Inside Joslin

Thursday, July 29, 2010

“Diabetes is a complex disease and there’s a lot you can do with exercise to manage it,” says Jacqueline Shahar, who is a Clinical Exercise Physiologist, a Certified Diabetes Educator and the manager of the exercise physiology department at Joslin. She recently sat down to answer eight questions about Joslin’s exercise programs and about how best to engage in physical activity with diabetes.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Children and their families came out to Joslin earlier this month for the Pediatric Clinic’s fifth annual Summer Magic event. The children participated in crafts, played limbo and bean-bag toss, enjoyed a picnic dinner and saw a magic show.

Monday, July 26, 2010

When type 1 diabetes wipes out the body’s insulin-producing beta cells, how can they be replaced? That’s been a focus of research for decades for Gordon Weir, M.D., and his wife, Susan Bonner-Weir, Ph.D. 

Friday, July 23, 2010

Back in 2005, Anna Tiedeman Irwin was looking to organize a fundraising event that required no athletic ability, was a lot of fun and wouldn’t intimidate people from participating. The movie Dodgeball had just come out and served as inspiration for the First Annual Dodging Diabetes Charity Dodgeball tournament.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

The Mustang, the car that "changed everything" in the automotive industry, will now contribute to finding a cure for diabetes. Joslin is raffling off a special edition of the famous "muscle" car – the Iacocca Silver 45th Anniversary Edition Ford Mustang.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Tracey Lucier got excellent news last year: She had passed a grueling four-hour exam to become a Certified Diabetes Educator (CDE).

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

In the Race Across America, teams of cyclists compete around the clock for more than 3,000 miles. “In 2005, people said we couldn’t do this because we had diabetes,” said Joe Eldridge of Team Type 1. “But we put together a team with eight people with diabetes, and we finished in second place by three minutes.”

Monday, July 12, 2010

Barbara Kimbrough, of Haskell, Texas, has received the Joslin 75-Year Medal, recognizing her many decades of living successfully with diabetes. Ms. Kimbrough, who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when she was nine, is only the 35^th person in the world to receive the award, which she accepted in a ceremony here late last month.

Friday, July 09, 2010

“I can count on one hand the number of women I have told not to get pregnant,” said Tamara Takoudes, M.D. “You just have to monitor your pregnancy every step of the way.” Drs. Takoudes and Florence Brown, M.D., co-directors of the Pregnancy and Diabetes Program at Joslin and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, joined Joslin exercise physiologist Jacqueline Shahar and author Cheryl Alkon for a panel discussion at Isis Parenting in Brookline, Mass. in late June.

Thursday, July 08, 2010

Lloyd Paul Aiello, M.D., Ph.D., of Joslin and the Department of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School has been granted a $60,000 RPB Lew R. Wasserman Merit Award by Research to Prevent Blindness.

Wednesday, July 07, 2010

More than 25 teens and their families came out for Joslin’s teen tour of Fenway Park last week. The event began at Joslin and then families walked together to Fenway Park, the oldest venue used by a sports team in the United States, where there was an informative and humorous tour about the park’s history.

Tuesday, July 06, 2010

After working in intensive care and a variety of other nursing fields, Rebecca Longo, N.P., decided that diabetes care was where she needed to be.

Friday, July 02, 2010

For transplanted beta cells, life is tough. Not only are the insulin-producing cells in a stranger’s body, tucked into the liver rather than the pancreas, they are a bit short on oxygen and blood, and they are often exposed to raised levels of glucose. Joslin Diabetes Center scientists, however, have shown that the cells can protect themselves by actively adapting to their new homes—findings that may help to aid future transplants aimed at treating type 1 diabetes.

Thursday, July 01, 2010

Named for the furballs whose astonishing fecundity made them stars in early Star Trek episodes, the tribbles protein, first identified in fruit flies, aids in regulating many cell processes in humans.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Clinical research conducted at Joslin Diabetes Center and 29 other sites in the U.S. and Canada showed adult and pediatric patients with type 1 diabetes achieved better blood glucose control by using a sensor-augmented insulin pump compared to multiple daily insulin injections.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

An enhanced version of Joslin’s pediatric clinic will allow more optimal multi-disciplinary care for children, teens and young adults with diabetes and their families.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

When he joined Joslin as a senior staff physician this spring, Glenn Matfin, M.D., brought a wealth of experience in diabetes and related conditions, acquired both in academia and in pharmaceutical medicine.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

People with diabetes who are intrigued about continuous glucose monitoring (CGM), or already using a CGM device, can benefit from Joslin classes that help them get the most from this powerful technology.

