 |
|
Mesothelioma: A Killer
Lurks in the Lungs |
|
 |
Brothers Honored for Living With Diabetes
By WILLIAM KATES
Associated Press Writer
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) -- Day in and day out, brothers Robert and Gerald Cleveland have meticulously managed their blood glucose levels even though they've had diabetes for seven decades.
On Thursday, the world's leading diabetes research center paid tribute to the Clevelands for their longevity and everyday perseverance. According to the Boston-based Joslin Diabetes Center, they are the first siblings known to have lived with Type 1 diabetes for 50 years or longer.
Robert, 84, has lived with Type 1 diabetes for 79 years and, according to the center's Dr. Hillary Keenan, is the longest known survivor. Gerald, 88, has had diabetes for 72 years.
"It's a minor distraction from a normal person's life. It doesn't have to interfere with any activities," said Robert, who believes he is probably in better overall health today because of his meticulously healthful habits.
Diabetes makes people more prone to heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, blindness, kidney disease, nervous system disease and amputations.
"You're not handicapped with diabetes," Gerald said. "You just have a special job to do."
A diabetic doesn't produce or properly use insulin, the hormone needed to convert food into energy. The reason continues to be a mystery, although genetics and factors such as obesity and lack of exercise appear to play roles, according to the American Diabetes Association.
Since the Joslin Center began its 50-year medal awards in 1972, more than 2,200 Americans have been identified as living with diabetes for 50-plus years, said Dr. George King, research director at the center, which has more than 300 doctors and scientists. Eleven patients have lived 75-plus years with diabetes, he said. In 2000, the disease claimed 69,301 lives.
Over that time, Joslin researchers have studied the group to better understand what biological and genetic factors may contribute to a long life with diabetes, Keenan said.
Today, in the United States, there are 18.2 million diabetics, a third of whom aren't aware they have the disease. Every year, 1.3 million new cases are diagnosed in people 20 and older.
Robert, a retired accountant, was diagnosed at age 5 in 1925 - three years after insulin was invented. He nearly died. Seven years later, Gerald, a former Syracuse school superintendent, was diagnosed at age 16.
Gerald said part of their secret was a caring mother who taught them to diligently manage their disease.
Doris Guercio weighed and measured everything her sons ate. She gave them each three shots per day. She had to sterilize the needles. In a time before instant blood tests, to check her sons' sugar levels, Guercio had to take drops of urine and boil them in a test tube over an open flame, watching for changes in color.
"Then we had two wonderful wives who would never let us give up," Gerald said.
Today, the brothers are unwavering in their regimen.
Gerald checks his blood sugar level about eight times a day and takes insulin before every meal and at bedtime. Robert checks his blood sugar three to five times a day, and gives himself insulin as needed before meals and at bedtime.
"It's not an easy task to be a diabetic," Gerald said, agreeing that his illness keeps him focused on his health. "But it's certainly a worthwhile one."
---
On the Net:
Joslin Research Center: http://www.joslin.org
American Diabetes Association: http://www.diabetes.org
© 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Developing world needs to cut heart disease - WHO
Last Updated: 2004-09-23 14:31:05 -0400 (Reuters Health)
GENEVA (Reuters) - Developing countries, especially in Asia, must promote healthy lifestyles from childhood to halt rising obesity and heart disease rates, medical experts said on Thursday.
The appeal came ahead of annual World Heart Day, being celebrated on Sunday under the theme of "Children, Adolescents and Heart Disease."
Heart disease and strokes, the main cardiovascular diseases, killed 17 million people last year or one-third of deaths worldwide, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Heart Federation.
Risk factors such as smoking and diabetes are on the rise and 18 million children aged under five are already overweight, the WHO said in its "Atlas of Heart Disease and Stroke," issued on Thursday.
"It is critical to the health of future generations that each country find resources and political will to tackle the cardiovascular disease epidemic now," Janet Voute, head of the World Heart Federation, told a news briefing.
Judith Mackay, co-author of the Atlas, said that 75 percent of the victims of heart disease live in developing countries.
Warning signs are there for Asia, especially for youth in China and Japan, where weight and cholesterol levels are on the rise, according to Mackay, a physician based in Hong Kong.
"It is for all the combination of reasons that have occurred in the West. There are more elevators now in Asia, more cars and more buses, more fast food, more sugar eaten," said Mackay. "Under China's one-child policy...one problem is that one child has become extremely precious, particularly boy children who become little emperors. They tend to get fed an awful lot," she added.
China already accounts for 1.6 million deaths each year from strokes and 703,000 from heart disease, according to the Atlas.
The good news is that heart disease and stroke levels are falling in some developed countries, including the United States and parts of Scandinavia and Europe, according to Shanthi Mendis, WHO's coordinator for cardiovascular diseases.
"That itself shows that if you were to translate what we know into action, we can control the epidemic. But the point is it is not happening in the developing world where the epidemic is getting worse by the day," she said.
Copyright © 2004 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
Continue with:
|
