Insulin Smart Patch, A Revolution

Type 1 diabetes is caused by the pancreas not being able to produce insulin which regulates the levels of glucose in the blood (Bennett 17). People who struggle with this condition need insulin shots several times today to ensure their blood sugar remains in a healthy range. This often times is a burden on the diabetic's daily lifestyle. If unchecked, diabetes can cause severe weight loss, overwhelming tiredness, increased thirst and hunger, and excessive urination. Scientists and doctors have been seeking for ways to help diabetic's cope with this illness. After years of researching and testing, they have begun developing a method to help alleviate the problems of diabetes. This new method, islet cell transplantation,

The American Diabetes Association (2004) defines diabetes as a subset of metabolic diseases associated with hyperglycemia secondary to insulin failing to release, act, or both. Complications related to chronic diabetes can be detrimental to one’s health including but not limited to: heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, amputations, blindness, and other optical diseases. Furthermore, the prevalence of diabetes is rising at an astronomical rate within the United States as well as internationally. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2016) an estimated 29 million people suffer with diabetes and 86 million are prediabetic within the United States (US). Without major interventions from the healthcare community,

new medical advancements in diabetes that are capable of making life easier for patients. This is

Insulin is an anabolic and anticatabolic hormone made by beta cell in the pancreas. It plays major roles in diabetes mellitus treatment. Insulin treatment is usually offered as subcutaneous injections with syringes, insulin pens or an insulin pump. New technique for the delivery of insulin continue to be discovered, including oral, transdermal, and inhalation delivery.1

There are over three million Americans that have already been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, and another 15,000 children and 15,000 adults being diagnosed each year. Although frequently overshadowed by the better known type 2 diabetes, type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease that is not caused by “being fat” or “eating unhealthy” as many would ignorantly infer. Type 1 diabetes, however, is caused by the attacking of the immune system on the pancreas, denying it the ability to carry out its most important function, producing insulin to help control one’s blood glucose levels. For over a decade now, biomedical engineers, scientists, and doctors have been working diligently and effectively on creating a closed-loop

In conjunction with the advancement in recombinant DNA technology, various insulin analogues have been produced which exhibit similar pharmacodynamics effects but modified pharmacokinetic properties. Insulin lispro, insulin aspart and insulin glulisine are the examples of rapid-acting insulin analogs which are commercially available in the clinical settings. Due to the reason of rapid onset and early peak action which closely mimic normal endogenous prandial insulin secretion as compared to regular insulin, rapid-acting insulins allow more physiologic prandial insulin replacement. On top of that, rapid-acting insulins permit to be taken immediately before the meal without sacrificing glucose

Oral insulin would therefore be the best way to treat diabetic patients. Oral insulin replicates the precise physiologic pathway from portal vein into the liver as it is absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract, contrary to insulin injections which are absorbed in the systemic circulation and in the muscles (Arbit, 2009). This allows oral insulin to achieve a high porto-systemic gradient. This methodology of insulin absorption involves direct engagement of the liver, and its role in glucose metabolism is accentuated, leading to beneficial metabolic effects for diabetic patients. These effects include hyperinsulinemia (excess levels of insulin in the blood) reduction, prevention of weight gain associated with systemic insulin therapy, and reduction

Insulin was discovered by Banton and Best in 1922 (Nobelprize, 2009). Even though insulin cannot cure the diabetes, still one of the major discoveries in science. Lot of people with diabetes type 1 were saved from death. Moreover, with the regular use of their insulin, they could live a practically ordinary life. Insulin used to be gained only from non-human sources, example pigs and cows. Due to its origin, it was not entirely pure therefore the long term use may can cause damage in the body as it form immunological reactions by the immune system. The immune-system detects and identifies this non-human insulin as foreign particle and destroy it with antibodies. Nowadays, the advanced DNA technology has made available the human insulin for

The advancement in diabetes technologies, and treatments over the past 100 years has been astounding! There have been many new ways to treat diabetes, each one more promising than the last! From syringes to bionic pancreases the future for diabetes care is very promising.

