Insulin Pill?

According to Science Daily, an MIT-led research team developed a drug capsule, that can deliver oral insulin instead of injecting insulin to treat patients with type II diabetes. The capsule is said to be the size of a blueberry, which contains a small needle, made of compressed insulin, which is injected after the capsule reached the stomach. Tested on animals, researchers showed that the pill could deliver enough insulin to lower blood sugar as much as the injections given through skin.

Having been developed before, the pill has been modified to contain one needle, which is made of nearly 100% compressed, freeze dried insulin. The way it works is; when the capsule is swallowed, water in the stomach would dissolve the sugar disk, releasing the spring and injecting the needle into the stomach wall. The stomach wall has no pain receptors, therefore patients would not feel the injection. The needle orients itself, where no matter the position, it will target the stomach wall. Once the top of the needle is injected into the stomach wall, insulin dissolves at a controlled rate and is then released into the bloodstream.

This is a very important topic, many people suffer from diabetes. However type II diabetes is often hereditary and non-preventable, and surviving with injections everyday is tough. With this new insulin pill, we can help many people battle type II diabetes and make it easier to manage. I hope that they will do further research and allow this "pill form" insulin to be promoted for pharmaceutical use. 

Helper Drugs to Fight Antibiotic Resistance

Image: CDC

Researchers at the University of Copenhagen and Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine (St. Kitts) found specific genes that led to antibiotic resistance in two superbugs. This discovery is pertinent to antibiotic resistance as it is a growing problem and can increase the risk of contracting severe infections in those with weakened immune systems (i.e. cancer patients). Scientists focused on two priority 1 pathogens: E. coli and K. pneumoniae. K. pneumoniae. Using latest genomic technology, they were able to identify genes that contain antibiotic bacteria and were able to use these genes to identify new helper drugs to combat resistance. They hope that a combination of colistin and an anti-fungal drug will disrupt resistance in the genes. 

I thought this was interesting since it's expected that the death toll of antibacterial resistance will overtake that of cancer by 2050. It's definitely important that we find a way to combat resistance before the problem gets worse. 

Obesity Gene

Scientist have finally figured out that there is a gene that is related to obesity. Experiments revealed that faulty versions of FTO cause energy from food to be stored as fat rather than burned. Genetic experiments on mice have showed that drugs might be developed to reverse this effect. This gene glitch is found in about 44% European and 5% black so it can’t be blamed for all obesity cases so exercise and diet may still be necessary . If you have the faulty gene it doesn’t mean you’re going to be obese but it does predispose you to it. 

"It's a potential target" for drug development, said Dr. Sam Klein, an obesity researcher at Washington University in St. Louis. He called the work "an amazing study" and "a scientific tour de force."

The FTO gene influences the master switch that control thermogenesis or burning off energy. It’s been know that brown or beige fatter tissue which is known as the good fat burns off calories. The white fat stores them. The gene is there to determine if the calories become white or brown. One experiment researchers blocked the faulty gene in mice and found that the mice became fifty percent leaner than other mice despite both eating a high-fat diet. 

I like this article because it shows that some people even know they diet and exercise and still can't lose weight and it could be because of this FTO gene. It also shows us that we can't look at a person and just assume that they watch TV all day and eat Oreo's. Some people have thyroid problems or now they might have a faulty gene. I hope in the future that there will be a drug that can alter this faulty gene. 

original article can be found here