Diabetes News You Can Use
FDA panel: Bivalent COVID-19 vaccines should become standard
An FDA advisory committee unanimously supported a recommendation to simplify the US COVID-19 vaccination program by phasing out vaccines that target only the original SARS-CoV-2 variant and shifting to use of the bivalent Omicron booster doses by Pfizer and Moderna for the entire vaccination series. Another proposal discussed but not voted on was adoption of a more streamlined COVID-19 vaccine dosing schedule for Americans based on age and health risks.
Full Story: The New York Times (1/27), CNBC (1/26)
VA facilities’ SGLT2i prescribing varies by certain factors
Researchers the American Journal of Kidney Diseases found some variation in SGLT2i prescription among Veterans with chronic kidney, diabetes, and cardiac diseases, depending on race and sex and where patients received care in the VA system. Findings showed that 11.5% of the Veterans were given an SGLT2i prescription, 80% of patients taking the SGLT2i were white, 12.3% were Black or African-American, a comparable trend was noted between men and women, and there was a 58% variation in treatment among VA hospitals, with researchers noting that they did not find an explanation for the differences between facilities.
Full Story: Healio (free registration) (1/25)
Frailty risk higher in adults with abdominal, general obesity
A study found that adults with both abdominal and general obesity based on waist circumference and body mass index had a higher risk of becoming prefrail or frail than those with normal WC and BMI. The findings, published in the journal BMJ Open, looked at 2,169 men and 2,340 women study participants.
Full Story: HealthDay News (1/24)
Meta-analysis identifies genes linked to T2D risk
An international consortium of researchers identified specific genes that regulate insulin processing and glucose and thus might be linked to type 2 diabetes risk and related mechanisms of T2D development. The meta-analysis of genomewide association studies integrated analyses of proinsulin loci with complementary glycemic traits, gene expression in trait-relevant tissues and functional follow-up, providing “candidate genes for T2D and hypotheses on potential avenues of mechanism for known T2D loci,” the researchers wrote in the American Journal of Human Genetics.
Full Story: GenomeWeb Daily News (free registration) (1/23)
Cancer mortality risk increases in older patients with T2D
Researchers looked at data involving 137,000 patients with type 2 diabetes and found that individuals aged 75 and 85 had 1.2% and 1.6% increased average annual percentage changes related to cancer mortality, respectively. The study, published in Diabetologia, also revealed an annual cancer-related mortality rate drop of 1.4% and 0.2% in patients with T2D who are 55 and 65 years old, respectively.
Full Story: MedPage Today (free registration) (1/24)
Study links diabetic retinopathy and foot ulcers, amputation
Diabetic retinopathy is independently associated with a higher risk of developing diabetic foot ulcers and amputation among people with type 2 diabetes who are hospitalized, according to research published in the journal Diabetes/Metabolism Research and Reviews. Researchers evaluated over 500 people who had diabetes with a follow-up period of 52 weeks.
Full Story: Medical Dialogues (1/18)
FDA approves bexagliflozin for type 2 diabetes
TheracosBio’s oral sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitor Brenzavvy, or bexagliflozin, has gained FDA approval as an adjunct to exercise and diet for improving glycemic control in type 2 diabetes patients. The approval was supported by data from 23 clinical trials with more than 5,000 participants.
Full Story: eMPR (1/23)
American Diabetes Association’s Standards of Care in Diabetes–2023
Learn about the important updates to this year’s Standards of Care in Diabetes–2023 from the American Diabetes Association and how those changes impact clinical care, especially as they relate to type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Join us on Feb. 8 at 2 p.m. ET for our webinar, American Diabetes Association’s Standards of Care in Diabetes–2023. Register now.
Poll: 52% of Americans rate US health care as fair, poor
A new Gallup poll found that 52% of Americans believe the quality of US health care is “only fair” or “poor,” marking the first time in the survey’s two decades that the share of adults giving “good” or “excellent” ratings to the nation’s health care dropped below half to 48%. Almost 50% of respondents said there are major problems in US health care, while 20% believe the nation’s health care is in a “state of crisis,” the largest percentage in about a decade.
