| Inheritance | multifactorial-- genes are involved; one is more likely to get IDDM if Caucasian, under 20, and with a family history of the disease |
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Occurrence
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1 in 17 people in the United States has some form of diabetes mellitus; 5 to 10% of them have IDDM |
| Description | insulin is the hormone which facilitates glucose uptake by the body. Individuals with IDDM do not produce insulin and must take shots of insulin to control their blood glucose levels |
| Inheritance | multifactorial-- genes are involved; however other risk factors include obesity, age, and level of exercise |
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Occurrence
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1 in 17 people in the United States has some form of diabetes mellitus; 90 to 95 % of them have NIDDM; risk for developing NIDDM also varies among ethnic groups. |
| Description | Insulin is the hormone which allows glucose uptake by the body. Individuals with NIDDM are insulin resistant and must control their blood glucose levels through diet, weight loss, and exercise. |
Background:
Diabetes is a Greek word meaning excessive urination; Mellitus is a latin word meaning honey. Diabetics' urine is sweet because they are excreting the glucose their bodies could not absorb. Ask your class if they would want to be the doctor (in earlier decades) diagnosing diabetes by tasting urine to see if it is sweet! (*Urine is ordinarily a very sterile liquid.)
Activity:
Have the class read The Little Known History of Insulin. This brief summary discusses how many scientific advances and studies have led to knowing what causes diabetes, insulin's role in the body, and ways to treat diabetes. Initiate a discussion on what experiments were done and what each experiment demonstrated. This is a way for students to see science in action as well as begin to understand how genetic technology is opening windows of new opportunity for disease treatment and cure.
Activity:
After introducing recombinant DNA technology to the class, have students decide on a protocol for getting bacteria to produce human insulin. They could use a plasmid or bacteriophage as the vector, and through restriction enzymes insert the human gene for insulin into bacteria. (For introduction into genetic engineering see the activity under Cystic Fibrosis).
For more information visit Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man or Diabetes.com
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