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The artificial pancreas will soon be available to diabetics
Last reviewed: 27.11.2021
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Diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease that manifests itself in the presence of high blood sugar or inadequate production of insulin, a hormone that allows the body's cells to absorb glucose.
The main sign of the disease is the withdrawal of sugar from the body together with urine. The cause of this disease is a violation of the secretion of the pancreas, which can not produce the required amount of the hormone insulin or insulin of the desired quality.
Diabetes mellitus type 1 is due to the dysfunction of the beta cells of the Langerhans islets of the pancreas that produce insulin.
Diabetes of the second type is caused by defective secretion of insulin against the background of insulin resistance.
Scientists Minjian Huan, Jiazhu Li, Jinju Son and Hongjian Guo suggested new mathematical calculations of insulin doses for injections in diabetes mellitus of the first and second types. They are insulin pumps, which deliver insulin to the body with the necessary periodicity.
This medical device measures the level of glucose in the blood and maintains it within normal limits. It is very important to make sure that the patient has a sufficient level of insulin in the blood, otherwise it threatens the risk of hypoglycemia, which develops against the background of an overabundance of insulin and its excessive absorption of glucose. In addition, this approach requires diabetics to adhere to a strict diet regime, as well as the introduction of insulin.
The system that carries out glucose control and automatically enters the necessary dose of insulin, which is calculated by a computer algorithm, is called an artificial pancreas. Tests carried out by scientists earlier show the effectiveness of this system.
Thanks to the artificial pancreas, people with diabetes can significantly improve their quality of life by getting rid of the constant need to measure blood sugar levels.
Despite successful research results, the development of an artificial pancreas is hampered by the lack of reliable prognostic models and methods for accurate monitoring of glucose levels, as well as an inefficient algorithm for controlling insulin supplies.
Further work of scientists will be aimed at finalizing the system, which can provide greater sensitivity to physiological changes in the body.