Diabetes Has its Fingers in Everything!

Diabetes Has its Fingers in Everything!

By: Carson Bell

INTRODUCTION

The human brain is a very powerful organ! We can process millions of sensory signals per second, and analyze or choose what we think is important. It is different for everyone, but one thing is common among all human beings . . . we like to make connections! It’s automatic. Making connections helps us personalize information so that it can be retained or helps us make sense of experiences or incidences that would otherwise be difficult to comprehend. So, as humans we connect one experience to another, or one smell to something we see, or a texture to an object, and the list goes on. When we begin to understand one topic we link it with others to try to understand even more. Over the past few weeks I learned about a disease called Diabetes. And me being human, I automatically began making connections! In fact there are three specific instances where connections were made while exploring the disease Diabetes. I wanted to understand what effects diabetes has on how a person feels mentally or emotionally which lead me to think about the direction the world is going . . . and my mind said to itself, “Is there a connection?” Then I wondered if diabetes could be cured, and how. This lead to research stem cell therapy and “BAM!” my mind automatically thought of ethical barriers and their effects on the progression of diabetic treatment. Lastly, as I learned about the plethora of symptoms that accompany diabetes my mind immediately turned to the costs behind such a long list of problems.

INSTANCE ONE

Diabetes is a condition where the body is unable to respond to differing glucose levels in the blood due to insufficient insulin activity. There are currently two types: Type 1 and Type 2. Type 1 Diabetes is an autoimmune disorder where your body actually attacks its own Beta cells in the pancreas which secrete insulin. Insulin is what leads to excess glucose being taken out of the blood, so without the release of insulin the body cannot adjust glucose levels correctly. Type 2 Diabetes is a developed disorder due to a sedentary lifestyle and unhealthy eating habits. The body responds to high glucose levels by secreting a lot of insulin. Over time the cells in the body actually adjust the number of receptors on their surfaces for insulin and this leads to insulin resistance. It takes more and more insulin until the body can no longer react well to glucose. Diabetic patients must constantly be aware of their glucose levels and administering insulin through shots or pumps. This is done for the rest of the patient’s life. Throughout its rise over the last few decades Diabetes has developed a reputation of terminality, in my opinion. When you think of diabetes you think that person will have it for life . . . because they will. The term terminal, however, has a very negative connotation when it comes to diseases and this can lead to many adverse effects for the individual, their family, and communities (Emmanuel, Fairclough, 2000).  So, I did a little more digging when I thought about what diabetes is and its developed reputation of terminality and found something else that is very interesting: a possible correlation between the rise of diabetes and the rise of dysfunctional family units throughout the world. The included graphs illustrate this correlation. Family dysfunction and diabetes both started to have

Fig 1: Shows rise of diabetes since 1960.                 Fig 2: Shows rise of divorce rates since 1960.        Fig 3: Shows rise of single parent families                          

                                                                                                                                                                 since 1960

increasing existence at the same time and have relatively similar scales of climbing over the years. Now I am not saying that one caused the other, but there is definitely a correlation. I think that it could go either way, but I found it very interesting how both of these issues arose and continue to get worse at the same time and rate.

INSTANCE TWO

                Type 1 Diabetes specifically leads to a deterioration of the beta cells in the islets of Langerhans inside the pancreas. These cells are responsible for the secretion of insulin. Scientists have wondered how they can reverse this deterioration to possibly reverse the effects of diabetes.  They eventually ended up looking toward stem cells. They have done trials with embryonic, adult, and induced pluripotent stem cells (NIH Stem Cell Information Home Page, 2016). Even with the issues that each type faces there is immense potential in stem cell therapy! Trials in re-growing islet cells in their entirety, including beta, delta, and PP cells were successful! When science accomplishes big feats like this, I immediately begin to think of all the possibilities and then my mind directs me to how the world may fear this type of ability. Due to religious beliefs, personal inclinations, or whatever it may be, people tend to think this type of power is not to be left in the hands of man. Herein raise the ethical issues!  Taking stem cells from embryos is a big deal because it is thought that these are babies and we are disposing of human life. Even embryos in fertility labs that would be discarded anyway are being debated as to whether or not their use in science is good or bad. So embryonic stem cells are out! The solution to this huge debate lies in induced pluripotent cells where any cell can be made into a stem cell (Navellier, 2015), the only problem is getting that process down perfectly without issues (NIH Stem Cell Information Home Page, 2016). So, when I thought of amazing, possible cures to diabetes my mind immediately thought about the fear and ethical issues people have and how this is potentially slowing the progression of cures.

