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Drug Protects Kidneys, Heart in Diabetic Patients

This Jan. 3, 2009, file photo shows a person with diabetes testing his blood sugar level in Kamen, Germany. (AP)
This Jan. 3, 2009, file photo shows a person with diabetes testing his blood sugar level in Kamen, Germany. (AP)
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Drug Protects Kidneys, Heart in Diabetic Patients

This Jan. 3, 2009, file photo shows a person with diabetes testing his blood sugar level in Kamen, Germany. (AP)
This Jan. 3, 2009, file photo shows a person with diabetes testing his blood sugar level in Kamen, Germany. (AP)

A recent Canadian study has found that a drug prescribed to treat heart failure could protect kidney and heart health in individuals with type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease.

Results from the study were presented on November 4, at ASN Kidney Week 2023 organized by the American Society of Nephrology, in Philadelphia.

The study of a drug named “Sotagliflozin”, which has been approved by the FDA in May as a heart failure treatment, also involved non-diabetic patients.

Sotagliflozin is a Sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitor, which lowers blood sugar by inhibiting glucose absorption in the kidneys, and can also be used to treat type 2 diabetes.

Researchers have found that these drugs provide kidney- and heart-related benefits to patients with and without diabetes.

During the study, the research team observed 10,584 patients with type 2 diabetes, chronic kidney disease and cardiovascular factors to receive sotagliflozin or placebo.

Over a median follow-up of 16 months, the researchers found sotagliflozin reduced the risk of glomerular filtration by 50 percent, and dialysis or kidney transplant by 38 percent.

They also found that compared to placebo, sotagliflozin reduced the risk of heart and kidney problems, as well as cardiovascular diseases-related deaths by 23 percent.

“These effects add to the already reported benefits of sotagliflozin in reducing both heart failure and ischemic events such as myocardial infarction or stroke,” said corresponding author David Cherney of the University of Toronto.

“Sotagliflozin is now FDA approved to reduce the risk of cardiovascular death and heart failure events with a broad label that includes patients with heart failure or chronic kidney disease, so the drug is now an option for nephrologists and cardiologists, as well as primary care physicians, to prescribe,” he told the York Alert website.

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Snowy Owl Rescued from Car Grille by Minnesota Woman

A snowy owl rests at Annabell Whelan's home after being recovered from the grille of a car in northeastern Minnesota on Monday, Dec. 23, 2024, and before she was taken to a wildlife rescue. (AP via Annabell Whelan)
A snowy owl rests at Annabell Whelan's home after being recovered from the grille of a car in northeastern Minnesota on Monday, Dec. 23, 2024, and before she was taken to a wildlife rescue. (AP via Annabell Whelan)
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Snowy Owl Rescued from Car Grille by Minnesota Woman

A snowy owl rests at Annabell Whelan's home after being recovered from the grille of a car in northeastern Minnesota on Monday, Dec. 23, 2024, and before she was taken to a wildlife rescue. (AP via Annabell Whelan)
A snowy owl rests at Annabell Whelan's home after being recovered from the grille of a car in northeastern Minnesota on Monday, Dec. 23, 2024, and before she was taken to a wildlife rescue. (AP via Annabell Whelan)

Annabell Whelan woke up Tuesday and frantically checked on her holiday overnight guest — Nowl the snowy owl, who she rescued from the grille of a car the day before.

Whelan was out with her boyfriend's family Monday in Duluth, Minnesota, when she saw the owl “just hanging out there, literally" after car and bird had collided, she told The Associated Press. The car's owner had already called for help, but the animal rescue organization that the bird needed was closed — so Whelan stepped in, not for the first time that day.

Earlier Monday, Whelan found an injured great gray owl on the ground further north in Two Harbors, Minnesota. Experts at Wildwoods, a Duluth-based wildlife rehabilitation center, told her how to safely catch the bird.

“I definitely thought that I had had my fix of owls with the first one," said Whelan, 22, a Lake Superior Zoo guest experience manager who graduated earlier this year with a biology and environmental science degree, The AP reported.

“I could tell he was having a hard time with one of his eyes," she said. “I kind of took my time and just sat there with him and talked quietly and was just kind of trying to coax him to trust me a little bit.”

Whelan scooped the owl up in a blanket, transferred him to a dog crate in the car and dropped the great gray owl off at Wildwoods. He was sent along with another animal to the University of Minnesota's Raptor Center in St. Paul.

But the snowy owl she found hours later was in a much scarier situation, she said.

“It was obviously a lot more trauma," she said.

Since Wildwoods had already closed for the night, Whelan wrapped Nowl in a blanket and crated her overnight in a dark, quiet room in her home — keeping her and her cousin's curious cats and dog at bay. She named her Nowl, a play on noel.

“I tried to prepare myself in case I woke up in the morning and she didn't make it through the night,” Whelan said. But she said she cried happy tears when she saw Nowl moving and awake, bringing her to Wildwoods that morning.

Nowl “is quite beaten up," Wildwoods posted on Facebook Tuesday after examining the bird. “We applied a wing wrap, gave her meds, and coordinated with The Raptor Center to get her down to them.”

The rescue said people should slow down, stay alert, and call for help when they see an injured animal. The animals are terrified of people and should be quickly moved to a quiet, safe space where they can be left alone until professionals can step in, the rescue said.