Free Essays on Diabetes

Diabetes Diabetes mellitus has a long historical record dating back to second century AD. The word "diabetes" was first used by the Greek physician Aretaeus. The word diabetes means "siphon". It was first used to describe patients with excessive thirst and urination. In the 17th century, the word mellitus, meaning "like honey", was added when diabetes patients' urine was noticed to be sweet. However, the disease is not directly related to urine, but instead to the pancreas. Today many other symptons and complications of the disease are known. Although, the disease has many complications there are also simple treatments to follow to avoid serious problems. Diabetes is a familiar health problem that affects millions of people world wide. Diabetes results from the failure of the pancreas to produce a sufficient amount of insulin. Insulin is the hormone that regulates the body's use of glucose. Therefore, the excess gluce remains in the bloodstream and passes out the body in urine. In some cases, the pancreas produces a sufficient amount of insulin, but the insulin is blocked from the body's cells and cannot be used. This causes diabetes patients to have abnormally high amounts of sugar in their blood and urine. Diagnosing a patient with diabetes is more complicated than measuring the glucose level of urine only one time. Instead the diagnosis involves several hours of glucose-tolerance tests. These tests measure the rate in which sugar is removed from the bloodstream. After the test are complete, a high glucose level indicates insufficient insulin and the patient is diagnosed with diabetes. There are several symptoms and complications involved with diabetes mellitus. The symptoms are excessive thirst and urination, unusual hunger, a lot of weight loss, and fatigue. The complications are heart attack and stroke, chronic kidney disease, lower-extremity amputations, blindness, and death. Arteriosclerosis is a conditi... Free Essays on Diabetes Free Essays on Diabetes Diabetes Diabetes mellitus has a long historical record dating back to second century AD. The word "diabetes" was first used by the Greek physician Aretaeus. The word diabetes means "siphon". It was first used to describe patients with excessive thirst and urination. In the 17th century, the word mellitus, meaning "like honey", was added when diabetes patients' urine was noticed to be sweet. However, the disease is not directly related to urine, but instead to the pancreas. Today many other symptons and complications of the disease are known. Although, the disease has many complications there are also simple treatments to follow to avoid serious problems. Diabetes is a familiar health problem that affects millions of people world wide. Diabetes results from the failure of the pancreas to produce a sufficient amount of insulin. Insulin is the hormone that regulates the body's use of glucose. Therefore, the excess gluce remains in the bloodstream and passes out the body in urine. In some cases, the pancreas produces a sufficient amount of insulin, but the insulin is blocked from the body's cells and cannot be used. This causes diabetes patients to have abnormally high amounts of sugar in their blood and urine. Diagnosing a patient with diabetes is more complicated than measuring the glucose level of urine only one time. Instead the diagnosis involves several hours of glucose-tolerance tests. These tests measure the rate in which sugar is removed from the bloodstream. After the test are complete, a high glucose level indicates insufficient insulin and the patient is diagnosed with diabetes. There are several symptoms and complications involved with diabetes mellitus. The symptoms are excessive thirst and urination, unusual hunger, a lot of weight loss, and fatigue. The complications are heart attack and stroke, chronic kidney disease, lower-extremity amputations, blindness, and death. Arteriosclerosis is a conditi... Free Essays on Diabetes Biochemistry is about life at the molecular level. Biochemists have the ability to work in many fields and look into life from the view of the molecule. Diabetes is very common among people and is not a major problem now but will be in the next century or so. Diabetes is defined by resting hyperglycemia. Glucose has to stay in a fine concentration area. It’s needed for the brain, muscles and fats. In the normal state, it’s controlled by insulin and glucagon which is both produced by the pancreas. Insulin is required by muscle, fat and the liver. It is vital for life. When you eat, the relative concentration of insulin is increased. Later, glucagon rises and balances the hormones. Glucagon is there to mobilize and stabilize the levels of insulin. Diabetes is a relative or absolute deficiency of insulin. Two types of diabetes: Type I and Type II. Type 1 (or juvenile onset) is an alter-immunitive disease which causes the body to recognize the Beta cells as a foreign entit y and destroys it. The Beta cell is the cell which creates insulin. Without treatment, it is fatal. These people are insulin dependant for life. A cure for Type 1 is currently being investigated. It’s treated with insulin but a better way is needed. The most promising approach is eyelet transplantation. Take eyelets from recently deceased and transplant into diabetic patients. However, there is a chance of rejection of the cells as in any transplantation. Also, there is no where near enough tissue to generate enough eyelets for all of the diabetics. Stem cells are also being investigated to see if its possible to generate Beta cells. Type 1 is less than 10% of diabetics. Type II diabetics are over 90%. They have the Beta cells and some insulin but the Beta cells can’t keep up. There is a relative insulin deficiency, it can’t keep up. The problem is the body is developing a resistance to insulin. There is a