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Medical Minutes

...by John Schieszer

Insulin Patches for Replacing Shots

UCLA bioengineers and colleagues at UNC School of Medicine and MIT are continuing to report success in the development of a smart insulin-delivery patch that could one day monitor and manage glucose levels in people with diabetes and deliver the necessary insulin dosage. The adhesive patch, about the size of a quarter, is simple to manufacture and intended for once-a-day use.

Study investigator Zhen Gu, PhD, professor of bioengineering at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering, said, “Our main goal is to enhance health and improve the quality of life for people who have diabetes. This smart patch takes away the need to constantly check one’s blood sugar and then inject insulin if and when it’s needed. It mimics the regulatory function of the pancreas but in a way that’s easy to use.”

The adhesive patch monitors blood sugar, or glucose, and delivers doses of insulin preloaded in very tiny microneedles, less than one millimeter in length, that deliver medicine quickly when the blood sugar levels reach a certain threshold. When blood sugar returns to normal, the patch’s insulin delivery also slows down. Researchers said the advantage is that it can help prevent overdosing of insulin, which can lead to hypoglycemia and other serious complications.

“It has always been a dream to achieve insulin delivery in a smart and convenient manner,” said study investigator Dr. John Buse, director of UNC Diabetes. “This smart insulin patch, if proven safe and effective in human trials, would revolutionize the patient experience of diabetes care.” A New Approach to Alzheimer’s Disease Researchers say they have identified a previously unknown gene and associated protein, which they have named aggregatin, that could potentially be suppressed to slow the advance of Alzheimer’s disease.

“Based on the data we have, this protein can be an unrecognized new risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease,” said Xinglong Wang, associate professor of pathology at Case Western University School of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio. “We also see this as a John Schieszer

potential novel therapeutic target for this devastating disease.”

Wang said aggregatin accumulates, or aggregates, within the center of plaque in patients with Alzheimer’s disease, like the yolk of an egg. However, it may now be possible to develop new agents to prevent this process from occurring.

The relationship between Alzheimer’s and subsequent brain atrophy due to amyloid-beta in the brain is well established. However, it is less understood precisely how that amyloidbeta actually leads to plaque formations in the brain, causing memory loss. The findings of this research indicate that reducing levels of this protein and inhibition of its interaction with amyloid beta peptide could potentially be therapeutic and help attack Alzheimer’s disease in a whole new way. Jury Still Out on Zinc Lozenges for Treating Colds

It may be time to reconsider taking zinc acetate lozenges to treat the common cold. Eight controlled trials previously reported that zinc lozenges reduced the duration of the common cold, but several other trials did not find any benefit. Variation in the types of zinc lozenges has been proposed as one explanation for the mixed study findings. Many studies with negative findings used lozenges that had low doses of zinc or contained ingredients such as citric acid that bind zinc ions, perhaps preventing the release of free zinc in the oropharyngeal region. It appears that further research is warranted to determine the conditions when zinc lozenges may be effective and the type and dosage of lozenges that may be optimal.

In a new randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled trial, Dr. Harri Hemilä and his colleagues from the University of Helsinki, Finland investigated the effect of zinc acetate. To minimize the delay between the onset of common cold symptoms and the initiation of treatment, the participants were administered a package of lozenges with an instruction to start treatment as soon as feasible after the onset of symptoms. Participants were instructed to slowly dissolve 6 lozenges per day in their mouth with a total zinc dose of 78 mg/ day zinc for 5 days.

During the trial, 88 participants contracted the common cold and started to use lozenges. No difference in the rate of recovery from the

Bone Density Exercises

...by Mark Bryant, Functional Aging Group Exercise Specialist

There are two types of exercises that can develop bone density: weightbearing and strength training. Weight-bearing exercises force you to work against gravity, such as walking, running, dancing, hiking or climbing stairs, to name a few. Strength training exercises include using weights to build muscle, such as with squats, bicep curls, tricep extensions, shoulder presses and back exercises.

Both types of exercises can develop bone density and most senior fitness classes will teach all of the exercises mentioned above, so you can have the best of both worlds. Find a senior fitness class in your area and start improving your bone density. ❖ Mark Bryant

Mark Bryant teaches senior fitness at the Southeast Seattle Senior Center and is offering a new “Silver Sneakers” program. “It is a great place to start!”

common cold was observed between the zinc and the placebo groups during the five-day treatment period. Unexpectedly, after the end of the five-day treatment period, participants in the zinc group recovered less rapidly than in the placebo group. This potential adverse effect after active treatment needs to be confirmed or refuted by future studies.

“Our study does not confirm the usefulness of zinc lozenges for treating the common cold, but neither does it refute the previous studies where zinc lozenges were found to be effective,” said Dr. Hemilä. “In future trials of zinc lozenges, the dosage of zinc should be greater, the lozenges should dissolve more slowly, and the treatment should last longer than five days. Before zinc lozenges can be widely promoted for common cold treatment, the characteristics of lozenges that are clinically efficacious should be defined in detail.” ❖

John Schieszer is an award-winning national journalist and radio and podcast broadcaster of The Medical Minute. He can be reached at medicalminutes@gmail.com.

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