Clarissa Harlowe Barton was an American nurse who founded the American Red Cross. She was a hospital nurse in the American Civil War, a teacher, and a patent clerk. Since nursing education was not then very formalized and she did not attend nursing school, she provided self-taught nursing care. Barton is noteworthy for doing humanitarian work and civil rights advocacy at a time before women had the right to vote. She was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1973.
Metabolic syndrome is a clustering of at least three of the following five medical conditions: abdominal obesity, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, high serum triglycerides, and low serum high-density lipoprotein (HDL).
Camp Fire, formerly Camp Fire USA and originally Camp Fire Girls of America, is a co-ed youth development organization. Camp Fire was the first nonsectarian, multicultural organization for girls in America. It is now gender-inclusive, and its programs emphasize camping and other outdoor activities.
Oxford is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 13,347 as of the 2020 United States Census.
Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), also called somatomedin C, is a hormone similar in molecular structure to insulin which plays an important role in childhood growth, and has anabolic effects in adults. In the 1950s IGF-1 was called "sulfation factor" because it stimulated sulfation of cartilage in vitro, and in the 1970s due to its effects it was termed "nonsuppressible insulin-like activity" (NSILA).
Gestational diabetes is a condition in which a person without diabetes develops high blood sugar levels during pregnancy. Gestational diabetes generally results in few symptoms; however, it increases the risk of pre-eclampsia, depression, and of needing a Caesarean section. Babies born to individuals with poorly treated gestational diabetes are at increased risk of macrosomia, of having hypoglycemia after birth, and of jaundice. If untreated, diabetes can also result in stillbirth. Long term, children are at higher risk of being overweight and of developing type 2 diabetes.
Joslin Diabetes Center is the world's largest diabetes research center, diabetes clinic, and provider of diabetes education. It is located in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Among the Harvard Medical School affiliated institutions, Joslin is unique in its sole focus on diabetes. Joslin has the world's largest team of board-certified physicians treating diabetes and its complications, as well as the largest staff of Certified Diabetes Educators anywhere in the world. Joslin also supports the world's largest diabetes research team with more than 40 faculty investigators and more than 300 researchers.
The Clara Barton Homestead, also known as the Clara Barton Birthplace Museum, is a historic house museum at 60 Clara Barton Road in Oxford, Massachusetts. The museum celebrates the life and activities of Clara Barton (1821-1912), founder of the American Red Cross. The property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977. The museum is open seasonally, or by appointment. It has been restored to the period when Barton lived there.
Elliott Proctor Joslin was the first medical doctor in the United States to specialize in diabetes and was the founder of the present-day Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston, Massachusetts.
Eva Saxl (1921–2002) was a self-taught manufacturer of insulin and an advocate for people with diabetes. Saxl was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia.
Priscilla White was a pioneer in the treatment of diabetes during pregnancy and type 1 diabetes. She was also a founding member of the Joslin Diabetes Center.
Frederick Madison Allen was an American physician who is best remembered for his carbohydrate-restricted low-calorie diet for sufferers of diabetes mellitus. He was known for pioneering the "starvation diet".
Wellspring Camps were a group of children's weight loss camps located in La Jolla, California, and Melbourne, Florida. The camps focused on changing behavior and eating patterns to create long-term healthy lifestyles for participants. Wellspring Camps are not currently operating.
Pam Krupman Allyn is an American literacy expert and author. She is the founder and CEO of Dewey, a learning program and platform built to strengthen the home-school bridge and support parents and caregivers in helping their children in the classroom and beyond. Allyn founded LitWorld, a global literacy initiative, and LitLife, a consulting group working with schools to enrich best-practice teaching methods and build curricula for reading and writing. She has worked extensively and independently as a social impact and education strategist.
Obesity in the Middle East and North Africa is a notable health issue. Out of the fifteen fattest nations in the world as of 2014, 5 were located in the Middle East and North Africa region.
Leonid Poretsky is a Russian-born American endocrinologist. His research interests include mechanisms of insulin action in the ovary, endocrinological aspects of AIDS, and clinical outcomes in diabetes. He has authored over 150 publications and has served on the National Institutes of Health's review committees and on the editorial boards of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism and other endocrine journals.
Carl Ronald Kahn is an American physician and scientist, best known for his work with insulin receptors and insulin resistance in diabetes and obesity. He is the Chief Academic Officer at Joslin Diabetes Center, the Mary K. Iacocca Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and a member of the National Academy of Sciences since 1999.
Diabetes mellitus, often known simply as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough insulin, or the cells of the body becoming unresponsive to the hormone's effects. Classic symptoms include thirst, polyuria, weight loss, and blurred vision. If left untreated, the disease can lead to various health complications, including disorders of the cardiovascular system, eye, kidney, and nerves. Untreated or poorly treated diabetes accounts for approximately 1.5 million deaths every year.
