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Medicine

Diabetes Successfully Treated Using Ultrasound In Preclinical Study (newatlas.com) 63

Posted by BeauHD from the promising-findings dept.
Across three different animal models researchers have demonstrated how short bursts of ultrasound targeted at specific clusters of nerves in the liver can effectively lower insulin and glucose levels. New Atlas reports: Reporting in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering, a team led by GE Research, including investigators from the Yale School of Medicine, UCLA, and the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, demonstrated a unique non-invasive ultrasound method designed to stimulate specific sensory nerves in the liver. The technology is called peripheral focused ultrasound stimulation (pFUS) and it allows highly targeted ultrasound pulses to be directed at specific tissue containing nerve endings. "We used this technique to explore stimulation of an area of the liver called the porta hepatis," the researchers explained in a Nature briefing. "This region contains the hepatoportal nerve plexus, which communicates information on glucose and nutrient status to the brain but has been difficult to study as its nerve structures are too small to separately stimulate with implanted electrodes."

The newly published study indicates short targeted bursts of pFUS at this area of the liver successfully reversed the onset of hyperglycaemia. The treatment was found to be effective in three separate animal models of diabetes: mice, rats and pigs. [...] The study found just three minutes of focused ultrasound each day was enough to maintain normal blood glucose levels in the diabetic animals. Studies in humans are currently underway to work out whether this method translates from animal studies. But there are other hurdles facing broad clinical deployment of the technique beyond simply proving it works. Current ultrasound tools used to perform this kind of pFUS technique require trained technicians. The researchers suggest the technology exists to simplify and automate these systems in a way that could be used by patients at home, but it will need to be developed before this treatment can be widely deployed.
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Diabetes Successfully Treated Using Ultrasound In Preclinical Study More

Diabetes Successfully Treated Using Ultrasound In Preclinical Study

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  • Important info missing in summary (Score:5, Informative)

    by Zerg2k ( 7152101 ) on Friday April 08, 2022 @06:25AM (#62428080)
    Type 2 diabetes.
    • Thank you.
    • I've come to the conclusion that anything can treat type 2 diabetes. I was also diagnosed with it and it is gone now. Just doing a bit more exercise is what done it.

  • OK, so where does it go? (Score:3)

    by blahabl ( 7651114 ) on Friday April 08, 2022 @06:47AM (#62428102)
    The extra glucose that is? anyone peeked beyond the paywall and can answer that?
    • I'm guessing it remains glycogen, which is mostly stored in the liver.
    • Probably filtered and pissed out, like most things your body doesn't need

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by dfghjk ( 711126 )

        now there's an uneducated guess! Well done.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by tragedy ( 27079 )

          I believe it actually gets converted to fat. So, obviously this isn't perfect solution to every problem diabetics have.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by dfghjk ( 711126 )

            sugar in the urine is not a normal result, unlike what the OP speculated. Obviously, "what happens" to the blood glucose is potentially a number of things, but "filtered and pissed out" is not one of them.

            If the process results in improved responsiveness to insulin, then what happens to the glucose is that it because used by individual cells according to how they normally use it. For fat cells, it would be conversion to fat.

            Also, although not in this same thread, another suggests it "remains glycogen", wh

  • Guessing Type 2? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Kokuyo ( 549451 )

    Because AFAIK, Type 1 means the body cannot produce it. Type two means the body is so resistant to it that the amount it needs to produce is so large, it can't really get rid of it anymore, locking you into a vicious cycle.

    Not saying this is the solution for all diabetes type 2 cases but there is intermittent fasting... that gives the body time to get rid of insulin between meals and at some point help the liver recover too.

    Totally free! All it takes is a modicum of willpower.... oh... right...

    • Because AFAIK, Type 1 means the body cannot produce it. Type two means the body is so resistant to it that the amount it needs to produce is so large, it can't really get rid of it anymore, locking you into a vicious cycle.

      Not saying this is the solution for all diabetes type 2 cases but there is intermittent fasting... that gives the body time to get rid of insulin between meals and at some point help the liver recover too.

      Totally free! All it takes is a modicum of willpower.... oh... right...

      Actually it takes awareness that such a thing even exists. Meanwhile low-fat high-carb diet is pushed as "healthy", so is frequent snacking.

      • Re:Guessing Type 2? (Score:4, Interesting)

        by Kokuyo ( 549451 ) on Friday April 08, 2022 @09:31AM (#62428438) Journal

        Well, people are still on about cholesterol too. My latest take on it is that it's not so much about the levels, or good or bad cholesterol, but the ratio between LDL and HDL.

        Frankly I've never felt healthier than these days and my diet, when it isn't shot to hell due to stress eating, consists of one or two meals a day with water in between (a pinch of milk in my earl grey tea at the most), not too much carbs and a good amount of veggies, cooked, greasy as all hell with animal fats. I don't do plant based fats anymore with the exception of coconut, palm or olive.

        I do not know if this is an indicator, but since switching cooking oils, we are able to get our vent clean again. I don't know... I don't trust sunflower, rape seed and co. anymore.