INSTANCE THREE

                Diabetes leads to a myriad of symptoms and health issues. There is an increase in weight and adipose tissue which leads to adipose inflammation and an imbalance in hormones. This throws off many other systems and pathways throughout the body causing many other complications; including links to cancer. There is dyslipidemia which is an increase in cholesterol and other lipids in the blood which can lead to atherosclerosis. Joint pain, inflammation of extremities and numbness, hypertension, glucose intolerance, insulin resistance, destruction of beta cells, and the list goes on. There is even a decrease in the body’s ability to bind oxygen and carry it to the tissues via hemoglobin because non-enzymatic glycation occurs on hemoglobin causing it to change its structure enough that it won’t bind oxygen as efficiently. The end result of so many problems is that these folks are in the hospital multiple times. The link between diabetes and its many symptoms led me to think about the costs of such a traumatic disease. I found that in 2012 it is estimated that diabetes costs the United States $245 billion a year (Economic Costs of Diabetes, 2012)! This is an astounding figure! 43% of that figure is medical costs alone. This would amount to $105,350,000,000! As good as the mind is, mine couldn’t grasp the immensity of this number, so I did a little more digging and found that one dollar bill is .0043 inches or .0000000679 miles. If you were to stack $245 billion dollar bills flat on top of each other this would reach to a height of 16,635.5 miles (Grasping Large Numbers, 2016). If you were to drive from coast to coast of the United States it is a 3,200 mile course (How many miles is it from coast to coast, 2016). This means that if you were to lay the column of dollar bills down, then it would span the United States 5.199 times! One other perspective for the shoppers out there: if you were to spend $20 a second, then it would take 141,610 days, or 387.71 years to spend $245 billion dollars (Grasping Large Numbers, 2016)! The cost of diabetes is an immense figure for one country to sustain for any extended period of time. As I discovered these facts my mind boggled and wondered about the benefits our country would have if we could find a cure to this one disease, not to mention all the other diseases that have their own economic tolls.

CONCLUSION

                The study of Diabetes and its accompanying symptoms and links to other aspects of life has made me appreciate the research being done to find a solution. This disease alone causes hardship, not only for an individual, but maybe for families, communities, and even the world! It has a massive weight on the economic status of the United States, and I’m sure throughout the world as well! But besides the negative aspects of this disease, it also has extensive influence on the ethical realms of the world as well because it has led to the discovery of many promising medical advancements as scientists search for a treatment. As the future unfolds around this disease it will be exciting to see how medical treatments and research overcome all the far-reaching effects of Diabetes!

REFERENCES

Emmanuel, E. J., & Fairclough, D. L. (2000). Understanding economic and other burdens of terminal illnesses: The experience of patients and... Annals Of Internal Medicine, 132(6), 451-459.

NIH Stem Cell Information Home Page. In Stem Cell Information [World Wide Web site]. Bethesda, MD: National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2016 [cited September 21, 2016] Available at < //stemcells.nih.gov/info/2001report/chapter7.htm>

Navellier, C. (2015). Ending the Stem Cell Debate: The Impact of iPSCs on Embryological Ethics. Penn Bioethics Journal, 11(1), 16-19.

Economic Costs of Diabetes in the U.S. in 2012. (2013). Diabetes Care, 36(4), 1033-1046. doi:10.2337/dc12-2625

Grasping Large Numbers. (2016). Retrieved from http://www.ehd.org/science_technology_largenumbers.php

How many miles is it from coast to coast in the United States? (2016). Retrieved from https://www.reference.com/geography/many-miles-coast-coast-united-states-b80961a3964c82f3#