Comment by hooande | Hacker News Reader

Comment by hooande | Hacker News Reader

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Sure wish there was some way that I could help fund this research. I don't know if kickstarter campaigns are cool at Harvard, but they would have no shortage of backers.

This does reinforce my idea that medical technology and research is advancing at an exponential pace, faster than the evolution of diseases can keep up. A treatment for type I diabetes seemed to be impossible. A diabetic's pancreas betrays them and begins killing the cells that produce insulin. There's no pill or surgery that can stop that, nothing short of reprogramming pancreatic cells. And yet, here is a promising sign of a cure! It's really amazing, and the future probably holds even more legitimate medical wonders. We might be the one of first generations to live to 100+ on average.

Type I diabetes is expensive, ~$5,000/yr without insurance. Anyone with this diabetes would probably be willing to pay any amount less than that every year for the rest of their lives in exchange for this treatment. Talk about customer lock-in! Most of the controversy over stem cells has been centered around federal funding, but treatments for chronic and costly diseases will pay for themselves several times over. For now I can only hope that this research advances fast enough to help everyone who is currently dependent on insulin.

If this is truly promising, I expect they'll have to beat a path through all the aspiring donors to get to work each day. The problem with biomedical research as I see it is not a lack of donations, it's that the typical case is that the results people are desperately seeking simply can't be bought for any amount of funding. If this succeeds in curing diabetes, it will be on par with the greatest achievements in medical history (what disease was the Salk vaccine for again? Polio?). Every foundation on earth will want a piece.

There are many causes worth donating to. I'd recommend taking a sober look at charitable options and give to one that's relatively underfunded.

Without insurance, blood glucose test strips cost $40 for 25. I test myself 8 times a day. That's nearly $5k/yr right there. It is really expensive... Thank God for health insurance

If before using a strip you make a prediction how accurate is it? I only ask because I know diabetics who say my blood sugar is low/high but I am guessing that's not enough information in your case?

Edit: I also know a diabetic that went blind, it's a serious disease and I am all for staying on top of it. I am simply curious in this case.

Not a diabetic, but I interact with folks who are on a regular basis.

You know if you are getting into extreme territory (up to a point... eventually the confusion that comes from hypo/hyperglycemia means you won't be aware of it).

The danger of diabetes is that you can end up perpetually a little high, which is what causes all the nasty osmotic side effects (blindness, slow healing (leading to infection and amputation), etc...). You won't be able to know that without testing.

For many diabetics, the amount of insulin they inject depends on their blood sugar. There's no way you could 'sense' it to the level necessary to control dosing.

EDIT: s/deal/interact/

This is pretty spot on.

You generally always have a running estimate in your head, "I ate two tacos, took three units of Humolog, needed to correct down an extra 50 points with the extra unit (because I undershot last meal), etc."

But there are factors that you have a more difficult time predicting your levels with, like exercise, illness, the type of carb your eating (some carbs take longer than others to hit your system, but if you treat all the same, you insulin will hit you faster than your carbs and you're now hypoglycemic).

Truly staying on top of your numbers and this disease means constantly checking. You can always make a guess, but when the risk of serious short-term and long-term complications hang in the balance, you tend to want to know for sure.

I don't like Wal-Mart, but they have $9 for 50 test strips, no insurance/prescription needed.

I buy my meter based on how much the strips cost, not on features. My grocery store pharmacy sells a cheap meter that uses cheap strips.

I think personal meters are only expected to be accurate +/- 20% anyway.

Edit: I'm Type 2, I have it easy.

> Melton expressed gratitude to both JDRF and the Helmsley Charitable Trust, saying, “Their support has been, and continues to be, essential. I also need to thank [research supporters] Howard and Stella Heffron, whose faith in our vision got this work under way, and helped to get us where we are today.”

Seems like they certainly accept donations. Perhaps you can support the JDRF or Helmsley Trust. If not why not contact them directly to ask whether they accept donations directly?

Good point. There should be plenty of diabetes research foundations to donate to -- JDRF would top my list. If you donate to one of those, it's like buying a mutual fund. Your investment is diversified and has the best chance of doing some good. Give to JDRF.

I thought it was the immune system that betrayed type 1 diabetics, not the pancreas. I recall the leading theory (at least used to be) that insulin producing cells had the bad luck to look like a cold virus or some other malicious infection, and after the person contracted a similar looking infection, the body just cleaned up the beta cells, thinking they're also malicious.

You're right that type 1 diabetes has autoimmune origin. The presence of autoantibodies can be used clinically to distinguish it from the other types of diabetes mellitus[1].

[1] http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diabetes_mellitus_type_1

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