Enzyme makes diabetic patients prone to heart attacks

, TNN | Feb 18, 2013, 02.01 PM IST
READ MORE University of Iowa|Mark Anderson|heart attacks|diabetes
MUMBAI: Patients with diabetes are known to be more prone to heart attacks. Now, a study from University of Iowa has worked out why this happens.
Studying mice with diabetes, they realized that patients with the diabetes have higher levels of a heart enzyme called CaMKII (calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II). An analysis showed that heart rates in the diabetic mice slowed dramatically and, like humans with diabetes, the mice had double the death rate after a heart attack compared to non-diabetic mice.
The team studied the heart's pacemaker cells because most deaths showed abnormalities on the rhythm of the heart. "Many studies have shown that patients with diabetes are at especially high risk for dying from a myocardial infarction (heart attack). Our study provides new evidence that this excess mortality could involve a pathway where oxidized CaMKII enzyme plays a central role," the study's lead author Mark Anderson has been quoted as saying.
The study, published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, found thatpacemaker cells had elevated levels of oxidized CaMKII enzyme and more cell death than pacemaker cells in non-diabetic mice. Interestingly, when the team blocked oxidation-based activation of the enzyme, fewer pacemaker cells died. The study thus shows that by reducing activation of the CaMKII enzyme in heart cells may reduce the risk of death due to heart attack in patients with diabetes.
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Now, a device to predict heart attacks

Agencies | Mar 21, 2013, 07.13 AM IST
READ MORE Sandro|heart|diabetes|heart attacks|Cancer
LONDON: Scientists claim to have developed a tiny under-the-skin implant which can predict a heart attack in advance by several hours. The device, developed by Swiss scientists, is just 1.4cm long, and can check up to five different substances in the blood around the clock and transmit the results to a doctor's computer.

The sensors target proteins, sugar and organic acids in the blood that provide vital health information.

For patients with chronic illnesses, such as cancer or diabetes, the device could provide continuous monitoring and sound an alert before symptoms emerge.

Scientists believe the implant will be especially useful as a chemotherapy aid. Currently doctors rely on occasional blood tests to assess a cancer patient's tolerance of a particular treatment dosage. However, it is difficult to tailor the ideal dose for an individual patient.

The inventors said the tiny "labon-a-chip" could be used to give an early warning of a heart attack, or monitor cancer patients having chemotherapy . Giovanni de Micheli of the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne said the chip can be "programmed" by coating it with chemicals which react with substances that doctors want to monitor, Sky News reported.

"It comes in contact with fluids in the body. The sensors react to the presence of particular compounds in the fluids and send the data outside," Micheli said. A patch on the surface of the skin powers the chip and transmits the information via Bluetooth to a smartphone or a tablet, which then relays it on to the doctor.

Sandro Carrara, another of the inventors, said the chip had huge potential . "This device can predict a heart attack in advance by several hours thanks to the metabolites released by the heart when it is suffering," he said.

The prototype is being unveiled at DATE 13, (Design Automation & Test in Europe) Europe's largest electronics conference. The scientists hope the device will be commercially available within four years.
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