Natural Compound Stops Diabetic Retinopathy
Oklahoma City, OK—Researchers at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center have found a way to use a natural compound to stop one of the leading causes of blindness in the United States. The research appears online this month in the journal Diabetes, a publication of the American Diabetes Association.
The discovery of the compound’s function in inflammation and blood vessel formation related to eye disease means scientists can now develop new therapies –including eye drops – to stop diabetic retinopathy, a disease which affects as many as five million Americans with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes.
“There is no good treatment for retinopathy, which is why we are so excited about this work. This opens an entirely new area for pharmaceutical companies to target,” said Jay Ma, the principal investigator on the project and a research partner at the OU Health Sciences Center, Dean A. McGee Eye Institute and the Harold Hamm Oklahoma Diabetes Center.
Lap-Band Weight-Loss Surgery Can Reverse Metabolic Syndrome in Obese Teens
A new study of obese adolescents has shown that laparoscopic gastric banding surgery—the “Lap-Band” procedure—not only helps them achieve significant weight loss but can also improve and even reverse metabolic syndrome, reducing their risk for cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
Metabolic syndrome is defined as a cluster of risk factors—high blood pressure; low levels of HDL or “good” cholesterol; excessive abdominal fat; and elevated levels of blood sugar, C-reactive protein and triglycerides—that increase a person’s chances of developing cardiovascular disease or diabetes later in life. The single biggest risk factor is obesity, and metabolic syndrome usually improves when a person loses weight.
The study was led by Drs. Ilene Fennoy, Jeffrey Zitsman and colleagues at NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital and Columbia University Medical Center and presented at the annual Endocrine Society meeting in Washington, D.C.
Device shows promise for type of cerebral palsy
Treatment in the brain with a mild electrical current appears to help patients with a difficult-to-treat form of cerebral palsy, French researchers said on Wednesday.
Patients in the study were implanted with pacemaker-like devices, known as deep-brain stimulators, made by Medtronic Inc, which helped fund the study.
A team lead by Marie Vidailhet of Salpetriere University Hospital in Paris implanted the devices in 13 people who had cerebral palsy with dystonia-choreoathetosis, a common and progressively disabling movement disorder.
