Medical gadget manufacturer Medtronic has teamed up with LifeScan, maker of blood glucose meters. The powers-that-be at those companies say they want to introduce a fab new blood glucose meter to the US market. The meters will be developed by LifeScan for Medtronic and should be reasonably high-tech, with wireless transmission of test results to Medtronic's MiniMed Paradigm pumps or the Guardian REAL-Time continuous monitoring system. Tying it all together: Medtronic's CareLink diabetes management software. The plan is to get the meters on the market by early 2008.

The press release announcing the deal made me laugh. It stresses that, in addition to their alliance, Medtronic and LifeScan "will also educate people about the importance of insulin pump therapy and proactive diabetes management." Oh, ha ha. Translation: "buy our stuff. Please!" It's okay Medtronic and LifeScan. Just be yourselves. You exist to make money. We understand that. Just be honest about it and spare us the whole "education" angle.

The Chicago-Sun Times just ran a piece about area dentists who are doing their bit for type 2 diabetes prevention. These docs are screening all patients with gum disease for high blood sugar. They hope this will help with early detection, since gum disease is a risk factor for diabetes. (In fact, gum disease is a risk factor for tons of health issues, running the gamut from minor to life-threatening.)

The paper profiles, among others, dentist Dr. Ronald Schefdore. Whenever Schefdore gets patients coming in with gum disease, he automatically gives them blood tests that measure cholesterol and blood sugar levels, as well as inflammation. Schefdore describes a success story involving one patient who, thanks to the tests, got an early diagnosis of pre-diabetic symptoms and now, with the help of his PCP, has his blood sugar back under control.

Schfdore has also trained about five hundred other dentists (wow) how to collect blood samples using the finger-prick method. "If every dentist practiced this way," he comments, "we could improve the health of the world overnight."

This is preventive care in action. People like this are raising the bar for everyone. Cheers!

Texas is turning to number-crunching in an effort to contain soaring Type 2 diabetes rates. San Antonio will be the first city there to operate a diabetes registry designed to improve both the cost and quality of diabetes care in the state. The Texas state legislature approved the initiative this past spring. The project, which will be administered by the local health department, has been given the extremely imaginative title of Diabetes Registry. (Hey, makes it easy to find in the phone book.) The registry will gather its statistics from labs that perform diabetes blood tests.

The idea behind the project is not new: a similar scheme is already underway in New York City. Makes sense: before you decide how to cope with widespread Type 2 diabetes, you first need to assess exactly what the problems are. Who is missing out on care? Who are most likely to go undiagnosed? What could healthcare providers, teachers, or parents be doing differently?

Officials say that if the registry is successful in San Antonio, the registry may be extended throughout the entire state of Texas. Click here to read more on the community news site My San Antonio.

An "incredible story of dedication and perseverance" is how dLife pitches its upcoming story on US Army Sergeant First Class Mark Thompson (pictured at right). It does sound like an awesome story and definitely worth a look. Says dLife, Thompson, who is diabetic, ended up in battle in Iraq and trying to manage his diabetes even when under fire. Talk about your tough challenges. Thompson was diagnosed with diabetes after becoming a combat arms commander and he didn't want to give all that up because of the disease. No, sir. He continued to serve and ended up joining his comrades in Iraq.

In its press release, dLife says that Thompson was told he could never be deployed to Iraq. Seems he wrangled it anyway. He found the idea of quitting "unacceptable." Says Thompson, "diabetes was not going to stop me from being who I wanted to be." He came up with a plan for managing his diabetes in the field, and successfully plugged that plan to his superiors. The caveat: that he could serve under strict guidelines and could be sent home at any moment if necessary. The first problem was discovered immediately: the more than fifty pounds of gear Thompson has to lug around crushed his automatic insulin pump. D'oh! Worse, he knew it would take over a month for a new one to arrive by mail. Even bigger d'oh! Left with no other choice, Thompson resorted to doing things the old fashioned way, with near-constant blood tests and administering up to fourteen insulin shots a day.

The dLife story on Thompson promises to dish more amazing details and has a happy ending: he served his entire year in Iraq and was awarded the Bronze Star for heroic or meritorious achievement in service. Says dLife creator Howard Steinberg, "I have a new hero. Plain and simply put, the story of Army Sergeant Mark Thompson is one of the most inspirational stories I have ever heard. This was not only a good story for the dLifeTV, it was an honor to present." Wow.

Doctors are now finding patients who suffer from both type 1 and type 2 diabetes -- a phenomenon known as double diabetes. This development is predominantly due to the obesity epidemic.

Type 1 diabetes is caused by the body's inability to produce insulin, the hormone that ushers blood sugar to cells for energy. Type 2 diabetes results from insulin resistance -- the body's inability to properly use the hormone. Almost 30% of Americans diagnosed with diabetes have type 2 diabetes, due to excess weight and lack of exercise. Generally, double-diabetes sufferers will often look as though they have the more common type 2 version because they're overweight. But subsequent blood tests reveal they also have type 1 disease.

Double diabetes might be caused, in part, by type 1 diabetics who are taking insulin but haven't made the other lifestyle changes necessary to control the disease. Sadly, one of the consequences of insulin use can be weight gain. The national trend toward unhealthy weight gain has spurred both the diabetes epidemic and this newer, more complex form of the disease, mirroring the obesity epidemic. This is an enigma that leaves gaping holes in the rationale of conventional medicine. So there it is-- insulin causes weight gain. Weight gain increases the chances of developing type 2 diabetes. There you have it: a diabetes double-whammy. No fair.