Diabetes

 DIABETES

World Diabetes Day is celebrated every year on November 14. The World Diabetes Day campaign is led by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and its member associations. World Diabetes Day was created in 1991 by the International Diabetes Federation and the World Health Organization in response to growing concerns about the escalating health threat that diabetes now poses. World Diabetes Day became an official United Nations Day in 2007 with the passage of United Nation Resolution 61/225. The campaign draws attention to issues of paramount importance to the diabetes world and keeps diabetes firmly in the public spotlight.  It is celebrated on November 14, to mark the birthday of Frederick Banting who, along with Charles Best, first conceived the idea which led to the discovery of insulin in 1922.  [ http://www.idf.org/worlddiabetesday/about].

What is diabetes?

Diabetes is a chronic disease that occurs either when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces. Insulin is a hormone that regulates blood sugar. Hyperglycaemia, or raised blood sugar, is a common effect of uncontrolled diabetes and over time leads to serious damage to many of the body's systems, especially the nerves and blood vessels.

347 million people worldwide have diabetes. In 2004, an estimated 3.4 million people died from consequences of fasting high blood sugar. A similar number of deaths has been estimated for 2010. More than 80% of diabetes deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries.

Type 1 diabetes

Type 1 diabetes (previously known as insulin-dependent, juvenile or childhood-onset) is characterized by deficient insulin production and requires daily administration of insulin. The cause of type 1 diabetes is not known and it is not preventable with current knowledge.

Symptoms include excessive excretion of urine (polyuria), thirst (polydipsia), constant hunger, weight loss, vision changes and fatigue. These symptoms may occur suddenly.

Type 2 diabetes

Type 2 diabetes (formerly called non-insulin-dependent or adult-onset) results from the body’s ineffective use of insulin. Type 2 diabetes comprises 90% of people with diabetes around the world (5), and is largely the result of excess body weight and physical inactivity.

Symptoms may be similar to those of Type 1 diabetes, but are often less marked. As a result, the disease may be diagnosed several years after onset, once complications have already arisen.

Until recently, this type of diabetes was seen only in adults but it is now also occurring in children.

Gestational diabetes

Gestational diabetes is hyperglycaemia with onset or first recognition during pregnancy.

Symptoms of gestational diabetes are similar to Type 2 diabetes. Gestational diabetes is most often diagnosed through prenatal screening, rather than reported symptoms.

Impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) and impaired fasting glycaemia (IFG)

Impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) and impaired fasting glycaemia (IFG) are intermediate conditions in the transition between normality and diabetes. People with IGT or IFG are at high risk of progressing to type 2 diabetes, although this is not inevitable.

 for more information visit WHO diabetes webpage

 [ source: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs312/en/index.html]

Online Publications on diabetes

·         Diagnostic Criteria and Classification of Hyperglycaemia First Detected in Pregnancy
22 August 2013

·         Collaborative framework for care and control of tuberculosis and diabetes
1 September 2011

·         Use of glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) in the diagnosis of diabetes mellitus
Abbreviated report of a WHO consultation
14 January 2011

·         Definition and diagnosis of diabetes mellitus and intermediate hyperglycaemia
Report of a WHO/IDF consultation
14 January 2006

·         Prevention of blindness from diabetes mellitus
Available at the WHO page http://www.who.int/diabetes/publications/en/

Journals

Journal of diabetes and metabolism available www.omicsonline.org/diabetes-metabolism.php

Journal of diabetes and metabolic disorders www.jdmdonline.com

Nutrition and diabetes www.nature.com/nutd/

Journal of diabetes mellitus  www. scrip.org/journal/jdm/

The open diabetes journal www. benthamscience.com/open/todiaj/

Print Books in the library collection

1.       Clinical endocrinology and diabetes  by Chew, Shern L

2.       Diabetes Atlas

3.       Diabetes for dummies/Jarvis, Sarah.

4.       Oxford handbook of endocrinology and diabetes / Turner, Helen

5.       Williams textbook of endocrinology.