Cyndrome

Archive for the ‘Insulin’ Category

Controlling the level of glucose in blood in diabetics is crucial from the point of preventing the development of mood disorders. The fluctuations taking place in the levels of glucose in blood can lead to a number of complications. Development of psychological and mood disorders in diabetics is one of them. Neglecting such problems can have grave consequences. Amongst the different psychological disorders associated with diabetes, the problem of depression is most pronounced. The other psychological problems include anger and anxiety.

Dr. Satish Garg from the University of Colorado Denver opines that studying the relationship between mood disorders and diabetes should help in obtaining an in-depth understanding of the subject matter. This could further boost the research on finding effective means and treatment measures for tackling this health issue. Tim Wysocki from Jacksonville, Florida too has expressed similar ideas on the topic in his write-up presented in the journal named ‘Diabetes Technology and Therapeutics’.

If the glucose level in the body is not controlled in a timely manner, severe complications may develop. One thing that researchers are still in doubt is whether mood disorders are responsible for causing diabetes or the process actually takes place in the reverse manner. There is no doubt whatsoever on the matter that psychological disorders like depression lead to a myriad form of complications like worsening of diet, decreased physical activity, rise in micro & macro-vascular complications, inclination to bad habits like smoking, etc. The research conducted by scientists at the University of Colorado Denver has brought one thing to the fore i.e. diabetes coupled with mood disorders leads to a deadly combination of health issues. It is therefore, of utmost importance to find possible solutions for dealing with these health problems.

Diabetes also known as diabetes mellitus is classified as a metabolism disorder. Diabetes occurs when the body produces no insulin, low insulin or when the cells are incapable or cannot accept insulin, this hormone is produced in sufficient quantity by the pancreas. The food consumed by the body is turned into glucose the primary fuel of the body, glucose enters the cells when insulin is present, however in the absence of insulin the cells are unable to accept glucose thus the excess sugar is passed through the system in the form of urine.

This disease leads to several future complications such as adult blindness, end-stage renal disease (ESRD), gangrene, amputations and in severe cases can lead to coma.

The types of Diabetes can be classified into the following three

Diabetes Type 1 – The patient produces no insulin at all.

Diabetes Type 2 – The patient doesn’t produce enough insulin, or is not working properly.

Gestational Diabetes – The patient develop diabetes just during her pregnancy.

Diabetes Types 1 and 2 are chronic medical conditions which means that they are persistent and perpetual.

Classification of Antidiabetic Drugs

Due to such risks patients must ensure to receive long-term and often lifelong treatments to maintain the stability in their blood sugar, thus reducing the risk of further complications.

Antidiabetic drugs can be classified into two categories:

Insulin injections

These injections are used to control the high blood sugar by providing the body with the amount of insulin which the body was naturally supposed to create, thus these injections only control blood sugar and does not cure it. These injections are required by people suffering from Type 1 diabetes or in people who have Type 2 when it cannot be controlled with oral medications alone. Ensure to follow your doctors prescriptions to the letter, do not alter or change your prescribed dose or change your insulin brand without consulting your doctor.

Oral anti diabetic drugs

This type of drug is mostly suitable for adult patients. There are mainly two types of oral anti diabetic drugs:

Sulphonylureas

This is one of the oldest type of drugs used to treat Type 2 diabetes, this drug stimulates the pancreas to release more insulin into the blood stream and thus increases insulin secretion. There are several “generations” of this classification of medicines. Second and third generations are more widely prescribed today.

First generation: Orinase, Tolinase and Diabines

Second generation: Glucotrol (glipizide), Glucotrol XL (extended-release glipizide), Micronase or Diabeta (glyburide)

Third generation: Amaryl (glimepiride)

Biguanides Metformin

Januvia (sitagliptin phosphate): The first of the DPP-4 inhibitors to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Januvia is an oral medication which is taken once a day, either alone with diet and exercise, or in combination with other oral diabetes medications.

Diabetes – Life Adaptations

However with the use of such drugs, it becomes important for the patient to undertake a few changes in his lifestyle, such as sticking to the dosing schedule and the diet prescribed by the doctor or dietitian. Avoid high-calorie and fatty food

• Conduct regular urine and blood tests to evaluate the progress of your conditions.

• Maintain personal hygiene to prevent complications such as skin infections.

• Quit smoking and alcohol.

