text_1: Development of a wearable medical device for type 2 diabetes
text_2: This release describes research published in Nature Scientific Reports involving mild electric stimulation (MES) and heat shock via a belt-type medical device to promote visceral fat loss and improve blood glucose in patients with obesity and Type 2 diabetes. The research highlighted is the next chapter in what has been a multi-year effort on the part of the investigators to develop a new approach to the treatment of Type 2 diabetes. The researchers’ previous work in animals and now in a small cohort of people with Type 2 diabetes is not well represented in the release. There’s no clear discussion of how the device works. [Editor’s note: This review was revised to reflect that a funding source was included, but in an easily overlooked sidebar on its EurekAlert! entry. We encourage news release authors to include funders in the text of the release as well so that when the release is picked up and republished, the funding information is included.] Type 2 diabetes has reached epidemic proportions in the United States and in the developed world. Present treatments include lifestyle changes, drugs and for those with morbid obesity, surgery. A new approach to its treatment focusing on heat shock proteins has been in the making for a number of years. The development of a low impact and wearable device that could reduce blood sugar levels and prevent the consequences of long term Type 2 diabetes would be a welcome step forward. Only additional research, however, will demonstrate whether the device described in this release will live up to the expectations of the investigators.