LINAGLIPTIN - ONE MORE WEAPON TO CONTROL DIABETES??

Treating type 2 diabetes patients using Boehringer Ingelheim’s oral candidate, linagliptin, leads to statistically significant and sustained reductions in blood sugar levels, according to data from four Phase III trials. The international placebo-controlled studies showed that when used as monotherapy or in combination with either metformin, pioglitazone, or metformin plus a sulfonylurea, treatment using linagliptin led to significant reductions in blood levels of hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), fasting plasma glucose and postprandial glucose. The Phase III trial data was presented at the recent American Diabetes Association Scientific Sessions in Orlando.

Treatment using the once-daily oral drug candidate also led to improvements in beta cell function, the decline in which is believed to represent a key factor in the progression of type 2 diabetes, Boehringer Ingelheim states. Additional data from the trials showed that in patients with mild and moderate renal impairment, linagliptin blood plasma levels were comparable to those in type 2 diabetes patients with normal renal function. Boehringer Ingelheim says this finding is consistent with data suggesting linagliptin may have a primarily nonrenal route of excretion.

Linagliptin is a once-daily oral dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitor designed to target the incretin hormones GLP-1 and GIP.

STRESS!

AM BACK!!

HI GUYS....
AM BACK FROM MY HIBERNATION PERIOD. FEELS LIKE LIVING IN STONE AGE WITHOUT INTERNET...

NEONATAL DIABETES

Neonatal diabetes mellitus is a monogenic form of diabetes that occurs in the first 6 months of life. It is a rare disease, occurring in only one in 100,000 to 500,000 live births. Infants with NDM do not produce enough insulin, leading to an increase in blood glucose. NDM can be mistaken for the much more common type 1 diabetes, but type 1 diabetes usually occurs later than the first 6 months of life. In about half of those with NDM, the condition is life long and is called permanent neonatal diabetes mellitus (PNDM). In the rest of those with NDM, the condition is transient and disappears during infancy but can reappear later in life; this type of NDM is called transient neonatal diabetes mellitus (TNDM). Specific genes that can cause NDM have been identified.
Symptoms of NDM include thirst, frequent urination, and dehydration. NDM can be diagnosed by finding elevated levels of glucose in blood or urine. In severe cases, the deficiency of insulin may cause the body to produce an excess of acid, resulting in a potentially life-threatening condition called ketoacidosis. Most fetuses with NDM do not grow well in the womb and newborns are much smaller than those of the same gestational age, a condition called intrauterine growth restriction. After birth, some infants fail to gain weight and grow as rapidly as other infants of the same age and sex. Appropriate therapy improves and may normalize growth and development.

ACCUPUNCTURE - USEFUL OR PLACEBO??

Acupuncture is the procedure of inserting and manipulating needles into various points on the body to relieve pain or for therapeutic purposes. The earliest written record of acupuncture is the Chinese text Shiji with elaboration of its history in the second century BCE medical text Huangdi Neijing. Different variations of acupuncture are practiced and taught throughout the world.
Acupuncture has been the subject of active scientific research both in regard to its basis and therapeutic effectiveness since the late 20th century, but it remains controversial among medical researchers and clinicians. Research on acupuncture points and meridians is preliminary and has not conclusively demonstrated their existence or properties. Clinical assessment of acupuncture treatments, due to its invasive and easily detected nature, makes it difficult to use proper scientific controls for placebo effects.
 Evidence supports the use of acupuncture to control some types of nausea and pain but evidence for the treatment of other conditions is equivocal and several review articles discussing the effectiveness of acupuncture have concluded it is possible to explain through the placebo effect.
 The World Health Organization and the United States' National Institutes of Health (NIH) have stated that acupuncture can be effective in the treatment of neurological conditions and pain, though these statements have been criticized for bias and a reliance on studies that used poor methodology. Reports from the USA's National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), the American Medical Association (AMA) and various USA government reports have studied and commented on the efficacy (or lack thereof) of acupuncture. There is general agreement that acupuncture is safe when administered by well-trained practitioners using sterile needles, and that further research is needed.