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Spyware That Tests for Diabetes?
Early detection means early treatment and a delay in cardiovascular complications.
MSGI Security Solutions, which "serves the needs of counter-terrorism, public safety, law enforcement, and commercial security," has moved into a new area: diabetes detection. In fact, it has developed a handheld sensor that detects diabetes by measuring the level of acetone in the breath. The device, which employs carbon-based chemical sensors that detect organic vapors, is based upon nano sensors that NASA originally developed to make scientific measurements during space missions.
How does a sensor that detects acetone serve to diagnose diabetes? Because people with diabetes are resistant to insulin or don't produce it at all, their bodies are unable to move glucose from their bloodstream into their cells for energy. When the starved cells call for more glucose, the liver gets into action, converting fat into glucose in a process called gluconeogenesis ("gluco" = glucose; "neo" = new; and "genesis" = production). Gluconeogenesis produces substances called ketones. Ketones break down into three basic compounds, one of them being acetone, which then ends up in the breath.
According to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), about half of the approximately 246 million people in the world who have diabetes don't know that they have the disease. Early detection would mean that early treatment could be made available. And early treatment, as we know, is absolutely necessary to prevent or delay the complications of diabetes. A simple breath test would go a long way toward simplifying early detection.
Please be aware, however, that this product is still in the prototype stage. MSGI has formed a subsidiary, Nanobeak, which is looking to test the handheld sensor and then license it to Big Pharma. It will then be up to Big Pharma to determine how to market the device to us, the consumers, or to our healthcare providers. (By the way, a nanobeak is a near-field optical head with a beaked metallic plate. Now you know.)
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Sources:
International Diabetes Federation
Wikipedia- Ketone bodies
Categories: Diabetes, Diabetes, Insulin, Pre-Diabetes, Products, Type 1 Issues, Type 2 Issues
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Diabetes Health is the essential resource for people living with diabetes- both newly diagnosed and experienced as well as the professionals who care for them. We provide balanced expert news and information on living healthfully with diabetes. Each issue includes cutting-edge editorial coverage of new products, research, treatment options, and meaningful lifestyle issues.
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Comments
Great potential for this company. NO MORE finger pricking daily. Can you just imagine?
Great break-through! Save our fingers!
The problem with this is that if you're low-carbing, you'll also give off acetone...doesn't matter in that case whether you're diabetic or not.
these guys rock...
Wow, imagine how many people with type 2 could be diagnosed years earlier if it were as easy as a breath test to diagnose! A lot more doctors could do it as part of every basic visit just like blood pressure & temperature without having to draw blood which they don't usually do at every visit. If people could be diagnosed sooner just think how many complications could be prevented. This could be a wonderful tool to help with early diagnosis!
I really don't see why such a device needed to be invented simply to detect duabetes. There are more simple, and less expensive, ways to do it. I really don't see this thing helping with early detection.
If this leads to the ability to test ones blood sugar level then it was worth it ... but I really don't see that happening because too much money is being made on test supplies now.
I think the device was merely created to sniff out bomb materials and/or drugs, and this was a side benefit.
Acetone is used to purify cocaine, and could be used as an explosive as it's highly flammable. I wouldn't be surprised if it could be used as a liquid rocket propellant. It can strip enamel paint from fingernails in seconds....
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