Innovations in Diabetes, Genetic Screening of Embryos, and Migraine Drug Alternative Featured at the Grand Rounds 2.08

Filed in archive Biotech/Science Blogs , Drugs, Vaccines and Therapeutics , Genomics, Proteomics and Bioinformatics , Nanomedicine on November 15, 2005

This week's collection of the best in medical blogging is hosted by Doc Shazam. Other biotech-related entries to this issue of the Grand Rounds are:

Diabetes Mine's preview of the 5th annual meeting of the Diabetes Technology Society to be held Nov 10-12. According to an interview with Dr. Klonoff, UCSF and director of the Mills-Peninsula Diabetes Research Institute, the hottest topics to be discussed in the meeting will be innovation in glucose monitoring products, the "artificial pancreas" device, nanotechnology in diabetes care, and alternative methods of insulin delivery, among others. The last two are particularly exciting because of the novel technology and products that all seem promising. More info about the meeting here.

The Genetics and Public Health blog raises the ethical issue of pre-implantation genetic screening in embryos for genes that may (or may not) contribute to certain diseases such as Alzheimer's, cancer or cardiovascular disease. The technology is there, waiting to be used. Should we? Is it ethical to discard embryos identified to carry genes that are linked to but are not definitive of causing a disease? Is it ethical to find out, and allow the embryo to be born into a human being, knowing that there is a likelihood that the society will support this individual in the event that the disease does develop? Tough question, indeed.

Unbounded Medicine reports of an alternative to Sumatripan in averting the first signs of migraine: a combo of acetaminophen, caffeine, and aspirin. According to the results which were published in the journal Headache:

he combination of acetaminophen, aspirin, and caffeine was significantly more effective (P> .05) than sumatriptan in the early treatment of migraine, as shown by superiority in summed pain intensity difference, pain relief, pain intensity difference, response, sustained response, relief of associated symptoms, use of rescue medication, disability relief, and global assessments of effectiveness. An additional, larger clinical trial is needed to confirm these results.

Head on to Doc Shazam's for more of medical blogging.