Your support will help us tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to big technology, the independence is on the ground when stories develop. Whether you're researching the finances of Elon Musk's Pro-Trump PAC, or producing the latest documentary, The Words, we shed light on American women fighting for reproductive rights, but we know how important it is to analyze facts from a message.
At such a crucial moment in American history, we need a reporter on the ground. Your donation allows us to send journalists to continue talking to both sides of the story.
Independents are trusted by Americans throughout the political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans from reports and analytics using paywalls. We believe that quality journalism should be available to everyone who is paid by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.
read more
New findings could change the way type 1 diabetes is diagnosed and managed in individuals of African descent, researchers say.
Type 1 diabetes, in which pancreatic insulin-producing beta cells stop working in childhood or young adults, is constantly attributed to an autoimmune process in which the immune system accidentally produces so-called autoantibodies that attack the pancreas.
However, a study involving 894 volunteers with youth-onset diabetes in Cameroon, Uganda and South Africa found that 65% do not have the usual autoantibodies that are usually found in people with type 1 diabetes in other parts of the world.
Nor did there normally have genes that predisposed to the disease or were consistent with other known diabetes, such as type 2 or malnutrition-related diabetes.
“This suggests that many young people in the region have absolutely no form of type 1 diabetes and are not autoimmune to origin,” says Danada Bellea, a research leader at the Anschutz University Medical Campus at Colorado.
Comparing the data to a US study, the researchers found that 15% of Black Americans diagnosed with type 1 diabetes have similar forms of disease as patients in sub-Saharan Africa, characterized by negative autoantibodies and low genetic risk scores, according to a report by Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology.
However, white Americans with T1D exhibited typical autoimmune patterns, and their genetics still pointed to autoimmune diabetes, even if they had no detectable autoantibodies.
Symptoms of type 1 diabetes
NHS
The most common symptoms of type 1 diabetes include:
Feeling thirsty as usual, feeling very thirsty, losing weight quickly without trying
Other symptoms include:
Cuts and scratches from blurred visual breaths that smell sweet or fruity (such as nail polish removers and pear drop sweets) often take longer to infect them.
Some clinicians in Africa have long suspected that some children diagnosed with type 1 diabetes do not fully comply with the standard profile, the researchers said.
They noted that most previous studies have focused on white Western populations and overlooked regional and genetic diversity in disease symptoms.
“These discoveries are a call for awakening,” Professor Moffat Nyirenda, co-leader of research at the Department of Uganda Research, London School of Health, said in a statement.
“They challenge our assumptions regarding type 1 diabetes and show that this disease may exist differently in African children and adolescents. We need to urgently deepen our investigation into the biological and environmental factors that promote this diabetes and ensure that the diagnostic and treatment approach is tailored to the purposes of the African environment.”