Brian Columbus is walking on January 19, 2008 in Bloomington, MN.
Hello! This year, I'll be taking part in JDRF's Walk to Cure Diabetes, along with a half million other walkers across the country, as we try to reach our goal of raising $100 million.
Type 1, or juvenile, diabetes, is a devastating disease that affects millions of people.
For the first time, scientists are predicting that we CAN expect to see a cure well within our lifetime!
Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) is the largest funder of diabetes research in the world, working toward a goal of finding a cure to type 1 diabetes. For more than 20 years I've been waiting and hoping for a cure, and each year scientists make breakthroughs getting us closer and closer to that goal. While I may not be a scientist (and perhaps neither are you) supporting JDRF is one way to be involved and be part of this extraordinary effort.
Here are a couple of the many exciting new developments recently reported.
Prediction of Diabetes:
JDRF-funded researchers in Denver have identified a fourth antibody in human blood that suggests the earliest stage of type 1 diabetes. The discovery may help more accurately predict who is predisposed to diabetes, and could point toward clues for how to slow or block how the disease progresses.The presence of three autoantibodies predicts type 1 diabetes with 90 percent accuracy. The new autoantibody, ZnT8, increases the accuracy of predicting diabetes to 96 percent.
Stem Cell Research towards a Cure:
Two separate teams of scientists have reported that they turned human skin cells into cells that look and act like embryonic stem cells. This advance is important because of its potential to possibly accelerate progress in the field of Replacement -- one of the five "cure therapeutic" research areas JDRF has identified as offering the most promise in leading to a cure for type 1 diabetes. Although much more research remains to be done, the studies open the possibility that researchers might ultimately be able to use a patient's skin cells to generate new cells, such as beta cells or heart cells, that could potentially be transplanted into them.
But much more work has yet to be done, which is why JDRF needs your support. Please help by making a donation today!
Curing diabetes is possible, and together we can make that happen.
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Help JDRF—and me—find a cure for diabetes:
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