Posted on 05/12/2008 10:46:04 AM PDT by Havok
PRICK FINGER. Test blood. Inject insulin. For millions of people around the world, this painful and tedious cycle is all that stands between relative health and the ravages of diabetes, a disease known to cause blindness, kidney failure, and death. Joseph P. Kennedy hopes that a specially coated metal tube, no larger than a cigarette, will someday put an end to all that.
diabetic research ping
On the other hand the pig trick looks good.
Yes, I did see an article (from last year) that said that. The problem, of course, is in getting the beta cells. The docs apparently have an old saying, "don't touch the pancreas." So you've got to get them someplace else.
I'm thinking/hoping that the partnership between JDRF and the biotech company is more than just exploratory research; but rather a program actually to create beta-type cells (if not true beta cells) from some other source.
Stuffed with pancreatic cells, it doesn't take all that much, the "plastic" does the same thing, being a barrier to the immune system rejecting the cells, while allowing everything else - nutrients, waste, glucose, insulin to pass.
You have to start somewhere...
Who makes it?? I'm not aware of ANY glucose sensor that actually works "long-term".
Correct. The pancreas is the "Swiss Army Knife" of internal organs (and also a pretty good argument AGAINST intelligent design).
Perfecting An Artificial Pancreas
Use the link and check the original article. Only the first paragraph was posted initially.
You’ll have to look it up.
I follow the sensor development area of technology pretty regularly, and am not aware of a successful glucose sensor, which is why I asked for a name, so I "could" look it up. Without some narrowing term, searching "glucose sensor" is a waste of time.
my daughter had hers removed in 2004. No whipple, not just the head or the tail - the whole enchilada. Of course she is insulin dependent and takes pancreatic enzymes for digestion. She certainly has more issues to deal with than others but she attends college full time and holds down a part time job. She is a living miracle. By the way, her grandmother is still not sure you can live without a pancrease.
Your statement “that makes it an excellent argument against Intelligent Design” makes NO sense to me.
Have you never heard of entropy? Complex systems do not suddenly appear of their own volition, and these same systems do not become more complex without external influence; they slow down and fail. Every time. (Government being the sole exception < BG >).
I’m don’t have a dog in the ID fight, but I found your statement totally dissonant WRT the logical process, and jarringly insulting to people who might dare to think differently from you.
Nevertheless, you are quite correct in the utility of the pancreas, from my long ago biology and anatomy courses. Pity I never used them, but I found other things to do that I like better.
“I follow the sensor development area of technology pretty regularly, and am not aware of a successful glucose sensor, which is why I asked for a name, so I “could” look it up. Without some narrowing term, searching “glucose sensor” is a waste of time”
You are lucky, I usually don’t play fetch. The very first google hit for; glucose pump sensor.
http://www.minimed.com/products/insulinpumps/
Next time, remember google is your friend.
PARC FORUM *this week*: Thursday May 15, 4:00 - 5:00 pm, George E. Pake Auditorium at Palo Alto Research Center (www.parc.com/directions)
TITLE: "The Near-Term Approach to the Artificial Pancreas"
SPEAKER: Geoff McGarraugh, Abbott Diabetes Care,
ABSTRACT: The components to create an artificial pancreas for the treatment of diabetes exist today. The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, the leading charitable funder of diabetes research, has initiated an effort to coordinate industry, clinicians, academics and the FDA to hasten the development of a commercial artificial pancreas. The seminar will outline the challenges of treating diabetes and the promising improvements an artificial pancreas could bring. The components for creating the artificial pancreas – the insulin(s), the insulin pump, and the continuous glucose monitor - will be reviewed with particular emphasis on their strengths and limitations. The approaches to the development of the last component – the controller – will be described, and the some early clinical studies of the control algorithms will be reviewed.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER: Geoffrey McGarraugh is the Directory of Chemistry at Abbot Diabetes Care which acquired TheraSense Inc where he led development of the FreeStyle (tm) Blood Glucose Monitor and the Navigator (tm) Continuos Glucose Monitoring system. He has worked on many seminal glucose monitoring projects from feasibility to commercialization. He has twenty-nine US and international patents in the field of glucose monitoring. He previously worked at LifeScan, A Johnson & Johnson Company where he co-invented the One Touch (tm) Blood Glucose Monitor, the first glucose monitor that eliminated user technique. He has an M.S. in Chemistry from University of California, Santa Cruz and a B.S. from University of California, Los Angeles.
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Yeah. It doesn't shut down production when a gall stone blocks the pancreatic duct (How can that happen? BAD design!)
There is something especially attention demanding about it swelling up with powerful digestive enzymes then exploding like an over-filled water-balloon, dumping them into ones gut...
How I wish there were pancreas transplants available. Is there a reason this hasn’t been done?
The reason the pancreas is an excellent argument against "intelligent design" is that it is such a BAD design. It's more a kludge.
You can spare the sarcasm. I "did" a Google search using "glucose sensor", and the MiniMed was one of the things that turned up. But without the specific background you have, I had no way to distinguish it from the several thousand OTHER "glucose sensor" hits that also showed up.
And frankly, I don't consider a sensor you have to change every three days and requires a confirmatory finger stick to verify its readings before taking action to be very practical.
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