I Will Not Be In Germany Next Season - Hummel

The Dortmund and Germany defender has hinted

that he could leave his current club at the end 2014-15

season.



The Borussia

Dortmund player also said his move will

be for a club outside of the

Bundesliga.

This may be because Dortmund are

likely to finish outside

top four this season amid strong interest

from clubs such as Manchester

United and other top european clubs.



He said:



"I have had many conversations

with the leaders of Dortmund,

where I know I am a big part of

the team. But I

am yet to make a decision about

my future.

"I'm being open about this

because I'm not a fan of those

who claim they are staying but,

behind the scenes, have actually

secretly agreed a transfer away

from their current club.

"I will do what is best for my

career and what I would like to

do. Everyone knows how much I

love it at Dortmund, but I also

want to make sure I'm part of a

strong team with powerful

players.

"Whether we are in the

Champions League, the Europa

League or have no European

football at all, it will play no part

in my decision-making.

"Some days I think I would

definitely like to move abroad.

But then other days I think I

don't fancy it at all. Basically... I

think moving abroad will be

good for my professional and

personal well-being. Eventually,

I'd like to leave the Bundesliga."



About BVB

Saturday's derby with Bayern

Munich:



"We are not as good as in

previous years. We

need a very good performance

against the Bavarians. While in

previous years perhaps just a

good day was enough to win

against them." He added.

Type of Drug For Diabetes Can Cause Heart Failure

A new study published in the

current issue of The Lancet

Diabetes and Endocrinology has

examined that the type of glucose or sugar-

lowering medications prescribed

to patients with diabetes may increased risk for the

development of heart failure in

these patients.



The study was conducted at American

College of Cardiology and examined

clinical trials of more than 95,000

patients and found that for every

one kilogram increase in weight as a result of sugar-lowering

diabetes medication or strategy,

there was seven

per cent increased risk of heart

failure directly linked to that

medication or strategy.



Dr. Jacob Udell, the study's

principal investigator, and

cardiologist at the Peter Munk

Cardiac Centre, University Health

Network (UHN) and Women's

College Hospital (WCH), said that

patients randomized to new or

more intensive blood sugar-

lowering drugs or strategies to

manage diabetes often showed an

overall 14 per cent increased risk

for heart failure directly

associated with the type of

diabetes therapy that was

chosen, as some drugs cause heart failure than

others, compared with placebo

or standard care.

Dr. Barry Rubin, Medical Director,

Peter Munk Cardiac Centre,

University Health Network (UHN),

asserted that the results of this

study could prove to be the

catalyst for how diabetes

patients at risk for heart disease

were managed.



It must be noted that heart failure is a common

occurrence for patients with type

2 diabetes and a major determinant of one's life expectancy

and quality of life and

healthcare costs.

3 Steps To Reduce The Risk of Diabetes

3 Steps To Reduce The Risk of Diabetes

Diabetes is a condition that causes the victim to have excess level of sugar in the bloodstream. There are two type of diabetes type 1 and type 2. Type 1 starts mainly in childhood and only account for about 10% of all diabetes. Type 2 which this article is about, accounts for about 90% of all diabetes cases.

Risk For Type 2 Diabetes

One major risk is excess body fat, especially fat accumulated in the belly and waist. Also, fat in the pancreas and the liver appear to disrupt the body's blood sugar metabolism.

Effects of Type 2 Diabetes

Damage to vital organs, impairment of blood circulation, may lead to foot or toe amputation, kidney disease and blindness. It can also result to death through heart attacks or stroke.

3 Major Steps To Reduce The Risk of Diabetes

1. Eat Healthful Food
Drink water, tea, or coffee instead of carbonated beverages and sugary fruit juice. Eat small portions of meat, nuts, fish and beans. Avoid refined foods, instead eat whole-grain bread, pasta and rice in small portions.

2. Exercise
Exercise can make you active physically while lowering your blood sugar and help you maintain a healthy muscles.

3. Took Action If You Are In A High-Risk Group
A medical disorder known as prediabetes often precedes type 2 diabetes. Unlike diabetes, it can be cured. Prediabetes may go unnoticed as it may have no obvious symptoms. Therefore, if you have a family history of diabetes, overweight or not physically active, you might already have prediabetes. Take action by having your level of blood sugar tested.

Association Between Diabetes And Advance Breast Cancer

According to Dr. Lorraine

Lipscombe, a scientist at the

Institute for Clinical Evaluative

Sciences and Women's College

Hospital in Toronto, Women with

diabetes may have an increased

risk of being diagnosed with

advanced breast cancer.



She said:

"Our findings suggest that

women with diabetes may be

predisposed to more advanced-

stage breast cancer, which may

be a contributor to their higher

cancer mortality."



