Researchers suggest Vitamin D therapy can tackle diabetes, cancer
New York, May 13: Enhanced activation of Vitamin D by protecting beta cells may be a potential new approach for treating diabetes as well as other diseases, including cancer, researchers have suggested.
When beta cells -- the cells in the pancreas that produce, store and release the hormone insulin -- become dysfunctional, the body cannot make insulin to control blood sugar (glucose) and levels of glucose can rise to dangerous and even fatal levels.
The researchers found that Vitamin D in cells and mouse models can be beneficial in treating these damaged beta cells.
They also provided new insights about gene regulation that could be applied to developing treatments for other diseases, including cancer.
"We know that diabetes is a disease caused by inflammation. We identified the Vitamin D receptor as an important modulator of both inflammation and beta cell survival," said Ronald Evans, from Salk Institute for Biological Studies in California, US.
Using beta cells created from embryonic stem cells, the team was able to identify a compound -- iBRD9 -- that appeared to enhance the activation of the Vitamin D receptor when it was combined with Vitamin D to improve the survival of beta cells.
In the paper, published in the journal Cell, the team conducted a screening test to look for compounds that improved the survival of beta cells in a dish. They then tested the combination in a mouse model of diabetes and showed that it could bring glucose back to normal levels in the animals.
Combining the new compound with vitamin D allowed certain protective genes to be expressed at much higher levels than they are in diseased cells.
"Activating the vitamin D receptor can trigger the anti-inflammatory function of genes to help cells survive under stressed conditions," explained Michael Downes, from the institute.
The researchers noted that although the new compound did not appear to cause any side effects in the mice, further testing is needed before clinical trials can begin.
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Assam Cong. leader Reetam Singh arrested for third time in a month
Guwahati: Assam Congress spokesperson Reetam Singh has been arrested for the third time in one month by the state police. Singh, known for his strong criticism of Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on social media, reported The Wire.
It’s worth noting that Sarma is also the state’s Home Minister and has direct control over the police.
Singh who is also an Advocate was first arrested on March 15 by the Lakhimpur police after the wife of BJP MLA Manab Deka who is a close aide to CM Sarma filed a complaint. She claimed Singh had defamed her husband and her father in a post on X (formerly Twitter). Her father belongs to a Scheduled Caste, so the police charged Singh under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, along with defamation and IT Act charges.
The Gauhati High Court later granted Singh bail on March 28. According to the report, Congress MP and general secretary media in-charge Jairam Ramesh had stated that the Gauhati high court had found Singh’s arrest “riddled with procedural errors, evidencing the haste and illegality of the regime’s efforts to throttle his voice. Reetam was targeted by the State of Assam for his social media posts but now stands released from custody.”
Ramesh also in his statement asserted that no matter what the BJP government throws at the Congress workers and leaders, the party will continue to fight for the common public.
However, on April 12, Singh was arrested again this time by the Morigaon police based on another complaint under the same SC/ST law. The complaint came from a local BJP leader named Dhonti Sharma. Qouting a Press Trust of India report, The Wire reported that the police didn’t share details at first, saying the matter was still being investigated.
When Singh was brought to court on April 13, he told reporters that he was being targeted just for speaking about Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. After the court in Morigaon granted him bail, a different police team from Jagiroad arrested him once again.
A video of Singh’s third arrest has gone viral. It shows his father trying to talk to him through the police van, asking why he had been arrested again. When police refused, his father lay down in front of the van to stop it from leaving. Officers then removed him and asked him to visit the Jagiroad police station, about 27 km away, to get details.
Assam Congress President Bhupen Kumar Borah condemned the arrest and accused the chief minister of trying to suppress free speech. He said Singh was being treated like a dangerous criminal even though all he did was criticize BJP leaders on social media. Borah also said, denying Singh’s parents a chance to see him was a violation of human rights.
This is not the first time Assam police has been in the news recently. They also arrested journalist Dilwar Hussain Mozumder while he was covering a protest at a co-operative bank linked to corruption. Chief Minister Sarma is a director of the same bank. Mozumder too was charged under the SC/ST Act and later granted bail. A few days after his release, his brother was arrested in a separate land-grabbing case.
