Pregnancy

• You may have heard of Ozempic, the “miracle drug” for weight loss, but did you know that it was actually designed as a new treatment to manage diabetes?
• In Canada, diabetes affects approximately 10 per cent of the general population.

Locks and keys

• Every cell in the body needs sugar as an energy source, but too much sugar can be toxic to cells.
• This equilibrium needs to be tightly controlled and is regulated by a lock and key system.
• Cells cover themselves with locks that respond perfectly to insulin keys to facilitate the entry of sugar into cells.
• The body can encounter difficulties producing an adequate number of insulin keys, and/or the locks can become stubborn and unresponsive to insulin.

Severe insulin-deficient diabetes: We’re missing keys!

• In the severe insulin-deficient diabetes (SIDD) subtype, the key factories — the beta cells — are on strike.
• Why the beta cells go on strike remains largely unknown, but since there is an insulin deficiency, treatment often involves insulin injections.

Severe insulin-resistant diabetes: But it’s always locked!

• In the severe insulin-resistant diabetes (SIRD) subtype, the locks are overstimulated and start ignoring the keys.
• There are many treatment avenues for these patients but no consensus about the optimal approach; patients often require high doses of insulin.

Mild obesity-related diabetes: The locks are sticky!

• Mild obesity-related (MOD) diabetes represents a nuanced aspect of Type 2 diabetes, often observed in individuals with higher body weight.
• The locks are “sticky,” so it is challenging for the key to click in place and open the lock.

Mild age-related diabetes: I’m tired of controlling blood sugar!

Mild age-related diabetes (MARD) happens more often in older people and typically starts later in life. With time, the key factory is not as productive, and the locks become stubborn. People with MARD find it tricky to manage their blood sugar, but it usually doesn’t lead to severe complications. Among the different subtypes of diabetes, MARD is the most common.

Unique locks, varied keys

• In Canada, unique cases of Type 2 diabetes were identified in Indigenous children from Northern Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario by Dr. Heather Dean and colleagues in the 1980s and 90s.
• Read more:
  Indigenous community research partnerships can help address health inequities

  Childhood-onset Type 2 diabetes is on the rise across Canada, but disproportionately affects Indigenous youth.

• Acknowledging this distinct subtype of Type 2 diabetes in First Nations communities has led to the implementation of a community-based health action plan aimed at addressing the unique challenges faced by Indigenous Peoples.

A mosaic of conditions

• Type 2 diabetes is not uniform; it’s a mosaic of conditions, each with its own characteristics.
• Since diabetes presents so uniquely in every patient, even categorizing into subtypes does not guarantee how the disease will evolve.

Lili Grieco-St-Pierre receives funding from Fonds de recherche du Québec - Santé (FRQS). Jennifer Bruin receives funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), JDRF, Diabetes Canada.

• Sudden unexpected infant death, or SUID, occurs in infants less than 1 year old who die suddenly and unexpectedly without an obvious cause before investigation, accounting for about 3,400 deaths annually in the U.S..
• These infants die from sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS, accidental suffocation and strangulation in bed, or other ill-defined and unknown causes.
• Compared with nonsharing infants in our study, bedsharing infants were more likely to have the following characteristics:

Among nonsharing infants in the study, only one-third were sleeping in the recommended back position, and three-quarters were in sleep areas that had soft bedding such as pillows, comforters or bumper pads at the time of death. Three-quarters of all the sudden unexpected infant deaths in our study were affected by multiple unsafe sleep factors.

Why it matters

• Rates of sudden unexpected infant deaths overall in the U.S. have changed only minimally in the past 20 years, but racial-ethnic disparities [in these deaths are widening] due to increasing rates among non-Hispanic Black infants.
• Our study suggests that the majority of these deaths are preventable by following the guidelines for safe infant sleep as outlined by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

• Even with knowledge of the recommended practices, many parents find it difficult to follow the recommendations.
• Others may choose not to follow them or may not follow them all of the time.
• Bedsharing may also be a common cultural or preferred practice, so not doing so might go against one’s beliefs or preferences.

What’s next

• Much more research is needed to find the most effective ways to teach families about safe infant sleep.
• There are currently a number of studies underway using innovative methods to engage and educate parents, starting in pregnancy and continuing after the baby is born.

Fern R. Hauck receives funding from NIH. She is affiliated with American Academy of Pediatrics Task Force on SIDS.

• The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency now believes there is no safe level for two common PFAS – PFOA and PFOS – in drinking water, and it acknowledges that very low concentrations of other PFAS present human health risks.
• The agency issued the first legally enforceable national drinking water standards for five common types of PFAS chemicals, as well as PFAS mixtures, on April 10, 2024.

What exactly are PFAS?

• This is a large group of human-made chemicals – currently estimated to be nearly 15,000 individual chemical compounds – that are used widely in consumer products and industry.
• They can make products resistant to water, grease and stains and protect against fire.

• The short answer is that PFAS are harmful to human health and the environment.
• Some of the very same chemical properties that make PFAS attractive in products also mean these chemicals will persist in the environment for generations.
• The U.S. Geological Survey estimates common types of PFAS are now in at least 45% of the country’s tap water.

What are the health risks from PFAS exposure?

• Research consistently demonstrates that PFAS are associated with a variety of adverse health effects.
• A review by a panel of experts looking at research on PFAS toxicity concluded with a high degree of certainty that PFAS contribute to thyroid disease, elevated cholesterol, liver damage, and kidney and testicular cancer.

• Additionally, current research suggests that babies exposed prenatally are at higher risk of experiencing obesity, early-onset puberty and reduced fertility later in life.
• Collectively, this is a formidable list of diseases and disorders.

Who’s regulating PFAS?

• DuPont called it Teflon, which eventually became a household name for its use on nonstick pans.
• Decades later, in 1998, Scotchgard maker 3M notified the Environmental Protection Agency that a PFAS chemical was showing up in human blood samples.
• At the time, 3M said low levels of the manufactured chemical had been detected in people’s blood as early as the 1970s.
• The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry has a toxicological profile for PFAS.

How can you reduce your PFAS exposure?

• The best ways to protect yourself and your family from risks associated with PFAS are to educate yourself about potential sources of exposure.
• Products labeled as water- or stain-resistant have a good chance of containing PFAS.
• Strategies for monitoring and reporting PFAS contamination vary by location and PFAS source, so the absence of readily available information does not necessarily mean the region is free of PFAS problems.

Kathryn Crawford receives funding from National Institutes of Health and US Geological Survey.

• San Francisco, California--(Newsfile Corp. - March 19, 2024) - In its latest endeavor to revolutionize women's health technology, Bellabeat has launched the new IVY+ Health Tracker.
• It is equipped with a sophisticated temperature tracking feature, marking a significant advancement in menstrual and fertility tracking.
• In conjunction with the Bellabeat app, the IVY+ Health Tracker transforms biometric data into actionable wellness insights.
• The combination of the IVY+ Health Tracker and the Bellabeat app creates a comprehensive health monitoring experience that extends beyond traditional tracking methods.