New Find Explains Why Diabetes Drugs Affect the Heart

Softpedia website said:

Some time ago, researchers figured out that a specific class of anti-diabetes prescription drugs, known as thiazolidinediones (TZD), came with the risk of patients developing heart complications after use. The reason why this happened remained a mystery until recently, when a team of scientists managed to understand exactly how heart enlargement led to heart failure. The find, which was mostly the result of a study done on mice, may hold the clues experts need to prevent the side-effects of future generations of TZD. When the hearts increase, they switch from burning fat to burning glucose, which means that they have to get less oxygen, which saves energy. However, the latter fuel is not the optimum one, and the heart cells eventually become clogged with fat and commit suicide. The new study found that PPAR-γ was actually responsible for speeding up this transition. Further results of the study are available in the June issue of the scientific journal Cell Metabolism.

In a famous 2007 scandal, the drug Avandia (rosiglitazone), produced by GlaxoSmithKline, part of the TZD class, was proven to increase the chance of users taking it having a heart attack. While this set of pieces of evidence was highly controversial, another one holding that the compound was also associated with an increased frequency of heart failures was much less so. In heart failure, which is a fairly common condition, the heart becomes unable to pump sufficient blood through the body, which fails, Nature News reports.

“We already knew if you had heart failure you probably should not be taking these drugs, but this paper provides an additional explanation why,” Washington University School of Medicine (WUSM) Endocrinologist Clay Semenkovich said. According to the mouse study, the PPAR-γ, a TZD-activated molecule, is the main reason why heart failures appear. However, the investigation, which was led by Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Cancer Biologist Wilhelm Krek, was not focused on diabetes, but on studying what happened when the tissue of the heart enlarged, and how it affected the organ’s functions.

This could be a good news for all doctors, pharmacist and patients.

ឈឺក្បាល

ថ្ងៃនេះ ខ្ញុំនូវឯបន្ទប់ពិសោធន៍របស់សាលា ពេញមួយថ្ងៃ ហើយការងារសំខាន់ គឺរៀបចំលាយ ធាតុគីមីដើម្បីពិសោធន៍ ដូចជា៖ អាស៊ីតស៊ូលផូរិច, ស៊ូត…ហើយក្លិនរបស់វាបាន ធ្វើឲ្យខ្ញុំហ្នឹងវិលមុខ ឈឺក្បាល អស់កំលាំងជាអណេកតែម្តង។ មិនដឹងថា រៀននៅសាលា ឪសថ ៥ ឆ្នាំហ្នឹង ខាតអាយូអស់ប៉ុន្នានឆ្នាំទេលោកអើយ ៕

USPharmacist.com > Alligator Blood May Be Source for New Powerful Antibiotics

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7/18/2008

US Pharm. 2008;33(7):HS-16.
A group of Louisiana biochemists attending the 235th national meeting of the American Chemical Society reported that proteins in alligator blood may provide new antibiotics to fight infections caused by pathogens that are resistant to more conventional medication.
In a first-of-its-kind study, the researchers set out to explore the antimicrobial activity of alligator blood. What they found was that not only do the proteins in alligator blood show promise for the development of newer and more powerful antibiotics, they may also hold the key to developing new drugs to fight Candida albicans yeast infections, which are prevalent in AIDS patients and transplant recipients, both of whom have weakened immune systems. Study coauthor Mark Merchant, PhD, a biochemist at McNeese State University in Lake Charles, said that, based on his research, there is a good likelihood that "you could be treated with an alligator blood product one day."
In previous studies, Dr. Merchant discovered that, unlike humans, alligators have an unusually strong immune system that can fight microorganisms such as fungi, viruses, and bacteria without prior exposure to them.
In collaboration with Kermit Murray and Lancia Darville from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Dr. Merchant and his team collected blood samples from American alligators and isolated disease-fighting white blood cells, from which they extracted the active proteins. It was discovered in the laboratory that these protein extracts killed a wide range of bacteria, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. The proteins also killed six out of eight different strains of C albicans.
The researchers are continuing to identify the exact chemical structures of the antimicrobial proteins to determine their effectiveness in fighting other infections. Dr. Merchant estimates that it would take seven to 10 years to develop drugs from these proteins.

USPharmacist.com > Alligator Blood May Be Source for New Powerful Antibiotics

Caffeine Raises Blood Sugar in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes

 

7/18/2008

US Pharm. 2008;33(7):HS-16. 
Researchers at Duke University have discovered that caffeine taken in even moderate doses could impair glucose control in patients with type 2 diabetes. According to James D. Lane, PhD, of Duke University, a small study showed that when patients with type 2 diabetes drank the equivalent of four cups of coffee a day, their blood glucose levels were 8% higher on average. His results were published in Diabetes Care.
Dr. Lane suggests that  patients with type 2 diabetes cut coffee out of their diet to see if this better controls their blood sugar levels. "Caffeine is so widely consumed in our society that we tend to forget or ignore the fact that it is a drug that does have widespread effects in the body," said Dr. Lane.
Dr. Lane and his colleagues hypothesize that the caffeine may affect blood glucose in patients with type 2 diabetes in two ways. The first theory is that caffeine impairs the transport of glucose out of the bloodstream and into the cell. A second theory is that, because it promotes the release of adrenaline, caffeine stimulates the liver to continue to release glucose even after a meal.

USPharmacist.com > Caffeine Raises Blood Sugar in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes