Looks like 'shrooms might become a swanky and healthy thing to do! The fungi is affectionately called the Maitake mushroom, and literally means "dancing mushroom. Research has found it lowers blood pressure, abdominal obesity, and lipids in the blood.

Maitake Products plans to target the maitake (grifola frondosa) mushroom to treat metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome is a common precondition for both coronary disease and type 2 diabetes. The condition is characterized by a group of metabolic risk factors including: abdominal obesity, atherogenic dyslipidemia, high blood pressure and insulin resistance. With the growing number of people affected by these conditions, Maitake claims there is significant market potential for its drug, SX-Fraction.

A preliminary clinical study was conducted among 19 patients with type 2 diabetes. Patients taking 9 tablets of SX-Fraction (per day) for 2 months found that it significantly reduced fasting blood glucose, triglycerides, and body weight. The possibility of maitake mushroom as a safe, natural agent for treatment of type 2 diabetes, Syndrome X and insulin resistance has been examined for the past several years and will soon prove to be a therapeutic dancing mushroom in days to come. Yeah man.

Mad Money is a stock show on CNBC hosted by Jim Cramer - a well-known iron fist on Wall Street. He has a following of stock enthusiasts who regard his recommendations (buy or sell) as gospel. Why is he so good at what he does? He just wants to help you make money.

And to this end -- the reason I bring Cramer's passionate drive to The Diabetes Blog is simple: last week he called Novo Nordisk as a SELL. Cramer said he's beginning to worry about a backlash on drug stocks. He advised that viewers should not be greedy and should take gains in Novo Nordisk (NVO).

Perhaps the NY Times article raised some eyebrows at Big Pharma. It appears doctors are receiving handsome gifts and stipends for handing out samples of drugs that were not all that safe for most patients. The payments give physicians an incentive to prescribe the medicines at levels that might increase patients' risks of heart attacks or strokes. In light of this blood curdling synopsis Novo got a dishonorable mention. Novo Nordisk professes to operate their company in two parts: biopharmaceuticals and Diabetes Care. The Diabetes Care segment provides insulin analogues, human insulin and insulin-related products, and oral antidiabetic drugs.

The cross examination of the C-peptide disappearing act and mysterious insulin auto-antibodies appearing where they shouldn't is just getting started. Thanks for making them sweat, Cramer!

In the next 3 to 5 years, we will have a new generation of control upon us providing continuous glucose monitoring. Some of these marvelous technologies will not require a drop of blood, while others will embody the tried-and-true stick-to-itiveness we all know and loathe.

Please join me as we browse the isles of things to come (and things now available) for continuous glucose monitoring.

The DexCom STS Continuous Glucose Monitoring System is a glucose sensor that reports glucose values every 5 minutes for up to 72 hours. The sensor is inserted in the abdomen. After a 2 hour start-up period, the STS System is calibrated with 2 fingerstick measurements taken by a traditional glucose meter. Checkout Amy Tenderich's review on Diabetes Mine of the DexCom Continuous Glucose Monitoring Sytem.

MiniMed Medtronic has 3 different versions: the Gold, the Guardian RT, and the Paradigm Real-Time Continuous Monitor.

Menarini GlucoDay S is a device worn by the patient for the continuous monitoring of glucose in the subcutaneous interstitial fluid. Monitoring is performed via insertion in the abdominal region of a microfibre for dialysis having the diameter of a human hair. Inside the microfibre a solution transports the patient's glucose to a biosensor within the instrument.

M-Biotech Glucose Biosensor is a minimally invasive implantation for painless and convenient monitoring. The key feature of our efficient Glucose Biosensor is the combination of a glucose-sensitive hydrogel and a miniature pressure sensor. Glucose-responsive hydrogels are biocompatible materials that either swell or contract when the glucose concentrations change in the body fluid surrounding the hydrogel.

The PreciSense System includes a microcapsule placement unit and a light detecting non-invasive reader unit. The microcapsule placement unit poses the right dose of glucose-responding microcapsules in the upper layer of the skin, painlessly. The glucose assay components in the microcapsules generate a fluorescence signal that corresponds to the glucose level. The non-invasive reader unit monitors this glucose binding event through FRET, Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer, which is directly related to the concentration of glucose.

Sensors for Medicine and Science glucose sensor is implanted under the skin in a short outpatient procedure. The sensor automatically measures interstitial glucose every few minutes, without any user intervention. The sensor implant will communicate wirelessly with a small external reader.

Synthetic Blood Implanted Glucose Biosensor claims to offer significantly more accurate glucose readings in a range of 30-500 mg/dl. The implanted Glucose Biosensor continuously monitors blood glucose without the need for finger sticks. The most accurate glucose monitor available, the implanted biosensor can be programmed to monitor blood glucose according to a predetermined schedule, thus eliminating problems of patient compliance. The sensor alarms for dangerous, life threatening conditions such as hypoglycemia.

GlucoLight Corporation is developing a low-cost non-invasive blood glucose monitor for home use by diabetic patents. GlucoLight's unique optical approach, microScatterTM (microscatter) technology, is based on patented technologies in the area of Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) and Low Coherence Interferometry (LCI). There is a working prototype with published clinical data on healthy volunteers.

The GlucoWatch G2 Biographer was approved to detect glucose level trends and track patterns in people with diabetes. It must be used along with conventional blood glucose monitoring of blood samples. The device, which looks like a wristwatch, pulls body fluid from the skin using small electric currents. It can provide six measurements per hour for 13 hours. (See David Mendosa's review).

Living Cell Technologies has been given the go ahead to conduct clinical trials of its DiabeCell diabetes product in New Zealand.

DiabeCell is a porcine islet cell product for the treatment of insulin- dependent diabetes. The pig cells are injected into the body without any immunosuppressant drugs. The cells produce insulin to help regulate blood glucose levels appropriate to the amount of glucose detected in the blood stream of the diabetic recipient.

The Medical Director of Living Cell Technologies explains that DiabeCell offers considerable advantages over other available treatments in addition to the fact there is no need for immuno-suppressive drugs. Anther problem of islet transplants is the strain on the supply of islets. This is not a problem with the DiabeCell because their supply of cells derive from natural biocertified pig herds, unlike human organ donors.

LCT's application is to conduct the clinical trial of its DiabeCell product on 8 long standing Type 1 diabetics. The clinical trial is expected to be approximately 12 months in duration. This will then be followed by a trial on a larger scale. The trial will be conducted at a New Zealand hospital and involves the simple injection of encapsulated islets into the abdomen of the diabetic patients. It is anticipated that the trial would start by the end of 2007.