        Also after decades of trying in vain, I lost 40kg.

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by dfghjk ( 711126 )

          "Also after decades of trying in vain, I lost 40kg." "Frankly I've never felt healthier ..." "a pinch of milk in my earl grey tea at the most" " a modicum of willpower.... oh... right.."

          It's clear that you feel superior to others because of your progress. I'm happy for your progress but not your douchebaggery.

          Also, I lost 60 lbs last year through intermittent fasting and fairly strict keto. That's not to brag, as your post is, it is merely to say that you are not alone in accomplishments but it is not alw

          • Well people tend to feel smug when they get good results doing that exact opposite of the medical community recommendation to follow what I call the 'Monsanto Diet'
            • That's what I don't get. WTF? "Monsanto diet"? The food industry WANTS you to eat clean. Compare normal hormone/antibiotics/whatever-fed beef to that nice grass-fed, organic, etc beef. Note anything? About the price tag? Yeah, three times higher. Where do you think that money goes, tooth fairy? What do you think the margins are on normal compared to "organic" beef? They'd be perfectly happy to sell fancy foods, it's just that people don't want to buy it, they go for the cheaper option. And let's face it, he
              • Where do you think the bottom of the food pyramid comes from? Grains are a huge market for Monsanto.

                • Where do you think the bottom of the food pyramid comes from? Grains are a huge market for Monsanto.

                  From mouse studies, not from Monsanto. What do mice eat in nature? Mostly grains, also quite a bit of veggies, occasional fruit, and won't even touch meat unless starving. Compare to the "human" food pyramid... Also, increasing consumption of meat is the best way to increase demand for grains actually, those cows have to eat too.

          • You don't just "get" heart problems like this. You are likely hiding your high cholesterol caused by eating a keto diet for so long. Too bad they don't tell you this early on. Saturated fat in diet causes high cholesterol in your blood. It is nearly impossible to eat zero saturated fat if you're on keto. (Assuming you're not only eating avocados.)

            • More recent science strongly suggests that high blood cholesterol is caused by metabolic syndrome, not cholesterol intake. It may be a little more complex in that cholesterol intake was also at one point associated with metabolic syndrome, but a causative relationship was never established in that direction (as best I know).

              So while I don't really like nor recommend animal fats, tropical oils, etc., (and in my personal case can't digest them anyway), my general thought is that people with high blood choles

        • "Well, people are still on about cholesterol too. My latest take on it is that it's not so much about the levels, or good or bad cholesterol, but the ratio between LDL and HDL."

          Single data point here, but my endo had been on my back about taking statins due to high LDL, until I found out about the link between cafestol / kahweol and cholesterol homeostatic balance. So I started filtering my espresso through a paper filter and my levels are almost back to normal. My blood pressure too.

    • Type 1 means they need insulin. Many, even most, cases of Type 1 are caused by an auto-immune problem that destroys insulin producing cells, but removing the pancreas for cancer treatment and cystic fibrosis that interferes with many organs can cause it as well.

      Type 1 is a description of necessary treatment, not the cause of the disease.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dfghjk ( 711126 )

      "Totally free! All it takes is a modicum of willpower.... oh... right..."

      Shame you take a shot at the victims after an otherwise reasonable post.

      Also, it takes A LOT MORE than that, it takes first overcoming a medical community that preaches a terrible diet, a government that subsidizes disastrous food choices, a lifetime of education that teaches against fasting, a lack of energy and constant hunger that is the result of the disease itself. What it takes for many is absolutely monumental, but go ahead and

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Kokuyo ( 549451 )

        You are not wrong except for thinking I'm blaming the victims falsely.

        Do you know how much energy and time went into finding why the hell I couldn't lose weight and was always tired? You know how much doubt I had to overcome precisely because I couldn't believe established medicine steered me so wrong and being afraid of being nothing but a "flat-earther" but in nutrition?

        Now let's get to the point where I rightfully blame others: When they know me well enough to have seen the struggle and the results... or

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by dfghjk ( 711126 )

          "You are not wrong except for thinking I'm blaming the victims falsely.

          Do you know how much energy and time went into finding why the hell I couldn't lose weight and was always tired? You know how much doubt I had to overcome precisely because I couldn't believe established medicine steered me so wrong and being afraid of being nothing but a "flat-earther" but in nutrition?"

          Well, you said what you said. It was quite clear. As for "do I know", considering I have gone through the exact same things I suspect

          • Got to come on in the middle. On one hand, yes, there's a lot of undeserved hate on keto, verging on treating it like flat-earthism. On the other hand? No "standard" doctor ever will recommend eating your meals at McDonald's, and grabbing a bag of potato chips for a dessert every day and flushing it down with coke. "Oh and skip your veggies while you're at it, they're bad for you. ". The standard medical advice is bad, but it is not nearly as bad as what people actually do. You can be healthy on a mediterra

            • I've never known Dr. Joel Furhman's advice to go wrong:

              * Eat as much nutrient-dense food as you want (greens, beans, onions, mushrooms, berries, seeds, etc.) but eat it BEFORE you eat anything else, so you'll be less hungry and also so that anything you eat subsequently will be absorbed more slowly.

