NEWSLIVING
NEWS
continued over
IDF'S 6TH
DIABETES
ATLAS
The 6th Edition of the IDF Diabetes Atlas
generates estimates using new studies
that became available in the last year,
and updated population estimates. The
new estimates follow the same upward
trajectory evidenced by previous editions
of the Atlas, and add urgency to the need
for effective prevention, treatment, and an
end to silence and discrimination.
You can download the complete 6th
Edition of the Diabetes Atlas (English,
Spanish, French), single chapters and
regional factsheets by clicking here.
VITAMIN B12
DEFICIENCY
Vitamin B12 is essential for healthy life,
playing a key role in the normal functioning
of the brain and nervous system. It's
found in food sources such as meat, fish,
dairy products and eggs.
B12 deficiency(anaemia) can be
more common in older people not
eating enough of these major food
sources. Symptoms can include
persistent tiredness, breathlessness,
feeling faint, headaches, lack of appetite
and numbness in hands and feet. A
doctor can administer a blood test to
determine the B12 levels in your blood.
A modification of diet may be required
although Vitamin B12 is the one vitamin
that is better obtained from supplements
than from foods.
As reported in Diabetes Health, DV100, a
drug designed to halt the body's
autoimmune attack on pancreatic beta
cells that leads to type 1 disease, has
won orphan drug status from the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration.
Designation as an orphan drug gives
DV-100's manufacturer, New Jerseybased biotechnology company DiaVacs,
Inc., seven years of exclusive marketing
rights in the United States once DV-100
receives final FDA approval.
Currently, the drug has just entered
Phase 2 trials on human test subjects.
The drug is based on using modified
version of a type 1 patient's dendritic
cells* as a vaccine. The cells are injected
under the skin, absorbed into the body,
and then circulated to the pancreatic
lymph nodes where they combat the
body's mistaken autoimmune attack on
that organ's insulin-producing beta cells.
T1 DRUG WINS ORPHAN STATUS