Able Author

Diabetes develops due to a diminished production of insulin (in type 1) or resistance to its effects (in type 2 and gestational). Both lead to hyperglycaemia, which largely causes the acute signs of diabetes: excessive urine production, resulting compensatory thirst and increased fluid intake, blurred vision, unexplained weight loss, lethargy, and changes in energy metabolism. Monogenic forms, e.g. MODY, constitute 1-5 % of all cases.

Most of the carbohydrates in food are converted within a few hours to the monosaccharide glucose, the principal carbohydrate found in blood and used by the body as fuel. The most significant exceptions are fructose, most disaccharides (except sucrose and in some people lactose), and all more complex polysaccharides, with the outstanding exception of starch. Insulin is released into the blood by beta cells (β-cells), found in the Islets of Langerhans in the pancreas, in response to rising levels of blood glucose, typically after eating. Insulin is used by about two-thirds of the body's cells to absorb glucose from the blood for use as fuel, for conversion to other needed molecules, or for storage.

Diabetic Supplies

WASHINGTON – Sen. Christopher Dodd says he'll push hard to win the far-reaching health care overhaul championed by Sen. Edward Kennedy, whom Dodd viewed almost like a brother.
Dodd's dedication to carrying on Kennedy's career-long quest for universal health care is not surprising. Dodd, D-Conn., and Kennedy, D-Mass., were friends since Dodd arrived in the Senate nearly 30 years ago and served together for years on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee that Kennedy chaired. Tapped by Kennedy himself, Dodd filled in for his ailing friend this summer as Kennedy's committee tackled, and approved, a bill to expand health insurance coverage, the first time a congressional panel has approved a health care overhaul plan.
In a voice choked with emotion, Dodd recounted for reporters his final months with Kennedy, 77, who died Tuesday after battling brain cancer.
"I don't remember not knowing him," said Dodd. "It's like losing a brother."
Dodd trekked to Kennedy's compound in Hyannis Port, Mass., for dinner earlier this summer. There they talked at length about the health care changes Kennedy was advocating. Even though Kennedy had difficulty speaking, "the lights were on and he knew exactly what was going on," Dodd said.
"He was the quintessential legislator," Dodd said. "He understood the Senate as well as anybody ever has."
Like Kennedy, Dodd, 65, is dealing with cancer — an early, treatable stage of prostate cancer which, Dodd said, will not derail his plans to run for re-election next year. He underwent surgery two weeks ago in New York, and the first call he received afterward was from the ailing Kennedy, who jokingly welcomed Dodd to the "cancer club" and made some off-color comments about the hazards of catheters.
Now, with Kennedy gone, Dodd faces a major decision on whether to take over Kennedy's chairmanship, effectively turning himself into the shepherd of his old friend's fight for health care. Dodd said he needs time to consider his choices and plans to consult with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, among others, before deciding.
"I really don't have any answer for you at this point," Dodd replied Wednesday when asked what he might do. "I am just too consumed with the loss."
Democrats hoping to win passage of broad health care reforms are struggling to get back on track as Congress winds down its annual August recess and prepares to return to Capitol Hill early next month. Dodd said that he thinks Kennedy "felt confident that we were on track" and that Kennedy's spirit "will be very much a part" of the legislative push for health care.
If he does decide to take the helm of the health committee, Dodd must relinquish his chairmanship of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, a choice that could weigh heavily in his 2010 re-election bid, the toughest fight of his five-term Senate career. Such a change could give Dodd's campaign a boost, as Dodd has been dogged by allegations he's too cozy with the financial interests he's supposed to regulate through his committee.
Some analysts believe taking over Kennedy's committee could give Dodd appropriate distance from the financial issues that have hurt his popularity over the past year. It also would make him a key player on an issue that has sparked impassioned debate across the country and take him back to issues from early in his Senate career involving children, education and families.
"Chris Dodd has an opportunity to showcase all the work he's done in those areas and return to those areas and make that what people associate with Chris Dodd," said Wendy Schiller, a professor of political science at Brown University. "So it would be a very smart move to leave the banking committee chairmanship (and) all that baggage. Throw it off the train."
But Dodd also will be working, for the first time, with no access to Kennedy and his renowned ability to forge compromises with Republicans on major legislation — a tough task to pull off, he admits.
"I lost my best friend in the Senate," Dodd said. "It is going to be hard to go back to the Senate."

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Oil prices fell to near $71 a barrel Thursday in Asia, dragged down by signs of faltering U.S. crude demand and concerns the global economic recovery will be anemic.
Benchmark crude for October delivery was down 3 cents to $71.40 a barrel by late afternoon in Singapore in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Wednesday it fell 62 cents to settle at $71.43
Oil briefly hit the $75 a barrel level Tuesday but failed to breakthrough the barrier and has been sliding since then.
Investors are cashing out as new government data showed weak demand with crude supplies rising last week in the United States, the world's biggest energy user, said Tetsu Emori, commodity markets fund manager at ASTMAZ Futures Co. in Tokyo.
"Reality is setting in. The latest U.S. data showed that fundamentals in the oil market remains bearish," he said, adding that oil prices could fall below $70 a barrel in the next few days.
The Energy Department reported Wednesday that U.S. crude stockpiles rose by 200,000 barrels for the week ended Aug. 21. The same report a week ago showed a large and unexpected draw on oil, which sent prices soaring.
David Donora, executive director of commodities for London-based Threadneedle, which manages about $80 billion of assets, warned global oil demand could decline over the longer term given anemic economic growth and high oil prices.
He said in a recent report that rising unemployment, high levels of debt, increased savings and low economic growth may cause U.S. oil consumption to dwindle in the next few years.
In other Nymex trading, gasoline for September delivery fell 0.61 cent to $1.9765 a gallon and heating oil fell 1.1 cents to $1.8411 a gallon. Natural gas shed 4.8 cents to $2.863 per 1,000 cubic feet.
In London, Brent crude fell 6 cents to $71.59.

