Diabetes mellitus is a major world health problem. Treatment and management of diabetics is a very
significant issue for governments, society and both pharmacists and pharmaceutical companies.
Completing this assignment will help you to gain a deeper understanding of diabetes mellitus.
The length of this assignment excluding graphs, figure legends and references should be no more than
1000 words. The % of marks allocated to each section is a guide to the word length for that section.
Where appropriate references should be included using the Harvard System cited appropriately in the
text with correct formatting in the reference list. As a guide a minimum of 4 but no more than about 12
references should be used. You are advised to use references from both primary and secondary
sources.
Assignments should be typed and submitted using learnonline via the Course Website. Graphs must be
thoughtfully incorporated into the text.
Due date/time is 11.00PM June 7
th
.
1. Why is the disease given the name diabetes mellitus? How does diabetes mellitus differ from
diabetes insipidus?
(5% of assignment marks)
2. Individuals with the diabetes mellitus are classified into two main groups. What are they and
what is the basis of the classification system used?
(5% of assignment marks)
3. How are patients diagnosed as diabetics? What treatment options are most used to manage this
condition?
(20% of assignment marks)
4. What changes in the metabolism of glucose and fat (triglycerides) are observed in this disease?
What symptoms might a diabetic show as a result of these metabolic changes and why do these
occur?
(40% of assignment marks)
5. Two overnight fasting patients, A & B, were each given a dose of 75g of glucose at time zero.
Their blood glucose levels were measured at 0, 30, 60, 90, 120 and 240 minutes after ingestion
of the glucose using a glucose specific assay. The brief procedure for this assay is:-
a. Add 5.0 ml of assay reagent to sufficient tubes for the assay
b. Add 0. 1 ml of each glucose standard to a tube of assay reagent
c. Add 0. 1 ml of each test serum to a tube of assay reagent.
d. Mix the contents of each tube and read the absorbance at 625 nm.
The results obtained are shown in the two tables below.
Table 1 – standards
Glucose standard (mmol/L) Absorbance @ 625 nm
0 0.02
3 0.21
6 0.43
9 0.65
12 0.83
Table 2 – patient results
Time (min) Absorbance-Patient A Absorbance-Patient B
0 0.26 0.47
30 0.51 0.63
60 0.25 0.80
90 0.23 0.76
120 0.24 0.63
240 0.30 0.58
Plot a standard graph of absorbance at 625 nm against glucose concentration You must use
Excel.
Determine the concentration of glucose in each patient serum sample and plot glucose
concentration against the time over which the samples were obtained.
Comment on the results for the two patients
(15% of assignment marks)
6. What potential long term problems would a pharmacist need to be aware of when advising a
diabetic client?
