Diabetes Treatment News: The American Diabetes Association Announces New Editors for Diabetes Care
The American Diabetes Association Announces New Editors for Diabetes Care
The American Diabetes Association announces the appointment of William T. Cefalu, MD, of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center and the Louisiana State University Health Science Center (LSUHSC) School of Medicine, as the Editor-in-Chief of Diabetes Care. Diabetes Care is the Association’s premier peer-reviewed journal dedicated to diabetes care, prevention, and treatment.
The Association also announced the appointment of the following Associate Editors to the editorial team of Diabetes Care:
George Bakris, MD, University of Chicago Medical Center
Lawrence Blonde, MD, FACP, Ochsner Clinic and Alton Ochsner Medical Foundation
Andrew J. M. Boulton, MD, University of Manchester and the University of Miami
Mary de Groot, PhD, Indiana University School of Medicine
Eddie L. Greene, MD, Mayo Clinic
R. Robert Henry, MD, VA San Diego Healthcare System and the University of California, San Diego
Sherita Hill Golden, MD, MHS, FAHA, Johns Hopkins University
Frank Hu, MD, MPH, PhD, Harvard School of Public Health
Derek LeRoith, MD, PhD, Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Robert G. Moses, MD, South Eastern Sydney & Illawarra Area Health Service
Eric Ravussin, PhD, Pennington Biomedical Research Center
Stephen Rich, PhD, University of Virginia
Matthew C. Riddle, MD, Oregon Health & Science University
Julio Rosenstock, MD, Dallas Diabetes and Endocrine Center
William V. Tamborlane, MD, Yale Center for Clinical Investigation
Katie Weinger, EdD, RN, Joslin Diabetes Center
Judith Wylie-Rosett, EdD, RD, Albert Einstein College of Medicine
The team will serve a three-year term, for the 2012 to 2014 volume years, with an optional two-year extension.
As the incoming Editor-in-Chief of Diabetes Care, Cefalu brings a wealth of professional and scholarly experience to the journal. Cefalu is Director of the Joint Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism Program of the LSUHSC School of Medicine and Pennington Biomedical Research Center, as well as the Douglass L. Manship Sr., Professor of Diabetes at Pennington Biomedical Research Center.
The American Diabetes Association, the Pennington Biomedical Research Center, and the LSUHSC are proud to come together to support Cefalu and the publication of high-impact diabetes-related research in Diabetes Care.
“The appointment of Dr. Cefalu brings great honor to the Pennington Biomedical Research Center,” said Steven Heymsfield, MD, Executive Director. “The peer-reviewed Diabetes Care will continue under his editorship to provide timely, insightful, in-depth information on this profoundly important health topic.”
Likewise, Steve Nelson, MD, Dean of the LSUHSC School of Medicine, applauds the appointment of Cefalu as the next Editor-in-Chief of Diabetes Care. “This is well-deserved recognition for the stature that Dr. Cefalu has attained professionally. He is an accomplished physician scientist. We are proud to have him on our LSU School of Medicine faculty and honored that our school will be working closely with the American Diabetes Association in the dissemination of the latest in research findings for the care of patients with diabetes.”
Cefalu’s research is active at both the clinical and basic levels. On a clinical level, he is interested in clinical interventions to improve the metabolic state of individuals with insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. On a basic level, he is interested in cellular mechanisms for insulin resistance. In addition, Cefalu also serves as Director for a National Institutes of Health-funded Center for the Study of Botanicals and Metabolic Syndrome at Pennington Biomedical Research Center.
Cefalu has published widely in journals, books, and book chapters and has edited several textbooks on the management of diabetes. He is a past Associate Editor for Diabetes Care and is currently an Associate Editor for Diabetes. He lectures both nationally and internationally.
Cefalu and his editorial team will succeed current Editor-in-Chief Vivian A. Fonseca, MD, and his current editorial team, which convened in July 2006 and will complete its term at the end of 2011:
Edward J. Boyko, MD
Antonio Ceriello, MD
Charles M. Clark, Jr., MD
Samuel Dagogo-Jack, MD, FRCP
Lawrence Fisher, PhD
Todd P. Gilmer, PhD
Carla J. Greenbaum, MD
James B. Meigs, MD, MPH
Richard E. Pratley, MD
Aaron I. Vinik, MD
Ruth S. Weinstock, MD, MPH
Bernard Zinman, MD
Current Associate Editors Andrew M. Boulton, MD; Robert G. Moses, MD; Katie Weinger, EDD, RN; and Judith Wylie-Rosset, EDD, RD, will continue with Cefalu’s team.
