Artificial Pancreas Passes Human Trial
- Thread starter Hevva
- Start date
Not sure I see where the relationship between blood sugar and insulin is all that complex. Simple feedback control aiming to keep some variable at a particular threshold is a well studied idea, I'd trust it to do just fine with the regulatory loops in the body.Hevva said:
Hell, even the body's own mechanisms don't handle it perfectly - eat something highly sugary and the sudden influx into the blood can cause a flood of insulin that results in over-correction (a 'sugar crash', or just feeling hungry again sooner than if you'd consumed equal calories worth of starch). A computerised feedback controller could be tuned to reduce or eliminate that kind of overshoot.
Depending on how much energy they need, it's entirely possible to power it using the patients body heat or the like. There's a few prototypes using things like that.poiumty said:
If not, there's not a major problem with the batteries, to be perfectly honest. Worst case scenario, you can put the batteries right next to wherever the patient inserts the insulin, which means ready access to it without any need for surgery.
No it can hasten the onset, but only in people that would get it at some point in their life anyway. So you're talking about, if you eat a little bit healthier you might put it off by a year at most, but you'll get it. For those not born with the symptoms immediately, most of the time it's the onset of puberty that makes it manifest.Boris Goodenough said:
It sounds good especially if you hate injections and checking your blood glucose levels, however I'm not too sure how many people would want to have this on them:
Just to clarify, Type 1 diabetes is a genetic disorder it will usually manifest itself in the first 20 years of life and is not caused by a bad diet. This is where the beta cells in the pancreas stop producing insulin meaning sugars aren't take up by other body parts. This machine helps provide the insulin.
Type 2 diabetes is caused by a bad diet, and is where too much sugar causes your body to become insulin resistant therefore not reacting to the insulin (produced by the pancreas) as much and therefore less sugar is being taken up. The machine can do nothing for this condition, as the person's pancreas is fine and their cells are not reacting to insulin anyway.
Just in case you wanted to know.
Just to clarify, Type 1 diabetes is a genetic disorder it will usually manifest itself in the first 20 years of life and is not caused by a bad diet. This is where the beta cells in the pancreas stop producing insulin meaning sugars aren't take up by other body parts. This machine helps provide the insulin.
Type 2 diabetes is caused by a bad diet, and is where too much sugar causes your body to become insulin resistant therefore not reacting to the insulin (produced by the pancreas) as much and therefore less sugar is being taken up. The machine can do nothing for this condition, as the person's pancreas is fine and their cells are not reacting to insulin anyway.
Just in case you wanted to know.
It basically is a insulin pump, however it has an onboard continuous glucometer measuring blood sugars, allowing real time control of blood sugar levels instead of at set periods. Allowing it to function pretty much like a pancreas. The whole idea is to create a system that will function without user intervention.James Joseph Emerald said:Where'd that picture come from? Isn't that just a regular insulin pump?Kodlak said:
Also picture came from here: http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-06/11/artificial-pancreas In retrospect, probably not a picture of the HHM but it will look something like this.
Just for God's sake don't outsource programming to India
I have nothing against those guys personally, but the code they write is so full of junk, that it's almost insulting.
Anyway, these are great news.
Next- try to make artificial liver.
BTW I thought Pancreas had other functions besides insulin distribution.
I have nothing against those guys personally, but the code they write is so full of junk, that it's almost insulting.
Anyway, these are great news.
Next- try to make artificial liver.
BTW I thought Pancreas had other functions besides insulin distribution.
Sounds like good news to diabetics I guess (not sure how it works but sounds good).
Hopefully they work on cybernetic augmentations next!
Hopefully they work on cybernetic augmentations next!
Pancreas today...Tommorrow a kidney...
I've been a long time believer that science will end all problems, one at a time so this just makes me smile so much.
I've been a long time believer that science will end all problems, one at a time so this just makes me smile so much.