Diabetes+Mellitus


 * Diabetes Mellitus (Type 1, Type 2, Gestational, and Others) **

Diabetes, in general is characterized by hyperglycemia, which is caused by lack of insulin or insufficient insulin activity [1]. Type 1 is an autoimmune condition where site for production of insulin, beta cells in the pancreas, is destroyed, and Type 2 is defined as insulin deficiency, insulin resistance, or overproduction of glucose. Gestational occurs when high blood glucose levels occur during pregnancy of women who have never been diabetic. The other specific types are mostly genetic defect.
 * Root cause **




 * Affected cell types/tissues/organs/systems: **
 * Pancreas
 *  Beta Cells
 *  Islets
 *  Liver
 *  Glucose
 *  Eyes
 *  Skin
 *  Blood vessels
 *  Kidneys
 *  Nervous System


 *  Historical background: **

 “Diabetes” comes from the Greek word for “siphon”, which means, “to pass through” and is implied to urine. “Mellitus” comes from the Latin word “mel”, which means “ from honey”. Diabetes was recognized in the beginning of the first millennium and John Rollo in the late 18th century added on mellitus. In 1815, Michel Chevreul identified glucose as being the sugar in diabetic urine. Claude Bernard, in the 1840’s, discovered that glucose was normally present in the blood. Also, that glycogen was the form that glucose took, as it was stored in the liver for secretion into the bloodstream during fasting. Paul Langerhans in 1869 discovered the pancreatic islets. In 1889, severe diabetes, which was caused by pancreatectomy, was discovered in a dog by Oskar Minkowski and Josef von Mering. Gustave Laguesse, in 1893, suggested that islets produced an internal secretion, which regulated glucose metabolism [2]. Insulin was discovered in 1921 in acid ethanol extracts of the pancreas by Frederick Banting, Charles Best, J.J.R Macleod and James Collip [4]. In January 1922, insulin was first used as a treatment. Wilhelm Falta and Harold Himsworth in the 1930’s subdivided diabetes into insulin-sensitive and insulin-insensitive types, which was later classified into Type 1 and Type 2 [3]. Famous People with Diabetes are Mick Fleetwood, Jerry Garcia, Jackie Robinson, and Spencer Tracy [5].


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;"> Common symptoms: **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">Early Warning Symptoms include Excessive thirst, excessive hunger, frequent urination, fatigue, sudden weight loss.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">Minor and Less Recognizable Symptoms include Blurry vision, numbness, slow healing wounds, recurrent yeast infections, dry skin

__<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">Standard treatments: __
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">Type 1: Insulin therapy
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">Type 2: Anti-diabetic medication (Example: Metformin)

__<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">Basic: __
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">Maintained diet
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;"> Exercise
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;"> Maintaining blood pressure

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">­ The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is the location of where a recent study, “Studies of Antidiabetes Plants of the Democratic Republic of the Congo”, has been and is still taking place (Kadima, 2010). The study focuses on the research behind medicinal plants and their effect on treating diabetes. The goals of this study are to find essential elements for sustainable medicine in a developing country, and contextualize scientific research to address healthcare needs and sustainability in a developing country. Testing hypoglycemic and/or hyperglycemic effects of medicinal plants on diabetic patients, and interpreting the effects of medicinal plant extracts on patients, based on glucose measurements, are also goals of this study.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">Current research: **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">1. Alberti, K. (2010). The classification and diagnosis of diabetes mellitus. (4th ed., pp. 24-30). Blackwell Publishing. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">2. Jones, P., & Persaud, S. (2010). Islet function and insulin secretion. (4th ed.). Blackwell Publishing. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">3. Shulman, G. I. (2000). Cellular mechanisms of insulin resistance. J Clin Invest 106, 171í176. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">4. Tahrani, A. A., Piy, M. K., Kennedy, A., and Barnett, A. H. (2010). Glycaemic control in type 2 diabetes: Targets and new therapies. Pharmacology & Therapeutics 125, 328-361. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">5.Tattersall, R. (2010). The history of diabetes mellitus. (4 ed., pp. 3-20). New York: Blackwell Publishing. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">6.Figure 3. Diagram of insulin signal transduction pathways. http://www.endotext.org/diabetes/diabetes3/diabetes3.html
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">References: **