diabetes

For over 30 years, researchers have been studying the role oral health plays on overall health. Much of this research has focused on determining the relationship between periodontal disease and systemic diseases such as diabetes. And while research on this continues through today, enough is known to safely say that the presence of periodontal disease is associated with diabetes. Through existing studies, researchers have come to believe that the inflammation from the infected gum tissue enters the blood stream and affects a variety of organ systems. In a patient with diabetes, this results in a higher HbA1c level and impaired ability to control serum glucose. Findings also suggest that a...

This week, communities across the country are celebrating National Public Health Week . This annual observance recognizes the invaluable work public health professionals contribute to keeping our communities healthy and safe. It also reminds us of the importance of prevention in ensuring the health of our nation. We face a growing burden of chronic disease that is clearly unsustainable. Largely preventable conditions like heart disease, diabetes and stroke are taking too great a toll in lives and investments lost. We must reduce rates of disease and disability if we hope to create a healthier nation. Conducting research that promotes health and prevents disease is an important step in the...

By Endocrine Society President Teresa K. Woodruff, PhD The sad stories flow in each day. A post-doctoral fellow gives up scientific research after 10 years of training. A cancer researcher faces a fruitless job search and expiring visa. The endocrinologist agonizes over letting a long-time lab employee go. Hundreds of these tales are unfolding across the country as the National Institutes of Health struggles to stretch its dwindling budget. Because of sequestration, an NIH budget that barely kept pace with inflation through the 1990s and early 2000s was slashed by another $1.6 billion this fiscal year. If Congress cannot agree on a more balanced approach to budget cuts, another $6.7 billion...

John Eng, MD, was recently named as the latest winner of the Golden Goose Awards. Eng is the second winner announced in 2013, and others will be named in the coming weeks. The Golden Goose Award was created last year to celebrate researchers whose seemingly odd or obscure federally funded research turned out to have a significant, positive impact on society. Eng, a one-time researcher with the Veterans Administration in New York City, discovered that the venom contained in the bite of a Gila monster ’€” a lizard native to the southwest U.S. and northwest Mexico ’€” had components that could aid diabetics. His research was funded by the VA and built on previous studies funded by the National...