Study Capsules may help diabetics
Sun, 29 Jul 2007 17:10:39 GMT
By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, AP Science Writer
WASHINGTON - Tiny capsules made from seaweed and iron may help diabetics whose bodies reject insulin-cell transplants.
Researchers trying to understand why those transplants work for some people with Type I diabetes, but not for others, found success in experiments with mice and pigs.
Type I diabetes is the type usually beginning in childhood. It occurs when a person's immune system destroys the cells in the pancreas that make insulin.
The American Diabetic Association estimated that 20.8 million Americans have diabetes, though not all cases have been diagnosed. Between 5 percent and 10 percent of those are Type I, according to the National Diabetes Education Program.
Insulin helps the body process sugar. Without it, sugar levels in the blood rise and can result in complications such as blindness or kidney failure.
Injections of insulin can help if the patient carefully monitors blood sugar levels. Transplanting new insulin cells might be more effective, unless they, too, are destroyed.
Insulin-cell transplants remain an experimental procedure. The Collaborative Islet Transplant Registry reports just 319 cases in North America between 1999 and 2005.
In an effort to learn what happens to transplanted cells, researchers from Johns Hopkins University encapsulated them in a matrix made from alginate — derived from seaweed — and an iron-containing material so they could track the cells magnetically.
"It's very exciting, because now you will be able to see what's going on with all these cells. We hope it will help us understand the disease process and what's been going on," Dr. Aravind Arepally, an assistant professor of radiology and surgery at Hopkins, said in a telephone interview.
Their findings were published online Sunday in the journal Nature Medicine.
The porous capsules had openings large enough to let insulin out for the body to use, but not big enough for immune cells to get in and attack the transplants.
In the first experiment, the capsules — less than one hundred twenty-eighths of an inch across — were implanted in diabetic mice. The researchers said the blood sugar levels of the mice returned to normal in about a week. More than half of the mice that did not receive transplants died.
Researchers then moved on to swine. Capsules were implanted in the liver rather than the pancreas because the liver has more blood vessels that can carry the insulin to the rest of the body.
The team threaded a long needle-like tube into a large vein near the upper thigh and guided the tube upward, across and into a neighboring blood vessel and then into the liver.
Three weeks later, the capsules were still in place and were releasing insulin at usable levels, the researchers reported.
Co-author Jeff Bulte, professor of radiology and chemical and biomolecular engineering, said the hope is that the capsules will reduce the need for anti-rejection drugs in people receiving transplants.
Arepally said the researchers are beginning a longer-term trial in pigs and are working with a private company to begin the process of seeking Food and Drug Administration approval.
Dr. Larry C. Deeb, president of the American Diabetes Association, said it is fascinating that researchers could track the implants.
"That doesn't mean you can make it work to cure diabetes," he said. "These are the kinds of things where you do research and find something interesting and see where it leads you."
"I tell my patients that we're beating down the doors, slowly but surely," in the search for a cure, said Deeb, a pediatric endocrinologist in Tallahassee, Fla.
The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
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On the Net:
Nature Medicine: http://www.nature.com/naturemedicine
Food in botulism recall still being sold
Sat, 28 Jul 2007 08:22:29 GMT
By ANDREW BRIDGES, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - Stores nationwide are continuing to sell recalled canned chili, stew, hash and other foods potentially contaminated with poisonous bacteria even after repeated warnings the products could kill.
Thousands of cans are being removed from store shelves as quickly as investigators find them, more than a week after Castleberry's Food Co. began recalling more than 90 potentially contaminated products over fears of botulism contamination.
The recall now covers two years' production at the company's Augusta, Ga., plant — a tally that spirals into the tens of millions of cans.
Spot checks by the Food and Drug Administration and state officials continue to turn up recalled products for sale in convenience stores, gas stations and family run groceries, from Florida to Alaska. The FDA alone has found them in roughly 250 of the more than 3,700 stores visited in nationwide checks, according to figures the agency provided to The Associated Press.
In states like North Carolina, more than one in three stores checked by state officials in recent days were still offering recalled products for sale. Officials there pulled 5,500 cans and pledged to keep searching.
"We're not going to quit. These numbers are too high," said Joe Reardon, who oversees food protection for the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
Four people have been sickened and hospitalized because of the contaminated food, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Officials fear the tally will grow.
A Hawaii man was hospitalized with symptoms of botulism poisoning after eating canned chili that was subject to the recall, a state health official said. Tests were being conducted to confirm the cause of his illness.
California health officials were investigating whether botulism confirmed in a San Diego County woman was linked to the recall. The woman reported eating a Castleberry's product before falling sick in early July.
"Frankly, the fact we have had only four illnesses in this situation has people saying, 'Well, what is the big deal?' The deal is this is something that can land you in the ICU, not being able to breathe, for weeks," said Dr. David Acheson, the FDA's lead food safety expert, prior to Friday's disclosure of the possible cases in Hawaii and California.
FDA investigators believe Castleberry's failed to properly cook some or all the products, allowing the Clostridium botulinum bacteria to survive the canning process. In the oxygen-free and moist environment of the sealed cans, the bacteria thrive and produce a toxin that causes botulism, a muscle-paralyzing disease.
"The longer this stuff stays in the can, the worse it gets," Acheson said.
The bacteria also produce gases that can cause contaminated cans to swell and burst. Already, cans being held in a company warehouse have begun to break open. Health officials say the extremely potent toxin can infect people if it is inhaled, swallowed or absorbed through the eye or breaks in the skin.
Health experts consider botulism a severe health threat but worry that word of the recall has not reached all consumers or retailers, especially mom-and-pop operations.
"It has been a problem getting the message out. We're having a problem reaching the smaller stores," said Lynae Granzow, an epidemiologist with the Indiana Department of Health.
In Massachusetts, health inspectors found recalled products in fewer than 50 small stores, mostly in the Boston area, state Department of Public Health spokeswoman Donna Rheaume said. Spot checks in Alaska, Florida, Kentucky, Montana, New York, Indiana and elsewhere also have found them on shelves.
Castleberry's has hired a company to collect the recalled products from stores. It has posted a complete list of the recalled products, including some dog foods, on its Web site — http://www.castleberrys.com/
People who have any of the recalled products at home should double-bag and throw them away, the FDA recommends.
Castleberry's is owned by Bumble Bee Seafoods LLC, based in San Diego.
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On the Net:
FDA botulism information: http://tinyurl.com/324exf
