Related topics: diabetes , beta cells , insulin , type 2 diabetes , cells



Diabetes mellitus type 1

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Diabetes mellitus type 1 (Type 1 diabetes, T1D, T1DM, IDDM, juvenile diabetes) is a form of diabetes mellitus. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease that results in destruction of insulin-producing beta cells of the pancreas. Lack of insulin causes an increase of fasting blood glucose (around 70-120 mg/dL in nondiabetic people) that begins to appear in the urine above the renal threshold (about 190-200 mg/dl in most people), thus connecting to the symptom by which the disease was identified in antiquity, sweet urine. Glycosuria or glucose in the urine causes the patients to urinate more frequently, and drink more than normal (polydipsia). Classically, these were the characteristic symptoms which prompted discovery of the disease.

Type 1 is lethal unless treated with exogenous insulin. Injection is the traditional and still most common method for administering insulin; jet injection, indwelling catheters, and inhaled insulin has also been available at various times, and there are several experimental methods as well. All replace the missing hormone formerly produced by the now non-functional beta cells in the pancreas. In recent years, pancreas transplants have also been used to treat type 1 diabetes. Islet cell transplant is also being investigated and has been achieved in mice and rats, and in experimental trials in humans as well. Use of stem cells to produce a new population of functioning beta cells seems to be a future possibility, but has yet to be demonstrated even in laboratories as of 2008.

Type 1 diabetes (formerly known as "childhood", "juvenile" or "insulin-dependent" diabetes) is not exclusively a childhood problem; the adult incidence of type 1 is noteworthy—many adults who contract type 1 diabetes are misdiagnosed with type 2 due to confusion on this point.

There is currently no clinically useful preventive measure against developing type 1 diabetes, though a vaccine has been proposed and anti-antibody approaches are also being tested. Most people who develop type 1 were otherwise healthy and of a healthy weight on onset, but they can lose weight quickly and dangerously, if not promptly diagnosed. Although the cause of type 1 diabetes is still not fully understood, the immune system damage is characteristic of type 1.

The most definite laboratory test to distinguish type 1 from type 2 diabetes is the C-peptide assay, which is a measure of endogenous insulin production since external insulin has not (to date) included C-peptide. The presence of anti-islet antibodies (to Glutamic Acid Decarboxylase, Insulinoma Associated Peptide-2 or insulin), or lack of insulin resistance, determined by a glucose tolerance test, would also be suggestive of type 1. Many type 2 diabetics continue to produce insulin internally, and all have some degree of insulin resistance.

Testing for GAD 65 antibodies has been proposed as an improved test for differentiating between type 1 and type 2 diabetes as it appears that the immune system malfunction is connected with their presence.

For more information about Diabetes mellitus type 1, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.


News tagged with type 1 diabetes


TGen analysis identifies biomarkers for diabetic kidney failure

Medicine & Health / Research

created Dec 16, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Researchers using a DNA analysis tool developed by the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) and UCLA have identified genetic markers that could help treat chronic kidney disease among diabetics.





Search results for type 1 diabetes


Understanding relationship of proteins, fatty acids could help treat diseases

Understanding relationship of proteins, fatty acids could help treat diseases

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created 8 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- It's widely understood that eating a diet high in saturated fats increases the risk for a long list of chronic and deadly diseases, including diabetes and coronary heart disease. Understanding ...


Anemia drug not helpful for kidney disease patients

Medicine & Health / Diseases

created 9 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 1

An international study authored by a UT Southwestern Medical Center researcher has concluded that the anemia drug darbepoetin alfa works no better than a placebo in several other applications previously thought to be promising.


Is nicotinamide overload a trigger for type 2 diabetes?

Medicine & Health / Diseases

created 11 hours ago | popularity 4.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Facing the increasing prevalence of type 2 diabetes worldwide in the past few decades, one may ask what is wrong with humans. Geneticists tell us that the human genome has not changed markedly in such a short time. Therefore, ...


Surgery recognized as effective treatment for type 2 diabetes

Medicine & Health / Other

created 12 hours ago | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0

A first-of-its-kind consensus statement by 50 medical experts from around the world has pronounced surgery to be a legitimate and effective treatment for type 2 diabetes, bringing the procedure a significant step closer to ...


Good cholesterol not as protective in people with type 2 diabetes

Medicine & Health / Research

created Dec 21, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

High-density lipoprotein (HDL), known as "good" cholesterol, isn’t as protective for people with type 2 diabetes, according to research reported in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.


Self-monitoring with blood glucose test strips inefficient use of health-care resources

Medicine & Health / Other

created Dec 21, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Routine self-monitoring of blood glucose levels by people with type 2 diabetes who are not taking insulin is an ineffective use of health resources as the modest benefits are outweighed by the significant cost of test strips, ...


Want to live well? Harvard experts offer pragmatic pointers on getting healthy and staying there

Want to live well? Harvard experts offer pragmatic pointers on getting healthy and staying there

Medicine & Health / Health

created Dec 17, 2009 | popularity 4 / 5 (10) | comments 1

You are what you eat. You're also how you feel, how you exercise, how you sleep, how you handle money, how you relate to people, and what you value.


In a first, key pancreatic cells inserted in wounded airman's liver

Medicine & Health / Research

created Dec 17, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (4) | comments 0

In what medical officials say is a first, the bullet-scarred pancreas from a service member who was shot in Afghanistan was flown from Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington to the University of Miami, where insulin-producing ...


Arizona State and Mayo Clinic partner to combat metabolic syndrome

Medicine & Health / Other

created Dec 17, 2009 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Arizona State University and Mayo Clinic in Arizona are joining forces in a partnership to investigate metabolic syndrome - a cluster of high-risk medical factors that include increased blood pressure, elevated insulin levels, ...


Proximity to convenience stores fosters child obesity

Medicine & Health / Health

created Dec 17, 2009 | popularity 2 / 5 (1) | comments 1

Childhood obesity is directly related to how close kids live to convenience stores, according to the preliminary findings of a major Canadian study presented at the Entretiens Jacques-Cartier in Lyon, France. The ongoing ...



List of search results for type 1 diabetes