Canada, USSR develop artificial pancreas

Research wi

Research and experimental procedures are continuing, both in| this country and in the Soviet Union aimed at perfecting an implanted artificial pancreas which will providea more effective source of insulin for the thousands of people.suffering from diabetes.

The pancreas normally secretes

insulin, necessary in the chemical ,

process of digesting sugar, but diabetics — there are some 110,000

of them in this country alone — ae ‘

unable to produce their own, t

result of a malfunction of the

pancreas.

Although the discovery and isolation of insulin by Canadian doctors Frederick Banting and Charles Best enabled

previously-doomed diabetics to | lead normal lives — by means of a | daily, self-administered injection °

— victims are still prone to long term complications including blindness and kidney and heart disease.

The artificial pancreas, it is hoped, wilk not only obviate the need for daily injections, but may also overcome the long term complications.

The first successful implantation of an artificial pancreas in a human patient was carried out in the Soviet Union last month under the supervision of professor Valeri Shumakov, director of the Moscow Organ and Tissue Transplant Institute.

A small apparatus was im- planted in the lower abdomen which, when supplied with a two to three month supply of insulin, imitates the body’s lost pancreas function.

Like researchers in this country, Soviet doctors have long been concerned with the complications

spectacular

Soviet films

The Canada-USSR Association has scheduled two film showings this month including a festival of Soviet films.

A film of the Soviet Union today is slated for Wednesday, April 20, : 7:30 p.m. in the Vancouver Public

Library Auditorium. The festival ©

of Soviet films, at 2:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m., is set for April 24 at the Britannia Centre, 1661 Napier in Vancouver.

2B

—maclean’s photo

Connaught Labs’ Dr. Anthony Sun examines experimental monkey

fitted with artificial pancreas or “

which accompany diabetes and the susceptibility of diabetics to kidney and heart disease. They have also been concerned with injections as a method of introducing insulin into the body.

A high insulin level following an injection soon drops. sharply and such changes are far from being harmless to the body, Dr. Shumakov emphasized. —

Pancreas transplants, because of the body’s tendency to reject, have been considered too great a risk and Soviet doctors have in- stead concentrated on developing an artificial organ.

Several models have already been made. Among them are implanted devices which «secrete insulin automatically as well as controlled devices which can in-

insulinstat,”

seen in the inset.

crease insulin supply on command at any moment: Such a device can be regulated automatically by a built-in pickup which monitors blood sugar levels.

A more radical — but connected — solution to the problem of in- sulatin injections has developed in -this country and is currently under study at Toronto’s Connaught Laboratories, site of the original discovery of insulin.

There, under the direction of Dr. Anthony Sun, researchers are experimenting with another form of artificial pancreas, called an ‘“insulinstat’; developed at Con- naught.

The device is different, however, in that it contains live pancreas. cells — either human or animal — which are suspended in a liquid

Beethoven commemorated

Commemorative concerts and record releases to mark the 150th anniversary of the death of Ludwig von Beethoven are taking place in various countries throughout the socialist world where the music of the famous German classical composer is revered by millions.

Bornin Bonn in 1770, Beethoven died March 26, 1827.

Commemorative events in the German Democratic Republic were highlighted by a musicologists congress and 17 concerts held during the week March 20 to 27. This year has also been declared Beethoven year in the GDR.

To mark the year, the state library of the GDR has arranged an extensive exhibition of the documents on the life and work of the composer, including the original manuscripts of the Piano Concerto Number Five and the Eighth Symphony.

Also scheduled for 1977 is the completion of recording of Beethoven’s works from the earliest piano sonatas to his last violin quartets.

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Hungary will also be marking the anniversary and, by the end of May, will havehosted more than 50 concerts . featuring most of Beethoven’s major works.

A highlight of the musical tribute will be the performance in the Budapest Conservatory of all 32 piano sonatas by renowned pianist Annie Fischer.

