. If you’ve already
developed symptoms—such as excessive thirst, frequent
urination, and slow healing of sores—it’s even more important
to be tested.

Colonoscopy effective but not perfect

TORONTO, — Colonoscopy saves lives but may not be as effec-
tive at reducing cancer deaths as many think, a study by
Canadian researchers indicates. Colonoscopy most effectively
reduces deaths from colon cancer only when the cancer is on
the left side of the colon, said Dr. Nancy Baxter, a colorec-
tal surgeon at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto. Baxter was
the lead author on a study reported this week in the Annals
of Internal Medicine, the Chicago-Sun-Times reported Tuesday.
The study found colonoscopy does little to nothing to reduce
deaths if the cancer is on the right side of the colon,
Baxter said, noting right-sided cancers and polyps tend to
be flatter than those on the left, making them more difficult
to find. “When you compare colonoscopy to something like
mammography, this is a much better test, but it’s not per-
fect,” Baxter said. The study, based on more than 10,000
Ontario residents who died of colon cancer, indicates colon-
oscopy reduces the risk of dying from colon cancer by 60 to
70 percent, rather than 90 percent as is widely believed.

FDA criticizes medication information

WASHINGTON, — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says it
has found flaws in the printed consumer medication informa-
tion voluntarily provided with new prescriptions. The FDA
said a study of the information provided by retail pharmacies
showed it does not consistently provide easy-to-read, under-
standable information about the use and risks of medications.
The FDA said its study — Expert and Consumer Evaluation of
Consumer Medication Information — “showed that while 94
percent of consumers received such information with new pre-
scriptions, only about 75 percent of the information met the
minimum criteria for usefulness.” “The current voluntary
system has failed to provide consumers with the quality in-
formation they need in order to use medicines effectively
and safely,” said Dr. Janet Woodcock, director of the FDA’s
Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. “We need to work
with pharmacy operators, drug manufacturers, healthcare pro-
fessionals and consumers to come up with a sensible, compre-
hensive and more effective solution,” said Woodcock. “Spec-
ifically,” the FDA said, “CMI should include the drug name
and uses, how to monitor for improvement in the condition
being treated, contraindications, symptoms of serious or
frequent adverse reactions and what to do, and certain
general information, including statements encouraging pati-
ents to talk to their health care professional.”

FDA requires suicide warning on some drugs

WASHINGTON, — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says it
will require suicide warnings on all anti-epileptic drugs,
including those used to treat other conditions. The federal
agency says the warning about the risk of suicidal thoughts
and suicidality will be required on all anti-epileptic drugs
that are also used to treat psychiatric disorders, migraine
headaches and other conditions. The warnings will appear on
all prescribing information or labeling. “Patients being
treated with anti-epileptic drugs for any indication should
be monitored for the emergence or worsening of depression,
suicidal thoughts or behavior, or any unusual changes in
mood or behavior,” said Dr. Russell Katz, director of the
FDA’s Division of Neurology Products. He noted patients
currently taking an anti-epileptic medicine should not make
any treatment changes without talking with their healthcare
professionals. Included among the anti-epileptic medications
are the brand names Carbatrol, Equetro, Tegretol, Tegretol
XR, Klonopin, Tranxene, Depakote, Depakote ER, Depakene,
Zarontin, Peganone, Felbatol, Neurontin, Lamictal, Vimpat,
Keppra, Mesantoin, Celontin, Trileptal, Dilantin Suspension,
Lyrica, Mysoline, Gabitril, Topamax, Tridione and Zonegran.
Some of the medications are also available as generics.

New method of killing bacteria is created

CHAMPAIGN, Ill., — U.S. scientists say they have developed
a method of “fooling” a bacterium’s evolutionary machinery
into programming its own death. Researchers at the University
of Illinois and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst
said their achievement shows a synthetic “hole punching”
anti-microbial depends upon the presence of phosphoethanol-
amine — a cone-shaped lipid found within Gram-negative bac-
terial membranes. “The basic idea is for an antimicrobial to
target something in a bacteria that, in order to gain immun-
ity, would require the bacteria to kill itself through a
suicide mutation,” said UI Professor Gerard Wong, correspon-
ding author of the study. “It’s a Catch-22,” he added. “Some
mutations bacteria can tolerate, and some mutations they
cannot tolerate. In this case, the bacteria would have to go
through a mutation that would kill it, in order to be immune
to these anti-microbials. The anti-microbial reorganizes PE
lipids into holes in the membrane; the perforated membranes
leak, and the bacteria die.” The study that included graduate
student and lead author Lihua Yang, as well as Professors
Dallas Trinkle, John Cronan Jr. and Gregory Tew has been
accepted for publication in the Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences and is currently available on the jour-
nal’s Web site.

Fat cells may help treat CNS disorders

KAWASAKI, Japan, — A Japanese study suggests mature fat
cells called adipocytes might become sources for cell re-
placement therapy in treating central nervous system disor-
ders. The study’s lead researcher, Yuki Ohta of the Insti-
tute of Medical Science at St. Mariana University School of
Medicine in Kawasaki, Japan, said adipose-derived stem/stro-
mal cells have already been shown to differentiate into neu-
ronal cells in an in vitro setting. In the new study, and
for the first time, fat cells were shown to successfully
differentiate into neuronal cells in in vivo tests. The fat
cells are grown under culture conditions that result in them
becoming de-differentiated fat cells. “These cells, called
DFAT cells, are plentiful and can be easily obtained from
adipose tissue without discomfort and represent autologous
(same patient) tissue,” said Ohta. “DFAT cells, with none
of the features of adipocytes, do have the potential to diff-
erentiate into endothelial, neuronal or glial lineages.” Ohta
and his colleagues said tests in animal models confirmed
the injected cells survived without the aid of immunosuppres-
sion drugs and the DFAT-grafted animals showed significantly
better motor function than controls. “We concluded DFAT-
derived neurotrophic factors contributed to promotion of
functional recovery after spinal cord injury,” said Ohta.
The research appears in the journal Cell Transplantation.

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