New pill can deliver insulin

Oral Doses of Insulin

A drug capsule has been established by an MIT headed research group which could be utilised to supply oral doses of insulin. This could possibly be a replacing injection that patients with type 1 diabetes are administered daily.

The capsule which is the size of a blueberry comprises of a miniature needle of compressed insulin that is injected when the capsule is said to reach the stomach. Researchers on conducting test on animals have portrayed that they can deliver adequate insulin to lower blood sugar levels in comparison to the product created through injections on skin.

Moreover they have also verified that the device could be adjusted to delivery other protein drugs also. A member of MIT’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and one of the senior authors of the study, Robert Langer, the David H. Koch Institute Professor, had commented that `they are hopeful that this new kind of capsule could someday help diabetic patients and anyone needing therapies could now be given through injection or infusion.

Innovative Capsule 

An assistant professor at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School and a visiting scientist in MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, where he is beginning as a faculty member in 2019, is Giovanni Traverso. Treverso is also a senior author of the research. The first author of the paper which had appeared in the issue of Science on Feb 7 is said to be a MIT graduate student, Alex Abramson.

The research team comprises of scientists from the pharmaceutical company – Novo Nordisk. Traverso Langer together with his colleagues had developed a pill with several tiny needles, some years ago.

These could be utilised to inject drugs in the lining of the stomach or the small intestine. The researchers had altered the design in the case of the innovative capsule, by having a single needle enabling them to avoid injecting drugs in the stomach. Here they could be fragmented down by the acids in the stomach prior to any effect.

Compressed Freeze-Dried Insulin

The tip of the needle is said to be made of almost 100% compressed freeze-dried insulin, utilising the same procedure to form tablets of medicine. The shaft of the needle that does not enter the stomach is said to be made from biodegradable substance. The needle within the capsule is linked to a compressed spring which is held in position by a sugary disc.

When the capsule is consumed, water in the stomach tends to dissolve the sugar disk releasing the spring, thereby injecting the needle in the wall of the stomach. The researchers are of the belief that since the stomach wall does not tend to have pain receptors, the patients would be incapable of feeling the injection.

To warrant that the drug is injected in the stomach, they designed this system ensuring that however the capsule reaches the stomach, it could orient itself and enable the needle to remain in contact with the stomach’s lining. . Traveso had commented that `as soon as the patient takes it, he would want the system to self-right so that he could ensure contact with the tissue’.

Traverso has also mentioned that his motivation is to ensure to make it easy for the patients in taking medication, especially those which would need an injection. The classic one being insulin, though there are several others on the list.

Mosquito Repellent that comes from Bacteria?

Anyone who’s been bitten by a mosquito knows how irritating they can be. The itch can last for days and can really disturb you from your sleep. So you decide to get rid of them using various methods including spraying your room full of mosquito repellent or applying generous amounts of a cream to prevent mosquito bites. Most of the time these don’t work or raise health concerns, so the alternative? A mosquito repellent made from Bacteria. Yes you read right.Bacteria.

A Mosquito Repellent made form Bacteria:

The mosquito repellent is in the form of a compound extracted from a particular form of bacteria. This so called new type of mosquito repellent is capable of preventing a mosquito bite at low doses as compared to other effective brands such as DEET and picaridin. This mosquito repellent extracted from bacteria is found to protect an individual from mosquitos that are known to carry the Zika virus, West Nile, Chikungunya, malaria and other diseases that effects millions of people across the globe.

The natural chemical so extracted form bacteria is called fabclavines and is still not tested suitable for humans. But according to researchers just knowing that there is a compound out there that could repel mosquitoes is enough to merit further exploration into the idea.

The Experiment to Find a New Kind of Mosquito Repellent: 

Researchers found out that these extracts from the bacteria did not kill mosquitos. But when sprayed on their food, they refused to eat it. A new experiment was thought of to test the bacteria compound’s potential.

Researchers used a skin like membrane that contained something to mimic blood as well as a number of cloth coverings to sit atop the skin like membrane. These cloth coverings would be coated with the repellents being tested out.

Researchers used DEET, picardin and plain water to test the efficacy of each in preventing a mosquito bite. Researchers then allowed the mosquitoes to feed for 30 mins by which time they would then freeze them and check for red substance that was used to mimic blood and those mosquitoes that remained unfed. The results showed that those mosquitoes that were around a repellent coated cloth did not eat anything. Proving DEET and picardin to be effective in warding off mosquito bites.
Researchers then tested the compound from bacteria and found that mosquitoes too did not feed when the cloth was covered with the bacteria compound. Then researchers compared the efficacy of DEET and picardin with the compound from bacteria in keeping away mosquitoes and found that the compound from the bacteria required 8 times and three times less compound than DEET and picardin in protecting one from a mosquito bite. Using less doses in the mosquito repellent means that the repellent will be much cheaper to make and consequently cheaper to buy.

Researchers are still not sure how this bacteria is a successful mosquito repellent. It may be just that the bacteria compound makes the food taste bad for mosquitoes.