West Newsmagazine 11-15-17

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November 15, 2017
WEST NEWSMAGAZINE
I HEALTH I 27
rise. The cells could be inserted under
patients’ skin and replaced every few days,
or delivered with a painless and disposable
skin patch.
The ABCs contain specially engineered
vesicles, or sacs, filled with insulin. A rise
in blood glucose levels leads to chemical
changes in the vesicles’ coating, and causes
them to release the insulin into the bloodstream.
Results of the UNC mouse testing
of the cells, recently reported in Nature
Chemical Biology, were that a single injection
of the ABCs into diabetic mice which
lacked beta cells quickly returned their
blood glucose to normal, and kept them at
normal levels for up to five days.
“Our plan now is to further optimize and
test these synthetic cells in larger animals,
develop a skin patch delivery system for
them and ultimately test them in people
with diabetes,” said the study’s principal
investigator, Zhen Gu, Ph.D., a professor
in the university’s department of biomedical
engineering. Gu and his colleagues
at UNC have been working on solutions
to solve the insulin-delivery problem for
nearly a decade.
Dr. John Buse, director of the UNC Diabetes
Care Center, said of the research, “There
is still much work needed to optimize this
artificial-cell approach before human studies
are attempted, but these results so far are
a remarkable, creative first step to a new way
to solve the diabetes problem using chemical
engineering as opposed to mechanical
pumps or living transplants.”
Gu and his team also are working separately
on a cell-free “smart insulin patch”
that senses blood glucose levels and
secretes insulin into the bloodstream as
needed.
regardless of differing cultural behaviors
between countries. Breastfeeding for less
than two months did not provide such benefits.
“Breastfeeding for just two months
reduces the risk of SIDS by almost half, and
the longer babies are breastfed, the greater
the protection,” said UVA researcher Fern
Hauck, M.D. “The other important finding
from our study is that any amount of
breastfeeding reduces the risk of SIDS – in
other words, both partial and exclusive
breastfeeding appear to provide the same
benefit.”
Based on their results, which were
published in the journal Pediatrics, the
UVA researchers are calling for “ongoing
concerted efforts” to increase rates of
breastfeeding around the world. The World
Health Organization has established a goal
of having more than half of infants worldwide
being breastfed exclusively for at
least six months by 2025.
On the calendar
Area residents are encouraged to participate
in an American Red Cross blood
drive from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. on Wednesday,
Nov. 22 at St. Louis County Library’s
Daniel Boone Branch, 300 Clarkson Road
in Ballwin. To register for an appointment
time, visit www.redcrossblood.org.
• • •
St. Louis Children’s Hospital sponsors a
Staying Home Alone course from 6:30-8
p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 29 at the Wildwood
Municipal Building, 16860 Main
St. in Wildwood. This workshop will help
families determine a child’s readiness
to stay home alone and help prepare the
child for this experience. A parent must
attend with the child; workbooks are provided.
The course fee is $25 per family. To
register, call (314) 454-5437.
Breastfeeding shown
to slash SIDS risk
A large new international study has
found that being breastfed for at least
two months cuts a baby’s risk of Sudden
Infant Death Syndrome [SIDS] nearly in
half – and babies who are not exclusively
breastfed receive the same level of risk
reduction.
Previous studies have found that breastfeeding
protects against SIDS, the leading
cause of death of babies during their first
year of life; but this study is the first to
determine the duration of breastfeeding
necessary to provide a major protective
effect. The researchers, from the University
of Virginia School of Medicine and
UVA Children’s Hospital, analyzed eight
large international studies that examined
breastfeeding in just under 2,300 cases of
SIDS, compared to nearly 7,000 infants in
a control group. This large sample demonstrated
consistently that two months
of breastfeeding was the cutoff point for
receiving protective benefits against SIDS,