Insulin for all: treatment activism and the global diabetes crisis

Throughout its ~4.5 billion year history, the Earth has experienced periods of warming and cooling. However, the current drastic increase in global temperatures is well outside of the Earth’s cyclic norms, and evidence for human-caused global climate change is compelling. Paleoclimatology, the study of ancient climate conditions, provides ample evidence for human-caused global climate change by comparing recent conditions with those in the past.

Diabetes mellitus is a chronic metabolic disorder characterized by hyperglycemia. The four categories of diabetes are type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes, other specific types of diabetes, and gestational diabetes.
Type 1 diabetes is characterized by autoimmune-mediated destruction of pancreatic β cells, with environmental factors potentially triggering this process in genetically susceptible individuals. Despite many not having a family history, certain genes increase susceptibility,...

Insulin secretory vesicles release insulin to stimulate blood glucose uptake and regulate carbohydrate metabolism. When the blood glucose levels increase, glucose enters the pancreatic β-islet cells through glucose transporters. Once inside, glucose is metabolized through glycolysis, the citric acid cycle, and the electron transport chain, producing ATP. This increase in ATP concentration closes ATP-sensitive potassium channels, leading to depolarization of the membrane and the opening of...

Insulin action is mediated through a receptor tyrosine kinase, akin to the IGF-1 receptor. The number of receptors per cell varies significantly, from 40 on erythrocytes to 300,000 on adipocytes and hepatocytes. The insulin receptor consists of linked α/β subunit dimers, forming a heterotetramer glycoprotein with two extracellular α subunits and two β subunits spanning the membrane. The α subunits inhibit the inherent tyrosine kinase activity of the β subunits, but...

Insulin preparations are categorized by their duration of action into short-acting and long-acting types. Two strategies are used to modify insulin's absorption and pharmacokinetic profile: slowing the absorption post-subcutaneous injection, or altering human insulin's amino acid sequence or protein structure. These changes retain the insulin's ability to bind to the insulin receptor, but alter its behavior in solution or after injection.
Short-acting insulins are divided into...

The Global Positioning System (GPS) revolutionized positioning on Earth, providing precise location data through satellite ranging. The GPS system was developed in 1978 by the U.S. Department of Defense  for military use, and it became available for civilian applications in 1983, transforming fields including navigation, fleet management, and time synchronization for telecommunications systems.GPS consists of satellites in medium Earth orbit, about 20,200 kilometers above the surface,...