Posted on 08/26/2008 2:28:48 PM PDT by fightinJAG
ScienceDaily (Aug. 26, 2008) — Terminally ill rodents with type 1 diabetes have been restored to full health with a single injection of a substance other than insulin by scientists at UT Southwestern Medical Center.
Since the discovery of insulin in 1922, type 1 diabetes (insulin-dependent diabetes) in humans has been treated by injecting insulin to lower high blood sugar levels and prevent diabetic coma.
New findings by UT Southwestern researchers, which appear online and in a future issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggest that insulin isn't the only agent that is effective. Leptin, a hormone produced by the body's fat cells, also lowers blood glucose levels and maintains them in a normal range for extended periods, they found.
"The fact that these animals don't die and are restored to normal health despite a total lack of insulin is hard for many researchers and clinicians to believe," said Dr. Roger Unger, professor of internal medicine and senior author of the study. "Many scientists, including us, thought it would be a waste of time to give leptin in the absence of insulin.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencedaily.com ...
I’ve always known type 2’s who have to resort to insulin as insulin dependant type 2’s, that is what my endo’s call them and as far as I know is the proper term for it. You can’t automatically go from having type 2 to the rarer form of type 1 just because you have to start taking insulin because of the difference in the cause of the illness.
I should have read the whole article first. This is gene therapy, but they don’t elaborate about it.
Leptin, a hormone produced by the body's fat cells, also lowers blood glucose levels and maintains them in a normal range for extended periods, they found.I guess I won't have to worry for a loooooong time...
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the point you are making.
For all the gobs or research going on and being reported piecemeal around the world, I wonder if there is anyone, anywhere, using any kind of systematic process to attempt to “connect the dots.”
It seems one could make a career out of professionally analysing research findings in relationship to each other.
ping
There are people who produce insulin, but not enough. At the same time their cells metabolize it without any problem.
In some cases newly diagnosed Type II diabetics are put on insulin just to run down very high and very dangerous blood sugar levels.
It's not the same thing I'm talking about.
Many of the folks with insufficient insulin production frequently discover their beta cells quit producing any insulin at all and just die.
Yes I know that but you missed my point about “cause” type 2 is caused by age, life style, or a combination of the two. Type 1 is caused by autoimmune responses,heredity, or possibly even viruses. The same thing can end up happening especailly if the type 2 doesn’t stay on their diet and they continue to tax the insulin producing cells but that doesn’t mean that the type of diabetes they have changes. They are still type 2’s who are now insulin dependant.
You can track the "types" and "varieties" of diabetes presented back through the generations quite readily.
The whole syndrome is "hereditary", that is "genetic".
Pima Indians show Type II immediatey on their first consumption of sweet potatoes. Their relatives to the South in Mexico never eat high carb foods and never show symptoms unless they come North and eat high carb foods.
Why would I be disappointed? I’ve been a type 1 since I was very young and have lived with it for nearly 40 years now. I’ve studied the dieases extensively. Nothing you will say will surprise me except for thinking that a type 2 can turn into a type one and some of the other things you’ve said that just aren’t true. While they think tendencies toward type 2 might run in familes up to this date it has not been proven. I don’t want to fight but I also don’t want people misinformed about it either. :)
Time to get up to date on the whole picture.
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