Manufacturers should design insulin pumps with features that can be safely and easily accessed by people with severe vision loss to avoid serious health consequences, according to a new review. A review performed by nurse practitioner Lorraine Marom from the Diabetes Unit at Dandenong Hospital, Victoria, found that the suitability of insulin pumps for people [...]

Rory Hafford talks to Dr Anna Clarke of the Diabetes Federation of Ireland on plans to tackle the relentless march of type II diabetes Dr Anna Clarke heads up the Health Promotion and Research portfolio in the Diabetes Federation of Ireland; and she knows that she has her work cut out. Just check the figures, [...]

Dr Suzanne Milligan writes that we do not seem to be heeding the warnings regarding the increase in type II diabetes, and that more needs to be done in terms of screening people who are at risk On 26 December 2004, a tsunami occurred in the Indian Ocean, which killed approximately 230,000 people in 14 [...]

Rory Hafford examines how doctors should be responsible for ensuring their diabetic patients are educated to the limit of their ability The aims of treating patients with diabetes is to abolish the symptoms; to correct hyperglycaemia; and to achieve and maintain an appropriate body weight. According to diabetic specialist Dr Joyce Baird, patients should realise [...]

Dr Hassan Al Bayyari looks at the management of type II diabetes Type II diabetes is a medical condition where the sugar level in the blood is abnormally raised (hyperglycaemia), due to relative insulin deficiency, resistance, or both. Insulin is a hormone produced in the pancreas gland; its role is to control the storage and [...]

Rory Hafford looks at the links between diabetes and foot problems, and indentifies ways to prevent such complications and manage them if they arise People with diabetes succumb to foot ulcers due to certain main factors, i.e. neuropathy, ischaemia or both. The problem can start as a result of mechanical injury or trauma. A vascular [...]

Rory Hafford searches the literature for some of the many ‘red flags’ for diabetes and examines the treatment options available for patients Before the discovery of insulin, more than half of diabetes patients died as a result of ketoacidosis. Today, this figure is much less dramatic, coming in at around 2 per cent, provided, of [...]

Dr Margaret Griffin, Consultant Endocrinologist, with support from the Diabetes Team at the Bon Secours Hospital, Dublin, examines the benefits from having the care of a patient with diabetes managed by a multidisciplinary team Diabetes mellitus is unique among chronic medical conditions in that 98 per cent of the care directed towards the condition is [...]

Closed-loop systems that link continuous glucose measurements to insulin delivery could reduce risk of nocturnal hypoglycaemia in children and adolescents with type I diabetes, new research has found. A team led by Dr Roman Hovorka of the Institute of Metabolic Science, University of Cambridge, undertook three randomised crossover studies in 19 patients aged five to [...]