Sunday, February 6, 2011

Pittsburgh-Tribune 9 Month Investigation of Broken Wounded Warrior Care

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review documents life after the war for Veterans inside Wounded Warrior Care

Full Article at: Documents show Army's disservice to broken soldiers

By Carl Prine
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, February 6, 2011

"The reports starkly lay out the crux of the problem: The Pentagon is letting the Army turn the Warrior Transition barracks into "dumping grounds" that are "set up to handle everybody," a policy that creates an "exponential misbalance" between veterans who should be there and personnel that commanders don't want on combat deployments. Army policies make it too "difficult to determine a reasonable line of demarcation when it comes to providing care, and what level of care," the reports contend."

"Troops nationwide interviewed by the Trib, however, said patients who need more time to mend or who want second diagnoses to ensure adequate retirement benefits often are tagged in Casey's Army as "malingerers" or ungrateful "garrison wreckage.""

"When a Trib reporter directly asked Army Surgeon General Lt. Gen. Eric B. Schoomaker about the problems the Pentagon team uncovered, the three-star general tasked with overseeing the Warrior Transition units walked away. Neither he nor his staff has answered written questions they requested from the Trib in October."

New Approach to Type 1 Diabetes May Eliminate the Need for Insulin Injections

If this research is further validated, in human trials, then this may well be an effective cure for Type 1 diabetes. In a nut shell, instead of fighting blood sugar levels by injecting insulin which counteracts the effect of glucagon, they plan to remove the agent causing the higher blood sugar, by blocking or removing in some fashion glucagon. As they say, "if you don’t have glucagon, then you don’t need insulin.”

Full Article at: UT Southwestern researchers uncover potential 'cure' for type 1 diabetes

2011 News Releases

DALLAS – Jan. 26, 2011 – "Type 1 diabetes could be converted to an asymptomatic, non-insulin-dependent disorder by eliminating the actions of a specific hormone, new findings by UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers suggest.

These findings in mice show that insulin becomes completely superfluous and its absence does not cause diabetes or any other abnormality when the actions of glucagon are suppressed. Glucagon, a hormone produced by the pancreas, prevents low blood sugar levels in healthy individuals. It causes high blood sugar in people with type 1 diabetes.

“We’ve all been brought up to think insulin is the all-powerful hormone without which life is impossible, but that isn’t the case,” said Dr. Roger Unger, professor of internal medicine and senior author of the study appearing online and in the February issue of Diabetes. “If diabetes is defined as restoration of glucose homeostasis to normal, then this treatment can perhaps be considered very close to a ‘cure.’ ”

Insulin treatment has been the gold standard for type 1 diabetes (insulin-dependent diabetes) in humans since its discovery in 1922. But even optimal regulation of type 1 diabetes with insulin alone cannot restore normal glucose tolerance. These new findings demonstrate that the elimination of glucagon action restores glucose tolerance to normal.

Normally, glucagon is released when the glucose, or sugar, level in the blood is low. In insulin deficiency, however, glucagon levels are inappropriately high and cause the liver to release excessive amounts of glucose into the bloodstream. This action is opposed by insulin, which directs the body’s cells to remove sugar from the bloodstream.

Dr. Unger’s laboratory research previously found that insulin’s benefit resulted from its suppression of glucagon."

"“These findings suggest that if there is no glucagon, it doesn’t matter if you don’t have insulin,” said Dr. Unger, who is also a physician at the Dallas VA Medical Center. “This does not mean insulin is unimportant. It is essential for normal growth and development from neonatal to adulthood. But in adulthood, at least with respect to glucose metabolism, the role of insulin is to control glucagon.

“And if you don’t have glucagon, then you don’t need insulin.”

Dr. Young Lee, assistant professor of internal medicine at UT Southwestern and lead author of the study, said the next step is to determine the mechanism behind this result.

“Hopefully, these findings will someday help those with type 1 diabetes,” Dr. Lee said. “If we can find a way to block the actions of glucagon in humans, then maybe we can minimize the need for insulin therapy.”