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PHYSIOLOGY 

 AND BIOCHEMISTRY 



SURGEON CAPTAIN C. H. BEST, C.B.E., F.R.S., director of 



MEDICAL RESEARCH, ROYAL CANADIAN NAVY 



^HE RESPONSIBILITY of preparing an essay under this 

 -^ broad heading, even in normal times, would be very great. 

 Since, under present circumstances, a comprehensive treatment of the 

 subject would be still more difficult, with the consent of the editor I 

 am limiting my discussion to fields in which I have had personal ex- 

 perience. 



Insulin and Diabetes 



Four of the central problems in this field are: (a) the mecha- 

 nism of action of insulin; (b) the further study of the insulin molecule 

 and its synthesis; (c) the etiology of diabetes; and (d) the improve- 

 ment of insulin as a therapeutic agent. 



Mechanism of Insulin Action. The broad picture seems bright 

 and clear. The administration of insulin to recently depancreatized 

 dogs or to the uncomplicated case of human diabetes completely restores 

 the organism. If the treatment is carefully continued and no com- 

 plications occur, the animal or patient may proceed with an essen- 

 tially normal existence and is, in fact, difficult to distinguish from the 

 nondiabetic. The deranged metabolism of carbohydrates, fats, pro- 

 teins, and phosphate compounds is corrected, except that the lack of a 



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