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Dominican Republic (1974 SG1196) Struggle
against diabetes: an eye and a heart are organs commonly affected in diabetes.
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Austria (1979 SG1848)
10th World Congress of the International Diabetes Federation: leaking retinal
vessels in diabetes.
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USA (2001) Know
more about diabetes: eye, blood in test tube and microscope.
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Diabetes mellitus has been described
since antiquity. The word 'diabetes' came from the Greek work siphon
because of the observation that the patient suffers from excessive thirst
and urination. The word 'mellitus' means sugar because of the sweetness
of the urine. It was only in the 19th century, that malfunctioning of the
pancreas was correctly identified as the cause of the disease. The discovery
of insulin by Banting in Canada in 1921 was a landmark in the history of
medical retina. Before the availability of insulin, most diabetic patients
died young and diabetic retinopathy was unknown. With a longer survival,
most diabetic patient developed retinopathy in one form or another.
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