preview

Psy 230 Week 1 Diabetes Research Paper Outline

Decent Essays

Insulin for diabetes was discovered in 1921 at the University of Toronto by Sir Frederick G. Banting, Charles H. Best, and JJR Macleod. James B. Collip subsequently purified it, and one year later on January 11, it was put to use on a young 14 year old boy named Leonard Thompson; a patient at Toronto General Hospital. Once the substance was delivered, it was found that the extract was so pure that he suffered an allergic reaction, and further injections were cancelled. James Collip worked for the next 12 days on improving the ox-pancreas extract, and the second dose given to Thompson on January 23 was completely successful. Prior to this, a type 1 diabetic would be put on a starvation diet, or be limited to a calorie intake of around 450 calories per day, and would only live a few extra months. Leonard Thompson lived another 14 years, until 1935 when he died of pneumonia at the age of 28. …show more content…

Banting and Best went from bedside to bedside, injecting the unconscious patients with their new discovery, and before reaching the last few in the ward, the first were already waking up. The patients would gradually get better, gaining their appetites back, and gathering the strength to get up out of their beds. Without this discovery, people with diabetes would not have an ounce of hope. Even now, diabetes is not curable. There are ways to keep your sugar at steady levels, but those with diabetes do still suffer. Without the discovery of insulin in 1921, we would not have the knowledge on diabetes that we do today that helps us continue our research, and spread hope that one day there will be a diabetic-free

Get Access