Letter from the Editor
I was able to get my first dose of the Moderna vaccine this morning. Our local hospital was making it available to healthcare providers and patients over 65, and I qualified on both accounts. The process was smooth and the injection was painless. They have a waiting area where you have to stay for 15-20 minutes to make sure there isn’t a severe allergic reaction.
While I was sitting there, a PharmD intern and a medical intern were walking around asking questions and offering information. They were both from the LECOM Colleges of Pharmacy and Medicine. As we were chatting the subject turned to diabetes, of course, and they both were asking about the use of GLP-1 agonists in diabetes patients. We started discussing the merits of daily or weekly dosing and which offered better control.
I was able to refer them to an article prepared by Destiny Funchess, PharmD Candidate, South College School of Pharmacy, that compared the differences, similarities and benefits of both regimens. Click here to read our Laterpay feature and find out which one to choose for your patients.
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We can make a difference!
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Dave Joffe
Editor-in-chief
Newsflash: Tidepool App for Automatic Insulin Dosing Submitted to FDA
Tidepool has submitted their app to the FDA for automatic insulin dosing intended to manage type 1 diabetes. It is on its way for substantive review as an interoperable automated glycemic controller (iAGC). If cleared, Tidepool Loop could become the first app for iOS cleared for the automatic dosing of insulin. The software, if approved, could be used in the soon to be released OmniPod 5.
Newsflash: Fish Versus Type 1 Diabetes
See this week’s Did You Know? item.
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Did You Know? Eating Fish Helps to Delay and Possibly Prevent T1D
Adults positive for glutamic acid decarboxylase antibodies are more than twice as likely to develop adult-onset diabetes with low fish intake compared with high fish intake, according to findings published in Diabetes Care. Islet autoimmunity is associated with diabetes incidence.
This study investigated whether there was an interaction between dietary fish intake or plasma phospholipid n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) concentration with the isoform of GAD (GAD65) antibody positivity on the risk of developing adult-onset diabetes. They used prospective data on 11,247 incident cases of adult-onset diabetes and 14,288 noncases from the EPIC-InterAct case-cohort study conducted in eight European countries. Baseline plasma samples were analyzed for GAD65 antibodies and phospholipid n-3 PUFAs. Adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) for incident diabetes about GAD65 antibody status and tertiles of plasma phospholipid n-3 PUFA or fish intake were estimated. Additive (proportion attributable to interaction [AP]) and multiplicative interactions between GAD65 antibody positivity (≥65 units/mL) and low fish/n-3 PUFA were assessed.
Researchers found that, compared with adults who were GAD65 antibody-negative with high fish intake, adults who were GAD65 antibody-positive and had a low intake of total and fatty fish were more than twice as likely to develop diabetes, with HRs of 2.52 (95% CI, 1.76-3.63) and 2.48 (95% CI, 1.79-3.45), respectively, with evidence of both additive and multiplicative interactions. Additionally, adults with high GAD65 antibody levels, defined as at least 167.5 U/mL, and low total plasma phospholipid omega-3 PUFAs, had a more than the fourfold higher risk for developing diabetes, with an HR of 4.26 (95% CI, 2.7-6.72) compared with adults who were antibody-negative with high omega-3 PUFAs, with evidence of additive interaction but not multiplicative interaction
The results concluded that High fish intake or relative plasma phospholipid n-3 PUFA concentrations might partially counteract the increased diabetes risk conferred by GAD65 antibody positivity. Diabetes Care 2020 Dec
Diabetes in Control gratefully acknowledges the assistance of the following pharmacy doctoral candidates in the preparation of this week’s newsletters:
Abdullah Al-Ajmi, PharmD Candidate, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
Louise Brown, PharmD Candidate, University of Colorado Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
Destiny Funchess, PharmD Candidate, Tougaloo College, South College School of Pharmacy
Maya Palmer, PharmD. Candidate, Florida A&M University College of Pharmacy
Your Friends in Diabetes Care
Steve and Dave
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