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The Open Study: DICODI

About Milltons


Milltons, a research organisation for the relief of chronic patients, is located in Cambridge University Science Park (United Kingdom) and investigates innovative methods to ease pain and to delay and reduce health deterioration in patients living with chronic conditions. We have 10 years of experience in diabetic ophthalmology research and in the discovery of practical solutions, specifically in slowing down retinal neurodegeneration. We have 5 years of experience in chronic digestive complications.

Milltons has a patent-free, branding-free and value focused approach, meaning we will not promote specific products nor patent any of our findings.

We have partnered with Uppsala University to study digestive complications in Diabetes.

Digestive Complications


Over time, many people living with Diabetes will develop some chronic digestive complications. As most diabetes related complications, these are treated as isolated incidents.

We want to study these complications as a whole: how they impact each other and how they impact quality of life.

The research will help us discover earlier detections and better treatments.

We will study three complications that are currently managed as separate medical conditions:

  1. Diabetic Gastroparesis: A condition where the stomach looses some of its mechanical functions causing delayed gastric emptying.
  2. Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency (EPI): a condition where the pancreas is unable to produce sufficient digestive enzymes needed to appropriately digest the food.
  3. Celiac Disease: an autoimmune disease that is strongly correlated with diabetes type 1.

Our Approach


We will link the Digestive Complications together to see how impacting one affects the other and to discover earlier detection mechanisms.

Neurodegeneration


Neuropathies are common complications of long-lasting diabetes. The degeneration of nerve cells is typically triggered by low-grade inflammation that is constantly present in diabetes and can eventually lead to permanent damage. Such inflammation presents itself most typically as body pain (usually in the legs and feet), anxiety, mood disorders, gastrointestinal symptoms, changes in weight, fatigue or chronic infections. Nerve cells in the retina are among the first nerve cells to be lost. It is detectable just 3 months after the onset of diabetes and precedes diabetic Retinopathy.

Due to the varying speed of neurodegeneration in Diabetes in different areas of the body, the stages leading to various neuropathies are dealt with independently, meaning that the neuropathies themselves are managed separately from a medical perspective, rather than as interlinked complications.

Through our study, we want to establish a clear link between triggers, inflammation and neurodegeneration as a continuous process that leads to overall health deterioration.

Our Solution


Through conducting a large-scale study (5000+ patients), we will be able to zoom out and take a panoramic view of diabetic neurodegeneration. By using an online standardized vision test, we will measure retinal neurodegeneration, allowing for a tangible cause and effect, whereby the patient will experience for himself the impact of reducing inflammation on slowing down neurodegeneration.

We also want to assess if we can use Retinal Neurodegeneration as a bio-marker of digestive diabetic deteriorations, specifically for Diabetic Gastroparesis.

How It Works

  • Join Us: Provide a little information about your chronic condition.

  • Test: Access a series of medical checks and eye tests to monitor and track the current state or deterioration of your condition.

  • Treat & Test Again: Based on our findings, and the patient community´s wishes, we will offer earlier detection and prevention therapies for you to try. Test again to measure their effectiveness.

  • Record & Share: View your results in real-time and build a life-long record of your progress. Share with your doctor or researchers to help switch from current late detection and invasive treatment to early detection and prevention.

Contact


For Information about this study, please contact Dr. Ud-din at moeen.ud-din@medsci.uu.se