{"id":31168,"date":"2014-06-16T13:12:05","date_gmt":"2014-06-16T17:12:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=31168"},"modified":"2014-11-13T16:28:29","modified_gmt":"2014-11-13T20:28:29","slug":"boonshoft-school-of-medicine-students-discovering-new-ways-to-help-diabetic-patients","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2014\/06\/16\/boonshoft-school-of-medicine-students-discovering-new-ways-to-help-diabetic-patients\/","title":{"rendered":"Boonshoft School of Medicine students discovering new ways to help diabetic patients"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Department<\/a>

Associate professor Khalid Elased (left), M.S. student Laale Alawi and assistant professor Nadja Grobe are among those in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology conducting important diabetes research.\u00a0<\/p><\/div>\n

Master\u2019s degree students in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology<\/a> at the Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine are making discoveries that have the potential to save limbs and reduce kidney failure in diabetes patients.<\/p>\n

Led by Khalid Elased, Pharm.D., Ph.D., associate professor, and Nadja Grobe, Ph.D., a research assistant professor, several master\u2019s students in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology have published their findings in well-known journals, including the American Journal of Physiology Renal Physiology<\/em>, PLOS ONE<\/em> and Experimental Physiology<\/em>, as first authors or co-authors. They also have presented their research results at national conferences such as the American Diabetes Association, American Heart Association, American Society of Nephrology and the European Society for the Study of Diabetes.<\/p>\n

Their research focuses on the mechanisms of cardiovascular and renal, or kidney, complications of diabetes. They have found a urinary biomarker, which is far more reliable than the currently practiced method of finding protein in the urine to identify diabetes. They also have found that exercise and diet play a key role in resolving diabetes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen people are diagnosed with diabetes, physicians tell their patients to exercise and diet,\u201d Elased said. \u201cHowever, many patients do not follow through with exercise and diet.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a result, patients end up taking medicine to help with diabetes. While the medicine helps with the diabetes, it also can cause the patient to gain weight.<\/p>\n

Elased and his students found that exercise is as good as medication. He said that through exercise, the blood glucose level and kidney function become normal. The urinary biomarker shows that the threat of diabetes has significantly decreased.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe miracle of exercise has been proven,\u201d he said. \u201cEven if you don\u2019t lose weight at the gym, you are still doing good things metabolically.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grobe has been instrumental in training the students in Elased\u2019s lab. She has been assisting Elased and the students to set up, plan and conduct experiments. The lab has used a sophisticated way of analyzing urine samples through mass spectrometry, an analytical technique that identifies molecules present in solids, liquids and gases.<\/p>\n

The students analyzed urine samples from healthy, diabetic and treated diabetic mice. They identified a protein that is only excreted in those who have diabetic kidney disease or will eventually develop kidney problems.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe students\u2019 findings may lead to the discovery of new noninvasive markers for diabetic kidney disease,\u201d Grobe said. \u201cInvasive biopsy samplings may be avoided.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hari Somineni, one of Elased\u2019s master\u2019s students, graduated in April 2013 and defended his thesis in May 2013. His first author paper, \u201cDaily exercise training protects against albuminuria and ACE2 shedding in db\/db diabetic mice,\u201d was published in February 2014 in the Journal of Endocrinology, which focuses on endocrine physiology and metabolism. He also was a co-author of a paper, \u201cRosiglitazone treatment of type 2 diabetic db\/db mice attenuates urinary albumin and angiotensin converting enzyme 2 excretion,\u201d in PLOS ONE, an international, peer-reviewed, open-access, online publication.<\/p>\n

Somineni, who is now a research assistant at Cincinnati Children\u2019s Hospital, also discussed his research at the American Heart Association and the American Diabetes Association annual meetings.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe discovered that physical exercise training is effective in improving type 2 diabetes and associated complications, with no compromising side effects,\u201d Somineni said. \u201cPhysical training programs should be widely adopted into the medical care system.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally from India, Somineni came to the United States to pursue a career in science. \u201cMy experience at Wright State gave me the confidence to do significant research,\u201d he said. \u201cBy working alongside others who share the same goals as me, we will make a difference in the lives of many patients.\u201d<\/p>\n

Laale Alawi is a current student in the master\u2019s program. Originally from Saudi Arabia, she did not know much about research laboratory techniques when she arrived. Elased, Grobe and students like Somineni inspired and encouraged her.<\/p>\n

She also is researching urinary biomarkers for kidney diseases in type 2 diabetes and hypertension, or high blood pressure. Alawi is working on two papers for publication in research journals.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really love this experience,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m trying to use every minute to learn more and more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like many other students, Alawi views Elased as more than a professor. He is a mentor. \u201cDr. Elased is patient and inspiring,\u201d said Alawi, who would like to work in a research laboratory after she graduates in the fall of 2014. \u201cHe believes in me and encourages me in my research.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Graduate students in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology are making discoveries that may save limbs and reduce kidney failure in diabetes patients. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":31173,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[722,2023,2060,725,4265,2016,715,2132,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-faculty","category-graduate","category-home-news-sidebar","category-research-medicine","category-medicine","category-news","category-pharmacology-and-toxicology","category-research"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31168"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31168\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34284,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31168\/revisions\/34284"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}