acf domain was triggered too early. This is usually an indicator for some code in the plugin or theme running too early. Translations should be loaded at the init action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /home2/firstmedlabs/public_html/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6170quadmenu domain was triggered too early. This is usually an indicator for some code in the plugin or theme running too early. Translations should be loaded at the init action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /home2/firstmedlabs/public_html/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6170The American Diabetes Association reports 34.2 million Americans have diabetes, while 88 million American adults have pre-diabetes. Due to these rising numbers, the US Preventive Services Task Force is now recommending screening patients for pre-diabetes earlier. The new recommendation emphasizes the need to screen for pre-diabetes in all adults between the ages of 35 and 70 who are overweight or have obesity, even if they have no symptoms of type 2 diabetes. The starting age use to be 40 but was lowered to five years earlier. “These changes allow for earlier detection, diagnosis and more treatment options, ultimately improving health outcomes,” said the USPSTF.
What causes diabetes?
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, diabetes develops when the body cannot make enough insulin or use it properly. Insulin is a hormone that helps regulate blood glucose levels, and without a sufficient amount working properly, health complications can occur. There are several types of diabetes that can result from genetics or lifestyle choices.
Type 1 diabetes is believed to be an autoimmune condition. This means your immune system mistakenly attacks and stops your body from making insulin. It isn’t clear why this happens but there may be both genetic and environmental reasons.
Type 2 diabetes starts as insulin resistance. This means your body doesn’t use insulin well and can’t keep blood sugar at normal levels. Contributing factors may include genetics, lack of exercise, or being overweight.
Gestational diabetes is due to insulin-blocking hormones produced during pregnancy. This type of diabetes only occurs during pregnancy and usually goes away after your baby is born. However, it does increase your risk for type 2 diabetes later in life.
What are the symptoms?
Diabetes symptoms will vary depending on the type and cause but may include:
Diabetes can also lead to serious health complications without treatment, such as heart disease or stroke.
Prevention
There’s no known prevention for type 1 diabetes but there are some steps you can take to help limit your chances of getting type 2. You can lower your risk if you:
Many children with diabetes look forward to summer camp each year to, not only spend time with friends, but with other children who can relate to similar day-to-day obstacles that living with diabetes can present. The Diabetes Education and Camping Association (DECA) unites the global diabetes camping community, providing leadership, education, and resources to make camps for those with diabetes more impactful. As most summer camps across the US resumed this year, diabetes camps were faced with the extraordinary obstacle of protecting children who are at higher risk for COVID-19 complications due to diabetes. To bring summer camps for children living with diabetes back this year and to help protect these children, one of the nation’s largest laboratories, Premier Medical Laboratory Services, donated thousands of COVID-19 tests to DECA camps in 19 states across the nation, enabling them to safely return to camp this year.
“We know DECA and each of their camps do so much for the diabetes community – helping kids to learn how to manage the disease as well as support emotional wellbeing,” said Kevin Murdock, Founder and CEO of PMLS. “With diabetes being a global pandemic, it’s a large focus for Premier Medical Laboratory Services to provide top healthcare solutions for patients with diabetes. We are honored to help camps that improve the lives of children and adolescents with diabetes.”
For some children, a diabetes camp is their first opportunity to meet a friend who also has diabetes, or their first time staying somewhere without their parents. It’s a great place for them to adopt a new hobby or learn skills that give them more self-confidence. Along with the feeling of independence and support, diabetes camps have been shown to provide children with an increase in diabetes self-care abilities and decreased diabetes-specific distress. (1) For caregivers, diabetes camps provide a medically sound environment where they can feel assured that their children are safe and their diabetes care needs are met.
Terry Ackley, Executive Director of DECA added: “The safety of children with diabetes is the highest priority of diabetes camps. Covid-19 has presented significant challenges to the operation of diabetes camps this year. It has required that they carefully study their program delivery model and incorporate additional health and safety protocols following the newest guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control. A tool that is very important to safely serving children with diabetes at camp is Covid-19 testing. Premier Medical Laboratory Services approached the diabetes camping community to offer their much-needed support. Our community greatly appreciates their generous donation of a large quantity of rapid antigen tests to diabetes camps across the United States. Premier Medical Laboratory Services has been instrumental to the ability of diabetes camps to operate this year. Their support is helping children learn more about how to manage their diabetes, build resilience to living with this difficult health condition, develop cherished friendships and have lots of fun!”
Aside from offering COVID-19 testing and many other medical diagnostics solutions, PMLS is continually searching for innovative diabetes prevention and maintenance applications. With some of the most advanced testing panels for both type 1 and type 2 diabetes, PMLS also introduced to the US a first of its kind predictive genetic test for type 2 diabetes, which allows patients to know their risk of future onset of the disease determined by their individual genetic make-up. Along with this, Premier Medical Laboratory Services is currently working with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation on initiatives to bring soccer clinics to diabetes communities as part of their mission to improve patient lives both medically and through community outreach. PMLS is soon to announce more breakthrough solutions for diabetes care.
