Kyle
Current Event Posting #2
A period Sanderson
3/4/12
Topic:Artificial Pancreas gives girl vacation from diabetes (Health)
Published by: CNN
Date published: Sunday, March 4, 2012
Original Article Author: Elizabeth Cohen
The Benefits of an artificial pancreas
Recently on CNN, an article was published about how diabetics have to live and how we have recently invented an "artificial pancreas regulator" that can help their current, damaged one. Many diabetics find that their bodies are no longer producing insulin at the proper levels, and cannot regulate their blood levels efficiently. As such, their bodies start to weaken and they will often slip into unconsciousness at low blood sugar levels (which is extremely dangerous in children). This prevents many of these diabetes-diagnosed people from participating in normal activities that most people can participate in, depending on the severity of their condition.
The pancreas regulator releases insulin or glucagon according to the patient's intake, and they make the lives of these children much easier. Also, it is usable by adults and children, so there is no problem there. Especially in young people, the fact that they have to monitor their blood-sugar levels all on their own at school or when they are out worries many of their parents. They are worried that if they do pass out, people won't know what to do or how to help raise their blood sugar level. As a result, scientists came up with a medical device that records a persons blood sugar level automatically (without testing with blood strips) and adjusts the insulin accordingly. Many medical companies are attempting to sell this product commercially, but it is very expensive to make so they are not very common yet. The medical companies are striving towards marketing this publicly, and they have started putting their product on infomercials online. Now, patients have no trouble with insulin and glucagon regulation in their bodies, since this device has literally acted as a watch. Many younger children have also been supplied with this device in hopes of testing out and releasing this product in a much larger scale.
The pancreas regulator releases insulin or glucagon according to the patient's intake, and they make the lives of these children much easier. Also, it is usable by adults and children, so there is no problem there. Especially in young people, the fact that they have to monitor their blood-sugar levels all on their own at school or when they are out worries many of their parents. They are worried that if they do pass out, people won't know what to do or how to help raise their blood sugar level. As a result, scientists came up with a medical device that records a persons blood sugar level automatically (without testing with blood strips) and adjusts the insulin accordingly. Many medical companies are attempting to sell this product commercially, but it is very expensive to make so they are not very common yet. The medical companies are striving towards marketing this publicly, and they have started putting their product on infomercials online. Now, patients have no trouble with insulin and glucagon regulation in their bodies, since this device has literally acted as a watch. Many younger children have also been supplied with this device in hopes of testing out and releasing this product in a much larger scale.
Considering how quickly and easily this device helps regulate insulin levels in diabetes patients, it could be very promising to put research into how to improve its efficiency and production so that it could be circulated amongst all those that need them. The set up involves fitting the patient, plugging it, and hooking it up into a device the size of a small cell phone! Also, the patients can finally eat in huge quantities, since the machine will notice that the blood sugar levels are spiking and instantly input huge amounts of insulin to compensate for it.
In my opinion, I think that what scientists are doing for those out there that need help displays how progressive our society is. We depend on quickly adapting to any situation that we need to adapt to, and we are quite resilient when we do so. This machine will absolutely revolutionize how diabetes patients are treated in the future, and are very pragmatic in allowing them to live very normal lives.
In my opinion, I think that what scientists are doing for those out there that need help displays how progressive our society is. We depend on quickly adapting to any situation that we need to adapt to, and we are quite resilient when we do so. This machine will absolutely revolutionize how diabetes patients are treated in the future, and are very pragmatic in allowing them to live very normal lives.
Article Link:
http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/04/health/artificial-pancreas/index.html?npt=NP1
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