Question

The idea is to find a new or novel advancement in medicine to do with Physiology only. That is I don't want advancements in other fields e.g. immunology, genetics, cancer, microbiology and so on.

So you discuss the problem or disease including initially normal physiology followed by a description of the disease. Then discuss the novel advancement and how it is helping patients to improve their lifestyles.  

The presentation should be between 5 - 6 minutes but not exceeding 6 minutes and 30 seconds.

Answer 1

Diabetes is a condition in which body is not able to process the blood glucose and the blood glucose is not maintained at its optimum level. This form of diabetes is called Diabetes Mellitus and it's a metabolic disorder. In normal condition beta cells of pancreas produces insulin which converts excess glucose in the blood to glycogen which is then stored in skeletal muscles and liver. In diabetes the body is not able to make enough insulin or body is not able to effectively use the insulin which it makes. Based upon this Diabetes Mellitus is of two types: Type I Diabetes Mellitus and Type II Diabetes Mellitus.  

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease. In this type immune system attacks and destroys beta cells in the pancreas which makes insulin.

Type 2 diabetes occurs when body becomes resistant to insulin and due to which glucose builds up in blood.

For treating Type I Diabetes Mellitus, insulin has to be taken daily on regular basis by injection. This insulin replaces the insulin hormone which the beta cells of pancreas makes. These insulins can be:

Rapid-acting insulin whuch starts to work in 15 minutes and shows its action for 3 to 4 hours.

Short-acting insulin whuch starts to work in 30 minutes and shows action for 6 to 8 hours.

Intermediate-acting insulin starts to work in 1 to 2 hours and shows action for 12 to 18 hours.

Long-acting insulin starts to work in few hours and shows action for 24 hours or more.

Type 2 diabetes is treated with Diet and exercise along with oral antidiabetic drugs.

In all these above cases regular monitoring of blood glucose is required and a diabetic has to take several injection daily throughout his or her life which becomes very tedious and painful for the patient. Hence the aim nowdays should be to focus on treatment along with improving the quality of life of the patient. To overcome this, now there are some recent advances in novel therapy such as new insulin injectable formulations(ultra long and ultra short), artificial pancreas systems, new oral formulation, transmucosal drugs and transdermal dosage formulations. New formulation like some ultra long acting insulin like degludec leads to reduction in dose frequency and ultra short acting insulin like Linjeta reduces hypoglycaemic effects after having meals. Artificial pancreas systems can be used in combination with these newer forms of ultra short acting insulins. Nanotechnology is used in preparation of transmucosal and transdermal dosage formulations.