OK, this is really cool. If you have never read a medical journal though you are going to have to brush up on crazy words used to impress you. This is a LONG and somewhat difficult read but I really like things like this that give more to the story than just DUMB facts. check out this wonderful medical journal entry about how Type 1 diabetes develops and the two sides of the story that they explore.
My personal theory is that it starts out a lot like the star trek episode "Arena", where Kirk (the beta cells) and the Gorn (the immune system) have to battle to death on some remote desolate planet.
In the star trek episode, Kirk relies on his cleverness, and constructs a crude cannon out of Bamboo and makes a gunpowder charge out of sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate he finds on the planet's surface.
The gorn relies on his natural strength and tries to just stab kirk with a piece of sharp obsidian or just brain him with a rock.
In the TV series, Kirk got beamed down with his yellow shirt and thus was succesful. But in my pancreas's case, Kirk got beamed down with his red shirt on and was thus doomed from the get go. His bamboo cannon blows up and I lost all my beta cells :-) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5DVWEvdQwQ
I love that episode !! It reminds me of my pre-diabetic days too !
( I cant help noticing that only Tims have responded to this thread so far)
Who cares how it starts? What they need to do immediately is figure out how to end it!
Ohh Dear Gary in order to get to the finish you have to start at how the problem starts. I am not sure a cure is coming any time soon but with research like this journal shows a prevention could be found more easily. You have to know how something works before you can fix it. So research like this is VERY important. It could lead to a prevention and then hopefully a cure of course. I love to read that research like this is going on to see someone out there with the resources is really trying to find a way.
Very interesting, thanks.