30 May DRC Director's Update - June 2019 May 30, 2019 By The Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center 0 In healthy adults, blood pressure (BP) decreases during sleep at night to lower levels than during the daytime. This phenomenon is referred to as nocturnal BP “dipping” and normally dips 10-20% compared with daytime. Blunted nocturnal BP dipping has been independently associated with increased cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. The prevalence of blunted nocturnal BP dipping is higher in persons with obesity and diabetes, which are traditional risk factors for CVD. Aortic stiffness and inflammation are emerging as novel CVD risk factors, but whether there is an association between these factors and nocturnal BP dipping has not been well-described. The team of FOEDRC member Gary Pierce, that was led by Dr. Abbi Lane-Cordova, hypothesized that evidence of poor glucose control, inflammation and aortic stiffness would be inversely associated with the relative magnitude of nocturnal systolic BP dipping among middle-aged/older adults with obesity at elevated CVD risk. Twenty-four hour ambulatory BP monitoring, aortic stiffness (carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity, CF-PWV), glucose control characterized by hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) and inflammation (C-reactive protein, CRP) were measured in 86 middle-aged/older adults with obesity and at least one other CVD risk factor. The age of study participants ranged from 40-74 years and included 34 men and 52 women and 50 had prediabetes. The major predictor of impaired nocturnal blood pressure dipping In the entire cohort of 86 adults was the circulating concentrations of CRP. In individuals with prediabetes, HbA1c (a measure of glucose control) and CRP were independently associated with systolic BP dipping percent in obese adults with prediabetes. There were no significant associations in obese adults without prediabetes, even though nocturnal systolic BP dipping percent, CF-PWV, and CRP were similar between participants with and without prediabetes. These data reveal abnormal control of systolic BP dipping in adults with obesity and prediabetes. They indicate that even before diabetes is diagnosed in men and women who are overweight and at increased risk of developing diabetes, there is evidence of whole body inflammation that may contribute to blunted BP dipping. Thus cardiovascular health is already significantly impaired in high-risk individuals before diabetes is diagnosed. These findings were published in the Journal Hypertension Research. Related Articles DRC Director's Update - August 2019 FOE Diabetes Research Center faculty recognize the importance of continuing the tradition of research excellence as we fight for the bridge to the cure. Because of this, part of our mission must be the preparation of the next generation of diabetes researchers. In addition to our commitment to training Ph.D. students and Postdoctoral scholars, the FOEDRC is a leader at the University of Iowa in providing research experience to our undergraduate students. DRC Director's Update - September 2019 It has long been known that increased abdominal fat, is a major risk factor for developing diabetes. A new study done by Yangbo Sun, MD, PhD, and colleagues, under supervision of Wei Bao, MD, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology and a member of the FOEDRC, has identified a concerning new and underrecognized complication of increased belly fat, namely a high-risk for premature death particularly in post-menopausal women, who might not be obese or overweight. DRC Director's Report - March 2019 Brian T. O’Neill, MD, PhD, assistant professor in the Division of Endocrinology in the Department of Internal Medicine and member of the FOEDRC recently published in the journal Diabetes the discovery that FoxO proteins, which are transcription factors that regulate DNA, are the critical regulators of diabetes-related muscle atrophy. DRC Director's Report - April 2019 In a recent study done by Wei Bao, MD, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology and member of the FOEDRC, his research team found that frequent consumption of fried foods, especially fried chicken and fried fish/shellfish, was associated with a higher risk of death from all causes and cardiovascular disease in women in the United States. Women with at least one serving per week of fried chicken had a 13% higher risk of death from all causes, and a 12% higher risk of death from cardiovascular disease, when compared with women with no consumption of fried chicken. DRC Director's Report - October 2019 The current epidemic of obesity is a major contributing factor in the rising rate of type 2 diabetes. Recent work from the laboratory of Kamal Rahmouni, PhD, a member of the Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center (FOEDRC), uncovered a novel and important role for a protein complex called the BBSome in the function of key nerve cells called neurons in small a part of the brain known as the hypothalamus that controls food intake, body’s fat and glucose metabolism. DRC Director's Report - December 2019 In individuals with obesity and type 2 diabetes a surplus of energy from too much food or increased glucose and lipids can increase tissue metabolism to damaging rates. This is much like a river overflowing its banks, where water no longer channeled in a controlled way can cause catastrophic damage by being in the wrong places. Showing 0 Comment Comments are closed.