More than a glucose monitor, more than a cholesterol tester. The CardioChek home health test kit may reduce your risk from the complications of diabetes and heart disease. Most important is good glycemic control through diet, exercise, blood monitoring and medication.
Following are the best health articles in September 2005, arranged as per viewed frequency:
Scientists at the University of Washington, Seattle, raised blood insulin in 16 healthy seniors and then examined the volunteers’ cerebrospinal fluid and plasma.
The glycogen storage disease is the abnormal storage of glycogen in the body tissues. Glucose being major source of energy; it is stored in the form of glycogen and later released in the form of glucose with the help of enzymes, the process known as gluconeogenesis. Glycogen is a complex material composed of glucose molecules linked together in long chains with many branches off the chains. Glycogen is found mainly in liver and muscle cells, while the kidneys and intestines are minor storage sites.
In this type the enzyme glucose-6-phosphatase is defective in the liver, kidney, and small intestine, where it normally functions. However, the metabolic problem is centered in the liver.
In this glycogen storage disease, the enzyme deficiency causes the body to form glycogen molecules that have an abnormal structure. This abnormal structure also prevents the glycogen from being broken down into free glucose.
The phosphorylase enzyme plays a vital role in the breakdown of glycogen into glucose. In the absence of phosphorylase in muscles, glucose can not be released from the glycogen stored in skeletal muscles to create energy. People with Type V GSD experience problems performing and completing most exercises, especially anaerobic exercises. Because they lack the enzyme to metabolize glycogen, which is the main source of energy for anaerobic activity, their body struggles to find other sources of energy to complete a given activity or exercise.
The phosphorylase enzyme plays a vital role in the breakdown of glycogen into glucose. With a deficiency of the liver phosphorylase enzyme, glycogen cannot be broken down to glucose, and the accumulating glycogen results in an enlarged liver. A total deficiency of this liver enzyme would not likely be compatible with life, thus patients with Type VI GSD actually have only partial deficiency of the enzyme.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is notifying health care providers and patients of a problem with blood glucose meters made by Abbott Diabetes Care, Alameda, Calif. The meters can unintentionally be switched from one unit of measurement to another, resulting in an inaccurate blood glucose interpretation by the user. Users in the United States should make sure that their meter reading is displayed as mg/dL because an inaccurate reading can lead to taking the wrong dose of insulin or dietary changes, resulting in higher levels of sugar in the blood or hyperglycemia. Hyperglycemia can be a serious and even life-threatening condition and several cases of hyperglycemia have been reported to FDA.
A Syracuse University chemistry professor has patented a device that aims to make painful fingerstick testing of glucose levels a thing of the past for diabetics.