Scientists can now eavesdrop on bacteria

November 9th, 2009 LONDON - Scientists from University of California, San Diego claim to have uncovered a mechanism that explains how bacteria interact with each other - a finding that would lead to new therapies for diseases such as cancer, diabetes and allergies. Lead researcher Dr Pieter C.

November 4th, 2009 LONDON - British scientists have succeeded in producing a huge quantity of rare cells that can help counter autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes and multiple sclerosis. Autoimmune disease are disorders where the immune system attacks the body's own tissue and regulatory T-cells or T-regs have always been seen by researchers as a possible way to dampen the immune response of the body.

November 4th, 2009 WASHINGTON - If a new study on worms is anything to go by, all the sugar in your diet could spell much more than obesity and type 2 diabetes - it might take years off your life. During the study, Cynthia Kenyon of the University of California, San Francisco, found that by adding just a small amount of glucose to C.

November 2nd, 2009 LONDON - Scientists at Joslin Diabetes Center have found a new, independent pathway that can offer targets for preventing and treating diabetic eye disease. In diabetes patients, high blood glucose levels can end up killing certain cells in the eyes and kidneys, which is why diabetes is the leading cause of adult blindness and of kidney failure.

October 27th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Scientists from University of Chicago have identified a protein that may play a crucial role in developing diabetes. A cellular protein from a family involved in several human diseases appears to play a role in proper production and release of insulin.

October 21st, 2009 SYDNEY - Scientists have discovered a tiny genetic irregularity that boosts the expression of a key gene which may lead to the development of Type-1 diabetes. Type-1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease, where the body attacks and destroys its own insulin-producing cells.

October 10th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Resveratrol, a molecule found in red grapes, has been shown to improve diabetes when delivered orally to rodents, but it is only now that scientists have discovered how it works in the body. A new study shows that the brain plays a key role in mediating resveratrol's anti-diabetic actions, potentially paving the way for orally-delivered diabetes medications that target the brain.

October 9th, 2009 SYDNEY - Anti-oxidants, popularly touted for health promoting benefits, could also bring on early onset of type-2 diabetes, says a new study. A team of scientists, led by Tony Tiganis, molecular biology professor from the Monash University, has found that molecules known as Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) may play a protective role in the early stages of type-2 diabetes by enhancing insulin action.

October 3rd, 2009 WASHINGTON - Scientists from Michigan Technological University have identified 11 new genetic variants linked to Type 2 diabetes. With the help of Ensemble Learning Approach (ELA) software, the researchers have isolated 11 variations within genes-called single nucleotide polymorphisms, SNPs or snips, associated with type 2 diabetes.

September 30th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Fish plays no role in the prevention of heart failure, but it can be partly beneficial for people with diabetes, according to a large prospective population study. The study, which was started in 1990 and involved all men and women over the age of 55 living in a suburb of Rotterdam, found no difference in the risk of developing heart failure between those who did eat fish and those who didn't.

September 22nd, 2009 WASHINGTON - Pancreatic fat levels may help predict diabetes, say scientists at UT Southwestern Medical Center who are the first in the U.S. to use an imaging technique called magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) to measure the amount of pancreatic fat in humans.

September 18th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Scientists at University of California, San Diego have identified certain insulin-regulating genes that can also alter the timing of the body clock. They said that the findings can lead to new approaches to treating disorders such as metabolic syndrome that can result, at least in part, from chronic disruption of the sleep-wake cycle.

September 8th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Scientists from University of Maryland School of Medicine have discovered a human protein that appears to play a crucial role in developing celiac disease and other autoimmune disorders, such as multiple sclerosis and diabetes. They have identified zonulin as a molecule in the human body called haptoglobin 2 precursor.

September 2nd, 2009 WASHINGTON - Canadian scientists have revealed that biotransformed blueberry juice holds great promise for treating obesity and diabetes. The research team from the Universite de Montreal, the Institut Armand-Frappier and the Universite de Moncton have found that juice extracted from North American lowbush blueberries, biotransformed with bacteria from the skin of the fruit can help fight obesity and diabetes.

September 1st, 2009 TORONTO - Juice of North American blueberries, bio-transformed with bacteria from the skin of the fruit, looks promising as an anti-obesity and anti-diabetic agent. Researchers from the Universities of Montral, de Moncton and Institut Armand-Frappier, tested the effects of the bio-transformed juices on mice as part of a study.