Slashdot Mirror
UK Doctors Cure Type 1 Diabetes
ayden writes "The BBC is
reporting that a 61-year-old man has become the first person in the UK to be cured of type 1 diabetes thanks to a groundbreaking cell-transplant technique.
More
info
here."
← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)
I'm off to 7-Eleven for a Pepsi Super Big Gulp!
Trolling is a art,
Sweet
Agreed. I'm also at risk for developing diabetes. Hopefully we'll see the method mature and grow more effective.
On a side note, if they can extract the pancreas cells from dead donors, then why do they claim to have a major shortage of them? I imagine that they only need to borrow a small sliver of the dead donor's pancreas and not the whole whopper, so one dead donor can help cure tens, maybe hundreds of afflicted patients? But then again I have no idea how many people in the UK don't mind donating their organs after they're dead. Personally I see no reason not to. Spread the love, share the life! =D
Hero of Allacrost, a FOSS RPG for *NIX/*BSD/OS X/Win
Is the anti-rejection drug regime. It can cause problems down the line with side-effects and with the immune system somewhat compromised, a susceptibility to infection.
If stem cell research continues at the rate it does, even this will be solved when cord blood stored at the patients birth is encouraged to differentiate into Eyelet cells, injected back into the patient years later and begin producing insulin. No rejection problems with your own-tissue-derived cells.
Also, this, as far as I am aware, will not help with Insulin-independent diabetic conditions.
USians, consider writing to your senator to protest Bush policies on Stem cell research. I'm not having a pop at him - fair enough if it's a moral issue to some folks. Just register your opinion with them. It can't hurt.
Meine Schwester ist sehr, sehr reizvoll - Nietzsche
...I see is the need for three pancreases for the process - it'd take a lot of donations to cure every Type 1 Diabetic out there. Stiil, they interviewed the guy on the radio, and he seems happy that he's got the flexibility, so its still an improvement (drugs compared to needles - tough choice)
This is a cure for type I. Type I is what you get as a kid when your body never makes enough insulin. Type II is what you get when you consume so much sugar your body can't produce enough insulin.
Drink that Super Big Gulp and you will add to your chance of getting type II, which isn't covered by this treatment. (Not to mention all the other unhealthy things about soda in general)
The articles linked only say that this patient received three transplants. Nothing more.
Where is your source for the conclusion that every patient is going to need three transplants?
For all these brief articles tell us, maybe one procedure would be sufficient for a diabetic in better condition; Mr Lane sounded in pretty bad shape (falling into comas on a semi-regular basis) to this here diabetic.
For that matter, where do you get the "1 donated pancreas" == "1 islet cell transplant" equation? That's a mighty big leap to make given these scanty articles.
You cannot apply a technological solution to a sociological problem. (Edwards' Law)
Unfortunately, it's a poor name. 50% of Type I diagnosises occur in people above the age of 18.
I kid you not.
It works great and it doesn't harm my septic tank!
Leave it for an hour or overnight and flush in the morning.
Now if pop can do that, imagine what it does inside you!
Pepsi works too.
Obama's legacy: (N)othing (S)ecure (A)nywhere and (T)error (S)imulation (A)dministration
so one dead donor can help cure tens, maybe hundreds of afflicted patients?s ulin.html more than one donor is required for each transplant.
Unfortunately not. As reported here http://www.channel4.com/news/2005/03/week_2/09_in
Not true - Type II is where your body isn't correctly using the insulin it has, Type I is where the body simply doesn't make enough. Anyone (including myself) who has ever "progressed" from Type II to Type I was simply mis-diagnosed in the first place, and was always Type I.
Nipok Nek
Why choose white shoes?
Not sure how this has been missed, but unless I'm mistaken, this is *not* the first time we've seen islet cell transplantation to correct Type I diabetes in patients with insulin-dependant diabetes mellitus (IDDM). From http://www.diabetes.org.uk/islets/trans/edmonton.h tm
"The 'Edmonton' protocol is a procedure developed in Canada for transplanting healthy islet cells into people with Type 1 diabetes.
The series of islet transplantations carried out by James Shapiro and his team since March 1999 has enjoyed levels of success that are unprecedented in the field of islet transplantation surgery.
Since the Edmonton transplantation research trial began, 48 patients have undergone 92 islet infusions in Canada. The most recent statistics from Edmonton (January 2003) state that one year after transplantation 84 per cent of patients remain insulin free and that after three years, 89 per cent of patients are still producing insulin. Previous islet cell transplants have only succeeded in around eight per cent of cases.
In addition to the work being carried out in Canada, approximately 200 patients have received islet transplants using the 'Edmonton' protocol or varients of the process in several centres worldwide. There are now almost 75 programmes planned to become activated within the next six to 12 months."
Also, check this link from the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research:
http://www.ahfmr.ab.ca/publications/newsletter/Sum mer00/sum00/inside/diabetes.feat.htm
Seriously, without antibiotics, has there been ANY medical advance in the past 50+ years?
For all intents and purposes, the answer is no.
Of course, the pedant would argue the semantics of the word "medical", and offer up examples like
But if you define "medical breakthrough" as something along the lines of "a chemical [non-mechanical] agent that cures [not just treats the symptoms of] a disease [as opposed to a mechanical injury, like a broken bone, or a blocked artery]", then the hundreds of billions [trillions?] of dollars spent on "medical research" in the post WWII era by the western world has been, for all intents and purposes, an utter and complete waste of money.And if the "cure" for Type I Diabetes described here is nothing more than a partial pancreatic transplant in combination with an aggressive regimen of anti-rejection drugs, then I wouldn't classify it as a "medical" breakthrough - rather, it's just a new surgical technique.
PS: If you [or a loved one] ever get really, really sick, keep in mind that the only person who stands a chance in hell of doing anything beneficial for you is a surgeon, not a medical doctor.
PPS: Antibiotics, the true "medical" breakthrough of the 20th century, are primarily a tool of the surgeon, not the medical doctor.