Science Media Centre

The 60 Minutes programme last Wednesday and again last night featured a story about former All Black Captain Taine Randell, who returned to his home town of Flaxmere in Hawkes Bay to promote a range of community based initiatives to help improve the health and wellbeing of the local population.
One initiative was to promote a [...]

A local scientist is convinced that he’s on the path to a treatment for Type II diabetes – a hormone produced in the duodenum which causes insulin resistance.
He also hypothesises that obesity is a symptom, rather than a cause, of diabetes.
An excerpt: (read in full here)
“Overseas researchers have already discovered a hormone called [...]

Tim Cronshaw writes in Business Day about recent US research suggesting that processed meat can increase the risk of developing cardiovascular disease and diabetes, and the reaction from the New Zealand Meat Processors Association, which says the research could mislead kiwis.
Kiwis eat less processed meat than those who took part in the study, meaning that [...]

DNA Pioneer in SMC briefing
As New Zealand forensic scientists prepare to mark 20 years of DNA testing in New Zealand the Science Media Centre is pleased to host an online briefing for journalists featuring one of the founding fathers of DNA forensics, Dr Peter Gill. As this Times article explains, Dr Gill was part of [...]

Research published in the Journal of Applied Physiology suggests that the benefits of aerobic exercise are not universal, and that our genes may have a great deal to do with whether exercise benefits us or not.
The research looked at over 500 people undertaking aerobic exercise, and found that approximately 20% of these people showed no [...]

The first patient to have pig islet cells transplanted as part of LCT’s Diabacell clinical trials, has been able to reduce the amount of insulin he has to take daily.
An excerpt: (read in full here)
“The clinical trials of the Living Cell Technologies product – pig islet cells wrapped in a seaweed-based gelatine to stop them [...]

John Lewis of the Otago Daily Times reports that new, low-GI sugar is not the answer to New Zealand’s problems with obesity and diabetes, according to a leading expert.
Professor Jim Mann, of the University of Otago, has said that while the science behind the new low glycemic-index (GI) sugar is interesting, its makers’ claims of [...]

Ian Steward of The Press reports that Sir Don Beaven, a renowned Christchurch medical professor, is feared dead following a fire at his back in Little Akaloa last night.
It appears that Sir Beaven, who was particularly well-known as an expert on diabetes, its prevention and treatment, attempted to fight the fire, but instead succumbed to [...]

UPDATE: Living Cell Technologies, a New Zealand-based biotech firm, has just announced that it is commencing trials on a potentially revolutionary diabetes treatment.
The treatment will be based on xenotransplantation – the transplantation of animal cells, tissues or organs into human patients. In this case, LCT has been granted approval to transplant pig islet cells [...]

A new paper has just been published in Expert Opinion on Biological Therapy, which reviews the use of encapsulated porcine cells in the treatment of insulin dependent (type 1) diabetes. The paper is co-authored by Professor Bob Elliott, Medical Director from Living Cell Technologies in new Zealand.
Encapsulated xenotransplantation for diabetes represents a treatment approach that [...]