The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), founded by parents of children with type 1 diabetes, is the worlds largest provider of charity-based funding for type 1 diabetes research. Other charities include the American Diabetes Association, Diabetes UK, Diabetes Research and Wellness Foundation, Diabetes Australia, the Canadian Diabetes Association. A number of approaches have been explored to understand causes and provide treatments for type 1. Prevention
Type 1 diabetes is not currently preventable. Several trials have attempted dietary interventions with the hope of reducing the autoimmunity that leads to type 1 diabetes. Trials that withheld cows milk or gave infants formula free of bovine insulin decreased the development of β-cell-targeted antibodies, but did not prevent the development of type 1 diabetes. Similarly, trials that gave high-risk individuals injected insulin, oral insulin, or nicotinamide did not prevent diabetes development.Other research has focused on treating high-risk individuals with immunosuppressive agents to prevent beta cell destruction. Large trials of cyclosporine treatment suggested that cyclosporine could improve insulin secretion in those recently diagnosed with type 1 diabetes; however, people who stopped taking cyclosporine rapidly stopped making insulin, and cyclosporines kidney toxicity and increased risk of cancer prevented people from using it long-term. Several other immunosuppressive agents – prednisone, azathioprine, anti-thymocyte globulin, mycophenolate, and antibodies against CD20 and IL2 receptor α – have been the subject of research, but none have provided lasting protection from development of type 1 diabetes.
Although the emotional numbing component was excluded in the DSM-5 criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder, research has shown that when studying mothers who have been exposed to trauma, emotional numbing is more predictive of parenting stress than other posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms. Although this assessment shows strong reliability (Cronbachs alpha = 0.92), and participants from the pilot study found the measure to be easy to understand, this assessment is still not used in clinical or medical settings as often as it is used in research settings. The researchers that have utilized the CTSB have been able to identify various limitations with the pilot study, including the lack of diversity in the sample demographic characteristics (93% White postpartum women) as well as the self-report nature of the assessment which could lead to underreporting of symptoms. Another assessment that has also been used in research more often than in clinical or medical settings is the Perinatal Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Questionnaire (PPQ), which has since been modified into the Perinatal Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Questionnaire-II (PPQ-II), with the modified version being a 14-item scale which does not address all the necessary diagnostic criteria. Further research and development are needed to create a more accurate assessments and screening tools that can differentiate among posttraumatic stress disorders, postpartum/childbirth-related posttraumatic stress disorder, and postpartum depression so that the most adequate treatment interventions and options can be implemented as quickly as possible.