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insulin

(Encyclopedia)insulin, hormone secreted by the β cells of the islets of Langerhans, specific groups of cells in the pancreas. Insufficiency of insulin in the body results in diabetes. Insulin was one of the first ...

insulin shock

(Encyclopedia)insulin shock: see hyperinsulinism. ...

hyperinsulinism

(Encyclopedia)hyperinsulinism, presence in the system of an above-normal amount of insulin, the substance secreted by the pancreas and needed by the body to utilize sugar. An increased amount of insulin in the body...

diabetes

(Encyclopedia)diabetes or diabetes mellitus məlīˈtəs [key], chronic disorder of glucose (sugar) metabolism caused by inadequate production or use of insulin, a hormone produced in specialized cells (beta cells ...

antidiabetic drug

(Encyclopedia)antidiabetic drug, any of several drugs that control blood sugar level in the treatment of diabetes. See insulin. ...

pancreas

(Encyclopedia)pancreas pănˈkrēəs [key], glandular organ that secretes digestive enzymes and hormones. In humans, the pancreas is a yellowish organ about 7 in. (17.8 cm) long and 1.5 in. (3.8 cm) wide. It lies b...

Macleod, John James Rickard

(Encyclopedia)Macleod, John James Rickard məkloudˈ [key], 1876–1935, Scottish physiologist, educated at Aberdeen and Leipzig. He was a professor at Western Reserve Univ. (1903–18) and at the Univ. of Toronto...

Banting, Sir Frederick Grant

(Encyclopedia)Banting, Sir Frederick Grant, 1891–1941, Canadian physician, M.D. Univ. of Toronto, 1922. From 1923 he was professor of medical research at Toronto. Working with C. H. Best under the direction of J....

electroconvulsive therapy

(Encyclopedia)electroconvulsive therapy in psychiatry, treatment of mood disorders by means of electricity; the broader term “shock therapy” also includes the use of chemical agents. The therapeutic possibiliti...

Sanger, Frederick

(Encyclopedia)Sanger, Frederick săngˈər [key], 1918–2013, British biochemist, grad. Cambridge (B.A., 1939; Ph.D., 1943). He continued his research at Cambridge after 1943. He won the 1958 Nobel Prize in Chemis...

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