| |
N0KFQ > TODAY 27.07.13 18:09l 49 Lines 2137 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 2173_KB0WSA
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - Jul 27
Path: IZ3LSV<IK2XDE<IK6ZDE<VE3UIL<N0KFQ<KB0WSA
Sent: 130727/1456Z 2173@KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA BPQK1.4.55
Jul 27, 1921:
Insulin isolated in Toronto
At the University of Toronto, Canadian scientists Frederick
Banting and Charles Best successfully isolate insulin--a hormone
they believe could prevent diabetes--for the first time. Within a
year, the first human sufferers of diabetes were receiving
insulin treatments, and countless lives were saved from what was
previously regarded as a fatal disease.
Diabetes has been recognized as a distinct medical condition for
more than 3,000 years, but its exact cause was a mystery until
the 20th century. By the early 1920s, many researchers strongly
suspected that diabetes was caused by a malfunction in the
digestive system related to the pancreas gland, a small organ
that sits on top of the liver. At that time, the only way to
treat the fatal disease was through a diet low in carbohydrates
and sugar and high in fat and protein. Instead of dying shortly
after diagnosis, this diet allowed diabetics to live--for about a
year.
A breakthrough came at the University of Toronto in the summer of
1921, when Canadians Frederick Banting and Charles Best
successfully isolated insulin from canine test subjects, produced
diabetic symptoms in the animals, and then began a program of
insulin injections that returned the dogs to normalcy. On
November 14, the discovery was announced to the world.
Two months later, with the support of J.J.R. MacLeod of the
University of Toronto, the two scientists began preparations for
an insulin treatment of a human subject. Enlisting the aid of
biochemist J.B. Collip, they were able to extract a reasonably
pure formula of insulin from the pancreases of cattle from
slaughterhouses. On January 23, 1921, they began treating
14-year-old Leonard Thompson with insulin injections. The
diabetic teenager improved dramatically, and the University of
Toronto immediately gave pharmaceutical companies license to
produce insulin, free of royalties. By 1923, insulin had become
widely available, and Banting and Macleod were awarded the Nobel
Prize in medicine.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
Using Outpost Ver 2.7.0 c21
Read previous mail | Read next mail
| |