“My colleagues and I are extremely excited to oversee the future editorial direction of Diabetes Care, the top clinical journal for diabetes care and management in the world,” stated Cefalu. “Our goal is to ensure the journal continues to address the changing health care and research landscape, as well as provide health care professionals with the information they need to better manage people with diabetes.”
Diabetes Care is the highest-ranked journal devoted exclusively to diabetes prevention and treatment. The journal publishes original research about topics that are of interest to clinically oriented physicians, researchers, epidemiologists, psychologists, diabetes educators, and other health professionals. Diabetes Care is published 12 times a year and is received by American Diabetes Association Category I Professional Members.
How fatty food triggers diabetes: Scientists believe discovery paves way for Type 2 ‘cure’
Fatty food trips a genetic switch in the body that can trigger diabetes, a study has found.
Understanding the biological pathway could lead to a potential cure for the disease, say scientists.
The discovery helps explain why Type 2 diabetes is so often linked to obesity.
n studies of mice and humans, researchers found that high levels of fat disrupted two key proteins that turn genes on and off.
The ‘transcription factors’ FOXA2 and HNF1A activate a pancreatic enzyme that in healthy people prevents diabetes developing.
When the proteins stop working, the enzyme is shut down, which in turn upsets the ability of insulin-secreting beta cells in the pancreas to monitor blood sugar levels. Without this glucose sugar-sensing mechanism, blood sugar cannot be regulated properly.
Study leader Dr Jamey Marth, from the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute in the U.S., said: ‘Now that we know more fully how states of over-nutrition can lead to Type 2 diabetes, we can see more clearly how to intervene.
‘The identification of the molecular players in this pathway to diabetes suggests new therapeutic targets and approaches towards developing an effective preventative or perhaps curative treatment.
‘This may be accomplished by beta cell gene therapy or by drugs that interfere with this pathway in order to maintain normal beta cell function.’
The research is published in the journal Nature Medicine.
Experiments in mice showed that preserving the function of the enzyme affected by FOXA2 and HNF1A blocked the onset of diabetes, even in obese animals.
Diminished glucose sensing by beta cells was an important factor in both the development and severity of the disease.
Dr Marth and his team are now looking at ways to augment the enzyme’s activity in humans.
More than two million people in the UK have Type 2 diabetes, the most common form of the disease.
Insulin-dependent, or Type 1 diabetes is a quite different condition caused by an autoimmune disorder.
Leon Medical Centers Earns Coveted American Diabetes Association Certification for Centro de Diabetes Education* Program
Leon Medical Centers, a leading healthcare service provider for the Medicare community in Miami-Dade County, has earned the prestigious American Diabetes Association (ADA) Education Recognition Certificate for its quality diabetes self-management education program. This Recognition was recently awarded to the LMC’s “Centro de Diabetes” at Flagler Center on July 6, 2011 for offering high-quality education* that is essential for effective diabetes treatment.
“It is an honor to be recognized by such a prestigious association because the process gives professionals a national standard by which to provide patients with comprehensive quality education”
The ADA Education Recognition effort for LMC which begun in the fall of 2010, is a voluntary process, which assures that approved education programs have met the National Standards for Diabetes Self-Management Education Programs. These Standards were developed and tested under the auspices of the National Diabetes Advisory Board in 1983 and were revised by the diabetes community in 1994, 2000 and 2007. Programs that achieve Recognition status have a staff of knowledgeable health professionals who can provide comprehensive information about diabetes management for participants. Education Recognition status is verified by an official certificate from ADA and awarded for four years.
“The American Diabetes Association Certification reinforces Leon Medical Centers’ commitment to continually enhance care to our patients and the community. By providing a level of care that meets the highest national standards we are able to maintain patients’ health and improve their quality of life,” said Rafael Mas, M.D., Chief Medical Officer, Leon Medical Centers.
