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1999 Archived News

  • Joslin Director C. Ronald Kahn, M.D. Gives Testimony on Need for Increased Diabetes Research Funding  :  [October, 1999] — Joslin Diabetes Center Director C. Ronald Kahn M.D. presented testimony before a Senate Subcommittee on the need for greatly increased funding for diabetes research. His testimony calls for five-year step up in the research budget for diabetes from the current level of $443 million to $827 million in the year 2000, rising to $1.6 billion by the year 2004. Dr. Kahn was the chairman of a Congressionally established committee to review and make recommendations on how federal dollars for diabetes research can be spent most effectively to help reverse the diabetes epidemic. His testimony reflects the recommendations of the Congressionally established Diabetes Research Working Group which he chaired.
  • Joslin Presents Results of Disease Management Efforts  :  [October, 1999] — Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston has been helping patients manage diabetes for over 100 years. Now the results of the Center's efforts are being presented at national conferences by their Office of Disease Management. What do they show? That Joslin programs can cut average per patient costs by 20 percent in the first two years and cut overall costs for diabetes patients to 50 percent of the national average while improving patients' hemoglobin A1cs and reducing patients' hospitalizations and lost time from work and school.
  • Joslin's Dr. Shuldiner Works with Amish on Diabetes and Genetics Studies  :  [October, 1999] — Alan Shuldiner, M.D., has been working with the Amish community in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, to learn more about the genetic origins of diabetes. Shuldiner, who is Medical Director of the Joslin Center at University of Maryland Medical System, at first wasn't sure whether the Amish would be cooperative with these studies. Their cultural and religious beliefs lead them to shun technology and be suspicious of outsiders. However, as it turned out, the Amish received the opportunity to be part of diabetes research and treatment with open arms.
  • Joslin Diabetes Center Director Elected to Institute of Medicine  :  [October, 1999] — C. Ronald Kahn, M.D., Director of Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston, has received one of American medicine's highest honors by being elected to membership in the National Academy of Sciences' prestigious Institute of Medicine. Dr. Kahn is the Mary K. Iacocca Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and has served as Research Director at Joslin for more than 17 years.
  • Joslin Adds New Affiliates in Massachusetts and West Virginia  :  [October, 1999] — Mercy Hospital in Springfield, MA, and St. Mary's Hospital in Huntington, WV, are the two newest affiliates of Joslin Diabetes Center, bringing Joslin's latest in diabetes diagnosis and treatment services to Western Massachusetts and, for the first time, to West Virginia residents.
  • Walking Just As Good As Other Exercise in Preventing Diabetes  :  [October, 1999] — A study of more than 70,000 middle aged women by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health shows that both moderately intense activities such as walking and vigorous activities such as running can substantially reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes. The researchers, publishing in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that the amount of energy expended is more important than the type of exercise.
  • Medicare to Cover Insulin Pumps for Some  :  [September, 1999] — The agency overseeing Medicare announced in September that it will cover the costs for insulin infusion pumps for those recipients who have type 1 diabetes.
  • Heart Association Ranks Diabetes with High Blood Pressure and Smoking as Heart Disease Risk  :  [September, 1999] — Recognizing that the increase in diabetes nationwide as the population ages may lead to a sizable increase in heart disease, the American Heart Association for the first time has called diabetes a major modifiable risk factor for heart disease. Health officials hope the listing of diabetes will focus attention of patients and physicians on preventing or aggressively treating diabetes and its complications.
  • Investigational Diabetes Drug Lowers Mealtime Glucose Spikes, Improves Glycemic Control, Researchers Report  :  [September, 1999] — Clinical data presented at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) annual meeting have shown the benefits of nateglinide, an investigational drug for the treatment of type 2 (adult onset) diabetes, in controlling mealtime glucose spikes and reducing glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c).
  • Joslin Study Shows Vitamin E Helps Reduce Artery Damage in Diabetic Eye and Kidney Disease  :  [August, 1999] — A clinical study by researchers at Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston shows high dose vitamin E supplements to be effective in improving blood flow in the retina of the eye and the kidneys in patients with type 1 (juvenile onset) diabetes. If further studies confirm these findings, published in the August issue of Diabetes Care, this research may ultimately prove beneficial to the estimated 16 million people in the U.S. and millions more worldwide who have diabetes.
  • Should Patients with Diabetes Drink Alcohol to Lower Heart Disease Risk?  :  [July, 1999] — A research article in the July 21 Issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that light to moderate alcohol consumption by people with type 2 diabetes is associated with a reduced risk of death due to coronary heart disease. While this study doesn't give people with diabetes a license to drink freely, clinicians at Joslin Diabetes Center suggest that the study re-affirms and expands on most health care providers' view that patients with diabetes can consume small to moderate amounts of alcohol without risk to their health. In fact, the study results now suggest that in some cases, there may be some benefit to moderate alcohol consumption.
  • Progress Reported on Non-invasive Glucose Monitoring Systems  :  [June, 1999] — The government has approved MiniMed Inc.'s "continuous glucose monitoring system" for doctors to use occasionally to help adjust patients' treatment — but the product will not replace finger prick blood tests that patients perform regularly to monitor their blood sugars. Positive results for clinical trials studying another non-invasive product, the GlucoWatch, were reported this summer at the American Diabetes Association Scientific Sessions in San Diego. This product still must go through the government approval process, however.
  • Eggs Still Aren't What They're Cracked Up to Be If You Have Diabetes  :  [April, 1999] — Research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that if you don't have diabetes, having an egg or two a day may not be as harmful to your health as once thought. Unfortunately, if you have diabetes, eggs are still something you need to limit in your diet if you want to lower your risk of heart disease, the research shows.
  • Diabetes Mortality Rapidly on the Rise: Leading Experts Recommend $827 Million for Diabetes Research  :  [March, 1999] — Since 1980 the death rate due to diabetes has increased by 30 percent, while it has fallen for other common diseases such as cardiovascular disease and stroke. Following over a year of research and deliberations, a Congressionally-established working group of diabetes experts examining the state of diabetes has called for a $385 million increase in federal research funding for diabetes research in an effort to curb this and other disturbing diabetes-related trends. The working group is headed by Joslin's C. Ronald Kahn, M.D.
  • Scientists One Step Closer to Understanding the Cause of Type 2 Diabetes  :  [February 3, 1999] — A new study led by scientists at Joslin Diabetes Center sheds light on the role of insulin receptors in insulin production and provides new insights and a novel hypothesis for a unified cause of type 2 (adult onset) diabetes.
 
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