Ramblings of an Emergency Physician in Texas

Archive for December 18th, 2006

Dr. Charles comments on…the impossible

Posted by GruntDoc on 18th December 2006

Well, maybe not impossible, but the wildly hopeful: the elimination of diabetes (per Dr. Charles):

In a discovery that has stunned even those behind it, scientists at a Toronto hospital say they have proof the body’s nervous system helps trigger diabetes, opening the door to a potential near-cure of the disease that affects millions of Canadians.

Diabetic mice became healthy virtually overnight after researchers injected a substance to counteract the effect of malfunctioning pain neurons in the pancreas.

“I couldn’t believe it,” said Dr. Michael Salter, a pain expert at the Hospital for Sick Children and one of the scientists. “Mice with diabetes suddenly didn’t have diabetes any more.”

Read it, and wonder: if this pans out a) what a boon for many medical diseases currently thought of as chronic, and b) neurologists may have a new lease on life medicine.

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