The U.S. FDA has issued an alert on 19 Marc 09 o remind the public that Insulin Pens and Insulin Cartridges Must Not Be Shared.

Originally, this alert was sent to health care professionals reminding them that single-patient insulin pens and insulin cartridges should not be used to administer medication to multiple patients due to the potential risk of transmitting blood-borne pathogens such as HIV and the hepatitis viruses. However, I felt that this is something all diabetic patients should be aware of, so that if it happend to them, they are also well aware of the risks.

What’s the rationale for this alert?
Well, insulin pens are pen-shaped injector devices that contain a disposable needle and either an insulin reservoir or an insulin cartridge. The devices typically contain enough insulin for a patient to self-administer several doses of insulin before the reservoir or cartridge is empty. All insulin pens are approved only for single-patient use (one device for only one patient).

Apparently, the FDA was aware of incidents at two undisclosed hospitals involving more than 2,000 people in which the cartridge component of the insulin pens were used to administer insulin to multiple patients, although the disposable needles were reportedly changed among patients.

“Insulin pens are designed to be safe for one patient to use one pen multiple times with a new, fresh needle for each injection,” said Amy Egan, M.D., deputy director of safety at the FDA’s Division of Metabolism and Endocrinology Products in the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. “Insulin pens are not designed, and are not safe, for one pen to be used by more than one patient, even if needles are changed between patients due to the risk of transmitting blood-borne pathogens.”

Patients exposed to shared insulin pens are being contacted by the two hospitals and are being offered testing for hepatitis and HIV. Some of the potentially exposed patients have reportedly tested positive for the hepatitis C virus, although it is not known if the virus was spread as a result of insulin pen sharing.

The FDA is working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and professional organizations to address infection control issues related to insulin pens.

For us, as Diabetes patients, please be aware of the risks of sharing insulin catridges. If you see it being done at health care centres, stop the staff immediately and report the incident to the FDA. Also, don’t share the catridges amongst family members. Better safe than sorry!

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Professor Herbert Herzog, Director of the Neuroscience Research Program at

Australia-based Garvan Institute of Medical Research, together with scientists

from the US and Slovakia, have done obesity research which have shown that

neuropeptide Y (NPY), a molecule the body releases when stressed, can

‘unlock’ Y2 receptors in the body’s fat cells, stimulating the cells to grow in

size and number. By blocking those receptors, it may be possible to prevent

fat growth, or make fat cells die.

“We have known for over a decade that there is a connection between chronic

stress and obesity,” said Professor Herzog. “We also know that NPY plays a

major role in other chronic stress-induced conditions, such as susceptibility

to infection. Now we have identified the exact pathway, or chain of molecular

events, that links chronic stress with obesity.”
“There is not much we can do about the increased levels of NPY caused by

stress, but we can do something about the damage it causes. If we can

interfere before it causes fat to amass, it could have a major impact on

cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer (which all have links with

obesity). When we have a stress reaction, NPY levels rise in our bodies,

causing our heart rate and blood pressure to go up, among other things.

Stress reactions are normal, unavoidable, and generally serve a useful

purpose in life. It’s when stress is chronic that its effects become damaging,”

he said.
Scientists at Georgetown University (Washington DC), part of this

collaborative study, have found a direct connection between stress, a high

calorie diet and unexpectedly high weight gain. Stressed and unstressed

mice were fed normal diets and high calorie (high fat and high sugar, or so

called comfort food) diets. The mice on normal diets did not become obese.

However, stressed mice on high calorie diets gained twice as much fat as

unstressed mice on the same diet. The novel and unexpected finding was

that when stressed and non-stressed animals ate the same high calorie

foods, the stressed animals utilized and stored fat differently.
“Our findings suggest that we may be able to reverse or fidn treatments for

obesity caused by stress and diet, including the worst kind of obesity; the

apple-shaped type, which makes people more susceptible to heart disease

and diabetes,” said Professor Zofia Zukowska, the senior author of paper

published in Nature Medicine. “Using animal models, in which we have either

blocked the Y2 receptor, or selectively removed the gene from the abdominal

fat cells, we have shown that stressed mice on high calorie diets do not

become obese. Even more surprisingly, in addition to having flatter bellies,

adverse metabolic changes linked to stress and diet, which include glucose

intolerance and fatty liver, became markedly reduced. We do not know yet

exactly how that happens, but the effect was remarkable,” said Professor

Zukowska.
Professor Herzog believes that these research findings will have a profound

effect on the way society will deal with the obesity epidemic. “There are

millions of people around the world who have lived with high levels of stress for

so long their bodies think it’s ‘normal’. If these people also eat a high fat and

high sugar diet, which is what many do as a way to reduce their stress, they

will become obese. Until now, the pharmaceutical industry has focused on

appetite suppressants with only moderate success. Our hope is that in the

near future pharmaceutical companies, using the results of our research, will

develop antagonists against the Y2 receptor that will bring about a reduction

in fat cells.” . This could be a good approach in finding a treatment for obesity

and the key to obesity prevention.

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A report on “Booming Global Obesity Drug Market”, Research and Markets states that the prevalence of obesity is increasing globally at alarming rates. Obesity drugs market has shown a radical growth in recent times but in contrast, the market for weight loss drugs has failed to match this growth. By 2012, it’s expected that more than two billion people will be overweight and 600 million will be obese, representing immense opportunities for both the markets.

The market for weight loss drugs is characterized by numerous failures. A number of drugs have failed to get approval, some have been recalled, and those that have entered the market either suffer from serious side effects or have just failed to give the desired weight loss results consumers expected from them. Refusal of healthcare authorities to grant reimbursement to these drugs has also impeded the growth.

