Category: Technology

Today marks the 95th anniversary of the first use of the word insulin by its Canadian discovers Dr. Frederick Banting and medical student Charles Best.  Four months earlier they had saved the life of 14 year old Leonard Thompson by injecting him with a pancreatic extract (containing insulin) taken from a dog.  A year later Banting […]

No, this is not an advertisement for a skin or beauty product. A study published last week in Cell demonstrated that injections of a special fOXO4 peptide rejuvenated old mice – it restored their stamina, thickened their fur coat and improved kidney function.  Human studies are being planned.  This is intriguing stuff and may be […]

Continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) or “sensors” have been around for more than a decade.  With the arrival in Canada last week of the Dexcom G5 everything has changed: the G5 is more accurate than its predecessor the G4 allowing for ever more reliable low and high sugar alarms, it sends results straight to your smartphone […]

Sensors (or continuous glucose monitors) are devices that measure the sugar/glucose in body water (known medically as “interstitial fluid”). A small teflon needle is inserted into the skin and is usually changed every 7-14 days. The needle is connected to a sensor which either automatically sends/pushes the Interstitial fluid glucose level via bluetooth to a […]

First: purchase two accessories from Amazon.ca GrifGrips (package of 20 for CAD$20) Skin Tac (either wipes or the liquid, 50 wipes for CAD$14.84) Technique Place the sensor like you usually would, but put in on the back of the arm (as you would for a Freestyle Libre) – much better numbers. Then soak the white […]

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first closed-loop insulin-pump sensor system for the diabetes market.  The MiniMed 670G hybrid closed looped system, often referred to as an “artificial pancreas,” is intended to adjust insulin levels with little or no input from the user. It works by measuring glucose levels every five minutes and automatically […]

Last week the prestigious British medical journal the Lancet published a report summarized here describing dramatic reductions in low blood sugar without any loss of blood sugar control using the Freestyle Libre.   “The Freestyle Libre is the first of a new class of glucose monitoring devices that use “flash” technology.  These devices measure sugar/glucose in the […]

BCDiabetes Medical Director, Dr. Tom Elliott, recently met with Shafin Tejani, Angel Investor of the Year at the 2015 Canadian Startup Awards, to discuss a diabetes-related innovation. While the notion of money and investment in healthcare is nothing new, that diabetes is seen as a cause in addition to a market by people such as […]

A recent study published in the journal diabetes from the group of Dr. Michael Christie at the University of Lincoln in England has identified a fifth element involved in the immune system’s destruction of beta cell (the cells that produce & secrete insulin) that cause Type 1 diabetes.  Other well-understood targets include insulin and glutamade […]

On Monday of this week, Reuters reported that two US-based hospitals are preparing to launch trials related to HealthKit, a software product from Apple that will be available with iOS8, Apple’s new OS that launches today. These trials will look at how HealthKit helps patients use glucose meters that integrate with their phones and make […]