October 25, 2016 : DCMS #316

DISASTERS AVERTED — Near Miss Case Studies

2nd Marriage Can Mean Expanded Family Obligations

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW — Candid Video Interviews with Top Practitioners

Dr. Yehuda Handelsman, Part 5 – A Word to Family Practitioners

HOMERUN SLIDES — Great Clinical Presentation Highlights

Strategies for the Practical Management of Type 2 Diabetes Part 3

CLINICAL GEMS — The Best from Diabetes Texts

International Textbook of Diabetes Mellitus, 4th Ed., Excerpt #47: Biosynthesis, secretion, and action of glucagon Part 1 of 4

MOST POPULAR ARTICLES OF THE MONTH

#1 Towards a Game-Changing Type 1 Diabetes Vaccine
#2 Pioglitazone First Medication to Prevent Diabetes Progression Including Cardiovascular Events
#3 Can a 100-Year-Old Vaccine Bring Us a Cure for Type 1?

Glucagon gets a lot of mentions when we talk about diabetes. We take metformin to stop glucagon release; we inject glucagon when a patient is so hypoglycemic they are passed out. We even use glucagon-like peptide to treat diabetes. But exactly what is glucagon, where does it come from, and how does it work? This week our clinical text begins to look at this hormone, first discovered in 1923, and how glucagon research will lead to better diabetes care.

Dave Joffe

Editor-in-chief

It’s never too early to start talking about the holidays with our patients. For some, it’s a holiday almost every night. Man, 76 years of age, visits with his wife for obesity and type 2 diabetes management. Despite diabetes education, including medical nutritional therapy and medication, he was not losing weight nor were his glucose levels improving…especially his bedtime glucose levels.

Dr. Yehuda Handelsman talks with Diabetes in Control Publisher Steve Freed at the 2016 AACE Meeting. In part 5, the final installment of this Exclusive Interview, Dr. Handelsman stresses the need for physicians to take the time to learn the recommendations for best treating diabetes.

In this week’s Homerun Slides, the approach that shows how earlier and more aggressive type 2 diabetes intervention may improve a patient’s chance to reach management goals.

Glucagon, discovered in 1923 as a contaminant of early insulin preparations, has long been a neglected hormone. Glucagon was among the very first polypeptide hormones to be isolated, purified, sequenced, and synthesized. Thanks to the pioneering work of Unger, it was the first polypeptide hormone to become measurable by radioimmunoassay, almost one year before insulin. It has served two Nobel Prize winners as a unique tool, which permitted Sutherland and his associates to discover cyclic AMP (cAMP), and Rodbell and his coworkers to discover the role of G-proteins in cell-membrane receptors.

In part 3 of this exclusive interview, Dr. Faustman discusses how a cure based on the inexpensive BCG vaccine could permanently change type 1 treatment, and whether results could also apply to type 2.

Study could not evaluate drug’s long-term effects on diabetes prevention, length of effects

In part 1 of this exclusive interview, Dr. Faustman discusses her research and why an old tuberculosis vaccine may lead us to a cure for type 1.