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Chinese medicine may reduce risk of diabetes

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New research shows Chinese herbal medicine may hold promising solutions for people with prediabetes, reports a study in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

A prediabetes diagnosis indicates that an individual has elevated blood sugar levels, but his or her glucose levels are not high enough to have developed Type 2 diabetes.

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) focuses on establishing balance in the body in order to treat disease, according to study author Dr. Chun-Su Yuan, director of the Tang Center for Herbal Medicine Research at the University of Chicago.

Its a more holistic approach, using medicine to change the overall body function instead of very specifically on symptoms and organs [like Western medicine], Yuan, who is also the editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Chinese Medicine, told FoxNews.com.

For this study, researchers combined TCMs traditional principles with modern medicine by identifying herbs that have proven effective in treating people with diabetes.

In a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study, 389 participants with impaired glucose tolerance (a risk factor for Type 2 diabetes) were tested every three months to monitor whether they had developed diabetes or if they had experienced a restoration of normal glucose tolerance (NGT), meaning they were no longer at risk for diabetes.

Half of the participants were treated with a Chinese herbal mixture called Tianqi. Tianqi is a capsule containing 10 Chinese herbal medicines including Astragali Radix and Coptidis Rhizoma, which have been previously shown to improve glucose levels. All subjects received dietary education and were advised to maintain their usual physical fitness routines.

Overall, the study found that Tianqi appeared to reduce the risk of diabetes among study participants by 32.1 percent, compared to the placebo group. At the end of the study, 125 subjects (63.13 percent) in the Tianqi group had achieved normal glucose tolerance, compared to only 89 (46.6 percent) in the placebo group. Among the participants who went on to develop diabetes, 56 subjects (29.32 percent) were in the placebo group, compared to only 36 (18.18 percent) in the Tianqi group.

There were no reported severe adverse side effects from Tianqi.

We are excited about this, Yuan said. Its an advantage that we did not observe bad side effects.

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Chinese medicine may reduce risk of diabetes

Smart Hydrogels Delivers Medicine On Demand

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January 16, 2014

Image Caption: UD researchers have developed a "smart" gel that can deliver medicine on demand in response to force. Credit: University of Delaware

Rebekah Eliason for redOrbit.com Your Universe Online

A new study from the University of Delaware has led to the development of a smart hydrogel that is capable of delivering medicine based on response to mechanical force.

For the last several decades, many hydrogels have been created that release medicine in response to pH, temperature, DNA, light and other stimuli. Xinqiao Jia, UD professor of materials science and engineering and biomedical engineering said, The idea of a smart hydrogel that can release medicine over time is not new. Whats new is our ability to have medicine released in response to force a major challenge for people with osteoarthritis and other wear and tear injuries that compromise a persons ability to perform everyday activities.

According to the Arthritis Foundation, osteoarthritis is a chronic condition which affects approximately 27 million Americans. The disease causes soreness or stiffness of the joints that follows inactivity or overuse along with pain that increases after activity or throughout the day.

In this study, researchers developed a hyaluronic acid-based hydrogel. They theorized that if this material was injected into an injured joint site that the motion of walking or participating in therapeutic exercise would cause accelerated release of the drug inside the hydrogel. This method of delivery would help to reduce inflammation and pain.

In laboratory conditions, the researchers determined that the UD-developed hydrogel effectively releases the encapsulated drugs when it is compressed. Through preliminary cell testing, they were also able to confirm that the released drug molecules show anti-inflammatory activity.

The research team is now working alongside colleagues at Rush University in Chicago to begin tests of the hydrogels in animals. The early findings suggest that the gel is biocompatible. Jia explained this is due to the fact that hyaluronic acid naturally occurs in cartilage, which makes the substance more readily accepted by the body.

She also believes that this new hydrogel could help with more conditions than osteoarthritis, such as ligament tears and other high tension injury areas.

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Smart Hydrogels Delivers Medicine On Demand

Cleveland Clinic, CWRU School of Medicine team discovers key mechanisms to inhibit

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PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

16-Jan-2014

Contact: Christine A. Somosi christine.somosi@case.edu 216-368-6287 Case Western Reserve University

A team of researchers from the Cleveland Clinic and Case Western Reserve School of Medicine have identified critical complex mechanisms involved in the metastasis of deadly "triple negative" breast cancers (TNBC). These tumors are extremely difficult to treat, frequently return after remission, and are the most aggressive form of breast cancer in women. The discovery of this critical interaction of mechanisms could be used to develop new life saving treatments to kill metastatic tumors in TNBC.

"In previous findings published over the past 10 years, our teams have described key mechanisms in these critical proteins," said Khalid Sossey-Alaoui, PhD, Department of Molecular Cardiology, Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic. "A key component in the deadly metastatic potential of TNBC tumors is that they spread through tissues outside the breast very quickly. The two proteins that we studied, WAVE3 and TGF-, when together, promote tumor aggressiveness."

"We found important biological implications," said William Schiemann, PhD, an associate professor, Division of General Medical Sciences-Oncology, Case Western Reserve School of Medicine, and co-leader of the Breast Cancer Program at the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center. "For the first time, we uncovered an interplay between the two proteins that can inhibit or suppress TNBC a discovery that has the potential to inhibit proliferations of the tumor."

The next step in the research process is to find a way to deliver inhibitors to the tumor. Using nanoparticles, the Sossey-Alaoui, Schiemann team hope to deliver therapies directly to the site of the tumor and reverse the disease. Their goal is to move this basic research into clinical trials in the next three years.

"This finding helps to uncover the complex cascade of events that lead to metastasis, " said Stanton Gerson, MD, director of the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center and director of the Seidman Cancer Center at UH Case Medical Center. "These studies are part of a broad initiative in breast cancer research through numerous collaborative efforts at the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center. Using a team science approach is the most efficient and productive way to have an impact in cancer."

Metastasis is a complex, multi-stage process in which primary tumor cells invade the surrounding cells, tissues and organs, integrate into blood vessels, and survive and move throughout the body. Metastasis of primary mammary tumors accounts for the vast majority of deaths of breast cancer patients. The five-year survival rate for patients with breast cancer drops precipitously from 98% for individuals with localized disease to 23% for those with metastatic disease.

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Cleveland Clinic, CWRU School of Medicine team discovers key mechanisms to inhibit

Man poisoned by lead in alternative medicine

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A man in Switzerland developed severe lead poisoning after undergoing an alternative medicine treatment he took pills that he thought contained the hair of a dead Bhutanese priest, but the pills were actually replete with the toxic metal lead, according to a report of his case.

It took the man's doctors a week to find out that their patient was taking these pills, and that his symptoms were signs of lead poisoning. (In developed countries, lead poisoning is rare because lead levels in the environment are controlled.)

"It was a very difficult case. The patient had unspecific symptoms, such as abdominal pain, confusion, constipation, vomiting," said Dr. Omar Kherad, a physician at the Hpital de la Tour in Geneva.

"We did all the normal tests in this case, gastroscopy, CT scan, all the blood tests," Kherad said. "We did not find anything, initially."

The doctors finally asked the patient whether he was taking any traditional remedies, because although he lived in Switzerland, he frequently traveled to Bhutan, where people often use alternative medicine.

The doctors were "very surprised when he finally revealed he was taking these pellets every day for three or four months," Kherad told LiveScience. [14 Oddest Medical Cases]

The doctors then checked the level of lead in the patient's blood, and found it to be at least 100 times higher than what is normally found in people living in Switzerland.

The laboratory tests on the pellets found high levels of lead in the red paint on the pellets, corroborating doctors' guess that the pellets were the source of lead in the man's body. [Image of the pellets]

The doctors who treated the man warned that although lead is no longer widely used in Western countries, physicians should ask their patients whether they are taking alternative medications from countries where high levels of lead can still be found in materials such as paint.

"As a consequence of general globalization in medicine, complementary and alternative medicines are being increasingly used in Western countries as they become more popular and easily available on the Internet," the doctors wrote in their report, published last month in the online journal F1000research.

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Man poisoned by lead in alternative medicine


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