The research which took place in Canada analyzed data

from more than 38,000 women with age range 20 to 105 who were

diagnosed with invasive breast

cancer between 2007 and 2012.



The result of the study published

March 24 in the journal Breast

Cancer Research and Treatment shows that about "16 percent of the women

had diabetes and that women with diabetes were 14

percent more likely to have stage

II breast cancer, 21 percent more

likely to have stage III breast

cancer, and 16 percent more

likely to be have stage IV breast

cancer, compared to having

stage I breast cancer, which is

the most treatable stage.

Five-year survival for breast

cancer patients with diabetes

was 15 percent lower than for

those without diabetes."



The researchers also notice that

breast cancer patients with

diabetes were more likely to have

larger tumors and cancer that

had spread, compared to those

without diabetes due to lower

mammogram rates in women

with diabetes, which could

account for later-stage disease.



It must be clearly understand that the research only found a link

between diabetes

and advanced breast cancer and not that diabetes will cause advance

breast cancer or any type of breast cancer.

Thoughts from the Diabetes UK Professional Conference 2015

I'm a bit late posting this, but I just wanted to jot down a few thoughts following last week's Diabetes UK Professional Conference 2015 (#dpc15). I was, as the saying goes, dead chuffed to be invited to be one of the bloggers/tweeters co-opted onto Diabetes UK's Press Team for the three day conference in London's sunny docklands where the great and the good of the world's diabetes healthcare professionals, researchers and pharma companies gather for a good old chinwag about all things pancreatically challenged.

DPC is one of the biggest events in the global diabetes calendar and patients are not normally allowed to attend for complex reasons involving a Pharmaceutical Industry code of practice (and possibly also so that they can speak fluent doctor-technobabble unhindered and don't have to watch what they are saying about how bloomin' annoying patients are and how the whole business would be much easier without us). However as honourary members of the Press Team we were encouraged to tweet, blog and generally feed information from the conference to the world at large, including you lot.

It was the first time I have been at an event anything like this and it was absolutely huge. Whatever presentation you were attending you got the distinct impression that there were at least six other things running simultaneously that you'd like to be having a look at. Attendance this year was apparently bigger than ever, though #DOC peeps who had been to previous conferences commented that Excel's cavernous spaces made it seem a bit more spread out.

At least as valuable as the presentations themselves seem to be the incidental networking and bumping-into opportunities. Everywhere you went people near you were meeting up, rekindling connections and sharing information. People who have attended more than a few of these conferences must have quite a hard time getting to any sessions at all, because there are so many people to chat with as you move from one place to another.

On a personal level it was great to be able to meet again, or for the first time with so many amazing members of the DOC incuding, Grumps, Annie A, Laura, Sandy, Charlotte, Hannah, John, Annie C, Kath, Roz, Lis, Partha, Pratik, Pete, Neil and others whom I have doubtless forgotten (sorry!). It was also a great privilege to meet with Barbara Young, Chief Executive of Diabetes UK who took time out of her hectic schedule to meet with the bloggers/tweeters and stayed chatting longer than she had intended. She was quite an inspiration, and seemed genuinely interested in listening to feedback and input from the diabetes coal face - about what matters to people with diabetes and their families. Someone commented that Diabetes UK often get a hard time about occasional gaffes, but rarely seem to blow their own trumpet when they do make a positive impact (like here, where they have got the Government to change ther mind about prescription fines). It was only a brief conversation, but it was quite uplifting and I got the feeling that DUK was in very safe hands. It was great too to be able to meet up with representatives of various pharma and device companies that I have bumped into over the last few years to get a feel for any exciting new toys that might be in the pipeline.

Between us, the bloggers/tweeters tried to divide up and 'live tweet' from as many sessions as possible. This proved to be quite a challenge as the talks are short and intensely packed with information, new research data and other interesting snippets. By the time you have tried to compose a phrase which is as close to a quote as you can remember, with or without a photo of the projected slide and then edited for 140 characters, the speaker has chased on at a rate of knots and you are playing catch up.

Here are a few thoughts from some of the sessions I covered, based on the hasty notes I took:

Could intermittent fasting have a role in diabetes management? Michelle Harvie, Manchester
Short answer, yes. For people with type 2 diabetes various intermittent fasting apporaches (eg 5:2) seem to be easier to stick to and more effective for weight loss than continual energy restricted approaches. Fasting days in the research data tended to be approx 650cals and low carb, but results were equally good if low carb but not calorie restricted. For those in whom the approach worked there tended to be an effect on the non-fasting days too. Even though people *could* eat more freely, they did not necessarily do so.

