diabetes

With some 26 million Americans living with diabetes (8.3 percent of the U.S. population), according to the American Diabetes Association, a lot of research is going into how to make blood glucose monitoring more effective and affordable.

Researchers at Arizona State University and the Mayo Clinic are partnering up to develop a monitor that enables people to dab their tear ducts instead of prick their fingers--which could be a big deal for those who currently draw blood as many as a dozen times a day to monitor their blood glucose levels.

"The problem with current self-monitoring blood glucose technologies is not so much the sensor, it's the painful finger prick," Jeffrey LaBelle, a bioengineer and chief designer, said in a news release. "This new technology might encourage patients to check their blood sugars more often, which could lead to better control of their diabetes by a simple touch to the eye."

The team reported on the first stage of their research on the sensor in Diabetes Science and Technology in March 2010, and quickly sparked interest from Arizona-based nonprofit BioAccel, which works to speed up the process of bringing biomedical technologies to the marketplace.

Using funding from BioAccel, the team is now compiling data to apply for human clinical trials of the device, but major challenges remain, including accuracy, efficiency, speed of performing the test, reproducible results, and of course making sure the test sample does not evaporate before it can be read.… Read more

I don't know a single person who, from dusk to dozing off, isn't exposed to some kind of electrical lighting, especially in these darkest of winter days. Unfortunately, study after study is coming out linking this nighttime lighting to various ailments, almost always due to the effect light has on melatonin suppression.

The latest findings, via a study just accepted for publication in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, finds that exposure to electrical light between dusk and bedtime "strongly suppresses melatonin levels and may impact physiological processes regulated by melatonin signaling, such as sleepiness, thermoregulation, … Read more

Researchers are using nanoparticles to create a material sensitive enough to analyze a person's breath in real time and detect indicators of cancer, diabetes, and other illnesses.

Scientists at Purdue University and the National Institute of Standards and Technology said today that even though diagnostic breath-analysis tools have been around for several decades, this is the first time a material has been developed that's sensitive enough to deliver on-the-spot results.

"We are talking about creating an inexpensive, rapid way of collecting diagnostic information about a patient," Carlos Martinez, an assistant professor of materials engineering at Purdue, … Read more

Harvard is finding fault with the brainchild of one of its own. Researchers from Mark Zuckerberg's alma mater, as well as from nearby Brigham and Women's Hospital, find that Facebook's largest communities dedicated to diabetes are littered with promotional comments touting non-FDA approved products.

The research, which is based on findings from the social network's 15 largest communities for diabetes, was published in October in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, which is itself on Facebook. (So are Harvard and Brigham and Women's Hospital.)

The findings aren't all bad. The team did identify "… Read more

A new nanomedicine device designed to monitor signaling gas in exhaled breath could help people monitor their own known diseases, as well as instantly detect new ones, according to research out of Stony Brook University.

"This is a single breath analysis diagnostic tool for monitoring disease or metabolic functions that can be used to check cholesterol levels, diabetes, and even lung cancer," says lead researcher Perena Gouma, whose work appears in the October 2010 issue of Sensor Letters. "Lung cancer is a silent killer that can only be detected when it's progressed vastly--but in the breath, … Read more

I have long felt guilty about the extent to which I indulge in sleep. As a former and chronic insomniac (from kindergarten through college), I appreciate it so much I can hardly go without eight or even nine hours a night. And, as someone who knows lots of new parents, I consider this a guilty pleasure of the most luxurious variety.

But the fact that I slept three to five hours a night for so many years could mean I have a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes and heart disease, according to an analysis of six years of … Read more

Imagine simply shining a light on your skin to determine how much sugar is in your blood. Researchers at MIT are developing a glucose-monitoring device for diabetes patients that may help do away with finger pricks.

By scanning a user's arm or finger with near-infrared light, the device frees users from the necessity of drawing blood, a daily routine for most type 1 diabetes patients.

The laptop-size machine is the result of 15 years of research at the MIT Spectroscopy Lab. It employs Raman spectroscopy, which can determine chemical compounds based on their molecular vibration.

In a technique described … Read more

In development for more than five years, WellDoc's DiabetesManager System has just received the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's 510(k) clearance to be marketed to health care providers and adult patients with type 2 diabetes, the company announced.

A mobile health system, DiabetesManager will offer automated clinical coaching based on real-time patient data, enabling patients and health care professionals to set parameters and manage the disease outside of office visits.

WellDoc announced that it intends to commercially launch the system in early 2011, and will be an exhibitor in the inaugural Mobile Health Pavilion at the … Read more

Chemical engineers at MIT are designing carbon nanotubes that can be injected beneath the skin to reveal continuous blood glucose levels in real time. If it works, people with Type I diabetes may not have to prick their fingers multiple times a day to monitor their glucose levels.

Dubbed a "tattoo" that's designed to detect glucose, the nanotubes are wrapped in a polymer that is sensitive to glucose concentrations. A wearable device roughly the size of a wristwatch shines infrared light through the skin and onto the nanotubes, which fluoresce when in contact with glucose.

So it's really a tattoo in hiding. And at this point the sensor is estimated to have a shelf (or is it skin?) life of roughly six months.

But the team, which plans to start testing on animals soon, says that if the readings are accurate enough to pass the Clarke Error Grid analysis for glucose sensor accuracy, the system could revolutionize continuous glucose monitoring.

"The most problematic consequences of diabetes result from relatively short excursions of a person's blood sugar outside of the normal physiological range, following meals, for example," said Michael Strano, a professor at MIT's Department of Chemical Engineering. "If we can detect and prevent these excursions, we can go a long way toward reducing the devastating impact of this disease."… Read more