Tag: Insulin
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Book review: Insulin – The crooked timber
Arpan K. BanerjeeSolihull, United Kingdom The title of this interesting book is taken from the German philosopher Immanuel Kant, who wrote that: “Out of the crooked timber of humanity no straight thing can ever be made.” It is applicable to the tortuous way scientific discoveries are made and is particularly pertinent to diabetes and the…
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Maligning Macleod and “Bettering” Best: the discovery of insulin as depicted in film before Michael Bliss
James R. Wright Jr. Calgary, Alberta, Canada JJR Macleod circa 1928. Credit: University of Toronto. Via Wikimedia. In 1921, Fred Banting and Charley Best, working under the supervision of JJR Macleod, made crude pancreatic extracts from duct-ligated dog, fetal bovine, or whole adult bovine pancreata and used these to treat diabetes in depancreatized dogs.…
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A look back at insulin
Shrestha Saraf Sutton Coldfield, United Kingdom Sanjay Saraf Sudarshan Ramachandran Birmingham, United Kingdom Sir Frederick Banting and Dr. Charles Best co-discoverers of Insulin. Library and Archives Canada. Via Wikimedia. As we approach the centenary of the isolation, purification, and clinical use of insulin, it is an appropriate moment to reflect on the impact of…
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The Steno Memorial Hospital of Copenhagen
Anabelle S. Slingerland Leiden, Netherlands Where science and human nature meet Figure 1. Niels Stenseens Hospital including apple orchard In November 2017 the Niels Steensens Hospital or Steno Memorial Hospital of Copenhagen, celebrated its 85th anniversary (Figure 1). It was named after the distinguished Danish scientist Nicolaus Steno(nis) (1638-1688), a modern-day Renaissance man, autodidact…
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Part I: The impact of insulin on children with diabetes at Toronto Sick Kids in the 1920s
Sarah Riedlinger Dean Giustini Brenden Hursh Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Introduction The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, 1929. Photo credit: Toronto Public Library, Accession # tspa_0113248f Diabetes mellitus (DM) is one of the most common chronic diseases in the world.1 In 2009 Canada alone had 2.35 million people with diabetes.2 Some 10% of sufferers…
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Part II: The impact of insulin on children with diabetes at Toronto Sick Kids in the 1920s
Sarah Riedlinger Dean Giustini Brenden Hursh Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Progress in diabetes care between 1922 and 1929 Figure 2. Mortality of Diabetic Coma in the Hospital for Sick Children.7 In 1923 Banting joined the staff of the Hospital for Sick Children and was placed in charge of diabetes care. He and physician Gladys…
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The history of diabetes and insulin
Anabelle S. Slingerland Leiden, Netherlands Figure 1. The Toronto Daily, the Nobel Laureates on track of diabetes cure The discovery of insulin in 1921 by Banting, Best, Collip, and McLeod was heralded as the cure of diabetes (Figure 1). Press reports consigned earlier research to oblivion, suggesting that previous investigators had merely been groping…
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A difficult conversation
Ajanta NaiduIrvine, California, United States Fifteen years old, Jane sat in the exam room innocently denying that large doses of insulin were causing her severely low blood sugars. Living with type 1 diabetes, she had been prescribed daily insulin injections, which she herself administered at meals. Though she denied injecting more than the prescribed amount,…