The Star Online: Lifestyle: Health
The Star Online: Lifestyle: Health |
- iHealth introduces smart glucose meter
- Insulin breakthrough could see end to needles
- Pap test could screen for ovarian and uterine cancer: study
| iHealth introduces smart glucose meter Posted: 11 Jan 2013 03:47 AM PST iHealth, maker of a high-tech suite of data-crunching health trackers, has just added a new device to its impressive lineup: a wireless blood glucometer, giving diabetics an easier way to track their blood glucose on the go. Though clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration is still pending, the California-based company announced its latest products, which also includes a wireless pulse oximeter, this week at CES in Las Vegas. The new glucometer -- which earned a 2013 Innovation Award at CES -- will send data wirelessly to iHealth's new MyVitals app, which allows users to record up to 500 readings, track trends, schedule reminders, and track test strip expiration dates. The company says the new device will be available toward the end of 2013, with no word yet available on pricing. Other options for diabetics include the AgaMatrix Nugget, an iPhone glucose meter that allows users to view and analyze their blood glucose levels in real time. The VitaDock series includes a GlucoDock blood glucose meter for managing diabetes via an iOS device - AFP Relaxnews |
| Insulin breakthrough could see end to needles Posted: 10 Jan 2013 11:49 PM PST Breakthrough research mapping how insulin works at a molecular level could lead to new diabetes treatments and end daily needle jabs, helping hundreds of millions of suffers, scientists said Thursday. A joint US-Australian team said it has been able to lay out for the first time in atomic detail how the insulin hormone binds to the surface of cells, triggering the passage of glucose from the bloodstream to be stored as energy. Lead researcher Mike Lawrence said the discovery, more than 20 years in the making and using powerful x-ray beams, would unlock new and more effective kinds of diabetes medication. "Until now we have not been able to see how these molecules interact with cells," said Lawrence, from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne. "We can now exploit this knowledge to design new insulin medications with improved properties, which is very exciting." Lawrence said the team's study, published in the latest edition of Nature, had revealed a "molecular handshake" between the insulin and its receptor on the surface of cells. "Both insulin and its receptor undergo rearrangement as they interact -- a piece of insulin folds out and key pieces within the receptor move to engage the insulin hormone," he said of the "unusual" binding method. Understanding how insulin attaches to cells was key to developing "novel" treatments of diabetes, a chronic condition in which the pancreas does not produce enough insulin or the body cannot use it properly. "The generation of new types of insulin have been limited by our inability to see how insulin docks into its receptor in the body," Lawrence said. "This discovery could conceivably lead to new types of insulin that could be given in ways other than injection, or an insulin that has improved properties or longer activity so that it doesn't need to be taken as often." Importantly, Lawrence said the discovery could also have ramifications for the treatment of diabetes in developing nations, allowing for the creation of more stable insulins that do not need refrigeration. It could also have applications in the treatment of cancer and Alzheimer's, with insulin playing a role in both diseases, he added. "Our finding is a fundamental piece of science that ultimately might play across all three of those very serious diseases," Lawrence told AFP. The Australian Diabetes Council, a lobby group representing people with the condition, said the development was welcome news. "While we do not currently have a cure for diabetes, discoveries such as this insulin docking breakthrough give us hope that it is coming ever closer," said council chief Nicola Stokes. Stokes said one Australian was diagnosed with diabetes every five minutes and its prevalence was growing by eight percent every year, making it the country's fastest-growing chronic disease and biggest health issue. There are an estimated 347 million diabetes sufferers worldwide and diagnoses are increasing, particularly in developing countries, due to growing levels of obesity and physical inactivity. It is expected to be the seventh leading cause of death in the world by 2030, with the World Health Organisation projecting total deaths from diabetes will rise by more than 50 percent in the next 10 years. Complications of diabetes include heart disease, blindness, limb amputation and kidney failure. -- AFP |
| Pap test could screen for ovarian and uterine cancer: study Posted: 10 Jan 2013 11:41 PM PST Turns out the pap smear -- a routine test women undergo each year or two to screen for cervical cancer -- could help screen for other types of cancer as well, a new study said this week. A new test takes the same fluid swab from the cervix and tests it for the presence of certain cancer-specific mutations. The scientists were hoping to catch cases of ovarian and endometrial cancer -- two common and deadly cancers which, until now, were not able to be screened for routinely. In the pilot study, the test was able to accurately detect each of 24 endometrial cancers, a 100 percent success rate, according to results published Wednesday in the US journal "Science Translational Medicine." The test also detected nine of 22 ovarian cancers, for a 41 percent success rate during the pilot study. And in no cases were healthy women in the control group mis-identified as having cancer during the study. The scientists cautioned that the process must be tested on a much larger scale before being made available to the public. But if their findings hold up, the test could be a powerful tool in fighting these two cancers of the ovaries and the uterus lining. Ovarian cancer causes more deaths than any other cancer of the female reproductive system, the CDC notes, adding that treatment is most effective when it is caught in its early stages. Likewise, endometrial cancer is the most commonly diagnosed gynecologic cancer, the CDC said, and is best treated when caught early. "Genomic-based tests could help detect ovarian and endometrial cancers early enough to cure more of them," Johns Hopkins graduate student Yuxuan Wang said in a statement. She noted that the cost of the test could be similar to current cervical fluid HPV testing, which is less than $100. "Our genomic sequencing approach may offer the potential to detect these cancer cells in a scalable and cost effective way," added lab director Luis Diaz. He explained that the test works because the cervical fluid collected during the pap test occasionally contains cells shed from ovaries or the uterine lining. So it followed that any cancer cells present in those organs could also be present in the cervical fluid. But the 44 women included in the pilot study had already been diagnosed with either endometrial or ovarian cancer. The test must now be conducted on women who appear healthy, to determine if it could detect cancers in their early stages. They also aim to search for ways to increase the test's accuracy in detecting ovarian cancer. "Performing the test at different times during the menstrual cycle, inserting the cervical brush deeper into the cervical canal, and assessing more regions of the genome may boost the sensitivity," said Chetan Bettegowda, an assistant professor of neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins. Nearly 70,000 women in the US each year are diagnosed with either ovarian or endometrial cancer, and about a third of them die, the study authors said. - AFP Relaxnews |
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