Word: insulin
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Diabetic complications have also been linked to elevated levels of sorbitol, a sugary alcohol. Even in the absence of insulin, certain cells, such as those in the lens of the eye, continue to absorb glucose. But without insulin, glucose cannot be processed in the usual way; the cell instead converts it to sorbitol. The abnormal accumulation of sorbitol causes cell membranes to swell and leak. It also interferes with vital biochemical processes...
Even after complications develop, the prognosis is not unrelentingly grim. Laser surgery is saving eyesight. Bypass surgery is salvaging hearts and feet. Dialysis machines and organ transplants are pinch-hitting for nonfunctioning kidneys. Most important, insulin pumps and home-monitoring kits are enabling diabetics to control their blood-sugar levels more precisely than ever before. With good control, diabetic women, once cautioned not to have children, are now delivering healthy babies. Says Dr. Gordon Weir, medical director of the Joslin Diabetes Center: "Patients are finally tuning in to the fact that high blood sugar is serious business...
...more acute, Type I diabetics have been particularly motivated to adopt strict treatment regimens. "The long-term complications of this disease scare the hell out of me," declares Ken McDonald, a 45-year-old computer engineer from Wellesley, Mass. Instead of sticking with the traditional treatment of two insulin shots a day, he began what is called "intensive therapy" four years ago. In that approach, he receives insulin more or less continuously, as needed. Around his waist McDonald wears an insulin pump the size of a pager, which infuses the hormone through a slender needle positioned just below his skin...
Even with all these tools, McDonald can only approximate what a nondiabetic pancreas does naturally. A pinkish-yellow organ the size of a banana, the pancreas contains millions of specialized cells that continuously manufacture insulin and package it in microscopic granules. In response to rising blood- glucose levels, these tiny factories release the granules into the bloodstream. As glucose levels fall, the insulin release tapers off, thus preventing blood sugar from plummeting to dangerous levels and starving the brain of fuel -- and consciousness. Fortunately, this life-threatening condition, known as hypoglycemia, can easily be countered by eating or drinking something...
...depressive Newport heiress, with a frail hauteur in her demeanor and a well-stocked pharmacy in her purse. He, Danish-born and smartly foppish, living off her wealth and at her whim. Not Eurotrash exactly -- aristotrash. When in 1981 Claus was accused of attempting to murder Sunny with insulin injections, leaving her in a coma from which she has not emerged, the case yielded reams of tabloid tattle. Twice he was tried in Rhode Island courts: first found guilty and then, when he was defended by Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz and won a new trial on appeal, acquitted...