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Artificial pancreas ... an option

Coming Soon: 'Artificial Pancreas' Options for Diabetes Miriam E Tucker June 20, 2016   NEW ORLEANS — Nearly closed-loop systems (also referred to as an "artificial pancreas") for improving glycemic control and minimizing hypoglycemia in type 1 diabetes are advancing rapidly, including iterations that deliver insulin alone, insulin with glucagon, or glucagon alone. Findings for several of the products in development demonstrating improvements in glycemic control and reductions in hypoglycemia were presented here at the  American Diabetes Association (ADA) 2016 Scientific Sessions . "Some people may do well on insulin only, while others may need glucagon," Vincent Crabtree, PhD, director of the artificial pancreas program at JDRF, in New York, told  Medscape Medical News , adding, "JDRF would like people to have choice, and we'd like all to be covered [by payers]." The insulin-only hybrid closed-loop 670G system (Medtronic MiniMed) is the...

Erythropoietin as a Retinal Angiogenic Factor in Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy

Although vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a primary mediator of retinal angiogenesis, VEGF inhibition alone is insufficient to prevent retinal neovascularization. Hence, it is postulated that there are other potent ischemia-induced angiogenic factors. Erythropoietin possesses angiogenic activity, but its potential role in ocular angiogenesis is not established. METHODS We measured both erythropoietin and VEGF levels in the vitreous fluid of 144 patients with the use of radioimmunoassay and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Vitreous proliferative potential was measured according to the growth of retinal endothelial cells in vitro and with soluble erythropoietin receptor. In addition, a murine model of ischemia-induced retinal neovascularization was used to evaluate erythropoietin expression and regulation in vivo. RESULTS The median vitreous erythropoietin level in 73 patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy was significantly higher than that in 71 patients with...

Protein in human blood platelets points to a new weapon against malaria

One of the world's most devastating diseases is   malaria , responsible for at least a million deaths annually, despite global efforts to combat it. Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, working with collaborators from Drexel University, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and Johns Hopkins University, have identified a protein in human blood platelets that points to a powerful new weapon against the disease. Their work was published in this months' issue of Cell Host and Microbe. Malaria is caused by parasitic microorganisms of the Plasmodium genus, which infect red blood cells. Recent research at other universities showed that blood platelets can bind to infected red blood cells and kill the parasite, but the exact mechanism was unclear. The investigators on the Cell Host and Microbe paper hypothesized that it might involve host defense peptides (HDP) secreted by the platelets. "We eventually found that a single...