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Google Doodle Celebrates 125th Birthday Of Diabetes Treatment Pioneer Sir Frederick Banting

Google doodle celebrates 125th birthday of diabetes treatment pioneer Sir Frederick Banting

Google doodle celebrates 125th birthday of diabetes treatment pioneer Sir Frederick Banting

With its latest doodle, Google celebrates the 125th birthday of Sir Frederick Banting, who together with Charles Best, pioneered the use of insulin in the treatment of diabetes.
The doodle features a bottle of insulin in place of the second letter 'o' in Google and also an image of the digestive tract, which was key to Banting's theory that the pancreas' secretion held the key to the treatment of diabetes. World Diabetes Day coincides with Banting's birthday on 14 November.
According to the NobelPrize.org, Banting approached Professor John Macleod at the University of Toronto, on a possible way of treating diabetes. He proposed to ligate the pancreative ducts to stop the flow of nourishment to the pancreas.
This in turn would cause the pancreas to degenerate and stop it from secreting digestive juices, enabling the extraction of an anti-diabetic secretion from the pancreas.
Although he did not really think much of his theory, Macleod gave him a laboratory with minimum equipment and 10 dogs and an assistant, medical student Charles Best. When the tests proved successful, the experiment was expanded and the extract was named 'insulin'.
During the testing process, the team discovered that there was no need to shrink the pancreas and that they could use whole fresh pancreas from adult animals.
In late 1921, biochemist Bertram Collip joined the team, to try and purify the insulin so that it can be tested on humans. To kick start treatment on humans, Banting and Best became the guinea pigs, testing the purified insulin on themselves.
In January 1922, 14-year-old boy Leonard Thomp Continue reading

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Cure for Type 1 diabetes imminent after Harvard stem-cell breakthrough

Cure for Type 1 diabetes imminent after Harvard stem-cell breakthrough

A cure for diabetes could be imminent after scientists discovered how to make huge quantities of insulin-producing cells, in a breakthrough hailed as significant as antibiotics.
Harvard University has, for the first time, managed to manufacture the millions of beta cells required for transplantation.
It could mean the end of daily insulin injections for the 400,000 people in Britain living with Type 1 diabetes.
And it marks the culmination of 23-years of research for Harvard professor Doug Melton who has been trying to find a cure for the disease since his son Sam was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes as a baby.
“We are now just one pre-clinical step away from the finish line,” said Prof Melton.
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Asked about his children’s reaction he said: "I think like all kids, they always assumed that if I said I'd do this, I'd do it,
"It was gratifying to know that we can do something that we always thought was possible.”
The stem cell-derived beta cells are presently undergoing trials in animal models, including non-human primates, where they are still producing insulin after several months, Prof Melton said.
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune condition that causes the pancreas to stop producing Continue reading

Even If You're Lean, 1 Soda Per Day Ups Your Risk Of Type 2 Diabetes

Even If You're Lean, 1 Soda Per Day Ups Your Risk Of Type 2 Diabetes

It's true that being overweight or obese is a leading risk factor for developing Type 2 diabetes.
But attention, skinny and normal-weight people: You may be vulnerable, too.
Lots of lifestyle choices influence the risk of diabetes: everything from whether you smoke to how much you exercise (or don't). It turns out, what you choose to drink is also a risk factor.
A new study published in the British Medical Journal finds that people in the habit of drinking one sugar-sweetened beverage — such as a soda or sweetened tea — every day had an 18 percent increased risk of developing the disease over a decade. That's compared with people who steer clear of sugary beverages.
The researchers reached this estimate by pooling data from 17 previously published studies that had evaluated the link between sugary drinks and diabetes risk.
And here's what upends conventional thinking: After the researchers adjusted their estimates for body weight, they found that — even for thin or normal-weight people — one sugary drink per day was associated with a 13 percent increased risk.
"So even if people are lean, if they continue consuming sugar-sweetened beverages, they have a greater likelihood of developing Type 2 diabetes," study author Fumiaki Imamura, of the University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine, told us.
The studies he looked at were observational, so they can't prove cause and effect. But the link between sugary drinks and diabetes is solid, since researchers say they understand the biological mechanisms of how too much sugar can overwork the endocrine system.
As we've Continue reading

Sugary drinks may cause type 2 diabetes regardless of size, research says

Sugary drinks may cause type 2 diabetes regardless of size, research says

Sugar-sweetened drinks such as colas and lemonades may play a part in the alarming rise of type 2 diabetes in the UK and the US, according to new research – regardless of whether people are obese or not.
Researchers from Cambridge University said they also found a link, albeit weak, between type 2 diabetes and people who drink fruit juices or “diet” drinks containing artificial sweeteners. These are not a good substitute for sugar-sweetened drinks, they say. “Unsweetened coffee and tea or water may be the healthy option,” said Fumiaki Imamura, from the Medical Research Council epidemiology unit at the University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine.
The paper follows the final recommendations of the government’s scientific advisory committee on nutrition (SACN), which on Friday urged a cut in added sugar consumption to no more than 5% of a person’s diet. In particular, the independent advisers said, people should cut down on the amount of sugar-sweetened fizzy drinks, soft drinks and squash they consume.
The Cambridge team, who have published their research in the British Medical Journal, say they cannot prove that too many sweetened drinks causes type 2 diabetes from the evidence they were able to gather. But, if one assumes causality, “the current consumption of sugar sweetened beverages was estimated to cause approximately 2m excess events of type 2 diabetes in the USA and 80,000 in the UK over 10 years. This could cost nearly £12bn in the USA and £206m in the UK,” they write.
Links between obesity and type 2 diabetes are largely accepted. The res Continue reading

Chemical Found In Ayahuasca May Be Able To Completely Reverse Diabetes

Chemical Found In Ayahuasca May Be Able To Completely Reverse Diabetes

Diabetes currently affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide. In America alone, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that number to be approximately 20 million. Potential cures and methods to reverse the disease are showing some promising results, and one of them is a chemical that’s commonly found in a number of plants around the world. It’s also a main ingredient in the psychoactive mixture commonly known as ayahuasca.
Diabetes is an autoimmune disease that prevents a person’s pancreas from producing insulin, which is a hormone that enables people to receive energy from their food. This occurs when the body’s immune system attacks and destroys the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas, which are called beta cells. Apparently, the cause is not well understood, but scientists believe that genetic and environmental factors play a role. Modern day mainstream science tells us that there are no cures.
Again, types 1 and 2 diabetes affect some 380 million people worldwide. Both ultimately result from a deficiency of functional pancreatic insulin-producing beta cells, which is where this chemical is showing the most promising results.
New research published in the journal Nature Medicine – a study led by researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, funded by JDRF and the National Institutes of Health – found that:
“Using three different mouse and human islet in vivo–based models, we show that harmine is able to induce beta cell proliferation, increase islet mass and improve glycemic control. These observations sugg Continue reading

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