3D Bio-Printed Bionic Pancreas was discussed by Marin Hensel of InsulinNation.com, 12 March 2019 … so interesting!
According to Michał Wszoła MD, PhD about the 3D Bio-Printed Bionic Pancreas work being done with his team and Bionic Consortium in Poland, the goal is to build a functional (bionic) pancreas that is “tailor-made” from each patient’s stem cells, which will eliminate the risk of rejection, and prevent the development of secondary complications, which are the causes of most deaths.
Example of Bio-printed Scaffold containing live Pancreatic Islet. The image was taken with an electron microscope.
Bionic pancreas is an organ made of biological elements, including cells from the patient, which eliminates the need for immunosuppression. Stem cells collected from the patient are subsequently placed into a complete organ using engineering and mechatronics. The innovation of the project is based on the use of the latest technologies and pioneer research on the human body, resulting in the unique composition of the bio ink.
Our ‘pancreas’, in contrast to the bony bioprint that is nowadays coming into the clinic, is to include not only scaffolding elements but also living cells and pancreatic islets along with the vascular system. Another advantage of this innovative project is that after transplanting previously isolated stem cells from adipose tissue, and programming them so that they are able to secrete insulin and glucagon, they will become a completely new type of cells. It will be an autologous graft.
Read more:
Protein Released from Fat Following Exercise Improves Glucose Tolerance, and Health from the Joslin Diabetes Center, 11 February 2019.
After performing experiments in both humans and mice, the researchers found that exercise training causes dramatic changes to fat. Additionally, they discovered that this “trained” fat releases factors into the bloodstream that can have positive effects on health. The study was published online February 11, 2019, in Nature Metabolism.
It’s known that fat cells secrete proteins called adipokines, and that many adipokines increase with obesity, having harmful effects on metabolism and health.
“In contrast to the negative effects of many adipokines, our study identified transforming growth factor beta 2 (TGF-beta 2) as an adipokine released from adipose tissue (fat) in response to exercise that actually improves glucose tolerance,” says Laurie J. Goodyear, PhD, Head of Joslin’s Section on Integrative Physiology and Metabolism and study co-author.
Not only did exercise-stimulated TGF-beta 2 improve glucose tolerance, treating obese mice with TGF beta 2 lowered blood lipid levels and improved many other aspects of metabolism.
“Our results are important because it’s really the first demonstration of an exercise-released adipokine that can have beneficial metabolic effects on the body,” says Goodyear.
Another significant finding was that lactic acid, which is released during exercise, serves as an integral part of the process. Lactate is released by the muscles during exercise then travels to the fat where it triggers the release of TGF beta 2.
“This research really revolutionizes the way we think about exercise, and the many metabolic effects of exercise. And, importantly, that fat is actually playing an important role in the way exercise works,” says Goodyear.
Read more: Protein Released from Fat Following Exercise Improves Glucose Tolerance
All of Us Research Program Reaches 100,000 Participants … aiming for 1 Million!
The All of Us health research program, run by the National Institutes of Health, started in 2018 with a lofty goal: enroll one million people to advance precision medicine (aka personalized medicine). The more data points researchers have, the easier it gets to identify the signals in the noise that makes each of us unique individuals; with this information, researchers can develop treatments designed to treat you, not an average population. Nine months later, the participant count has reached 100,000, which is a great milestone but still far from the finish line.
Anyone who lives in the US, is over the age of 18, and has an email address is eligible to join. All it takes is creating an account. From there, the portal will take you through a consent process (a step required by all research studies) approximately 15-30 minutes long. Once you consent to the study, health questionnaires become available, as does the option to make an appointment with a local participating clinic to share health data (height, weight, waist circumference, etc.) and biosamples (blood and urine). As of now, the program has not run tests on any biosamples collected from participants. Participants who share biosamples are offered a $25 gift card. While this level of participation is encouraged, it’s not mandatory.
Read more and join: All of Us
What You Need to Know about Diabetes and Your Ears was reported by Suvarna Sheth on dLife.com, 6 March 2019.
Did you know that diabetes can also affect your hearing? You heard right!
According to the American Diabetes Association, nearly 30 million people in the U.S. have diabetes, and an estimated 34.5 million have some type of hearing loss, and it appears there is a lot of overlap between the two. Researchers don’t exactly know how diabetes is related to hearing loss, and more research needs to be done.However, experts speculate that high blood glucose levels associated with diabetes cause damage to the small blood vessels in the inner ear, just as damage can occur to the eyes and the kidneys.Studies have shown a correlation between diabetes and hearing loss. In 2008 an NIH study showed that more than 50% of diabetics had hearing loss.
Read more: Diabetes and Your Ears
Robotic pancreas? Yes I am in 100%. Can it be made to talk to my hip and maybe just do with one incision? Just thinking out loud.
You are just totally THE BEST, Rick!