what's going on out there in the world surrounding diabetes. Medical
science around the globe is focusing on the causes and cures, while
seemingly every child experiencing it for the first time is finding a
unique way to channel the experience.
Doctors in Argentina announced a new procedure that improved the
insulin-producing ability of a man with Type II diabetes whose pancreas
had stopped making insulin, the Inter Press Service news agency reported
Jan. 11, 2005.
By extracting stem cells from the man's bone marrow during a 10-minute
procedure and inserting them into his pancreas, doctors induced his
pancreas to start making insulin. While this was no full cure, the man's
condition improved to that of an average Type II diabetes patient,
meaning it can be controlled with diet, exercise and some oral
medications. A long ways from being dependent on insulin injections
Doctors haven't done broader studies nor do they know whether this
method would help those with Type I diabetes. However, they said there
is little risk in the procedure and no apparent negative implications,
other than it just wouldn't work.
Even lacking a large controlled study, doctors said this could open
whole new avenues in diabetes research.
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An 11-year-old boy with diabetes in Kansas City, Kan., has created a
comic book called "Omega Boy," to both express his own anger and
frustration with the disease and to educate others about his condition,
according to the Kansas City Star.
Kamaal Washington and his younger brother Macolm, both of whom are rabid
comics fans, teamed up on the effort.
Kamaal said the idea came to him while he was in the hospital after he
was diagnosed. During what I've come to refer to as 'diabetes boot
camp,' Kamaal was given a lot of pamphlets to read to help him
understand what was going on with his body.
The language was difficult, so he decided to make a comic book to put
all that stuff into language that he and other kids could understand.
In the comic, the recently diagnosed boy become so angry he absorbs a
doctor, becomes 'Doctor Diabetes' and launches on a global effort to
give the disease to as many people as possible so they'll understand
what he's going through. The hero, Omega Boy, finally sets him straight.
No wonder Kamaal was a part of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation
Children's Congress that goes to Washington to lobby legislators on
issues surrounding the impacts of diabetes. What a well-spoken advocate!
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