              * Eat everything else in moderation. Satisfy your hunger needs from relatively healthy things as much as possible, and then the unhealthy things will do much less damage.

              Also: thoug

        • Modern, mainstream medicine is great at treating symptoms, but often lags well behind the best science in terms of understanding and treating root causes.

          If you stay on top of the current state of nutritional medicine, you likely know MUCH more about it than your doctor does. That's sad, because nutrition happens to lie at or near the root causes of many of today's most common and expensive disease conditions.

          They will catch up, but, until then, I advise folks to find doctors who either understand nutritio

      • This is gonna get me downmodded superfast, but I need to point out that the medical community recommends, first and foremost, a diet of just about 2000-2200 calories per day for a male, and a few hundred less for a female. That’s them doctors number 1 piece of advice. And, if you follow that single piece of advice, the rest is largely irrelevant. 2000 calories and a multivitamin and you’ll probably be healthy.

        Most people who struggle with weight gain or type 2 diabetes fall into one of two

        • We are programmed to eat as much as we reasonably can. That's the problem. It was adaptive back in the days when famine was the much larger risk than excess, but now that the opposite is generally true, it causes metabolic syndrome, sooner or later, in the great majority of people.

          The only way to permanently reduce calorie intake, that I know of, is to switch to a diet much higher in healthy foods - those with a high ratio of nutrients to calories - and to eat those at the beginning of each meal, providin

    • Totally free! All it takes is a modicum of willpower.... oh... right...

      Spoken like someone who doesn't have diabetes. Here's a hint: What you call willpower a diabetic puts into just eating a normal amount. What you just did was the ignorant equivalent of telling a group of people that all you need to run a golden mile is to train at the track every day and then point to a bunch of cripples and say "don't be like them".

      The diabetic community requests you to kindly go fuck yourself.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Kokuyo ( 549451 )

        I was talking about losing weight at that point... and I made it clear that I couldn't talk for ALL type 2 diabetics.

        For some... yes, man the fuck up and git 'er done.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by dfghjk ( 711126 )

          "I was talking about losing weight at that point... and I made it clear that I couldn't talk for ALL type 2 diabetics."

          A truly Trumpian lie there. You realize the post history is for all to see, right?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by dfghjk ( 711126 )

        absolutely, and no shit. It's funny how he claims to have saved himself though his own hard work and treats others in the same position with such contempt.

        "The diabetic community requests you to kindly go fuck yourself."

        should be posted more than once.

    • Intermittent fasting has a lot of good science behind it, but it is VERY difficult for most people.

      A potential alternative would be to go for high nutrient-to-calorie ratio foods such as salads, greens, beans, mushrooms, seeds, etc., and preferentially to eat a large amount of those at the start of each meal, and before eating anything higher in calories. You'd get full faster and stay full longer, while eating less calories overall. Dr. Joel Furhman and a number of other nutritional medicine practitioner

  • Why not faster?

    After all, they are not cutting into the body, not putting poisonous substances or drugs into it, you just play the liver-song with the earplugs on the chest.

    • It takes longer to put a good human cohort study together than it does to order some lab animals, and even the latter is fairly involved.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dfghjk ( 711126 )

      Ah, another scientist posting on /.

      You never fail to display your ignorance, do you nospam007?

  • In essence, they are kicking specific areas of the liver with energy bursts. That sounds a bit scary.

    • In essence, they are kicking specific areas of the liver with energy bursts. That sounds a bit scary.

      Came to say something similar, although my concern wasn't side effects per se, it was about long-term over-stimulation where the technique might become less and less effective. I also wonder how much of that "stimulation" might result in damage that the researchers don't yet know how to look for.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by dfghjk ( 711126 )

        or it may be restorative. Speculation by uninformed people is of no value at all.

        • or it may be restorative. Speculation by uninformed people is of no value at all.

          I would say that the scientists themselves are often "uninformed" when they engage in the "speculation" that leads to the experiments they conduct. If they weren't uninformed to some extent, the experiments wouldn't be necessary.

    • I think it sounds better if you call it "overclocking the liver". (Because everyone knows that overclocking can cause an early processor/liver death, right?)

  • I presume this would be to treat Type II Diabetes, not Type I which requires insulin. Nonetheless type II is an enormous problem here in the US. Obesity typically leads directly to diabetes, as well as heart disease, so anything that can be done to lessen the effects of diabetes is a big win.

    The danger of course is that we ignore the obesity that is the actual cause of the diabetes. Personally I believe that the food we eat is a direct cause of obesity. Too much sugar and too much carbohydrates, especially

    • Exactly correct. But I'd add just one thing. Eating healthier foods at the start of each meal will both reduce hunger for, and slow the processing of, the presumably less healthy things that will follow.

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