A pragmatic and scalable strategy using mobile technology to promote sustained lifestyle changes to prevent type 2 diabetes in India and the UK: a randomised controlled trial.

Aims/hypothesis: This randomised controlled trial was performed in India and the UK in people with prediabetes to study whether mobile phone short message service (SMS) text messages can be used to motivate and educate people to follow lifestyle modifications, to prevent type 2 diabetes.

Methods: The study was performed in people with prediabetes (n = 2062; control: n = 1031; intervention: n = 1031) defined by HbA ≥42 and ≤47 mmol/mol (≥6.0% and ≤6.

Protocol for a clinical trial of text messaging in addition to standard care versus standard care alone in prevention of type 2 diabetes through lifestyle modification in India and the UK.

Background: Type 2 diabetes is a serious clinical problem in both India and the UK. Adoption of a healthy lifestyle through dietary and physical activity modification can help prevent type 2 diabetes. However, implementing lifestyle modification programmes to high risk groups is expensive and alternative cheaper methods are needed.

Fasting plasma glucose and variation in cardiometabolic risk factors in people with high-risk HbA1c-defined prediabetes: A cross-sectional multiethnic study.

Aims: Variation in cardiometabolic risk in prediabetes and any impacts of ethnicity on such variation have been little studied. In an ethnically diverse dataset, selected according to a high-risk HbA1c-based definition of prediabetes, we have investigated relationships between glycaemia and cardiometabolic risk factors and the influence of ethnicity on these relationships.

Methods: We undertook a cross-sectional analysis of baseline data from a diabetes prevention study in the UK and a chronic care clinic in Thailand, selected for people without diabetes (fasting plasma glucose <7.

Glycemic Variability and Its Impact on Quality of Life in Adults With Type 1 Diabetes.

Background: There is evidence suggesting that glycemic variability reduces quality of life (QoL) in people with type 2 diabetes, but this association has not been explored in type 1 diabetes. We aimed to assess whether glycemic variability has an impact on QoL in adults with established type 1 diabetes using multiple daily injections (MDI) of insulin or continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII).

Methods: Participants wore a blinded continuous glucose monitor for up to 5 days and completed the diabetes quality of life (DQOL) questionnaire.

Feasibility study of a bio-inspired artificial pancreas in adults with type 1 diabetes.

Background: This study assesses proof of concept and safety of a novel bio-inspired artificial pancreas (BiAP) system in adults with type 1 diabetes during fasting, overnight, and postprandial conditions. In contrast to existing glucose controllers in artificial pancreas systems, the BiAP uses a control algorithm based on a mathematical model of β-cell physiology. The algorithm is implemented on a miniature silicon microchip within a portable hand-held device that interfaces the components of the artificial pancreas.

Antimicrobial treatment and clinical outcome for infections with carbapenem- and multiply-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii around London.

Carbapenem- and multiply-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (C-MRAB) are challenging pathogens, often susceptible only to polymyxins and tigecycline. We reviewed clinical outcomes in relation to antibiotic treatment for 166 consecutive patients infected or colonised with these organisms at 18 hospitals around London, UK. Clinical data were obtained along with the isolates, which were typed by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE).

Bioprocessing of embryonic stem cells for drug discovery.

Embryonic stem cells provide a potential resource for research and drug screening. To make such a resource feasible, it is necessary to generate cells of sufficient quality and quantity. The challenge is to expand cell numbers while maintaining the fidelity of phenotype and to control and direct differentiation to produce the cell type of interest in a format that is suitable for drug screening.

Embryonic stem cells as a source of differentiated neural cells for pharmacological screens.

The process of bringing a new pharmacologically active drug to market is laborious, time consuming, and costly. From drug discovery to safety assessment, new methods are constantly sought to develop faster and more efficient procedures to eliminate drugs from further investigation because of their limited effectiveness or high toxicity. Because in vitro cell assays are an important arm of this discovery process, it is therefore somewhat unsurprising that there is an emerging contribution of embryonic stem (ES) cell technology to this area.