• Eat the right amount at regular intervals. Do not delay mealtimes.

• Last but far from least,consistent exercise is critical to managing diabetes and avoiding complications.

Some insulin-dependent diabetics and their doctors are turning to insulin pump therapy as a means to improve diabetes control. But as with all people with diabetes self-care is another tool an insulin pump is as effective as its use. The concept of a pump to deliver insulin slowly under the skin through a small self-inserted a plastic catheter. The progressive delivery of insulin designed to mimic the normal release of insulin in people without diabetes.

When food is eaten, this is the work of diabetes to determine the dose and schedule of the pump to deliver it. Although simple in theory, the insulin pump can be difficult in practice. Insulin pumps are expensive, costing thousands of dollars. In addition, annual operating costs of a pump may be $ 1,500 or more. Patients must have a prescription from your doctor, and approval of health insurance. In the era of rising medical costs, some insurance companies have begun to reduce the coverage of insulin pumps.

Insulin pumps are aggressively promoted to diabetics. Pump companies extol the virtues of their products, which are considerable. And doctors also are targets. But insulin pump therapy is not a part of medical school training and even some endocrine specialists get little to no formal education in their use. Knowing this, pump companies offer initial training to any diabetic starting an insulin pump.

One common practice I’ve seen is for a doctor to prescribe an insulin pump to a diabetic in very poor control with the expectation that the pump itself will turn things around. This is a gamble. Often the reasons for poor control are due to a lack of quality ongoing diabetes education, or even poor motivation by the diabetic to take charge of his or her condition.

Proper use of an insulin pump requires a good working knowledge of how insulin, food and exercise interact, plus good troubleshooting and problem solving skills. Learning how to use an insulin pump is like learning to drive a car. A short encounter with a pump trainer usually fails to provide the preparation needed to master a device, which I’ve likened to a Swiss army knife with dozens of attachments.

I adopted a phrase I heard which summarizes a disturbing practice that remains prevalent in the diabetes industry: “pump and dump.” This is when the person with diabetes receives minimal education and little ongoing training for a device that, in theory, could improve both quality and quantity of life.

The best defense against “pump and dump” is to know it exists. I’ve seen far too many diabetics get started on an insulin pump without the proper support and ongoing training, then struggle. Pumping insulin is best considered a lifelong learning experience.

Diabetics represent a kind of market. Diabetes companies want to make profits. Altruism is attractive to customers and physicians, but both need to be informed consumers. Insulin pumps are remarkable tools, but not a panacea.

D Medical Industries reports that its subsidiary Spring-Set Health Solutions Ltd. has successfully completed a study of usability and security of its spring report of the Universal Infusion for delivery of insulin and other drugs from a insulin pump.

The study included 48 patients in a medical center in New York. The study examined the interfaces between users, systems and operating environments, the user ends successfully in carrying out each task. D Medical has concluded: “Most users had higher scores for satisfaction and the product has been classified as safe for use by the target population.”

D Medical Hezkiah Tsoory operations manager, said: “We conducted this study in preparation, in anticipation of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 510 (k) for our spring games infusion universal. This major achievement was reached earlier this week. But as we make final preparations for the deployment of the United States, we are convinced that the obvious benefits of this product is going to win the hearts and minds of the American pump users. ”

Share price closed at $ 4.79 D Medical yesterday on Nasdaq, after rising 60% on Monday, giving it a market capitalization of $ 37 million. The share price fell 5.6% in the afternoon on the TASE today to NIS 16.81

Driven by growth in the biopharmaceuticals segment, Biocon on Thursday posted a rise of about 25% of net profit to Rs100.75 crore for the quarter ended Dec. 31.

Commenting on the financial results, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, chairman and CEO, said the performance reflects the growth marks an important step that will allow the company to invest in the promotion of research and expand partnerships for manufacturing and marketing. “The operating margin has also increased to 24% this quarter, reflecting the improved quality of earnings.”

Despite its ambitious oral insulin failing to live up to its hype, Biocon is confident of taking the project forward in the next few months.

Shaw said the company will identify a global partner in the next six months to finalise the oral insulin studies.

“We need to still conduct a number of studies for IN 105. It is a safe drug,” said Shaw in a conference call.

Last week, data released showed that in a trial in India involving 264 patients, IN 105 had failed to meet the primary goal of reducing HbA1c levels by 0.7%, which is the key objective for insulin.

