On Sept. 8, 2005 an advisory panel for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first-ever inhaled form of insulin today, providing a new option for people with diabetes who have never quite taken to insulin shots. The expert panel voted 7-2 to approve the new insulin device, known as Exubera, for patients with either the type 1 or type 2 form of the disease. The FDA must still formally approve Exubera, but it usually follows the advice of its committees. Unlike traditional insulin, Exubera is a dry powder that is breathed in through an aerosol spray, similar to the inhalers used by asthma patients. This type of therapy is short-acting, meaning that Exubera must be taken before meals to control a spike in blood sugar. Most diabetes patients, even with inhaled insulin, will need to continue nightly injections to provide long-term control. Still, there is little doubt that many would welcome even the slightest break from shots. "I think it will be popular." says Dr....

The prevalence of diabetes is increasing among older persons with heart failure, and diabetes is a significant independent risk factor for death in these individuals. The findings, appearing in The American Journal of Medicine, underscore the importance of tight control of diabetes, researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester , Minnesota , assert. Dr. Aaron M. From and associates analyzed a random group of 665 people living independently in Olmstead County who were first diagnosed with heart failure between 1979 and 1999. The average age of these individuals was 77 years and 20 percent had a pre-existing diagnosis of diabetes. Those with diabetes tended to be younger and weighed more than heart failure patients without diabetes. They also had lower left ventricular ejection fractions -- a measure of the heart's blood-pumping power. The prevalence of diabetes increased 3.8 percent per year. The odds of having diabetes for those first diagnosed wit...