Fermentable carbohydrates: Their role in diabetes management Nicola Guess, London
Not something I'd really heard of, but fermentable carbohydrate (think dietary fibre... pulses... resistant starch... oats...) seem to have promising effect in the context of type 2 diabetes. Results were a little mixed across different studies, not least perhaps because it can be quite hard to evaluate how much FC is in different foods. It may act as a sort of appetite suppressant. When 21g was given as a dietary supplement it resulted in reduced energy intake for the diet of people with Type 2 even if they were not asked to eat less. Fermentable carb was shown to have a positive effect on the phase 1 insulin response of people with type2 and even non diagnosed family members. Insulin sensitivity has been shown to improve in the presence of fermentable carb too. Unfortunately too much fermentable carb can have unfortunate gastric side effects - the gas released from the fermentation of pulses in the gut being an obvious example.

Advancing inpatient diabetes care 5 presentations chaired by Gerry Rayman, Ipswich
This was an extremely data-rich overview from some new JBDS data, including effective new protocols for management of people on corticosteroids and variable rate insulin infusion (sliding scale) in inpatient settings. Also presented a was a huge new piece of research by Norfolk and Norwich Hospitals into nationwide outcomes/detail of DKA management. Some of which was pretty scary stuff - the risk to inpatients with diabetes of experiencing Severe Hypoglycaemia for people with diabetes is 1 in 50 and risk of developing DKA while in hospital is 1 in 200. As alarming as this presentation might have been there was certainly a sense of concerted effort to tackle the challenges of inpatient management of diabetes and establish effective protocols that improve outcomes.

3DFD Integrating Diabetes Care into an individual's world Mary McKinnon Lecture by Carol Gayle and Khalida Ismail, London
I was really taken by this presentation. It outlined a 'three dimensional' model for improving diabetes care by fully integrating clinical, psychological and social approaches. Both type 1 and type 2 diabetes are associated with every major type of psychological disorder, and people with any of these mental health challenges find self-management of this complex and fickle condition additionally challenging. In addition, people living with severe social deprivation are significantly less able to self-manage. Put simply, diabetes is way down on their list of priorities. Address other areas in patients' lives (housing/debt/mental health) and they are released into better self care.

The 3DFD is a short-term intervention with a lasting impact and has moved from an interesting research idea to become a commissioned service in several UK locations. Initially seen as a 'luxury service' it is not only cost-effective, but actually pays for itself several times over in terms of savings made in other areas.

Lessons from the study of hypoglycaemia RD Lawrence Lecture, Rory McCrimmon, Dundee
Some really interesting stuff here about what happens when the body is subjected to repeated mild hypoglycaemia. The exact brain and body chemistry that is at work in the loss of hypo warning signs, and also the loss of counter-regulatory hormone response (epinephrine/glucagon/liver dump). Initially the brain fires all it's warning bells when blood glucose levels drop too low, but soon enough it learns to adapt. Attempting to 'perform better' at those lower levels and not expending the energy of those warning signs. Ultimately though, the brain can no longer function at the lower and lower glucose concentrations that can be reached without warning. Avoidance of hypoglycaemia can reverse this and 'reset the switch', but many struggle with undetected nocturnal hypoglycaemia which sets back their efforts.

Integration of psychologists into paediatric services 3 presentations chaired by Mark Davies
It was really good to see psychological support given so much coverage at the conference. Particularly in relation to children and young people where effective and timely psychological interventions can have such a dramatic effect.

Workshop: Psychological techniques for addressing hypoglycaemia unawareness Nicole de Zoysa and Victoria Francis, London
Great stuff here from the folks behind DAFNE HART, a successful pilot which demonstrates the importance of psychological support in changing people's behavior and understanding of their own relationship with hypoglycaemia. It was particularly good to see the 'compare and contrast' conversation scenarios between healthcare provider and PWD. The difference between people feeling told off/lectured and people being supported to make positive change through responsive listening and motivational interviewing.

Social Media, Why Bother with a Fad? Partha Kar, Annie Cooper, Roz Davies and Laura Cleverly
Great to see social media and peer support getting such a good response at a conference like this. Topics covered ranged from social media in support of nursing practice; tackling isolation and the building of patient communities; and whether social media could be the 'missing part' of someone's diabetes care. Not only that, but Partha Kar opened his talk by suggesting that the term 'non compliant' be removed from the diabetes phrasebook as a result of some social media interactions at the conference. The session ended with a frantic live Tweet Chat and I just hope that some of those who saw the presentations might begin to consider how to integrate social media/peer support into their own practice.

