Hypodermic syringe for insulin, England, 1960-1970
Diabetes is a condition where the pancreas cannot produce insulin, or enough insulin, to break down sugars in the body to pass to the cells to release energy. People with diabetes used metal and glass hypodermic syringes like this one to inject doses of insulin. Today syringes are made from plastic.
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Glossary: hypodermic syringe
A syringe is a simple piston pump consisting of a plunger that fits tightly in a tube. The plunger can be pulled and pushed along inside a cylindrical tube (the barrel), allowing the syringe to take in and expel a liquid or gas through an orifice at the open end of the tube. In modern medicine, a syringe is often fitted with a hypodermic needle to create a hypodermic syringe which is most commonly used for injecting materials directly into the bloodstream.
This term refers to any form of metabolic disorder characterized by extreme thirst and excess urine production.
A hormone that causes the body's cells to take up glucose from the blood. (Diabetes is the loss of control of the body's levels of insulin.)