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Reporter:
Keeping track of carbohydrate1 intake2, monitoring blood-sugar levels, and injecting insulin is a never-ending cycle for diabetics trying to stay healthy.
Labs at Harvard University and MIT have realized major advances in engineering to maintain that balance, though the two labs are dealing3 with diabetes4 in different ways.
After working in the field of automated5 diabetic care for over two decades, Frank Doyle, dean of the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied6 Sciences, says his lab aims to develop an artificial pancreas.
美科学家:糖尿病治疗的未来
"You've got the sensor7, the way that we measure the critical variable, in this case glucose8. You have the actuator that is the agent of change, that's the thing that influences your dynamic system. In this case that is a pump delivering insulin and then you have the controller, you've got the brains."
He admits that developing an algorithm to allow insulin pumps and sensors9 to work together is the chief roadblock for their on-going project.
But he believes a fully10 functional11 automated system for diabetes will be accomplished12 within five years, as an upgrade to devices biomedical companies already offer.
Meanwhile, researchers at MIT have already proven they can cure diabetes in mice.
For type-1 diabetics, the immune system kills islet cells which monitor and regulate blood sugar levels by producing insulin.
Professor Daniel Anderson, who leads the research, elaborates on the aim of their project.
"What we developed is basically a new material that acts like an invisibility cloak. So this material coats the cells but allows them to function and live but protects them from the immune system."
Professor Anderson points out that the major barrier impeding13 their research development is protecting these cells from an immune attack.
"So far we have shown in diabetic mice we can take these human islets from stem cells and actually cure these diabetic mice for months. We have also shown that in primates14 we can put these little balls of new material in the abdominal15 space of primates and see that they don't form scar tissue which is an important step towards thinking of using them in people."
We may still be years away from the day when achievements in mice and smaller primates are translated into human trials.
But lines of research into cures and automated care are likely to complement16 each other in the years to come.
For CRI, this is Huang Shan.
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1 carbohydrate | |
n.碳水化合物;糖类;(plural)淀粉质或糖类 | |
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2 intake | |
n.吸入,纳入;进气口,入口 | |
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3 dealing | |
n.经商方法,待人态度 | |
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4 diabetes | |
n.糖尿病 | |
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5 automated | |
a.自动化的 | |
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6 applied | |
adj.应用的;v.应用,适用 | |
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7 sensor | |
n.传感器,探测设备,感觉器(官) | |
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8 glucose | |
n.葡萄糖 | |
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9 sensors | |
n.传感器,灵敏元件( sensor的名词复数 ) | |
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10 fully | |
adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地 | |
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11 functional | |
adj.为实用而设计的,具备功能的,起作用的 | |
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12 accomplished | |
adj.有才艺的;有造诣的;达到了的 | |
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13 impeding | |
a.(尤指坏事)即将发生的,临近的 | |
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14 primates | |
primate的复数 | |
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15 abdominal | |
adj.腹(部)的,下腹的;n.腹肌 | |
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16 complement | |
n.补足物,船上的定员;补语;vt.补充,补足 | |
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