Global Snapshots of Diabetes Research
Jul 24, 2012, 01:00 AM
As of January 13, India has gone one year without a single case of polio. Since the Global Polio Eradication Initiative began in 1988, polio cases worldwide have dropped by more than 99 percent. For years, India reported more cases than any other country. But in 2009 cases were at 741 and dropped to zero in 2011. This was primarily due to a recent infusion of support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. (http://scim.ag/IndiaPolio)
Type 1 DM is on the rise in Poland. The average incidence, standardized by age and sex, from 1989 to 2004 was 10.2 per 100,000 persons per year – an increase from 5.4 to 17.7 percent over that time period. There was no difference found between boys and girls or between urban and rural regions. In children older than four years of age, the incident rate was significantly higher in the population of northern Poland than in the southern part, as well as in the autumn–winter season. This finding was independent of the child’s sex. Based on the trend model, almost 1,600 Polish children ages 0 to 14 years are expected to develop Type 1 DM in 2010 and rising to more than 4,800 in 2025. These estimates show that Poland will have to face a two-fold higher increase in childhood Type 1 diabetes than predicted for the whole European population. (Diabetologia, 2011 March; 54 (3): 508-515).
Metformin is like the aspirin of the diabetes world; it's an almost wonder drug that proves itself again and again the longer it's around. This time, a new study shows that postmenopausal women with diabetes who have taken metformin for several years are 25 percent less likely to develop breast cancer than nondiabetic women. The study, conducted by the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, analyzed data on 68,000 postmenopausal women who had participated in the Women's Health Initiative, a massive 15-year federal study of women past childbearing age. The researchers found that women who had taken metformin for more than a decade had a statistically significant lower risk of invasive breast cancer than women who did not have diabetes. They also found that women with diabetes who took drugs other than metformin ran a slightly higher risk of developing breast cancer than their nondiabetic peers. (Journal of Clinical Oncology 2012, June)
The Nurses' Health Study (NHS) is looking for new participants. The original NHS began in 1976 with 121,701 RNs who are now between 65 and 90 years old. NHS II started in 1989 with 116,608 RNS who are now 47-65 years of age. The study is looking for RNs and LPNs between the ages of 22-45 years of age for NHS III. If you are interested in participating, visit the web site: www.nhs3.org.
My next blog will be covering exciting, interesting and enthusiastic moments at AADE2012! I will not be able to attend in person – but will be participating by Virtual Meeting. This will be a first for me – I have not missed a meeting in many years. I will be sharing things as I experience them as well as including comments from my "On the spot correspondents" – my friends who will be present at the meetings have agreed to send me notes on what they are up to while in Indianapolis. Talk to you soon!