Chicago Takes A Stand: City Council Committee Unanimously Votes in Support of the BPA-Free Kids Ordinance

SarahBlennerBy Sarah Blenner, JD, MPH

Bisphenol A (BPA), the controversial, toxic chemical found in many plastic food containers, is once again making headlines.  BPA is an estrogen-mimicking chemical that is used to make polycarbonate plastics.  Hundreds of studies have linked BPA to a variety of adverse health conditions, such as diabetes, insulin dependency, obesity, breast cancer, prostate cancer, hyperactivity, ADHD, autism, early onset of puberty, cardiovascular disease and liver enzyme abnormalities.

In January, Julie Burger argued that “the time to act is now.”  Leading scientists state that the potential health risks of BPA are too significant and the FDA’s determination that BPA is “safe” is simply the chemical industry’s creation of “manufactured doubt.”  With hundreds of studies linking BPA to adverse health conditions, the FDA relied solely on a limited number of studies funded by the chemical industry that showed “no harm.”

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In These Tough Times, Young Children Provide Health Care for Parents and Grandparents

Tim WelchBy Tim Welch

As the incidence of chronic conditions such as diabetes increases across the nation (in 2007, there were 1.6 million new cases of diabetes diagnosed in people aged 20 years or older), more Americans are requiring long-term medical care.  Couple that with an economic recession that has millions of workers unemployed, without income or insurance, and unable to pay expensive hospital bills, and you have a serious health care crisis.  A recent article published in The New York Times described how the pressures of this crisis are frequently falling on the shoulders of American children.  As parents and grandparents are increasingly unable to foot the bill for medical care, children aged 8-18 are assuming the caregiver role.

According to the article, children across the country are being asked to perform various tasks often becoming of professional nurses, including, but not limited to, "lifting frail bodies off beds or toilets, managing medication [including injections], washing, feeding, dressing, and talking with doctors." 

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New Technology for Administering Glucagon Could Assuage Schools’ Fears, Save Children’s Lives

Tim WelchBy Tim Welch

Many kids with diabetes are having serious problems at school when it comes to potential emergency situations.  One of the issues that children and adults with diabetes face is the risk of severe hypoglycemia.  Severe hypoglycemia occurs when the body's blood sugar level gets too low.  It is an extremely dangerous and life-threatening condition, in which the body begins to shut down.  Without immediate treatment, the hypoglycemic person will lose consciousness and stop breathing.  If left untreated, the condition will lead to coma, brain damage, and death.

In a severe hypoglycemic emergency, the person may not be capable of swallowing food or liquids and cannot eat food or drink beverages to raise their blood sugar.  But fortunately there is a life-saving treatment.  Glucagon, a hormone that causes the liver to release glucose into the blood stream, can be administered to help the person who is suffering from hypoglycemia.  It is crucial that glucagon be administered immediately in order to save the hypoglycemic person's life.  Administering glucagon is also relatively low-risk, since it is safe to inject even if the person with diabetes is not suffering from hypoglycemia, but some other condition with similar symptoms.

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School Children with Diabetes: Study Finds Better Control with Higher Self-Responsibility

Keith Syverson by Keith Syverson

Surveys have shown that the vast majority of teachers know of at least one student in their school with a chronic illness.  Several studies have investigated the administration of medication in schools from the perspectives of principals or of school nurses, but few studies exist on how students and parents feel about this issue.  A 2008 study in the Journal of School Nursing went directly to the source, interviewing students with diabetes, asthma, and ADHD in order to determine the "types of problems and mistakes [they] experience with their medicines at school."  The group of researchers included pharmacologists and a professor of nursing.  They reached conclusions that surprised them but correspond to modern recommendations for diabetes care.

The researchers initially assumed that the higher the level of responsibility a student has for his or her medication administration, the greater the child's "risk factor index" and the greater the chance of medication error.  The authors state that this index is a combination of risk factors previously identified in the literature and "the collective clinical experiences of the authors."  These included whether the child: transports his or her own medication to school, stores his or her own medication within reach, and whether the child self-administers his or her own medication.  The researchers found that students with diabetes have the highest degree of self-responsibility and thus, as a group, have the highest risk factor index.  Contrary to the initial assumption that a high degree of self-responsibility put the student at a high risk for medication errors, the researchers found that diabetic students had the lowest prevalence of medication error. In contrast, a higher prevalence of errors was reported among children with ADHD who had the least amount of self care responsibility.

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Oops, That Wasn’t a Cell Phone, It Was His Substitute Pancreas

SarahBlennerBy Sarah Blenner, JD, MPH

As Clifton Hassam, a Florida 16 year old junior in high school, sat in class, his blood sugar began to reach dangerous levels.  His monitor, which is attached to his hip, began beeping to inform him of this.  Hassam reached down to turn off the beeping noise and take care of his blood sugar levels.  However, the substitute teacher, believing that Hassam had a cell phone, the use of which during the school day is forbidden, reached down and grabbed the device, pulling out the tubing from Hassam's waist and disconnecting the insulin pump.  It took several days before Hassam's blood sugar reached normal levels again.

