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.

SASH

}

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