Two Different Treatments for Type One Diabetes in the Works

Dr. Kumud Verma M.D. treats patients at his family practice in North Delta, Canada.He is also involved in serving his community by providing Circumcisions of Newborn baby boys using the latest techniques. Further information can be acquired via his website: https://www.surreydeltacircumcision.com/   .Alongside the general services he provides for families, Dr. Kumud Verma maintains a special interest in diabetes and the management of diabetes through insulin treatments.

In early 2016, researchers from the ViaCyte biotechnology company commenced patient trials on a new therapy for type one diabetes. The treatment relies on embryonic stem cells, which are turned into the insulin-producing cells that type one patients lack. Special capsules protect these cells from the patient's own immune system, which would usually attack them. If all goes well, these capsule-bound cells will create enough insulin to reach normal levels.

A slightly different treatment is being tested at Guy's Hospital in London, England. Rather than creating the insulin-producing cells the body rejects, this technique uses peptides to “switch off” the body's attack on those cells, allowing them to produce insulin. The special proprietary peptide is called MultiPepT1De, and it has already produced what researchers describe as encouraging results.                      

Zika Virus - The Basics

An accomplished physician, Dr. Kumud Verma M.D. cares for patients of all ages at his family clinic in British Columbia, Canada. He is also involved in serving his community by providing Circumcisions of Newborn baby boys using the latest techniques. Further information can be acquired via his website: https://www.surreydeltacircumcision.com/ . Dr. Kumud Verma focuses on family care and the treatment of diabetes but also maintains a particular interest in travel medicine and infectious disease management.

Zika is a recent infectious travel-related disease that has caused substantial concern in Canada, the United States, and around the world. To learn more about this disease and how to recognize it, read the Q&A below.

Question: What is Zika?
Answer: Zika is a virus. It is primarily transmitted through mosquito bites but has also been shown to spread through sex and by transmission from pregnant women to fetuses.

Question: What do Zika symptoms look like?
Answer: For most people, Zika presents as a rash accompanied by fever, joint pain, and reddened eyes. Some people also experience muscle pain and headaches.

Question: Why are people so concerned about Zika?
Answer: When pregnant women contract the virus, it can lead to birth defects such as microcephaly. Most people do not become very sick from contracting Zika, but it can be lethal in fetuses and infants.

Question: Where is Zika most prevalent?
Answer: Zika infections are most common in South American, Central American, and Caribbean regions. In the United States, all six locally-acquired cases have come from southern Florida. None of Canada's 209 cases were acquired locally.

Chronic Medical Conditions - Diabetes

Dr. Kumud Verma M.D. provides medical care to patients with chronic problems like diabetes at his family practice in Delta, British Columbia. In fact, Dr. Kumud Verma has participated in original clinical research on diabetes.

In healthy people, the body produces insulin, a hormone manufactured in the pancreas. The insulin allows the body to utilize and store sugar. Diabetes, a class of illnesses defined by insulin production deficiencies, prevents patients from properly metabolizing sugar. Patients with diabetes may also develop insulin resistance, wherein insulin is present but does not result in the proper management of blood sugar.

In patients with diabetes, glucose accumulates in the blood, doing serious damage to the circulatory and nervous systems. Symptoms include blurred vision, infections, problems healing, and frequent urination. If allowed to progress, diabetes can cause heart disease, kidney failure as well as decreased circulation to the extremities and ultimately endanger life.

Diabetes is fairly common in the United States, with roughly 30 million patients living with the disease. Furthermore, more than 85 million Americans have pre-diabetes. Diabetes represents a significant drain on the economy, costing an estimated $245 billion per year.

Travel Illness

A physician with a special interest in the infectious diseases that people acquire while traveling, Dr. Kumud Verma M.D. sees patients through his private office in Delta, British Columbia. Before founding his practice, Dr. Kumud Verma earned his M.D. from the University of Manitoba.

When travelers visit a new country, sometimes they come home and get sick with an infection they acquired while abroad. The type and severity of the condition often depends on the countries to which patients traveled.

Research indicates that up to 64 percent of people who visit developing countries end up with travel-related illnesses. However, the vast majority of those illnesses are fairly mild, and only a small portion of those patients ultimately seek out medical care.

Over the past year, a major concern in travel health involves the rise of the Zika virus, a pathogen spread by a mosquito bite that has been linked to a serious birth defect called microcephaly. The Zika virus has appeared in popular destinations like Mexico and Brazil, the latter of which is host of the 2016 Summer Olympics.