HDL not as protective in people with type 2 diabetes

[T_Dia]

Researchers in Germany and Switzerland assessed the vessel-protecting effect of HDL derived from 33 patients with type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome and compared it with 10 healthy controls. Patients with diabetes were randomly assigned to three months of extended-release niacin therapy 1,500 mg daily or placebo.

HDL from healthy controls accelerated endothelial nitric oxide production and reduced endothelial oxidant stress. It also improved endothelium-dependent vasodilation and early endothelial progenitor cell–mediated endothelial repair.

However, these beneficial effects were not observed in the HDL from patients with diabetes.

“This suggests markedly impaired endothelial-protective properties of HDL,” the researchers wrote.

The researchers observed that extended-release niacin therapy promoted the endothelial-protective properties of HDL in patients with type 2 diabetes.

“Extended-release niacin therapy improved the capacity of HDL to stimulate endothelial nitric oxide, to reduce superoxide production and to promote endothelial progenitor cell–mediated endothelial repair,” they wrote.
Full Article (http://www.endocrinetoday.com/view.aspx?rid=59584).

[T_Dia]

The American Diabetes Association (ADA) is recommending that a simple blood test currently used to assess whether diabetes is under control also be used to diagnose the disease.

The blood test -- known as the A1C test -- has several important advantages over traditional blood glucose testing.

Patients do not need to fast before the test is given, and it is far less likely to identify clinically irrelevant fluctuations in blood sugar because it measures average blood glucose levels over several months.

The new guidelines do not call for replacing traditional screening with the A1C test.

It is believed that around 6 million Americans have diabetes but don't know it, and another 57 million have prediabetes.

The A1C test may help identify a large number of people in both of these groups, former ADA president for medicine and science John Buse, MD, PhD, tells WebMD.

Buse, who is chief of endocrinology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, helped draft the new ADA diabetes care guidelines, which were made public today.
Full Article (http://diabetes.webmd.com/news/20091228/a1c-blood-test-ok-for-diabetes-diagnosis).