genetic component that is related to Type II diabetes. T ... Free Essays on Diabetes Diabetes is a chronic disease in which the body does not make, or does not properly use, insulin. Insulin is the hormone that helps your body use the energy from sugar, starches and other foods. The result is that your body doesn’t get the energy it needs, and unmetabolized sugar or glucose, builds up in your blood causing damage to the body and its systems. In the United States of America, about 16 million people have diabetes. That is about six percent of the total population. Every year about 798,000 new cases are introduced and diagnosed (Lifescan 1). Many different kinds of people are affected with this horrible disease. The three different types of diabetes are type one diabetes, type two diabetes, and gestational diabetes. The people that most often get type one diabetes are people younger than 30 years of age. The people most likely to get type two diabetes are people over the age of 40. But those are just the normals, that doesn’t mean that you canâ⠂¬â„¢t get them earlier or later. An estimated 18 percent of the US population, over 65 years old, have diabetes (Lifescan 1). Gestational Diabetes affects women during their pregnancy. Common cases happen in the sixth month of pregnancy or weeks 24 through 28. Approximately two to five percent of all women who become pregnant will develop gestational diabetes. Gestational diabetes is much more common in African Americans and overweight women (Lifescan 1). And about 35 to 50 percent of women who develop gestational diabetes will develop type two diabetes. The complications of diabetes will be very serious if it is not diagnosed early. There are major differences in the three types of diabetes. Type one diabetes the patient needs to take insulin because their bodies do not make enough of it. Insulin helps turn food into energy for the body to work. Most people make insulin in their pancreas. If you have type one diabetes, your body does not make insulin. Ins... Free Essays on Diabetes Hyperglycemia, which means high blood sugar level. This is usually over 250. The normal range is 80-120 for a person without diabetes. High Blood sugar is when a diabetic eats too many sugars, with out covering it with insulin. High Blood sugar causes a diabetic to become very tired, they get dry mouth and get very thirsty. This causes frequent urination. This is usually how a person is diagnosed with Diagnosed with diabetes. If you have constant high blood sugar, you will start to lose weight. The body will not be able to convert the sugar to energy, which makes the person very tired. If you treat Hyperglycemia early enough you will not get these symptoms, that is why it is a good idea for diabetics to frequently check their blood sugar levels. Ways to treat Hyperglycemia is to exercise or take some insulin depending on high your blood sugar level is. It requires a different amount for every diabetic. Or just take some extra insulin if you plan on eating more than usual. Hypoglycemia is when your blood sugar level is to low, this usualls occurs when you don’t eat enough or exercise more than you have planned. Hypoglycemia or low blood sugar cause: Shakiness, Dizziness, Sweating, Hunger, Headache, Pale skin color, Sudden moodiness or behavior changes, Clumsy or jerky movements, Difficulty paying attention, or confusion. The Best way to treat low blood sugar is to keep good control over your blood sugar levels by testing the blood sugar level often. If you plan to exercise a lot eat a little extra. If you test your blood sugar level, and you feel that your sugar levels are going down eat some time of sugared food. A good thing for diabetics to carry around with them are glucose tabs, which are just sugared type pill that is very fast acting and will bring the sugar to its normal level. If you don’t not treat low blood sugar levels, a person may pass out and going into a diabetic coma, which means...

Biography of Srinivasa Ramanujan, Mathematical Genius

Biography of Srinivasa Ramanujan, Mathematical Genius Srinivasa Ramanujan (born December 22, 1887 in Erode, India) was an Indian mathematician who made substantial contributions to mathematics- including results in number theory, analysis, and infinite series- despite having little formal training in math. Fast Facts: Srinivasa Ramanujan Full Name: Srinivasa Aiyangar RamanujanKnown For: Prolific mathematicianParents’ Names: K. Srinivasa Aiyangar, KomalatammalBorn: December 22, 1887 in Erode, IndiaDied: April 26, 1920 at age 32 in Kumbakonam, IndiaSpouse: JanakiammalInteresting Fact: Ramanujans life is depicted in a book published in 1991 and a 2015 biographical film, both titled The Man Who Knew Infinity. Early Life and Education Ramanujan was born on December 22, 1887, in Erode, a city in southern India. His father, K. Srinivasa Aiyangar, was an accountant, and his mother Komalatammal was the daughter of a city official. Though Ramanujan’s family was of the Brahmin caste, the highest social class in India, they lived in poverty. Ramanujan began attending school at the age of 5. In 1898, he transferred to Town High School in Kumbakonam. Even at a young age, Ramanujan demonstrated extraordinary proficiency in math, impressing his teachers and upperclassmen. However, it was G.S. Carr’s book, A Synopsis of Elementary Results in Pure Mathematics, which reportedly spurred Ramanujan to become obsessed with the subject. Having no access to other books, Ramanujan taught himself mathematics using Carr’s book, whose topics included integral calculus and power series calculations. This concise book would have an unfortunate impact on the way Ramanujan wrote down his mathematical results later, as his writings included too few details for many people to understand how he arrived at his results. Ramanujan was so interested in studying