Behemoth Droppings

Just to let everyone know, I will be participating in the American Diabetes Association’s Step Out: Walk to Fight Diabetes event on October 25 @ the Lunken Airport Pedestrian Trail in Cincinnati. I’ve had type 1 diabetes now for 20 years (got it when I was 7). I was blessed enough to have parents who drove home the importance of taking care of my diabetes at a young age, so luckily I haven’t had to deal with any complications that so often come with diabetes after many years. Unfortunately, I’ve never gotten involved in any fundraising for the ADA until now. I figured it was about time I did something about that!! So if you would like to donate and help me raise money to find a cure for diabetes, then just use the link below to go to my team page. You can donate online, so that makes things easier. Also, if you want to join my team, help raise money, and come out and walk in October you can do that too (although I don’t expect anyone to, just thought I’d let you know you can if you want). The more the merrier! There is a link on the team page to do that as well.

Being a type 1 diabetic I’m always researching the research that is being done to find a cure. Over the past few years scientists have been making huge breakthroughs in their research. And it’s not just from one area. They are making discoveries and advances with an artificial pancreas, using adult stem cells for replacement, beta cell regeneration, and many other areas as well. Many scientists now believe that we will see a cure for diabetes within our lifetime (our being my generation and younger).

All this news is very encouraging for a diabetic, but at best I would say I am cautiously optimistic. All of the research I have seen so far has been extremely complicated and at best is only into testing on mice. But, there is one bit of research that is about ready to go into a phase I human trial. The “breakthrough”? Putting insulin into lettuce, grinding it up into a powder, putting it in a pill, and swallowing it. Sounds simple, huh? It really is, and the theory behind it makes sense as well.

Type I diabetes is an auto-immune disorder, meaning one’s own body destroys the insulin-producing cells. To live, we diabetics have to inject insulin into our bodies. This gets the insulin directly into the blood-stream so it can do it’s stuff. The idea behind the lettuce pill is that the insulin will get down to the intestines before being broken down, and then it will be absorbed into the blood. This will trigger an immune response and teach the body to produce insulin again…thus curing diabetes.

Sounds far fetched I know, but promising. I’ll be watching the clinical trials closely on this one. Let’s just hope all the conspiracy theorists who say pharmaceutical companies won’t let disorders like diabetes be cured because they would lose too much money are wrong

Jonathan Coulton
RE: Your Brains

Well, it definitely looks like the Reds are looking toward the future. First they traded Griffey to the White Sox, and now they have traded Adam Dunn to the Diamondbacks. They also sent David Ross down to triple A so they could bring up a new catcher that has a lot of potential.

I like the moves so far. I think they have a lot of talent and potential going forward. My only concern is that they lack leadership. Of course, with the money they freed up in getting rid of Griffey and Dunn they should be able to go out this off-season and get a top-quality veteran that can really help this team mature into a playoff contender. It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out. Next year should be a lot of fun.

Hmm…next year…seems to be an whole lot of that around Cincinnati…..