Diabetes, specifically type II, has become a major health concern for our society in the past few decades. We have reached epidemic standards with the amount of diabetic patients we are now seeing. Around 30.3 million Americans, roughly 9.4% of the population, had diabetes in 2015 according to the American Diabetes Association. Type II diabetes used to only be seen in our older populations, however, now we are seeing an increases in our youth being diagnosed with diabetes; around 193,000 Americans under the age of the 20 have diabetes.

Why should we be concerned by the rising prevalence of diabetes? Diabetes is no minor disorder; it comes with serious health complications. Some including:

• Skin complications: acanthosis nigricans, diabetic dermopathy and diabetic blisters
• Eye complications: glaucoma and cataracts
• Neuropathy: nerve damage  

Diabetes is also closely associated with cardiovascular disease, which can lead to heart attack, stroke and even death.

How can Diabetes be Treated?

The problem with type II diabetes is the body not being responsive enough to the hormone insulin, which is responsible for getting glucose from your blood into your cells. This leads to having high “blood glucose levels.” Having this excess sugar in your blood can lead to these aforementioned health problems. Diabetes medications work by keeping these blood glucose levels within a healthy range. Another method of monitoring your blood sugar levels is to track your A1c levels, which measure HbA1c, a type of protein that bind to glucose in your blood. Normal HbA1c levels are less than 5.7%, and diabetics usually have HbA1c levels above 6.5%.

Metformin is a common medication that is prescribed to diabetics. Though its exact mechanism is not known, it is thought to work on the insulin receptors rather than on the pancreas, the organ that produces insulin. There are many other medications that may be used in conjunction with Metformin depending on the severity of a patient’s insulin sensitivity.

Our Research

The goals of our research are:

1. To see if HbA1c levels can be lowered to healthy ranges while a patient is only using Metformin

We want to use HbA1c tests to track a patient’s progress as it tells us the average blood sugar levels over the past two to three months and it will be more indicative of how a patient is healing in general. We chose to use only Metformin as we want to find out if Metformin is capable of lowering HbA1c levels to healthy ranges without any other treatments

• To see if a patient’s lifestyle responds well to using Metformin as their sole diabetes medications as opposed to taking multiple medications daily

We want to see how patients respond to only using one medication as opposed to multiple medications in terms of lifestyle. Lifestyle is a major component in managing diabetes, and simplifying a routine to taking one medication would be the easiest way to manage this disorder.

• To see if there are any side effects associated with using Metformin

There are certain side effects that we want to avoid when treating diabetes, such as weight gain, which can only make things worse.

How are we going to carry out our research?

We plan on holding a clinical trial using sixteen participants who meet out eligibility criteria based on age and medical history. Eight participants will be given Metformin to take daily, and the other eight participants will be given a placebo pill to take daily. All participants will be under the supervision of a licensed physician and will take monthly blood tests to monitor their HbA1c levels. Those individuals taking Metformin will be given a survey after the trial has ended to see how Metformin fits with their lifestyle.

Why is this Important?

23.1 Million Americans have diabetes and do not know it and are not receiving the proper treatments. We hope that our research will help diabetes advocacy and people will be more aware of their health and can see out proper treatments without fear that their life will change drastically.

References

1. Statistics about Diabetes. 2018 Mar 22. American Diabetes Association; [accessed 2019 Jan 31]. http://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-basics/statistics/

2. Tabish SA, Is Diabetes Becoming the Biggest Epidemic of the Twenty-first Century?, International Journal of Health Sciences (Qassim). 2007: 1(2): V-VIII.

3. Mahrooz A, Parsanasab H, Hashemi-Soteh MB, Kashi Z, Bahar A, Alizadeh A, Mozayeni M, The role of clinical response to metformin in patients newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes: a monotherapy study, Clinical and Experimental Medicine. 2015:15(2):159-165.

4. TODAY Study Group, Effects of Metformin, Metformin Plus Rosiglitazone, and Metformin Plus Lifestyle on Insulin Sensitivity and β-Cell Function in TODAY, Diabetes Care. 2013:36:1749-1757.