Diabetes is one of the most common non-communicable diseases in the world with currently 347 million people living with the condition and was the direct cause of approximately 1.5 million deaths in 2012 (WHO). It is a condition that occurs when the body cannot provide enough insulin or cannot use the insulin that is produced effectively. Insulin is what allows glucose to enter the body’s cells for energy so without it, too much glucose stays in the blood stream. The insulin is what regulates blood sugar and without it, it can cause damage to the body. There are two types of diabetes, Type 1 is caused when the pancreas cannot produce insulin and is less common in diabetic patients. Type 2 diabetes (NIDDM) is caused when the body does not

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), also known as non-insulin dependent DM, is a chronic metabolic disorder characterized by certain symptoms such as hyperglycemia, insulin resistance, and relative insulin deficiency [1]. Genetic, environmental and behavioural risk factors are considered responsible for the predisposition of T2DM [2]. With the progression of this disease, the patient eventually develops various short- and long-term complications. Thus, the patient has to undergo multiple therapies, which reduces the quality of life as well as the life expectancy [3]. The demographic data suggests that more than 400 million of population, across the globe are currently suffering from this disease. In 2012, the death toll is upto 1.5 million due to T2DM and 2.2 million people died due to high blood glucose level [4]. The major problem with this disease is that it cannot be completely cured, but the symptoms and complications can be controlled with diet, exercise, medicines and health monitoring. This subsequently lands the patient on lifetime medication that involves a huge cost. In 2012, the American Diabetes Association released a letter suggesting an annual expenditure of $245 billion for diabetes, which includes a direct medical cost of $176 billion and $69 billion in reduced productivity [5]. In order to avoid and delay the short- and long term complications, the patients are prescribed with multiple treatment modalities such as oral hypoglycemic drugs and

“Silent killer disease” affects 25.8 million people and 8.3% of United States citizens are living with this chronic disease called diabetes, according to “National Diabetes Statistics. These individuals have daily challenges of counting carbohydrates, participating in an ongoing exercise program, and continually checking blood sugars, are only a few of the challenges for a diabetics. With modern technology, the obstacles have been easier to overcome with insulin pens, and insulin pump therapy. The more advanced insulin pump therapy is the closet diabetics come to having a normal pancreas delivering insulin. This is because the insulin pump delivers medicine 24 hours per day. When insulin is delivered 24

Diabetes mellitus is a group of metabolic diseases characterised by hyperglycaemia (elevated blood sugar level) affecting the metabolism of carbohydrates, proteins and fats, resulting from the inability of the body to secrete and/or use insulin (American Diabetes Association (ADA), 2005; World Health Organisation (WHO), 2016). Patients with type-1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM) requires insulin for survival as the cell-mediated destruction of the β-cells of the pancreas eventually lead to a lack of insulin secretion (ADA, 2005; WHO, 2016) . Conversely, type-2 Diabetes Mellitus patients have insulin resistance (ADA, 2005) wherein their bodies cannot use the little insulin that it produces (WHO, 2016).

An ideal gene therapy treatment, would eliminate the need for daily insulin injections or strict monitoring of blood glucose levels. Under such a protocol, insulin would be produced naturally and the body?s metabolism would be able to control the production of the valuable enzyme. Currently, there are three types of potential protocols that can treat type I diabetes.

Diabetes is a disease that affects millions of people every year, and in most cases, this is a disease that is preventable. Increasing public awareness regarding risk factors and how this debilitating disease can be controlled and prevented may reduce the number of cases diagnosed each year. Throughout the years, scientists have developed a variety of treatment options and medications that are available for individuals diagnosed with diabetes. Future treatments for diabetes may include an artificial pancreas and stem cell therapy (Yoffee, 2009). Along with community support through awareness programs and advances in technology and