Cognitive decline in people with diabetes 3 presentations chaired by Richard Holt, Southampton
A bit of a mixed bag across these three presentations. Both type 1 and type 2 diabetes seem to associate with 'cognitive decrement' (which I don't like the sound of to be honest), though this only subtle and does not seem to worsen over time. When it comes to type 2 diabetes the Edinburgh study suggests that vascular changes may be the predominant factor. Blood pressuse has little effect, HbA1c has a small effect but smoking has much more of an effect. Overall, improved diabetes management and lack of diabetes complications seem to be a good thing as far as keeping your marbles is concerned. Conversely people with both Alzheimers and T2D are at significantly increased risk of severe hypoglycaemia.

When it comes to young people, there did not seem to be much evidence that mild hypoglycaemia was associated with impaired cognitive function in the long term. Though there may be small risks to very young children who experience severe hypoglycaemia and coma, the brain quickly becomes more resilient in older children and young people.

Hot topics - Diabetes and cardio-vascular risk 4 presentations chaired by Naveed Sattar and Jiten Vora
I was particuarly struck during Miles Fisher's presentation about assessing cardio-vascular risk in people with diabetes when he described the decision to recommend statins for the primary prevention of CVD in people with type 1 diabetes as an 'OBSAT' decision. With a twinkle in his eye he explained the acronym as 'old boys sat around a table'. He suggested that the research evidence did not support the recommendation and that there was a risk of 'over medicalising' the population. His opinion was that the presence of micro-abuminuria was a more reliable marker for prescribing statins for primary prevention in T1D.

In general terms intensively managing blood glucose levels, the earlier the better, significantly protects against CHD for people with diabetes.

Physical activity and Type 1 3 presentations chaired by Jason Gill, Glasgow
This was my last session of the conference and the one that provoked perhaps the greatest interest on Twitter. One of the slides in Rob Andrew's presentation showed a flow chart which seemed to contradict itself. Beamed off into the ether without the explanatory dialogue many people responded, "Ehhhhhhh?!" but the presentation had moved on apace. A lesson learned perhaps in the perils of trying to share complex ideas in 140 characters at speed. There was a lot of detail from Rob Andrew about managing exercise and type 1 diabetes, you can find more information here when the site launches soon. Some interesting snippets too from Richard Bracken about bone strength in T1D. I had not realised that type 1 was associated with an increased risk of fractures, but it seems that resistance training can help improve bone condition and strength.

Summary
On the whole I was really encouraged by the conference programme, and by the tangible sense of passion and commitment from those working in the field who are aiming for better outcomes and more personalised care for people with diabetes. Huge thanks to Diabetes UK for inviting me to be a part of the event.

Disclosure: My travel, accommodation and entry to the conference were paid for by Diabetes UK. I was not paid to write this post or any tweets relating to #DPC15.

Abbott Freestyle Libre available to new customers again

There were excited murmerings on Facebook last week and on Friday I received a phone call that confirmed what many, many people have been waiting for over the last few months.

Abbott have begun to take on new customers for the Freestyle Libre again

Wooooo hoooooooo!!!

I think it is probably fair to say that Abbott were a little taken aback by the level of demand for their new toy immediately after launch (the Libre 'flash' glucose not-quite-CGM monitor). It wasn't long before they realised that consumer enthusiasm was going to outstrip their production capabilites and they took a tough decision to stop taking on new customers in order to protect supply to those who had signed up first. Probably the right thing to do, but pretty frustrating for many people - myself included, who hadn't quite got around to registering with their e-shop early on.

Some people have got quite cross about this, but I'm more inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt. This was a completely new piece of technology in a relatively small market place (certainly in the UK). They had to anticipate what sort of level of early take-up there might be, but it's not entirely surprising that they didn't get it spot-on. And deciding to limit supply so that fewer people got better service rather than many people getting rubbish service seems to have quite a consumer-focussed feel to it. They didn't just take everyone's money and not deliver, they concentrated on ensuring that those who signed up early could get full-time sensor coverage if they wanted it.

But for the rest of us, the weeks turned into months... and still we waited.

Until now.

As of last week they have begun to issue emails to people who signed up on the website. They are doing this on a 'first come first served' basis, so those who asked to be told when Libre was available to new customers in October/November 2014 will be hearing first.

Of course they will have to weed out a bunch of dead results from those expressions of interest. People who have changed their minds and so on - so if you recive an email you will need to act on it pretty promptly.

According to what I've been told by Abbott, it works like this:

• People will receive an email alert which (I think!) outlines the process
• People then recive a second email which gives them a relatively short window of opportunity to respond
• They then need to sign up as a new customer
• You also need to place an initial order to activate your account (minimum of one sensor approx £50)
• Thereafter a maximum of 2 sensors can be ordered every 14 days

Looking forward to receiving my email :)

Update: Hurrah! No more waiting list!