Monday, June 14, 2010

A new game called HealthSeeker(tm) launched today on Facebook(r), with the goal of helping players make specific lifestyle changes that focus on healthy eating. While the benefits of the game are available to anyone, HealthSeeker specifically helps people with diabetes make more informed lifestyle decisions in an innovative way that complements their daily use of social media.

Tuesday, June 08, 2010

The Reinforcing Education on Diabetes (RED) study is looking at different diabetes self-management education programs to see which programs are more helpful. Joslin researchers are now recruiting patients in the Boston area who have type 2 diabetes, are between the ages of 18 and 75, have received diabetes education in the past, have an HbA1C equal to or greater than 7.0% and have no major complications.

Tuesday, June 01, 2010

People with diabetes can take a big step toward controlling their risk factors for cardiovascular disease with Joslin’s class on “Cholesterol: The Good, the Bad, the Healthy.”

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Earlier this year, after a fellowship at Joslin and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Susan Herzlinger Botein, M.D., joined Joslin as a staff clinician. (“I’m home-grown,” she jokes.) Dr. Herzlinger sees patients in the adult clinic and performs clinical research. Here, she answers seven questions about her medical background and her current work.

Friday, May 07, 2010

Long suspected of worsening artery damage in patients with diabetes, insulin instead protects blood vessels, a new study by Joslin Diabetes Center scientists indicates.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

If left untreated, about a quarter of people with diabetes eventually lose some of their vision from diabetic macular edema—a condition in which leaking blood vessels cause swelling in the center of the retina. While laser treatments based on work pioneered at Joslin in the 1960s have helped to minimize this damage, injecting a drug called ranibizumab can be more effective, according to results from a major clinical study by the Diabetes Retinopathy Clinical Research Network (DRCR.net) announced today. Joslin scientists were leaders both in the basic research that led to the study and in the establishment of DRCR.net.

Monday, May 03, 2010

Dozens of children and their families came to Joslin on May 1 for the eighth annual Teddy Bear Clinic, which offered a friendly and entertaining way to learn about diabetes. Children brought their own teddy bears or other stuffed animals, and acted as doctors through medical procedures ranging from a weigh-in to an eye exam to a hospital stay. The young “doctors” also could pick another bear to take home. Run by pediatric staff and volunteers, the event was more than just fun for kids and their families living with diabetes, emphasized Lori Laffel, M.D., M.P.H., Chief of the Pediatric, Adolescent and Young Adult Section.

Friday, April 16, 2010

When a child is diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, the shock of the diagnosis for child and family may be heightened when the child is hospitalized. Often, however, new-onset pediatric patients can be treated safely and effectively on an outpatient basis, allowing them and their families to make a smoother transition to managing the disease. Joslin’s pediatric clinic offers this service to children and families who are appropriate candidates.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

The American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) will present C. Ronald Kahn, M.D., with its Frontiers in Science Award at its annual meeting in Boston on April 22. The Frontiers in Science Award goes to an individual who has demonstrated exemplary contributions to their individual profession or area of expertise. Dr. Kahn was selected to receive this award by AACE based on his many seminal discoveries and outstanding commitment to the field of diabetes research.

Monday, April 12, 2010

Since joining the Joslin Clinic last fall, Nuha El Sayed, M.D. has worked primarily with patients with type 2 diabetes. She is particularly interested in weight management, lifestyle coaching, women’s health and international initiatives. A native of Alexandria, Egypt, Dr. El Sayed received her medical degree from Alexandria University, completed her residency at Roger Williams Medical Center, and followed up with fellowships at Joslin and at Tufts Medical Center. Dr. El Sayed recently answered seven questions about her current roles and her professional plans.

Friday, April 09, 2010

Fifth-grader Hannah Winiker (seated) took the initiative for a unique charity campaign last month at the Benjamin Franklin Classical Charter Public School in Franklin, Massachusetts. The school’s dress code normally doesn’t allow blue jeans, but Hannah went to the head of the school, Kevin 0'Malley, to ask for a day in which students and faculty could wear jeans if they donated a dollar to the Jeans for Joslin program.