Full Story: CNN (1/19), United Press International (1/19)
Study: Less dietary salt may help lower CVD, stroke risks
Replacing some dietary salt with a potassium-enriched salt substitute was associated with reduced risk of stroke or cardiovascular events, according to research published in the journal Hypertension. “Interventions that reduce dietary sodium, increase dietary potassium, or both have significant potential for blood pressure lowering and cardiovascular protection,” researchers wrote.
Full Story: Healio (free registration)/Cardiology Today (1/19)
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Irl Hirsch Receives 2023 President’s Award for Innovation from Children with Diabetes
Affiliate Irl Hirsch, professor (Metabolism, Endocrinology and Nutrition) is the 2023 recipient of the President’s Award for Innovation from Children with Diabetes (CWD). Nominated by members of the type 1 diabetes community, the President’s Award for Innovation is presented to the health care professional(s) who exemplifies extraordinary leadership in using innovation and advancements in technology for insulin delivery and devices that help people with diabetes to thrive
In Memoriam – Gerold Grodsky, Ph.D.
Dr. Gerold Morton Grodsky (Professor of Biochemistry & Biophysics and Medicine, UCSF, Emeritus, Active), science professor and bon vivant, who found humor in life, and provided warmth and support to friends and professional associates. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, January 18, 1927, the son of Louis G. Grodsky and Goldie (née) Feldacker. Died Thursday, December 29, 2022 surrounded by his loved ones, in San Francisco. He was 95 years old but lived until the end like a much younger man.
In grammar and high school, he was a committed and eclectic student, and a total nerd before the term was invented. He was still invited to all the parties because his father was a local soft-drink bottler, so Jerry supplied the free soda. Working with his father in the factory stimulated his early interest in chemistry. At age 17, he went to the University of Illinois with the V-12 Naval Officer Training Program and graduated Summa Cum Laude in Chemistry, as a naval Ensign. It was during this period that he expanded his world to include socializing and amateur theater, and, to his secret life-long delight, as head cheerleader at the University of Illinois. Dr. Grodsky obtained a master’s degree in Biochemistry at Illinois and his PhD in Biochemistry at Berkeley. While at Berkeley he met and fell in love with Kayla Deane Wolfe, who became his wife for 50 years before her death in 2003. After Berkeley, he, with his wife and less than one-year old daughter, Andrea, spent a year as a postdoctoral Fellow at Cambridge University, England. It was there that he expanded his interests in the chemistry and measurement of insulin.
While most other young Cambridge postdocs were looking for that first Assistant Professorship anywhere (this was before the Biotech explosion), Jerry and his wife put living in the SF Bay Area as their first priority. Despite his primary interest in insulin, he accepted a junior research position at the University of California at San Francisco to study bilirubin metabolism. Two years later, he joined the Metabolic Unit, a precursor to the current UCSF Diabetes Center. It was here that Dr. Grodsky returned to his primary interest in insulin and was exposed to issues of clinical diabetes. This resulted in him being a PhD basic scientist with the then rare opportunity to work across basic and clinical disciplines. In the early sixties, Dr. Grodsky developed the first precipitating radio immunoassay for insulin which permitted the accurate, specific measurement of insulin in biological fluids or tissues. His laboratory focused on the mechanisms involved in the synthesis, storage and secretion of insulin, with emphasis on the kinetics and quantitative relationships of these mechanisms. From these studies came the description of the fast and slow phases of insulin release, and the hypothesis that insulin is stored in compartments of differing availability for release. The fast phase of insulin release was shown to be vital in the maintenance of glucose balance, and its impairment is an early defect in Type II diabetes. This rapid insulin release is being incorporated into the design of algorithms for the Artificial Pancreas, to design faster acting beta-cell stimulants, and for fast absorbing insulin preparations. An early classic finding was that insulin levels were high in nondiabetic obesity while the underlying characteristic of Type 2 diabetes was impaired insulin secretion. Other areas of research activity included the demonstration of insulin auto-antibodies and their role in Type 1 Diabetes.
