We may be turning the corner
Regular readers of Diabetic Investor know that we have longed believed there is a gender bias when it comes to diabetes research. We have seen studies which drew a connection between a woman’s breast size and diabetes and another which drew a connection between the size of woman’s backside and diabetes. Given the news that came out from Georgetown University researchers the tide may turning and men just might have something to cheer about.
According to a study by G. Ian Gallicano, an associate professor at Georgetown University Medical Centre in Washington DC, his team was able to coax cells that normally produce sperm to make insulin instead, and used them to temporarily cure Type 1 diabetes in mice. According to a report posted on the Time Magazine web site; “Gallicano and his team chemically coaxed these sperm stem cells to become beta islet cells, the cells in the pancreas that produce insulin. Once the cells started creating insulin, the researchers transplanted them into mice with Type 1 diabetes, and saw the animals’ uncontrolled blood-sugar levels drop for about a week.”
Given this is very early stage research Diabetic Investor isn’t quite sure what to make of this news. Does this now give men another reason to visit their local sperm bank and make a deposit? Healthy, able bodied men are already getting paid for their sperm for reproductive reasons. Should additional research be productive does this mean we may have competition for sperm? Could the situation develop where a man could sell his sperm to the highest bidder?
While Diabetic Investor has yet to read the study, it would be logical to ask how much sperm is needed and how often. These are critical questions when one considers a males sperm producing capabilities. It also could spawn a whole new use for erectile dysfunction drugs; as we all know they can produce a 4 hour erection as a possible side effect. (Although most men and a fair amount of women would not call a four hour erection a serious adverse event, more like a miracle.)
Regardless of the eventual outcome of this research Diabetic Investor is just happy to see that males are no longer being ignored by diabetes researchers. We also believe that as the researchers continue investigating this discovery they may want to hook up with the researchers who investigated the correlation between certain female attributes and diabetes, it just might help them when it comes to collecting more specimens.
