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The blockbuster weight loss drug semaglutide can cut the progression of diabetic kidney disease, according to its manufacturer Novo Nordisk, adding to growing evidence that the medication has beneficial effects beyond treating Type 2 Diabetes and obesity.

Semaglutide — which is marketed under the name Ozempic for diabetes treatment and Wegovy for weight loss — managed to also reduce death from kidney disease and cardiovascular issues by 24 percent versus a placebo.

The results came from a Novo Nordisk clinical trial that had 3,533 participants with both diabetes and chronic kidney disease. High blood sugar from diabetes can damage kidneys and ultimately lead to chronic kidney disease, in which the organ has trouble filtering toxins from the blood.

Year 2023 face_with_colon_three

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More than half a billion people worldwide are affected by type 2 diabetes, and yet researchers still don’t know what’s behind the condition’s breakdown in insulin functionality.

Researchers from Case Western Reserve University in the US have now pulled back the molecular curtain and figured out why insulin, the hormone that maintains stable blood sugar, often stops working at its full effect.

The principal investigator, Jonathan Stamler, is widely acclaimed for the discovery of S-nitrosylation, which is the process that turns nitric oxide (NO) into a ubiquitous messenger molecule capable of sharing information between cells. It’s kind of like putting a stamp on a letter.