One of the most recent examples can be taken from Sanofi’s Acomplia; the drug was hailed as multibillion blockbuster before it was launched. But Acomplia, like most of its predecessors, failed to have a sufficient benefit to risk ratio and was taken off the market just two and a half years after its launch.

The future of the obesity drugs market, however, may not be so gloomy. This is because the market has high unmet demand, and any drug that manages to provide a high benefit to risk ratio can easily achieve blockbuster status. Moreover, despite some of its recent failures, the obesity drugs pipeline is rich and a large number of drugs are in phase-III and late phase-II trials. If some of these drugs manage to reach the market and posses a strong efficacy and safety profile, they can quickly become billion-dollar blockbusters.

Country-wise, the US is presently the biggest market for weight loss drugs with around 68% of its population either overweight or obese. The US is followed by the UK and other European countries. In future, emerging economies such as China, Russia, India and Brazil are also expected to become a huge market for weight loss products. With China’s obesity and overweight levels touching 665-670 million in 2015, the country will emerge as the most potential weight loss market.

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Did you know that a little over 2 million Americans suffer from gout symptoms every year? If you want to reduce your chances of suffering from gout for too long, you’ll need to know the signs to look for so you can get immediate treatment and decrease the amount of time it takes for you to recover. After reading the following indicators of gout below, you’ll be equipped to more easily stave off the more debilitating aspects of this arthritic disease.

The first of several gout symptoms will more than likely creep up on you at night while you’re sleeping. You’ll wake up to swollen, shiny red skin pulled tightly over an inflamed joint. The big toe is usually the main culprit, but other joints can be affected too. Check your wrists, elbows, ankles, knees, and fingers.

Next, monitor the pain your joint to see if it becomes more painful over several hours. After a few hours have passed, you may not even be able to touch the joint without wincing due to the excruciating pain.

Sometimes gout symptoms can come in the form of feelings of extreme tiredness and a slight fever. If you feel chronically fatigued and listless in addition to having a painful and swollen joint, then you probably are suffering from gout. Also, take your temperature: 99.5 degrees Fahrenheit or higher in addition to that painful joint may signal gout too.

Running down the gout symptoms checklist again: do you have a shiny, red, swollen joint that warm and painful to the touch? Does the pain get progressively worse over the course of a few hours? In addition to the painful joint, do you have a slight fever or do you feel fatigued? If you experience these indicators, get treatment or try gout pain remedies as soon as possible.

You probably have something in your kitchen right now that can immediately relieve pain from any gout symptoms you have. Control and prevent current and future gout attacks naturally without medications, prescriptions, or untested remedies by visiting http://www.GetGoutRelief.com right now
 

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If your overweight, you may be experiencing back pain.

Traditional medical wisdom has long stated that the firmer the mattress, the better it’s for back pain sufferers.

Now, a Spanish scientific study- published in the prestigious British medical journal The Lancet on November 2003 - strongly suggests that traditional wisdom is wrong.

The study, conducted by Francisco Kovacs of Kovacs Foundation in Palma de Mallorca, has analyzed 313 people with cronic non-specific low back pain, that sleeped on mattresses with different levels of firmness.

After 90 days, the results showed that the medium-firm mattresses outscored the firmer ones by a significant margin, a definitive response and a definitive debunking of traditional wisdom.

But, more important, the study also showed that sleeping on a new mattress, whether it’s very firm or medium-firm, rather than an old one, was associated with more frequent discontinuation of drug treatment and relevant improvement in pain and disability. So, we have the scientific support that replacing an old mattress with a new one can improve back pain.

These results have been recently confirmed by a new, groundbreaking study “Subjective Rating of Perceived Back Pain, Stiffness and Sleep Quality Following Introduction of Medium-Firm Bedding System,” published in the Journal of Chiropractic Medicine (Winter 2006), authored by Bert Jacobson, EdD, Tia Wallace, MS, and Hugh Gemmell, DC, EdD of Oklahoma State University.

The study shows the critical link between mattress quality and sleep quality, as well as the importance of regular mattress replacement. In fact a new mattress, compared to a 5-7 years old ones, improves sleep quality by 62% and sleep comfort by 70.8%, plus reduced back pain by 55.3% and back stiffness by 50.7% over a four week period. The study has also found that lower back pain was much more prominent for people who sleep on cheaper beds and older beds.

So please, don’t let anyone tell you that sleeping through the night is a luxury: a good night’s sleep is essential to great health! Here are some number.

Recent statistics say 70 millions Americans are affected by sleep problems and the latest scientific researches suggest that our life could depend on sleeping well. Even minor sleep deficits rocket your production of stress hormones. Sleeping less than 6 hours can raise the risk of numerous health problems. Some examples?

An healthy night’s sleep can help your body: manage stress and maintain healthy blood sugar, because sleep deficits increase the levels of cortisol and other stress hormones, and this can have a negative impact on healthy blood sugar levels too; stay at a healthy weight because some studies show that adults who sleep the least appear to be the most likely to gain weight, because sleep deprivation increases levels of two critical hormones involved in regulating food intake - ghrelin and leptin - and this may lead to overeating and weight gain.

Now, we’ve scientific proofs that a new, high quality mattress leads to a good night’s sleep and this leads to an healthier and more productive life. The mattress should be one of the most important investment we ever make…don’t sleep on it!

Oliverio Abitrante - Materassi Sogni d’oro - http://www.materassisognidoro.it

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