According to Ranjit Kapadia, vice president, institutional research at HDFC Securities, it will be not very tough for Biocon to get a partner. “Though the results have been okay, and not that great, the oral insulin has a good future.”

Another worry for Biocon remains its German subsidiary AxiCorp, which it acquired in 2008 for 30 million euros.

AxiCorp accounts for about 30-35% of Biocon’s sales.

With the German government imposing a 16% rebate on all pharma companies present in Germany, there would be an impact on the margins and the topline, said Shaw.

Experts said though traditionally margins from AxiCorp have been to the tune of 15-18%, post the 16% rebate, margins could drop to 5-8%.

“Already Germany has a tender system. Now this rebate. So any firm which has a presence in Germany, and not just Biocon will get affected,” Suryadeep Das, analyst with Centrum Broking.

However, according to research analyst Bhavin Shah from Dolat Capital Market, as AxiCorp is a trading company which buys from low-cost places and sells in the EU, margins will usually not be higher than 10%.

Biocon’s alliance with US biggie Pfizer will start showing results only from FY2012, said Shaw.

Analysts say success of the $350 million Pfizer alliance, which was inked in 2010 and implies the US firm marketing biosimilars manufactured by Biocon in international markets, would depend on how soon the products can get approvals in different countries.

“Biosimilars require more time to seek the approval of generic drugs compared. So, to get approval is the key,” said Das.

One in eight people in India are at jeopardy of diabetes and juvenile diabetes more disturbing is the rise. World Diabetes Day, we give you the story of a young man struggling against the disease. Siddharth Antonio is 24 and has type 1 diabetes. It is a chronic disease years your pancreas can not produce insulin. He was lucky to be diagnosed early, three years ago.

But the sad thing is that many children with diabetes in India are not diagnosed and die before help can reach them. There are about 10 lakh children with diabetes in India by Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. If diabetes is diagnosed, can affect the heart, eyes, kidneys and nerves in the long run, especially if sugar levels are not controlled.

The exact cause of type 1 diabetes remains unclear. However, it is not caused by obesity or eating too much sugar. The symptoms of type 1 diabetes can occur suddenly. If Siddharth was triggered by a viral fever. He started losing weight, had frequent urination, increased thirst, extreme hunger and so his blood sugar remained uncontrolled despite insulin injections and diet control. He was Marine Engineering from Madurai, when he was diagnosed with diabetes and, unfortunately, his life was reversed after diagnosis. He lost his job, his health and his personal life also got hit. But now he has learned to control his diabetes, it has been using an insulin pump for the last year and a half of life seems to be back on track.

Siddharth said that the diagnosis of type 1 diabetes is not the end of the world. This is a difficult adjustment, but suspended and struggle, the only way. He is now looking for MBA and landed a job. He leads a perfectly normal life. All you have to do is watch your diet and exercise regularly and, of course, the insulin pump.

Novo Nordisk of Denmark plans to pull out the insulin depend on diabetes, was packed down by British experts on Monday, which said it will cause interruption for patients and increases expenses. Novo is an ax Mixtard 30 by the end of 2010, as it shifts to the marketing of new therapies, which claims to be improved.

But experts said the letter, Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin, an independent publication of the British Medical Journal that tracks drug treatments, said the move could cost the NHS £ 9000000 (14300000 dollars).

“We are concerned about the attitude of Novo Nordisk for people with diabetes who rely on Mixtard 30 invite the company to turn a decision simply do not have the interests of patients, health professionals and the NHS,” said the letter, which has also been published in the Daily Telegraph.

The experts – who are leading doctors of University College London, King’s College London and University or Bristol – said the modern substitute Mixtard 30, as NovoMix 30, were not effective and safer.

Novo prevented, there was a steady decline in the use of Mixtard 30, human insulin, in recent years, doctors increasingly prescribed for new forms of insulin, which offers distinct advantages over older products. “Stopping Mixtard 30, we try to focus resources on developing the next generation of insulin, “the company said.

Sensor-augmented insulin pump therapy achieves significantly better glycemic control in patients with Type 1 diabetes than multiple insulin injections, show results from the STAR 3 study.