Dr. Grodsky published over 230 papers, spanning a period of 60 years. Many published over 50 years ago are still quoted, not because of historical interest, but for the currently applicable information they contain. D. Grodsky was an invited lecturer in more than 25 countries, and was a visiting Professor, for a year each, at the University of Geneva and the University of Paris (VII). He was the Founding Associate Editor of two diabetes journals. Dr. Grodsky was awarded the Rumbough Science Award from the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) which further acknowledges his research contributions with the annual Grodsky Basic Science Award. He was the recipient of the RH Williams/R Levine Award, an NIH Merit Award, and a Lifetime Achievement Award (UCSF). In 2010, UCSF created the Gerold Grodsky, PhD Chair in Diabetes Research. In 2013, he was awarded The Paul Lacy Lecture and Prize. Dr. Grodsky has consulted, or served on the advisory boards, of a variety of start-up biotechnology companies and large pharmaceutical companies, both in the US and abroad.
Dr. Grodsky formally retired as a Full Professor of Biochemistry & Medicine in 1990 but remained fully active at UCSF until 1991 when he closed his laboratory. He continued as a formal consultant to the Diabetes Center until his death. “I have been younger longer than almost anyone” was something he liked to say. Because of his pleasant demeanor and magnetic joyous personality, he was loved and admired by all that knew him. This is especially true of his students, colleagues, staff and business associates.
Besides his prestigious career in science, Jerry had many interests and hobbies. Just this past summer at age 95 he went fishing in Alaska, and his fondest memories are of fishing trips in Utah, Idaho, Wyoming and Montana with his father- and brother-in-law Hubert and Elliott Wolfe. He was a sharpshooter and collected antique black powder rifles. He loved boating and sailing and was a member of the San Francisco Yacht Club. He was an avid tennis player and was a member at the California Tennis Club and Meadowood in St Helena.
Jerry was predeceased in death by his wife, Kayla, his daughter, Jamie, and his brother Myron. He is survived by his daughter, Andrea Huber of Bethesda Md, sister-in-law, Prisella Grodsky of St Louis, granddaughter Sophie (Moise Shifra) from Bethesda, grandsons Michael and Stephen Huber, great grandchildren Moishale and Hadassah, sister-in-law, Judith Wolfe of Salt Lake City, and many nieces, nephews, friends, associates, and previous students. He is grateful for the 20 years of love and companionship of Roberta Sherman, with whom he shared a love of theater, travel, art, great cuisine, and spending time in Saint Helena. The family wishes to thank his caretaker Eddilee for making him comfortable at the end. The family held a private funeral. In lieu of flowers, please make any contributions to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation or the Diabetes Center at UCSF.
Affiliate Ed Boyko Receives 2022 Peter Bennett Award
Ed Boyko, affiliate professor (General Internal Medicine), is the recipient of the 2022 Peter Bennett Award. This award honors Dr. Peter Bennett’s many contributions to the epidemiology of type 2 diabetes mellitus and its complications arising from his greater than 50-year experience working among the Pima Indians of Southern Arizona. It is given in recognition of a major and longstanding contribution to the field of diabetes epidemiology
Affiliate William Banks Receives Viktor Mutt Award
Affiliate professor William Banks (Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine) was honored with the Viktor Mutt lectureship award at the International Society for Bioactive Peptides meeting. The Viktor Mutt lectureship was established in recognition of the fundamental research of Viktor Mutt (1923-1998) in the field of gastrointestinal peptide hormones and neuropeptides. Dr. Banks was awarded for his outstanding work on the transportation of neuropeptides through the brain blood barrier and the study of their functional implication.
Angela Hanson Receives 2022 UCLA MSTAR Best Research Mentor Award
Affiliate assistant professor Angela Hanson (Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine) has been selected to receive the 2022 UCLA MSTAR Best Research Mentor Award. MSTAR (Medical Student Training in Aging Research) is a combined program (UCLA, UCSF and UW) that provides medical students short-term research training in aging and geriatrics with successful mentors in the field, with the goal of encouraging medical students to consider careers as physician scientists in aging research.