Diabetics have something to cheer about as one father has developed a new machine called "Bionic Pancreas."
Ed Damiano has a son who is a type 1 diabetic. David was only 11 months when the diagnosis was made.
Thankfully, David's mom was a pediatrician, and Ed was a biomedical engineer. The powerful tandem enabled the whole family to rise above David's condition. Not only were they able to see past the difficulties of diabetes, but they've also managed to create a new machine to help diabetics.
Over the years, Ed started working on the "Bionic Pancreas," a blood sugar regulating machine. This technology will be of great help in monitoring blood sugar levels round the clock, and perform regulating activities that type 1 diabetics can't do.
Ed together with his colleague, Dr. Steven Russell, presented their studies to the American Diabetes Association's annual meeting on Sunday.
The study involved 20 adults and 32 adolescents using the device for 5 days.
According to ABC news:
"Overall, Damiano and Russell found that the bionic pancreas was better at controlling blood sugar levels in both the adults and the adolescents - and in adults, the periods of time with dangerously low blood sugar were less."
Ed in the article published by ABC News had this to say about their successful attempt:
"The emotional response [of the participants] was something we could never have anticipated," he said. "They embraced it and they saw it as a complete game changer."
"It means a lot to [David] because he's either going to have to manage it completely by himself when he goes to college - the burden will fall squarely on his shoulders. Or, if things go well, he'll go to school with a bionic pancreas," Damiano said. "And it will be whole new world for him and the... other people with type 1 diabetes," he added.
The results of their study is now published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
"The bionic pancreas works by measuring blood sugar every five minutes using a small monitor attached to the body. The results are sent wirelessly to an iPhone app, which processes the data and determines the amount of insulin needed - something diabetics currently have to calculate themselves," said the ABC News report.