Sources:
1) Weissberg, J., Vesco, A., Rychlik, K. (2019, February 21) Pediatric Diabetes URL: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/pedi.12836
GREENVILLE, SC September 23, 2020 – At the onset of the pandemic the nation began to practice social distancing, and subsequently, many stopped scheduling visits with their doctors. Laboratories like Premier Medical Laboratory Services suddenly pivoted much of their efforts into providing a high volume of testing for COVID-19. Now, as more businesses and schools have reopened, less of the population has continued to practice extreme social distancing measures. Accordingly, more patients are visiting their physicians’ offices again for routine check-ups and other healthcare needs other than the Coronavirus.
With this, PMLS, recently named one of the Top Genetic Diagnostic Companies of 2020, says that they are beginning to see a rise in demand for tests that they offer to address various medical diagnostic needs aside from COVID-19. Some of these tests included are their pharmacogenomics, advanced cardiovascular testing, and their women’s health & wellness and diabetes panels.
“We are continuing to process up to 50,000 COVID-19 tests per day, but are glad to see an increase in orders for the other tests we provide,” said Kevin Murdock founder of Premier Medical Laboratory Services. “We know that our tests offer vital insight to physicians so that they can best plan the proper care for their patients.”
Including their portfolio of COVID-19 assays, all of PMLS’ tests processed at their 40,000 sqft laboratory are performed with the latest in science and technology to provide the most advanced and comprehensive testing results. For example, PMLS’s MDDiabeticPro panel includes the revolutionary DIABETESpredict test, which is a first of its kind predictive genetic test for type 2 diabetes developed in collaboration with world leading doctors and scientists of Harvard and MIT. The DIABETESpredict test is expected to mark a new era in diabetes prevention and care through evaluating the risk of the disease onset by examining individual genetic profiles and is currently only available to the US through PMLS.
PMLS’s cardiovascular panel, MDHeartPro, offers a more complete look at a patient’s cardiovascular health than the standard lipid profile that is commonly ordered. In addition to the standard lipid panel, MDHeartPro includes tests that identify plaque buildup, lipid particle size, hereditary factors, and other advanced risk factors.
At PMLS’s fully COLA and CLIA regulated laboratory many of their processes are automated with cutting-edge laboratory equipment. Using a cloud based-laboratory information management system, OnGen, PMLS communicates real-time results to physicians directly from their lab equipment. Because of this, PMLS is able to process hundreds of thousands of COVID-19 tests per month while increasing the testing capacity for their other molecular diagnostic offerings without compromising accuracy or their quick turnaround time of results.
]]>“As an industry leader, we strive to provide physicians with innovative solutions that enable the best possible care for patients,” said Melanie Stallings, Director of Laboratory Operations of Premier Medical Laboratory Services. “We believe that the GlycoMark test provides important additional information to help physicians personalize patient treatment plans and drive better clinical outcomes.”
Hyperglycemia, which leads to numerous diabetic vascular complications, isn’t always easily detected. Nearly 40% of patients who are deemed to be in “good control”, based on A1C glucose averages, may have significant postprandial hyperglycemia or glycemic variability. Furthermore, a periodic blood glucose is not always reliably timed or performed, and may yield inaccurate results.
“We are very pleased with our partnership with Premier Medical Laboratory. By adding the GlycoMark test to PMLS’s MD DiabeticPro menu, physicians will have increased awareness and access to the test to help improve the management of patients with diabetes,” said Hiro Ishibashi, President of GlycoMark, Inc.
ABOUT GLYCOMARK
GlycoMark, Inc., based in Manhattan, New York, is dedicated to improving the management and health of patients with diabetes. The company is a joint venture among Toyota Tsusho America, Inc. (New York, NY), Toyota Tsusho Corporation (Tokyo, Japan), and Nippon Kayaku Co., Ltd. (Tokyo, Japan), and is the exclusive supplier of the GlycoMark test in the U.S., Europe, Australia, Indonesia and the Middle East. The GlycoMark test is the only FDA cleared non-fasting blood test that detects hyperglycemia and hyperglycemic excursions occurring in the prior 1 to 2 weeks. Since its discovery, the GlycoMark Test, a quantitative test for 1,5-Anhydroglucitol (1,5-AG), has been described in more than 1,300 scientific and medical publications and is shown to be independently associated with complications of diabetes. More information is available at www.GlycoMark.com.
ABOUT PREMIER MEDICAL LABORATORY
Premier Medical is a highly complex, advanced diagnostic lab with multiple specialty programs and a full complement of chemistry, immunoassay and hematology testing, located in Greenville, SC.
With our partnership with GlycoMark, we would like to announce our new test panel:
PMLS also offers the following specialty tests, to provide clinicians with clinically relevant testing in order to improve patient outcomes and quality of life:
GlycoMark is a registered trademark of GlycoMark, Inc. MD DiabeticPro is a registered trademark of Premier Medical Laboratory.
MEDIA CONTACT
Lauren Lehman, Marketing and Partner Relations
lauren_lehman@glycomark.com
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