In the USSR, a special concert to

Ic ic Seas ‘pee = be os

_ Beethoven:

mark the composer’s death was

heldonthe night ofthe anniversary ~

— March 2% and a com- -memorative recording of Beethoven’s towering master- piece, the Ninth Symphony, has been issued by the Soviet firm Meolodiya, featuring the soloists,

' :the choir and the orchestra of the

famous Bolshoi Theatre.

Revered throughout the world, Beethoven holds a special honor in the socialist world where his work has come to symbolize the revolutionary spirit.

- German composer and Com- munist Hans Eisler said of “He was not a com- poser of the proletariat. Never- theless his music belongs to us, the rising working class, not the bourgeoisie. Beethoven lived in a time when first the bourgeois revolution had to be carried through and not the proletarian one. The tremendous drive of the French Revolution, however, Ludwig von Beethoven knew, understood, welcomed and set in tones.”’

Of:

ill benefit diabetics -

inside a small cylinder behind a plastic membrane. As blood passes on either sideof the membrane, the glucose it contains stimulates the

cells to produce insulin which then- ‘passes through the membrane and

enters the blood where it carries out its normal function of breaking

down carbohydrates.

The great value of the device is that it duplicates exactly the func- tion of a living pancreas but is not prone to the body’s rejection system. The membrane behind

which the cells are located allows

the insulin to pass freely — in response to blood sugar levels — but bars the passage of antibodies that would normally attack the “alien” pancreas cells.

Because the device enables live pancreas cells to be used — thus simulating normal functions — it may also overcome the problem of complications. Current research suggests that the pancreas secretes a group ‘of previously unknown hormones the lack of which may cause the complications.

Initial testing of the innovative device has been very promising. A diabetic monkey wore one at- tached to his femoral artery for 24 hours while researchers monitored blood sugar levels.

Dr. Sun reported that it worked perfectly although he pointed out that they would Have to move slowly in working with human patients. One of the problems which appeared during testing was the plastic tubing carrying blood through the insulinstat which tended to produce clotting.

Nevertheless the progress so far gives grounds for optimism although researchers at Connaught will have to overcome a problem that their counterparts in the Soviet Union never have to face: lack of facilities and funds.

Only last year, an investigation the federally-controlled laboratory by the Canadian Medical Association found the facilities to be ‘‘grossly

inadequate.’ Clearly the federal government has a responsibility to rectify that situation.

Friday, April ts:

Doorsopen7 p.m. , Fishermen’s Hall, 138 East Cordova St.

PLUS: the award-winning film, Companero Victor Jara. Folk music, refreshments and Chilean food.

ALL ARE

Admission free.

EXHIBITION OF CHILEAN ARTS &

BULGARIA

Book award | to Progress

Progress Books, Toronto, has received a citation from Bulgaria for publication of the English | edition of the~book, Bulgaria - Ancient and_ Socialist, by Bulgarian president, Todo! Zhivkov, First Secretary of thé Communist Party of Bulgaria.

Thehonor stems from a selectiol made last fall at the annual It ternational Book Fare in Sofia, wherea panel of judges, making its selection not on the basis of content but on presentation, singled out the Canadian book.

In a ceremony held recently at the Bulgarian Consulate i Toronto, the Bulgarian Am bassador to Canada, Konstatil Tallalov, made the presentation 0 the judges’ Diploma, which read in part: “Competition for the best artistic and polygraphic layout books by Bulgarian authors published abroad.”

Maggie Bizzell, manager of Progress Books, told the Tribune that the publication of the boa and the kind of reception tf received in Bulgaria, is ‘‘a col crete expression of the god! relations which can be enjoyé between the two countries.”

Progress’ edition of the book was set by Prompt Graphics ane printed by Eveready Printers Ltd. both of Toronto. The cover an book design were the work of Dall Hammond.

HANDICRAFTS

WELCOME!

GIGANTIC BAZAAR

Sunday,

Open 1

Russian Hall — 600 Campbell Avenue Plants, home baking, books, rummage, white elephant, crafts, raffles, new and used clothing and more. -

GREAT BARGAINS!

Admission free. Refreshments available!

April 24

til 4 p.m,

Both events sponsored by: Canadians for Democracy in Chile