Diabetes

BOSTON -- Diabetes added a significant independent risk of death for patients with acute coronary syndromes, such a ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and non-STEMI or unstable angina, researchers reported.

ROCKVILLE, Md. -- The makers of rosglitazone (Avandia) and pioglitazone (Actos), have agreed to add a black box warning to the type 2 diabetes drugs' labels about an increased risk of heart failure, the FDA said today.

ST. LOUIS -- Poor housing conditions may contribute to African Americans' risk of developing diabetes, though how is unclear, researchers said.

SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- Better diabetes detection over the past 25 years has actually reduced estimates of skyrocketing disease and shifted disparities from race and ethnicity to education.

NEW YORK -- Bone-generating osteoblasts secrete a protein that appears to regulate insulin function and glucose metabolism, revealing an endocrine role for the skeleton, researchers here said.

Gaithersburg, Md. -- By a vote of 20 to three a group of FDA advisers found evidence that rosiglitazone (Avandia), the popular oral anti-diabetes drug, increases the risk of myocardial infarction. But the same advisers said the drug should stay on the market.

BOSTON -- Simply by reducing insulin-like signaling within the brains of mice, the creatures developed risk factors for diabetes but become long-lived, investigators here reported.

DUSSELDORF, Germany -- Diabetes patients treated with rosiglitazone (Avandia) did no better than those treated with other drugs, according to a Cochrane systematic review of 18 published trials.

MIDDLESBROUGH, England -- High-quality data are lacking to assess dietary advice for patients newly diagnosed with diabetes, but evidence does show that exercise improves glycemic control.

HERSHEY, Pa. -- Diabetes complicates hospital trauma care much as it does for in-patient acute care, researchers here reported.

BALTIMORE -- Older and cheaper oral drugs for type 2 diabetes may be just as effective at controlling glycemia and improving lipid profiles as newer agents, suggested a systematic literature review.

BOSTON -- A lack of vitamin D and calcium in the diet may increase the risk for the metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes in patients with impaired glucose tolerance, nutrition researchers found.

PITTSBURGH -- The risk of developing diabetes decreased 38% among rheumatoid arthritis patients taking the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine (Plaqueril), according to a preliminary study.

BOSTON -- Incretin-based therapies offer an alternative to hypoglycemic agents for type 2 diabetes with little if any weight gain, a meta-analysis showed.

COVENTRY, England -- Selenium supplementation does not prevent diabetes and might actually precipitate it, a large prevention trial has suggested.

CHICAGO -- Those daily glucose-monitoring finger sticks may be overkill for many patients with type 2 diabetes, reported investigators here.

CHICAGO -- For diabetes and prediabetes screening, random plasma glucose testing alone appears to be at least as good as the full gamut of metabolic syndrome tests, and is easier and cheaper to boot, researchers found.

CHICAGO -- Now that physicians and patients are growing familiar with glycosylated hemoglobin percentages, average glucose levels are rising to the fore, investigators here reported.

CHICAGO -- Dapaglifozin, a novel investigational antidiabetic agent that increases excretion of glucose in urine, appeared safe and effective in early clinical trials, researchers reported here.

CHICAGO -- Painful neuropathy is more common with type 2 diabetes than with type 1, possibly, researchers suggest, because of a link with the metabolic syndrome.

CHICAGO -- Diabetes education, especially counseling from nutritionists, may reduce hospitalizations and lower hospital charges for urban, low-income patients, a researcher said here.

CHICAGO -- Elevated glucose levels during pregnancy appear to increase risks to mother and baby even at levels below current criteria for gestational diabetes, researchers reported here.

CHICAGO -- Statins can cut the risk of peripheral neuropathy from type 2 diabetes by a third, and fibrates can do it by nearly half, reported Australian investigators here.

CHICAGO -- Weight gain in type 1 diabetes is associated with coronary artery calcification, but, paradoxically, that may be a sign of better cardiovascular health, investigators here reported.

DENVER -- Type 2 diabetes is no longer the "adult-onset" disease it once was. More and more children with diabetes are type 2 these days, researchers found.

CHICAGO -- Umbilical cord-blood infusions may ameliorate the serious complications of type 1 diabetes, said investigators involved in early clinical trials.

CHICAGO - Type 2 diabetes patients taught to titrate their own insulin detemir (Levemir) dose may equal or exceed the results that physicians achieve, researchers said.

CHICAGO -- Lipoprotein subfraction changes may be at the root of the dyslipidemia accompanying type 2 diabetes and help explain how thiazolidinediones improve carotid intima-media thickness, researchers said here.

CHICAGO -- The prevalence of diabetes of all types in the United States has risen by about 5% annually since 1990, keeping pace with the fattening of America, reported CDC investigators.

CHICAGO -- Type 2 diabetes patients with chronic kidney disease may get at least some moderate cardiovascular risk reduction from pioglitazone (Actos), researchers found.