The Sensor-Augmented Pump Therapy for A1C Reduction (STAR) 3 study was set up to evaluate the use of a continuous glucose monitor combined with a glucose pump, compared with standard injection therapy in 485 Type 1 diabetics (329 adults, 156 children) with poor glycemic control over a period of 1 year.

Richard Bergenstal (International Diabetes Center at Park Nicollet, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA) and team report that at study completion, mean glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) – 8.3% in both groups at baseline – had decreased significantly to 7.5% in the insulin pump group versus 8.1% in the multiple injections group.

In addition, 27% of patients in the insulin pump group achieved their target HbA1c of below 7% compared with only 10% of the multiple injection group.

Rates of severe hypoglycemia were similar in both groups at 13.31 and 13.48 cases per 100 person-years, respectively, in the insulin pump and multiple injection groups. No significant weight gain was observed in either group.

In an accompanying editorial, Howard Wolpert (Joslin Diabetes Center, Boston, Massachusetts, USA) commented: “The STAR 3 study and other randomized trials have shown that continuous glucose monitoring can take the management of Type 1 diabetes to a new level: improved glycemic control without an associated increase in hypoglycemia.”

He said: “The focus now has to move on to translating this evidence into effective practice so that the broader population of patients with Type 1 diabetes can realize these benefits.”

Diagnosing diabetes symptoms can be difficult in identifying at first, as manifestation of the disease is gradual. Sometimes, because symptoms can also be common to other illnesses, the real illness may be overlooked. Diabetes symptoms may vary, the list may go on and on but not everybody (diabetes patients) has them. There are even some cases that no symptoms may show on some patients.

Diabetes occurs when the body’s ability to react to insulin gets affected. The insulin is your body hormone that allows your blood sugar (glucose) to enter body cells. When too much glucose enters the blood, this leads to the elevated amount of blood glucose, which it can cause glucose spillage towards the urine. This is the primary reason why one of the most classic diabetes symptoms, frequent urination, plagues the patient.

Because elevated glucose level is beyond normal, your body cells are energy-starved and consequently leading to the damage in your nerves, kidneys, eyes, blood vessels and your heart. The increased amount of glucose appears when the sugar of your body falls too low. It then increases production of sugar. This process starts when the pancreas releases the hormone called glucagons. The stored glycogen will be converted back into the glucose by your liver and muscles.

How are diabetes symptoms diagnosed?

Diagnosing diabetes patients may vary, and is based according to the duration and range of the high blood sugar levels. Patients with type 2 diabetes are often diagnosed relatively slowly as compared to people with type 1 diabetes, to which it may take only after weeks or some months. Symptoms may also progress slowly and mildly.

Some of the most specific and common early diabetes symptoms are:

-    Skin irritation and diseases

-    Skin infections

-    Poor skin healing

-    Athlete’s foot

-    Sexual problem

-    Unusual vaginal dryness

-    Erectile failure (to male patients)

-    Premature menopause (to female patients)

-    Absence of menstrual periods

-    Paresthesias

-    Peripheral neuropathy

-    Urinary tract infection

-    Blurry vision

-    Malaise

-    Drowsiness

-    Numbness of the hands

-    Weight loss or weight gain

Other more extreme diabetes symptoms are:

-    Excessive urination

-    Excessive thirstiness

-    Dehydration

-    Weight loss even with an increased appetite

-    Tiredness, fatigue, nausea, and vomiting

-    Excessive hunger

-    More bladder, skin and vaginal infections

-    Serious blurry vision

-    Headache

-    Muscle aches, weakness and cramps

-    Acne

-    Increased sexual problems because of erectile failure for men, and vaginal dryness for women

-    Cessation of menstrual periods

Other diabetes symptoms:

-    Gums are bleeding

-    Unusual noise or buzzing in the ear

-    Feet numbness or tingling

-    Skin itching

-    Diarrhea

-    Confusion

-    Depression

Complications associated to diabetes symptoms:

-    Kidney diseases

-    Diabetic retinopathy

-    Sciatica

-    Heart diseases and

-    Stroke

As those mentioned symptoms might occur at a later time for a patient, the usual situation is delayed scheduling of the check-up. This is not a good idea as complications may increase over time, making it even harder to treat and manage the disease. In this case, it is extremely important to check with the doctor in as early as possible to prevent more damage to the body. Another, it is important to note that diabetes is one of the lifelong diseases, and one that does not infect other people upon contact.