pancreas
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Stem cell breakthrough could help cure type 1 diabetes
Scientists have edged one step closer to a major treatment for (and possibly cure for) type 1 diabetes. A UCSF team has claimed it's the first to turn human stem cells into the mature, insulin-producing cells that type 1 patients don't have. The key was to acknowledge a reality in the development of islets, or clusters of healthy beta cells (which generate insulin) in the pancreas. They separated partly differentiated pancreatic stem cells into islets, jumpstarting their development and leading to responses to blood sugar that more closely represented mature cells. Even alpha and delta cells grew more effectively, UCSF said.
Artificial pancreas uses your phone to counter diabetes
If you live with type 1 diabetes, you have to constantly keep track of your blood sugar levels and give yourself just the right amount of insulin. It's arduous, and more than a little frightening when you know that the wrong dose could have serious consequences. However, researchers might have a way to let diabetics focus on their everyday lives instead of pumps and needles. They've successfully trialed an artificial pancreas system that uses an algorithm on a smartphone to automatically deliver appropriate levels of insulin. The mobile software tells the 'organ' (really an insulin pump and glucose monitor) to regulate glucose levels based on criteria like activity, meals and sleep, and it refines its insulin control over time by learning from daily cycles. Effectively, it's trying to behave more like the pancreas of a person without diabetes.
FDA approves first automated insulin system for type 1 diabetes
For diabetes patients, managing blood sugar levels through insulin pens, needles or pumps is a necessary hassle -- but it might be far easier to handle going forward. The US Food and Drug Administration has approved the first automated insulated delivery device for type 1 diabetes, Medtronic's MiniMed 670G. The gadget uses a sensor to detect glucose levels under your skin every 5 minutes, and supplies just enough insulin to keep your blood sugar stable. While you do have to trigger a manual insulin dose after meals, you generally won't have to be as involved in the process as before.
Artificial pancreas developed, twice as cool as your boring real one
We've never really found much use for our pancreas. It doesn't comes up in conversation, and tends to be a bit of a non-entity when it comes to our social life. Still, some people have a bit more trouble with their pancreai, and for those folks the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation is working on an artificial pancreas to do the job. It's based around existing technology for monitoring and moderating blood sugar levels, but "closes the loop," scratching out human error by feeding monitoring data, computer predictions and insulin injections into one system that doesn't require human intervention. To start out, the foundation plans on creating a product aimed at regulating blood-sugar overnight, and then from there move on to a 'round the clock device.[Via Protein Feed]
