Age Ex

  Pathology: Type 2 or noninsulin dependent diabetes is a chronic condition that results in hyperglycemia, or increased blood glucose. There are factors that lead to this condition over time but in general there are fewer beta cells to produce insulin and cells lose their sensitivity to insulin. How does this happen? Well, when beta cells are healthy, they produce normal amounts of insulin and adjust to changes in blood glucose to maintain a normal level. However, over time beta cells get stressed, with aging and taking high calorie foods that increase BMI (body mass index), which leads to increased beta cell mass in order to produce more insulin to compensate for ongoing increase in blood glucose. Without any steps taken to stop this process, beta cells become dysfunctional and lose the ability to do their function, i.e. producing insulin. With insufficient levels of insulin, there is no break in the brain so food intake will increase that leads to obesity. In the liver, without...

  Pathology :                Insulin is an important player for anabolic reactions in the body. In other words, when there are plenty of nutrients, like after a meal, insulin signaling makes the body use those and fill up the fatty acid and glycogen storages, and also signals for muscle build up (i.e., protein synthesis). Thus, insulin is a crucial endocrine hormone which without it many body functions are impaired. In type 1 diabetes, autoimmune destruction of beta cells takes place and due to loss of beta cell mass, the body cannot make enough insulin or even none at all. How is it bad? Before we go any further, let’s do a simplified run of how insulin works. There is about 4 grams of glucose circulating in the blood of healthy individuals all the time. After a meal or snack, when blood glucose rises, insulin is secreted into the bloodstream. How? Beta cells of the pancreas make insulin which is later picked up by blood circulatin...