ADA: American Diabetes Association

Todd Brusko, PhD, of the Todd M. Brusko Laboratory at the University of Florida College of Medicine, discussed how knowledge of regulatory T-cells has grown and improved, and noted that research has now entered a phase of harnessing the potential of our immune system through specific cell populations to combat root causes of type 1 diabetes (T1DM).

Allan Geliebter, PhD, the senior research scientist in the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University and a professor of psychology at Touro College explains the roles of various hormones in appetite stimulation and suppression, and discusses how functional MRI of the brain may demonstrate a relationship between bariatric surgery in obese patients, neurological response, and hormone regulation.

Bernard Zinman, MD, the director of the Leadership Sinai Centre for Diabetes and the Sam and Judy Pencer Family Chair in Diabetes Research at Mount Sinai Hospital and the University of Toronto in Canada, discusses the new therapies, SGLT-2 inhibitors, that are now approved in the United States and European Union. These drug therapies have shown clinical benefits in both type 1 and type 2 diabetes, and may also improve cardiovascular outcomes for patients with type 2 diabetes

Jaakko Tuomilehto, MD, PhD, a professor of public health at the University of Helsinki in Finland provides global epidemiological data for T1DM and discusses the World Health Organization's Diabetes Mondiale (DiaMond) study. He compares the rates of incidences of T1DM among well-developed, high-income countries to low- and middle-income nations and takes note of the epidemiological trends.

In light of ongoing healthcare reform in the US, Sheldon Greenfield, MD, the executive co-director of the Health Policy Research Institute and Donald Bren Professor of Medicine at the University of California Irvine School of Medicine, shared his insights on the role of quality care measures in the management of diabetes, and weighed in on the advantages and disadvantages associated with implementing these tools.

Accounting for what is known about the association between diabetes and low testosterone in men, Rita Basu, MD, a professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN provides her insights on the role of testosterone supplementation in men with diabetes, and notes how clinical and managed care perspectives are integrated in practice.

Cost-effectiveness analyses (CEAs) have real effects on therapeutic approaches for patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Dr. Gilmer discusses how studies like the United Kingdom Prospective Diabetes Study (UKPDS) and the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) have affected how researchers and scientists evaluate the benefits of new treatments.

Sandeep Dhindsa, MD, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences discusses the relationship between diabetes and low testosterone in men, and also notes the significance of accounting for BMI and obesity.

Dr Andrew J. Palmer describes the costs of type 2 diabetes (T2DM) in the United States and worldwide. He also explains the importance of choosing treatments that are cost-effective and cost-saving for patients.

Jaakko Tuomilehto, MD, PhD, a professor of public het the University of Helsinki in Finland explains the association between a country's socioeconomic status and its epidemiology of type 1 diabetes (T1DM), shedding light on the various circumstances and factors that may contribute to the differences we see among other nations.

In this video, Margaret Powers, PhD, talks about obesity's impact on the management of chronic illnesses. Dr. Powers also talks about the benefits of obese patients losing 5% to 7% of body weight and working out 150 minutes a week to lower their risk of developing diabetes and other chronic conditions.

Some studies have found that individuals with diabetes have a heightened risk of morbidity and premature death associated with macrovascular complications among smokers. In this study, researchers tested an educational, interventional program led by non-doctor health professionals in order to assist adult male diabetes patients to quit smoking.

In this video, Felicia Hill-Briggs, PhD, speaks about the importance of patient-reported outcomes in improving the effectiveness of specific interventions and treatments. Hill-Briggs also talks about the role of comparative effectiveness in patient-reported outcomes.

Chandra Osborn, PhD, MPH, addresses the technologies available that impact behavioral outcomes in diabetes, such as mobile devices, PDAs, and the Internet. These technologies can be leveraged to improve self-management behaviors and outcomes in diabetes.

The following are highlights of late-breaking abstracts that were on display at the ADA's 72nd Scientific Sessions in Philadelphia, PA. The abstracts were submitted after April 2012.

Diabetes is a condition that has many variables. Researchers are finding more and more about how genetics and patient behavior play a role; however, it turns out that socioeconomic status, education, and ethnic background all play a role as well.

Allison Rosen, MD, ScD, talks about using value-based insurance design as an incentive to improve type 2 diabetes outcomes.

Simon Heller, MB, DM, discusses the various ways hypoglycemia can affect the cardiovascular system. Examples of these consequences are thrombosis, heart disease, and myocardial infarction.

Monday morning at the ADA's 72nd Scientific Sessions featured the National Scientific & Health Care Achievement Awards Presentation and Outstanding Scientific Achievement Award Lecture. This year's recipient of the Outstanding Scientific Achievement Award was David Altshuler, MD, PhD, Professor of Medicine and Genetics at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, for his work on genetic-based research regarding the inherited basis of type 2 diabetes, cholesterol levels, myocardial infarction, and a number of other conditions.

Roman Hovorka, PhD, talks about the prohibitive costs in continuous glucose monitoring. He states that if these costs can be reduced there will be wider acceptance and therefore a benefit to diabetes care.

View some of the photos from the American Diabetes Association's 72nd Scientific Sessions.

Dr. Margaret Powers says that currently genetic testing does not motivate behavior change and weight loss in diabetes care. Patients who did not receive the test did just as well with behavior changes as patients who knew they were high risk through genetic testing.

Medication adherence is a complex topic that involves many barriers and obstacles; however, as Elizabeth A. Walker, PhD, RN, CDE, Director of the Prevention and Control Core, Einstein Diabetes Research and Training Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York, told her audience at this year's ADA 72nd Scientific Sessions, we must do something.

Thomas Hoerger, PhD, talks about minimizing costs while achieving better diabetes care.

To further develop an already existing Nurse Clinic model at Kaiser Permanente Riverside, researchers in this study developed an internal specialized diabetes training program using the American Association of Diabetes Educators and American Diabetes Association guidelines to improve effectiveness.

As a new era of personalized medicine continues to provide clues between genetic makeups and predispositions to certain disease states, researchers and providers are able to come up with more targeted therapies for patient populations.

Felicia Hill-Briggs, PhD, states that adherence and quality of life outcomes are equally important as comparative effectiveness research in clinical trials.

Medication adherence represents a major barrier to optimal therapeutic outcomes for a number of chronic conditions, and diabetes is no different. Often times, diabetes patients with poor glycemic control and multiple comorbidities have complex medication regimens, which often times complicate and exacerbate this problem.

In this video, Robert Gabbay, MD, PhD, talks about the overall cost implications to diabetes management through behavioral change.

To date, there has been no real-world comparative data published on the initiation of injectable therapy with insulin glargine disposable pen (GLA-P) of glucagons-like peptide-1 agonist liraglutide (LIRA) among type 2 diabetes patients. On day 1 of the American Diabetes Association's 72nd Scientific Sessions in Philadelphia, PA, an abstract was released by Levin et al which provided data from this exact comparative analysis.