A new blood glucose meter has been developed specifically for children aged 5–14 years. The meter, from Bayer Diabetes Care, connects directly to the Nintendo DS™ and Nintendo DS™ Lite gaming systems and is designed to help children to manage their diabetes by rewarding them for building consistent blood glucose testing habits and meeting personalised glucose target ranges.
The DIDGET meter positively reinforces consistent testing habits by awarding points that children can use to unlock new game levels and customise their gaming experience.
“This product was inspired by a parent of a child with diabetes, to directly address the challenges facing kids with diabetes and their parents” says Sandra Peterson, Head of Bayer Medical Care. She concluded “Bayer’s DIDGET meter offers play with purpose, to encourages kids to regularly monitor their blood glucose and begin to view regular testing as fun.”
Bayer Diabetes Care UK is working in partnership with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) in the UK and £5 from the sale of every meter will be donated to the JDRF.
Liraglutide launched – the first once-daily glucagon-like peptide-1 analogue
Liraglutide, the first once-daily human glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) analogue is available for people with type 2 diabetes in the UK. Liraglutide is the only GLP-1 analogue with 97% homology to natural human GLP-1.
The treatment represents an important advance in diabetes care because it helps people with diabetes maintain normal blood glucose levels with a once-daily injection that can be taken at any time of day, irrespective of meals.
Liraglutide, an incretin mimetic, lowers blood glucose levels by stimulating the release of insulin only when glucose levels become too high. As a result, glycaemia is better controlled with a reduced risk of hypoglycaemia.
“The once-daily formula, independent of meals, should improve patient compliance and, in turn, clinical outcomes” said Professor Anthony Barnett, Professor of Medicine/Consultant Physician and Clinical Director of Diabetes and Endocrinology at Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust, Birmingham.
Liraglutide also has the potential help people to achieve weight loss, by increasing satiety and delaying gastric emptying, and thus reducing calorific intake. This is an important factor in treating people with type 2 diabetes as many of them are overweight. Furthermore, weight gain is a side-effect of some common treatment regimens for type 2 diabetes, thus increasing the risk of obesity-related illnesses.
Rosuvastatin reduces risk of cardiovascular events in older people: the JUPITER study
Rosuvastatin calcium 20 mg reduced the composite primary endpoint of major cardiovascular (CV) events (combined risk of myocardial infarction, stroke, arterial revascularisation, hospitalisation for unstable angina, or death from CV causes) by 39% (P<0.001) compared with placebo in older people with low to normal cholesterol levels and elevated high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, a new analysis from the JUPITER study has shown.
Treatment effects, relative to placebo, were also generally comparable in the 5695 participants aged 70 or older, who were included in the analysis.
Additional results from this analysis showed that treatment with rosuvastatin reduced the combined risk of CV death, heart attack and stroke by nearly 40% compared with placebo (P=0.004).
Rosuvastatin also reduced the risk of heart attack by 45% compared with placebo (P=0.046) and of stroke by 45% compared with placebo (P=0.023).
Rosuvastatin was well tolerated in nearly 9000 patients, including 2878 aged 70 or older, during the course of the JUPITER study.
New support booklets for people with diabetes
Five new support booklets for people with diabetes have been developed by BD Medical – Diabetes Care, a unit of BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company). Each booklet is designed with a particular age group in mind, including children, carers of children with diabetes, teenagers, adults and seniors.
The booklets describe best practice for blood sampling and self-injection of insulin using language and imagery appropriate for each age group. The booklets also provide the essential information and support people need in the early stages of living with diabetes.
BD Medical is making the literature available through diabetes specialist nurses, as well as direct from the company. Practices, nurses, hospitals and individuals wishing to obtain copies should contact: bddiabetes@europe.com.
Amid accumulating evidence of benefits with new diabetes drugs, Vinod Patel asks whether the costs can be justified.
9 Nov 2023