In the News... Implantable insulin pump, Doctors (not parents) miss T1D symptoms, Dexcom shelf-life extension and more!

It's "In the News..." the only diabetes newscast! Top stories this week: Medtronic moves on implantable insulin pump, study: doctors - but not parents - are missing symptoms of T1D in kids, Dexcom "shelf-life extension" explained, news about whether COVID is causing a surge of diabetes in children and what happened with the Apple watch BG monitoring news?

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Transcription Below: 

 

Hello and welcome to Diabetes Connections In the News! I’m Stacey Simms and these are the top diabetes stories and headlines of the past seven days. As always, I’m going to link up my sources in the Facebook comments – where we are live – and in the show notes at d-c dot com when this airs as a podcast.. so you can read more if you want, on your own schedule.
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In the News is brought to you by Real Good Foods! Find their Entrée Bowls and all of their great products in your local grocery store, Target or Costco.
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Our top story.. What helps people with diabetes gain better glucose control? Expansion of Medicaid. As part of the 2010 Affordable Care Act or Obamacare, U.S. states were given the option of expanding Medicaid coverage to more people as a means of reducing the number of people without health insurance. As of today, only 12 states have not taken advantage.
A new study finds that blood pressure and glucose control measures have improved in states that have. The researchers behind the study say it may take a while to show up but that, over the longer run, expanding Medicaid eligibility may improve key chronic disease health outcomes for low-income, marginalized populations.
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/medicaid-expansion-improves-hypertension-and-diabetes-control
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Medtronic takes over the intellectual property rights to an implanted infusion pump. This is technology developed by the Alfred E Mann foundation. 25 years ago, there was a lot of buzz about implantable insulin pumps, but it hasn’t panned out. The tech is just what it sounds like – a small insulin pump that goes under the skin and holds enough insulin for a few months. Medtronic had one on the market but pulled it almost 15 years ago. One of the drawbacks is that you have to go to the doctor every time you need to fil the pump and there’s other upkeep – but the upside is said to be better control and a lot less thinking about diabetes. Interesting to follow this one.
https://www.fiercebiotech.com/medtech/medtronic-buys-implanted-infusion-pump-tech-to-develop-new-type-1-diabetes-treatment
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A story familiar to way too many parents.. symptoms of type 1 diabetes are not always immediately recognized by primary care providers. This was a study of about 240 kids under 18.. published in Pediatric Diabetes
These researchers found that 39% of parents had suspicions of new-onset diabetes before they brought their child in for care. Of those, the majority of parents first brought their child to the doctor with symptoms.. and then ended up bringing the same child to the emergency room within the next four weeks.
This was a Swedish study, but research shows especially during COVID, diagnosis during DKA is increasing in children in many countries, showing the greater need for better education all around.
https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2021-09-21/doctors-often-miss-signs-of-type-1-diabetes-in-kids

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We’ve heard a lot during this pandemic about an increase in new diabetes diagnoses. A new report from Mississippi, where providers are reporting a -quote – massive increase. One pediatric endocrinologist is says they’ve seen up to a 40% increase this year, compared to 2019. That’s both type 1 and type 2.
So what’s going on? Lots of theories including indirect effects of quarantines, closures, and unemployment. It might sound odd to some, but severe emotional stress is thought to be a trigger for diabetes, especially in type 1.
Additional studies show that COVID targets the insulin making pancreatic beta cells. A full understanding may be some time away, but these endos say the surge is real.
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Interesting listener question about Dexom sensors.. thanks for sending in this photo – seems that some customers are getting these G6 inserters – brand new in the original packaging – with a label that says “this product meets shelf life extension requirements.” I reached out to Dexcom and they told me: the stickers are legit and there are updated expirations dates. I’ve asked for a bit more information as to why they’d do something like this and if it means that all G6 sensors could have extended shelf life.
They responded that they aren’t going through all the sensors, so only the ones labeled can be considered extended.. no answer as to why now or to which part of the sensor or inserter actually expires. I’ll follow up next time we talk for the podcast, but if you get one of these labeled sensors – the company says it’s legit and safe.

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More to come, But first, I want to tell you about one of our great sponsors who helps make Diabetes Connections possible.
Real Good Foods. Where the mission is Be Real Good
They make nutritious foods— grain free, high in protein, never added sugar and from real ingredients—the new Entrée bowls are great. They have a chicken burrito, a cauliflower mash and braised beef bowl.. the lemon chicken I’ve told you about and more! They keep adding to the menu line! You can buy online or find a store near you with their locator right on the website. I’ll put a link in the FB comments and as always at d-c dot com.
Back to the news…
Big news for a great children’s book. JDRF has put Shia Learns About Insulin into the Bag of Hope. We had the author on the show last year... I’ll link that episode up so you can hear the whole story. Shaina (SHAY-ahn-uh) Hatchell is a Registered Nurse, Certified Diabetes Care and Education Specialist, and Nurse Manager at the Howard University Diabetes Treatment Center. The story was inspired by her brother, who lives with T1D.
The JDRF Bag of Hope is given to newly diagnosed children age 11 and under. Frankly, it’s pretty hard to get new products in there – it’s nice to see some more diverse representation.
https://www.jdrf.org/press-releases/jdrf-announces-the-addition-of-shia-learns-about-insulin-book-into-the-bag-of-hope/
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Last bit of news is note worthy for what didn’t happen. Big apple news conference this month with absolutely no mention of blood glucose monitoring. You’ll recall there was a ton of speculation about this all year long.. with many tech websites breathlessly reporting this was going to be happen. Look – I do think it will.. but there is really no hard evidence that anyone has come close to cracking this. Non invasive remotely accurate glucose monitoring is really hard. And, as I’ve said all along, we’ll know it’s for real when we see some clinical trials.
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Please join me wherever you get podcasts for our next episode - The episode out right now is with American Idol contestant turned actor Kevin Covais – he’s in a new Netflix show out this month and he spent some time this summer mentoring teens. Fun guy with great behind the scenes Idol stories, too.
That’s In the News for this week.. if you like it, please share it! Thanks for joining me! See you back here soon.