Self-management education is an essential component of diabetes treatment. By meeting the National Standards we ensure greater consistency in the quality of education offered to people with diabetes. Assuring high-quality education for patient self-care is one of the primary goals of the Education Recognition program. Unnecessary hospital admissions and some of the acute and chronic complications of diabetes may be prevented through self-management.
According to the ADA, there are 25.8 million people or 8.5% of the population in the United States who have diabetes; 11.8% are Hispanics. While an estimated 18.8 million have been diagnosed, unfortunately, 7.0 million people are not aware that they have the disease. Each day approximately 5,205 people are diagnosed with diabetes. Many will first learn that they have diabetes when they are treated for one of its life-threatening complications – heart disease and stroke, kidney disease, blindness, nerve disease and amputation. About 1.9 million new cases of diabetes were diagnosed in people aged 20 years or older in 2010 in the US. Diabetes contributed to 231,404 deaths in 2007, making it the seventh leading cause of death in the US. Overall, the risk of death among people with diabetes is about twice that of people of similar age but without diabetes.
“It is an honor to be recognized by such a prestigious association because the process gives professionals a national standard by which to provide patients with comprehensive quality education,” said Janet Martinez, ARNP, BC, Director of Disease Management, Leon Medical Centers.
About Leon Medical Centers:
Leon Medical Centers, established in 1996, is a healthcare service provider that offers medical services exclusively to Medicare patients in Miami-Dade County. LMC operates seven Super Medical Centers located in Miami, Westchester, East Hialeah, Bird Road, West Hialeah, Kendall and Flagler and offers state-of-the-art technology such as CT scan, Digital X-rays, Ultrasound, Echocardiogram, and other diagnostics, in addition to a range of medical services that includes primary care, specialties, dental, on-site pharmacy, vision, hearing, physical therapy and laboratory.
Fat ‘disrupts sugar sensors causing type 2 diabetes’
US researchers say they have identified how a high-fat diet can trigger type 2 diabetes, in experiments on mice and human tissue.
Writing in the journal Nature Medicine, they say that fat interferes with the body’s sugar sensors.
The authors argue that a deeper understanding of the processes involved could help them develop a cure.
Diabetes UK said the study was interesting and a “theory worth investigating further”.
One of the main risk factors for type 2 diabetes is being overweight – rising obesity levels have contributed to a doubling of diabetes cases in the last 30 years.
Fat and sugar
Sugar in the blood is monitored by pancreatic beta cells. If sugar levels are too high then the cells release the hormone insulin, which tells the body to bring the levels back down.
Key to this is the enzyme GnT-4a. It allows the cells to absorb glucose and therefore know how much is in the blood.
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The identification of the molecular players in this pathway to diabetes suggests new therapeutic targets and approaches towards developing an effective preventative or perhaps curative treatment”
Dr Jamey Marth
Lead researcher
Researchers at the University of California and the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute say they have shown how fat disrupts the enzyme’s production.
Experiments on mice showed that those on a high-fat diet had elevated levels of free fatty acids in the blood.
These fatty acids interfered with two proteins – FOXA2 and HNF1A – involved in the production of GnT-4a.
The result: fat effectively blinded cells to sugar levels in the blood and the mice showed several symptoms of type 2 diabetes.
The same process also took place in samples of human pancreatic cells.
Lead researcher Dr Jamey Marth said: “The observation that beta cell malfunction significantly contributes to multiple disease signs, including insulin resistance, was unexpected.”
He suggested that boosting GnT-4a levels could prevent the onset of type 2 diabetes: “The identification of the molecular players in this pathway to diabetes suggests new therapeutic targets and approaches towards developing an effective preventative or perhaps curative treatment.
“This may be accomplished by beta cell gene therapy or by drugs that interfere with this pathway in order to maintain normal beta cell function.”
Dr Iain Frame, Director of Research at Diabetes UK, said: “This is a well-executed study into possible factors responsible for the events that lead to type 2 diabetes.
“The researchers have linked their results in mice to the same pathways in humans and although they did not show they could prevent or cure type 2 diabetes they have shown it is a theory worth investigating further.
“We will watch this with great interest and hope this early work will eventually lead to some benefit to people with type 2 diabetes.”