... Again, the Globe and Mail has another article about diabetes. "Pancreatic stem cells discovered in mice" outlines that researchers have found stem cells in the pancreas and under 'abnormal injury' they coaxed these cells into turning into beta cells. Of course, again, its in mice. I believe this is good, because if I have stem cells in the pancreas that can create beta cells, then there would be no need to autoimmune suppressing drugs. Activating it is what is the problem. Again, this would be a treatment, and not a cure, since there doesn't address the root of the problem.
I have always wondered why there isn't more research or money spend on curing the root cause of the disease. Shouldn't most of the efforts be put towards that? Or even fast-tracked for people? I've looked at the JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) and I see alot of money being thrown towards better 'treatments' such as the artificial pancreas project, beta cell transplantation, beta cell regeneration. They all don't solve the root cause, they are just more treatments. Instead of injecting insulin multiple times a day, I go and get a transplant or I continually have something stuck in me.
News organizations are all gun-ho for stem cells and its exciting and new. Its like if there is some sort of news nugget about stem cells, the mass media are all over it. I'd really like to see the bulk of any research money go to curing the root cause of the problem, instead of treatments. Once if you fix the root cause, then you can look at replacement/regeneration. What if you stop the autoimmune disease, and the body automagically creates beta cells again? Then all of that money for regeneration/replacement therapy is sort of wasted. So, how about we figure out what is causing the body to hate itself and then figure out a way to regeneration/replace beta cells?
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