mathematics that his formal education effectively came to a standstill. At the age of 16, Ramanujan matriculated at the Government College in Kumbakonam on a scholarship, but lost his scholarship the next year because he had neglected his other studies. He then failed the First Arts examination in 1906, which would have allowed him to matriculate at the University of Madras, passing math but failing his other subjects. Career For the next few years, Ramanujan worked independently on mathematics, writing down results in two notebooks. In 1909, he began publishing work in the Journal of the Indian Mathematical Society, which gained him recognition for his work despite lacking a university education. Needing employment, Ramanujan became a clerk in 1912 but continued his mathematics research and gained even more recognition. Receiving encouragement from a number of people, including the mathematician Seshu Iyer, Ramanujan sent over a letter along with about 120 mathematical theorems to G. H. Hardy, a lecturer in mathematics at Cambridge University in England. Hardy, thinking that the writer could either be a mathematician who was playing a prank or a previously undiscovered genius, asked another mathematician J.E. Littlewood, to help him look at Ramanujan’s work. The two concluded that Ramanujan was indeed a genius. Hardy wrote back, noting that Ramanujan’s theorems fell into roughly three categories: results that were already known (or which could easily be deduced with known mathematical theorems); results that were new, and that were interesting but not necessarily important; and results that were both new and important. Hardy immediately began to arrange for Ramanujan to come to England, but Ramanujan refused to go at first because of religious scruples about going overseas.  However, his mother dreamed that the Goddess of Namakkal commanded her to not prevent Ramanujan from fulfilling his purpose. Ramanujan arrived in England in 1914 and began his collaboration with Hardy. In 1916, Ramanujan obtained a Bachelor of Science by Research (later called a Ph.D.) from Cambridge University. His thesis was based on highly composite numbers, which are integers that have more divisors (or numbers that they can be divided by) than do integers of smaller value. In 1917, however, Ramanujan became seriously ill, possibly from tuberculosis, and was admitted to a nursing home at Cambridge, moving to different nursing homes as he tried to regain his health. In 1919, he showed some recovery and decided to move back to India. There, his health deteriorated again and he died there the following year. Personal Life On July 14, 1909, Ramanujan married Janakiammal, a girl whom his mother had selected for him. Because she was 10 at the time of marriage, Ramanujan did not live together with her until she reached puberty at the age of 12, as was common at the time. Honors and Awards 1918, Fellow of the Royal Society1918, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge University In recognition of Ramanujan’s achievements, India also celebrates Mathematics Day on December 22, Ramanjan’s birthday. Death Ramanujan died on April 26, 1920 in Kumbakonam, India, at the age of 32. His death was likely caused by an intestinal disease called hepatic amoebiasis. Legacy and Impact Ramanujan proposed many formulas and theorems during his lifetime. These results, which include solutions of problems that were previously considered to be unsolvable, would be investigated in more detail by other mathematicians, as Ramanujan relied more on his intuition rather than writing out mathematical proofs. His results include: An infinite series for Ï€, which calculates the number based on the summation of other numbers. Ramanujan’s infinite series serves as the basis for many algorithms used to calculate Ï€.The Hardy-Ramanujan asymptotic formula, which provided a formula for calculating the partition of numbers- numbers that can be written as the sum of other numbers. For example, 5 can be written as 1 4, 2 3, or other combinations.The Hardy-Ramanujan number, which Ramanujan stated was the smallest number that can be expressed as the sum of cubed numbers in two different ways. Mathematically, 1729 13 123 93 103. Ramanujan did not actually discover this result, which was actually published by the French mathematician Frà ©nicle de Bessy in 1657. However, Ramanujan made the number 1729 well known.1729 is an example of a â€Å"taxicab number,† which is the smallest number that can be expressed as the sum of cubed numbers in n different ways. The name derives from a conversation bet ween Hardy and Ramanujan, in which Ramanujan asked Hardy the number of the taxi he had arrived in. Hardy replied that it was a boring number, 1729, to which Ramanujan replied that it was actually a very interesting number for the reasons above. Sources Kanigel, Robert. The Man Who Knew Infinity: A Life of the Genius Ramanujan. Scribner, 1991.Krishnamurthy, Mangala. â€Å"The Life and Lasting Influence of Srinivasa Ramanujan.† Science Technology Libraries, vol. 31, 2012, pp. 230–241.Miller, Julius. â€Å"Srinivasa Ramanujan: A Biographical Sketch.† School Science and Mathematics, vol. 51, no. 8, Nov. 1951, pp. 637–645.Newman, James. â€Å"Srinivasa Ramanujan.† Scientific American, vol. 178, no. 6, June 1948, pp. 54–57.OConnor, John, and Edmund Robertson. â€Å"Srinivasa Aiyangar Ramanujan.† MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive, University of St. Andrews, Scotland, June 1998, www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/history/Biographies/Ramanujan.html.Singh, Dharminder, et al. â€Å"Srinvasa Ramanujans Contributions in Mathematics.† IOSR Journal of Mathematics, vol. 12, no. 3, 2016, pp. 137–139.â€Å"Srinivasa Aiyangar Ramanujan.† Ramanujan Museum Math Education Centre, M.A .T Educational Trust, www.ramanujanmuseum.org/aboutramamujan.htm.