It's common knowledge that diabetes and heart disease are linked. If you have diabetes, you are much more prone to heart disease than are your non-diabetic counterparts. I've sometimes wondered: why should that be? And here comes the answer, courtesy of a recent Netscape health article.

Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have been examining the issue. Their conclusion? It all comes down to how the body metabolizes fat. The heart cells of diabetics lose a lipid (cardiolipin) designed to provide the heart with energy to function properly. Says Dr. Richard Gross, "Diabetic hearts run mostly on fats for fuel because glucose isn't readily available to them." Problem is, the absence of cardiolipin screws up the heart's cell membranes, both in terms of structure and function.

It's all downhill after the cardiolipin disappears. For one thing, the heart muscle cells begin to be starved of energy. Second, harmful substances form in the cells. Both these factors contribute to heart problems down the road. Observes Dr. Gross, "The pieces of the puzzle of diabetic heart disease are now rapidly falling into place. We hope that these kinds of studies will enable physicians to diagnose diabetic cardiovascular disease sooner and treat it earlier."

St. Louis resident and diabetic Roosevelt Sims was on an Amtrak train Sunday night, speeding towards his destination - Los Angeles. He never made it to that fine city, however, because he was forced off the train by a conductor. It seems Amtrak personnel found Sims disorderly, presumed he was drunk, and decided to eject him before he disturbed other passengers. His family members, however, say Sims was diagnosed with diabetes just the day before leaving St. Louis, and they think he may have been in diabetic shock. That, rather than intoxication, they say, may have been the reason for his alleged unruly behavior.

Initial reports made this episode sound like a horrible abuse against this man had been committed by Amtrak. Stories were filled with descriptions of his being dumped in the middle of nowhere amidst 800,000 acres of pine forest. The details were faithfully repeated by various websites. Okay, so the police helped out when a local lieutenant provided the following juicy quotation: "You don't put anyone off in an area like that. There's no water up here, we're at almost 8-thousand feet." Meanwhile, MyFox St.Louis quoted Sims' irate wife saying of his treatment, "I wouldn't have put a dog off like that."

The reality, it seems, wasn't quite as awful at the gushing headlines indicated. Sims was put off the train and, yes, this did occur in the middle of a pine forest. However, he was not alone: a conductor got off the train with him and waited for the police, who had been notified, to come and pick Sims up. But when police did arrive, Sims took off into the woods alone, leaving his bags and meds behind. He did take his cell phone, though, and used it to call his family. Also, Sims was not put off literally in the middle of nowhere; rather, he was escorted off at Williams Junction, a regularly scheduled stop along the way. Sims was found Thursday night walking along the railroad track and was taken to a hospital for a checkup.

All-in-all, sounds like a case possibly bungled by Amtrak, but one that the media seized upon and reported (embroidered?) with great relish. Amtrak has issued a statement saying its staff merely followed company policy in their handling of the Sims incident. Can you say public relations disaster?

Footnote: I was surprised to notice that the WLTX report describes Sims as an "elderly man." I wonder how many people these days consider someone in their sixties to be elderly? I don't. Guess it makes the story sound all that more exciting, huh?

According to scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, interrupting nerve signals to the liver can prevent diabetes and hypertension in mice.

Mice were treated to become diabetic with glucocorticoids, a class of steroid hormones characterized by an ability to bind with the cortisol receptor. Once diabetes was established, the researchers surgically removed the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve is the only nerve that starts in the brainstem and extends all the way down to the abdomen. More impressive is the fact that once the nerve was removed from the diabetic mice, insulin resistance and high blood pressure was prevented or reversed. This is an interesting discovery because people with asthma, arthritis, and organ transplants often rely on steroid treatments. It just so happens that many of them go on to develop insulin resistance.

Don't go ripping your vagus nerve out just yet. A fun fact about the vagus nerve is that it's name is taken from the Latin word meaning "wanderer". The vagal nerve pathway can influence seizures, depression and other disorders. Although the research is thoroughly enlightening, it is still very green. Hang on to your vagus nerve while the research continues.