Archive for the ‘Guest Essays’ Category

Randy's Method of Discovery

September 28th, 2009

We’ve been successful in bringing a number of medical products to market. We thought it might be useful to some to share the way we go about solving problems to produce useful devices and methods.

We consider it important to keep things simple and to avoid, as one former collaborator described it, “paralysis by analysis”. In other words, to avoid getting lost in mountains of minutiae and losing sight of the obvious. I’ve often said, only half in jest, that I protect my ignorance as a pianist protects his hands. By focusing excessively on what has gone before, one sometimes runs the risk of becoming persuaded by the apparent impossibility of certain approaches or being lured by the promise of tantalizing findings leading ultimately down dead end pathways.

Guest Essays
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Diabetes: Past, Present, Future

July 27th, 2009

Diabetes is one of man’s oldest known diseases, having been first described in Ancient Egypt in the Ebers papyrus. However treatment of diabetes only changed in the 20th century. Prior to 1922, the best treatment for Type 1 diabetes was the Allen diet. – an extremely low-carbohydrate and low-calorie diet. The quality of life associated with this unsustainable therapy was poor and adherence only prolonged life for weeks in most cases. Dr. Allen commented that patients were rarely compliant with this diet, often smuggling in a piece of bread. Pictures of the patients from this time reveal severe wasting, only now seen in concentration camp victims and during severe famines.

Guest Essays
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