MEXICO CITY – Mexico now has one of the world's most liberal laws for drug users after eliminating jail time for small amounts of marijuana, cocaine and even heroin, LSD and methamphetamine.
"All right!" said a grinning Ivan Rojas, a rail-thin 20-year-old addict who endured police harassment during the decade he has spent sleeping in Mexico City's gritty streets and subway stations.
But stunned police on the U.S. side of the border say the law contradicts President Felipe Calderon's drug war, and some fear it could make Mexico a destination for drug-fueled spring breaks and tourism.
Tens of thousands of American college students flock to Cancun and Acapulco each year to party at beachside discos offering wet T-shirt contests and all-you-can-drink deals.
"Now they will go because they can get drugs," said San Diego Police Chief William Lansdowne. "For a country that has experienced thousands of deaths from warring drug cartels for many years, it defies logic why they would pass a law that will clearly encourage drug use."
Enacted last week, the Mexican law is part of a growing trend across Latin America to treat drug use as a public health problem and make room in overcrowded prisons for violent traffickers rather than small-time users.
Brazil and Uruguay have already eliminated jail time for people carrying small amounts of drugs for personal use, although possession is still considered a crime in Brazil. Argentina's Supreme Court ruled out prison for pot possession on Tuesday and officials say they plan to propose a law keeping drug consumers out of the justice system.
Colombia has decriminalized marijuana and cocaine for personal use, but kept penalties for other drugs.
Officials in those countries say they are not legalizing drugs — just drawing a line between users, dealers and traffickers amid a fierce drug war. Mexico's law toughens penalties for selling drugs even as it relaxes the law against using them.
"Latin America is disappointed with the results of the current drug policies and is exploring alternatives," said Ricardo Soberon, director of the Drug Research and Human Rights Center in Lima, Peru.
As Mexico ratcheted up its fight against cartels, drug use jumped more than 50 percent between 2002 and 2008, according to the government, and today prisons are filled with addicts, many under the age of 25.
Rojas has spent half his life snorting cocaine and sniffing paint thinner as he roamed Mexico City's streets in a daze. Most days he was roused awake by police demanding a bribe and forcing him to move along, he said.
"It's good they have this law so police don't grab you," said Rojas, whose name, I-V-A-N, is tattooed across his knuckles.
Rojas hit bottom three weeks ago when he could not score enough money for drugs by begging and found himself shaking uncontrollably. He accepted an offer for help from workers from a drug rehabilitation center who approached him on the street.
"Drugs were finishing me off," said Rojas, whose 13-year-old brother died of an overdose eight years ago. "I lost my brother. I lost my youth."
Juan Martin Perez, who runs Caracol, the nonprofit center helping Rojas, said the government has poured millions of dollars into the drug war but has done little to treat addicts. His group relies on grants from foundations.
The new law requires officials to encourage drug users to seek treatment in lieu of jail, but the government has not allocated more money for organizations like Caracol that are supposed to help them.
Treatment is mandatory for third-time offenders, but the law does not specify penalties for noncompliance.

"This was passed quickly and quietly but it's going to have to be adjusted to match reality," Perez said.

Supporters of the change point to Portugal, which removed jail terms for drug possession for personal use in 2001 and still has one of the lowest rates of cocaine use in Europe.

Portugal's law defines personal use as the equivalent of what one person would consume over 10 days. Police confiscate the drugs and the suspect must appear before a government commission, which reviews the person's drug consumption patterns. Users may be fined, sent for treatment or put on probation.

Foreigners caught with drugs still face arrest in Portugal, a measure to prevent drug tourism.

The same is not true for Mexico, where there is no jail time for anyone caught with roughly four marijuana cigarettes, four lines of cocaine, 50 milligrams of heroin, 40 milligrams of methamphetamine or 0.015 milligrams of LSD.

That's what concerns U.S. law enforcement at the border.

"It provides an officially sanctioned market for the consumption of the world's most dangerous drugs," San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore said. "For the people of San Diego the risk is direct and lethal. There are those who will drive to Mexico to use drugs and return to the U.S. under their influence."

Don Thornhill, a retired Drug Enforcement Administration supervisor who investigated Mexican cartels for 25 years, said Mexico's rampant drug violence will likely deter most U.S. drug users, and the new law will allow Mexican police to focus on "the bigger fish."

The Bush administration criticized a similar bill proposed in Mexico in 2006, prompting then-President Vicente Fox to send it back to Congress. But Washington has stayed quiet this time, praising Calderon for his fight against drug cartels — a struggle that has seen some 11,000 people killed since Calderon took office in 2006.

"We work with Mexico every day to combat illegal drugs and cartel violence," State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said when asked about the law. "And we look forward to continuing that cooperation."

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Associated Press writers Marco Sibaja in Brasilia, Vivian Sequera in Bogota, Harold Heckle in Madrid, Elliot Spagat in San Diego, Olga Rodriguez in Mexico City and Matt Lee in Washington contributed to this report.