Hassam was diagnosed with diabetes when he was six years old.  Like many other individuals with type-1 diabetes, Hassam manages his diabetes in part by wearing an insulin pump, a device that is designed to notify Hassam when his blood sugar reaches unhealthy levels.  According to Hassam, the pump is “my whole life on my side.” The device is about the size of a pager and has a tube (or catheter) that runs under the skin and into the blood stream.  The pump not only monitors blood glucose levels, but it also releases fast acting insulin directly into the blood stream just as a pancreas in a body with normal pancreas function would release insulin into the blood stream.

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Nanotechnology Could Make Blood Glucose Monitoring Less of a Pain

Jake Meyer by Jake Meyer

In our lifetime, we may see nanotechnology offer improvements in nearly every facet of modern life.  The field of medicine is no exception and nanotechnology research looks to provide technology breakthroughs that will change the way diseases are treated.  Nanotechnology has the potential to improve the treatment of malignant diseases like cancer.  For example, U.S. Patent No. 6,727,065 describes a quantum dot which attaches itself to a cancerous tumor and upon exposure to infrared radiation releases a substance toxic to the tumor.  Nanotechnology also has the potential to improve the treatment of chronic diseases such as diabetes.  Diabetes affects millions of Americans and recent nanotechnology research may lead to a new way of monitoring blood glucose that doesn't involve sticking yourself with a needle.

Researchers at Purdue University have created a biosensor which precisely detects blood glucose.  The biosensor is composed of a single-wall carbon nanotube attached to a gold-coated "nanocube."  The nanocube acts as a sensor and the carbon nanotube acts as a wire to carry electrical signals to electronic circuitry.  The design has been referred to as a tether ball and is well-suited for sensing applications because the sensing portion of the system extends out from the rest of the system allowing it to contact target molecules more easily.  Attached to the nanocube is an enzyme called glucose oxidase.  When the enzyme is in the presence of glucose and oxygen there is an electrochemical reaction that generates an electrical signal, which then travels along the carbon nanotube.

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Legislation Is Needed to Ensure That Students With Diabetes Are Safe at School

JulieBergerBy Julie Burger

As the eyes of Illinoisans (and the world) turn to the impeachment trial in Springfield, it might be tempting to overlook other necessary legislative activity.  Last year, the Care of Students with Diabetes Act was passed in the House, but died in the Senate.  This important legislation would have helped to ensure the safety of children with diabetes at school and clarified the rights and responsibilities of healthcare workers, schools, parents, and the children themselves.

According to data released by the NIH, there are nearly 186,300 children under the age of 20 in the U.S. with diagnosed diabetes.  Type I diabetes occurs in one in every 400 to 600 children within this age group.  Each year, more than 15,000 youth are diagnosed with type I diabetes.  Rates of type II diabetes are also on the rise in children under the age of 20.

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Could that Bottled Water Be Raising Your Risk of Diabetes?

JulieBergerBy Julie Burger

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a chemical that is used in most plastic food and beverage containers.  BPA is also found in dental sealants, the resin lining of cans, carbonless paper (often used for receipts), pizza boxes, and other common household products.  A recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) looked at possible associations between BPA levels in adults and their health status.  The study concludes that there is a significant link between BPA and diabetes, cardiovascular disease (including coronary heart disease and heart attacks), and liver-enzyme abnormalities.  According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), as of 2007 (the most recent data available), nearly 24 million children and adults, approximately 8% of the population, have diabetes.  Diabetes contributed to 233,619 deaths in 2005 alone and in 2006 was ranked as the seventh deadliest disease in the United States.  Diabetes related deaths have increased by 45% since 1987.  Diabetes is a serious, growing health concern.

Previous studies have also demonstrated adverse effects of BPA on the brain, reproductive system, and metabolic processes (including insulin resistance).  These studies tested the effect of BPA on animals using BPA levels that were less than what federal agencies have determined is an acceptable daily intake dose.

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NIH Pulls Genetic Information from Internet after Research Shows Info Can Be Linked to Individuals

JulieBergerBy Julie Burger

For years, scientists have raced to unlock the mysteries hidden in the human genome. Relatively recent research methodologies, used in genome wide association studies (GWAS), are allowing scientists to much more rapidly uncover genes that may be linked to diseases. In GWAS, genetic and health information from thousands of people is compared to locate mutations or gene variants for diseases like breast cancer, diabetes and heart disease.  (For a scientific viewpoint as to why this research theory might not be successful, click here.)  Because this type of research calls for genetic and other information from thousands, or even tens of thousands of people, researchers are increasingly trying to tap into existing bodily tissue samples and private medical data from blood or biopsy samples taken at a physician’s office or hospital.  Researchers are also asking to share information from other researchers’ studies.  What many people don’t realize is that information about them and their genes could be taken and shared among researchers or even posted on the internet.

Researchers’ quest to correlate genes with disease has encouraged government agencies to implement policies to increase the sharing of genetic samples and genetic and health information even where the individual has not explicitly consented to the secondary use. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has implemented a plan to increase access to genetic and associated health information. Starting in January 2008, researchers who received government funding for GWAS were required at the end of the study to submit the genetic profile and associated information about the health of the people whose tissue was used. The health information might be blood pressure or weight, or it might be information about drug use, mental health, and it could include information about family relationships.

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