WebZine
2019. 10
What's New
ARTIFICIAL PANCREAS BETTER CONTROLS BLOOD GLUCOSE LEVELS THAN CURRENT TECHNOLOGY
By Eric Swensen | UVA Health System
The Control-IQ artificial pancreas system was derived from research done at the Center for Diabetes Technology at the University of Virginia. (Image: Tandem Diabetes Care)
A multicenter, randomized clinical trial evaluating a new artificial pancreas system – which automatically monitors and regulates blood glucose levels – has found that the new system was more effective than existing treatments at controlling blood glucose levels in people with Type 1 diabetes.
The trial, based partly at the University of Virginia Center for Diabetes Technology, was primarily funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health.
The study showed that the system improved participants’ blood glucose control throughout the day and overnight. The latter is a common but serious challenge for children and adults with type 1 diabetes, since blood glucose can drop to dangerously low levels when a person is asleep. The research is published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The artificial pancreas, also known as closed-loop control, is an “all-in-one” diabetes management system that tracks blood glucose levels using a continuous glucose monitor and automatically delivers the hormone insulin when needed using an insulin pump. The system replaces reliance on testing by fingerstick or continuous glucose monitor with separate delivery of insulin by multiple daily injections or a pump.
A hollow mouse pulmonary artery, 3D-printed using the new technique
Alain Herzog / 2019 EPFL
We've recently been hearing a lot about 3D-bioprinting, a technique in which small body parts can be 3D-printed out of biological tissue. Now, new technology promises to make the process quicker and thus more practical than ever.
Ordinarily, bioprinting is performed in a fashion much like regular 3D printing – an object is slowly built up as successive layers of material are deposited one on top of the other. This means that it can take hours or perhaps days to produce even a simple item.
Lately, though, scientists have been experimenting with a faster method of printing a variety of non-biological objects, which is known as volumetric printing. Working with colleagues at the Netherlands' Utrecht University, a team from the Swiss EMPA research institute has adapted that technology to produce body parts measuring up to several square centimeters in size – these parts have included a valve similar to a heart valve, a meniscus, and a complex-shaped section of femur.
The process involves projecting a laser beam down into a slowly-spinning tube that's filled with a stem cell-laden photosensitive hydrogel. By selectively focusing the light energy at specific locations within the tube, it's possible to solidify the gel in those places only, building up the desired three-dimensional object within a matter of seconds. The stem cells are unharmed in the process.