5.  Yanovski JA, Krakoff J, Salaita CG, McDuffie JR, Kozlosky M, et al., Effects of Metformin on Body Weight and Body Composition in Obese Insulin-Resistant Children: A Randomized Clinical Trial, Diabetes. 2011:60(2):477-485.

6. Harborne L, Fleming R, Lyall H, Normal J, Sattar N, Descriptive review of the evidence for the use of metformin in polycystic ovary syndrome, The Lancet. 2003: 361(9372): 1894-1901.

7. Florez H, Luo J, Castillo-Florez S, Mitsi G, Hanna J, Tamariz L, et al., Impact of Metformin-Induced Gastrointestinal Symptoms of Life and Adherence in patients with Type 2 Diabetes. 2015:122(2):112-120.

10 Things I Learned About Science Communication :

1. Is it really science? Science related accounts are on the rise in social media, however one study found that only about 3/10 posts feature new scientific discoveries (Pew Research Center, 2017). 21% of posts were stories that contained practical tips from science, and 16% of posts were ads or promotions for programs and events.
2. Science pages are the new rage. 26% of social media users in the U.S say they follow a science themed social media page, while 33% say social media is a useful and important platform for receiving scientific news, and 44% say they see scientific news on social media that they otherwise would not have seen somewhere else (Pew Research Center, 2017). Social media is an important tool for spreading awareness about scientific news as it reaches audiences it normally would if the only source was from scientific journals.
3. Visuals > Words. Another thing that the Pew research center found in their study is that there was higher engagement seen on posts focused on visuals with little additional information. Social media is succinct and a post will lose the viewer’s attention the longer and convoluted a post is, especially if it contains a lot of scientific jargon.
4. Videos are a highly effective way of spreading scientific news. What people love way more than reading about something, is being told about something in a fun video that utilizes animations, graphics, music, and visual demonstrations to help illustrate a concept. I know personally, there have been several times in my academic career that I have used videos on Youtube to help better understand a concept.
5. Twitter is the new Facebook. A Pew Research Center survey from 2018 found that more science pages were relatively more active on Twitter than Facebook. I think the appeal of Twitter is its simplicity. There is a 280 character limit that forces people to be straight forward and simple. However, this can be dangerous when someone stops at a tweet and fails to delve further into a scientific study to understand the smaller details that put a study’s findings into perspective.
6. Social media made for you. With the rise in popularity in social media, algorithms help to individualize what you see based on your past behaviors. This can be a great way for someone to receive news about topics they are personally involved with or are interested in, without having to sift through unrelated or uninteresting news.
7. But is that always such a good thing? Though it can be great that what you see is what you want to see, it may not be exactly everything you need to see. This shuts off an individual from receiving news that may broaden their opinions by offering for discussion and interaction from a variety of people.
8. How can you communicate online? There are a variety of methods that can be used to communicate your opinions or news, and each way serves to deliver it in a slightly different manner. Websites are more credible and in-depth, however your audience will generally have more scientific knowledge and be more open to scientific news. Blogs are more casual, and slightly more concise than websites. Blogs allow you to discuss, rather than just naming off straight facts like on a website. The audience is similar to websites as they generally have previous scientific knowledge and are interested in the subject. Social media is the most personal, and reaches all types of audiences, however many important, defining details get lost with the succinctness and a majority of your audience most likely does not have previous knowledge.
9. Can you trust them? Credibility is huge in accepting scientific discoveries. Sometimes, what you read on social media gets a bad name for not being credible enough. I think it is important to do your own research and find the actual sources and studies used in a social media post and read the article for yourself to see what these findings actually mean.
10. Sharing is caring. At the end of the day, social media is a great tool to spread the word about something and to create a platform to discuss scientific findings and to interact and build relationships with diverse individuals from the global community.

Social Media Star of the Week!

• American Diabetes Association
• 140.6K followers on Twitter, 742.9K likes on Facebook, 29.1K followers on Instagram
• Joined Twitter in March 2009
• Run by the organization
• A brief scan of their most recent tweets show posts that contain tips on how to manage diabetes, promotions for their webinars and apps, and news articles relevant to diabetes awareness and treatments.
• Something innovative is their interaction with different diabetes focused accounts. Something I personally think they can do better is to include more primary sources of scientific articles.