Earth Day: Death of a living fossil - Oliva (Cycad)

It is a loss of a beautiful landscape that transports us to the Mesozoic world when man was not yet conceived to evolve through a long path to become what we are today.   

Dr Abe V Rotor

The  Cycad is a living fossil, older than the dinosaurs.  It appears today as it was some 200 millions years ago. Among its secrets is its benevolence as host of a variety of organisms living in a state of dynamic balance which characterizes an ecosystem. But alas! one day this beautiful palm-like tree died. It is a great loss to students in biology, for it has not been fully studied and understood.  It is a loss to a beautiful landscape that transports the viewer to the Paleozoic era when man had yet to evolve into what we are today.  . 
.
Young Markus is introduced early in the study of living things with the help of his Nanny.
The twin crown once lush in radial symmetry for half a century has dried up, so with all the plants clinging on its trunk.

                                     
This  50-year old Cycad succumbed to drought and pest, bringing down all its symbionts - orchid, fern, lichen, moss, blue-green alga, and a host of small organisms from insects to reptiles - to their inevitable demise.  A tree is actually a miniature ecosystem. Thus the death of this cycad put an end to the ecosystem it built and maintained throughout its life.   

The Cycad offers vital research topics that challenge the scientific mind, particularly among our youth.  Perhaps we may learn from the prototype world of this living fossil plant answers to our ailing health and deteriorating environment. Indeed the Cycad is Nature's primordial laboratory of natural history

A. Medicine and Pharmacology

• Presence of aromatase inhibitors
• Lectin and Peptide Analysis
• Antimicrobial and Antioxidant
• Bactericidal/Antibacterial properties
• Chitinase isolation and analysis

B. Biology and Ecology

• CO2 and pollution tolerance
• Nitrogen-fixation with cyanobacterium 
• Lichen and floral composition
• Species diversity and phylogeny
• Evolution and longevity

-----------------------

Cycads are gymnosperms (naked seeded), meaning their unfertilized seeds are open to the air to be directly fertilized by pollination, as contrasted with angiosperms, which have enclosed seeds with more complex fertilization arrangements. Cycads have very specialized pollinators, usually a specific species of beetle. They have been reported to fix nitrogen in association with a cyanobacterium living in the roots. These blue-green algae produce a neurotoxin called BMAA that is found in the seeds of cycads. This neurotoxin may enter a human food chain as the cycad seeds may be eaten directly as a source of flour by humans or by wild or feral animals such as bats, and humans may eat these animals. It is hypothesized that this is a source of some neurological diseases in humans. (Internet)

Earth Day 2016: Trees - Nature’s Gift to Man

By Anna Rotor

Living with Nature School on Blog
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School on Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

Acacia trees, Ateneo de Manila University QC

We grow up with trees.

We want them to grow big;

we want them to be around us;

to give us shade in which we play;

to give us strong trunk and branches

on which we climb and swing and laugh;

to give us fruits which make us full,

healthy and strong;

medicine to make us well;

wood that keeps our body warm,

cooks our food;

leaves to keep our air clean

and to whisper and sing

and dance with the breeze;

and above all,

to give us aesthetic beauty

through which we feel

how lucky we are alive.

How irrational would it be to kill a tree,

even if we reason out that we need its wood,

its bark, its roots, its flowers and fruits and seeds,

to keep us alive!

It is a paradox

that for us to survive and progress,

we kill the host of life –

life of birds that build nest on its branches,

passersby who find respite

from the beating sun,

a myriad of small life forms

from insects to lizards

that find a home

and harbor on its roots and crown.

What a paradox

if we kill the tree that gives us oxygen

that brings down the cloud as rain,

that keeps the environment cool, clean and green

to kill a friend,

a companion and a guardian,

the link of our earth and sun,

God and His Son.

Excerpt from a speech of Anna Rotor, then
16 years old at School of St. Anthony QC, 1999.

El Niño Triggers Flowering of Plants

Dr Abe V Rotor

 Profuse flowering of kapok (Ceiba pentandra) predicts extreme drought condition. 

 Flowering of bamboo is another indication of El Niño, which comes in a cycle of 7 years, hence the biblical dream  of the Pharaoh of Egypt which Joseph interpreted as 7 years of plenty, followed by 7 years of famine.  For  prediction the Pharoah appointed Joseph governor of Egypt.  He introduced the concept and practice of maintaining buffer stock, the mainstay of food security today.

"The chestnut has a flower!” My friend Dr. Sel Cabigan called, his word breaking the dry and warm morning air.

There I saw a single bud, the size and shape of a pencil, off-white, shy, peeping from under the tree’s palm shaped leaves, and bearing a glistening dewdrop. Frankly, it was the first time I had seen a chestnut, and flowering at that, on Philippine soil - and blooming at a very early age. Dr. Cabigan and I, who are both agriculturists, just stood beside the breast-high tree, silent as we pondered.

That year was an El Niño year. El Niño starts on the equator west of Peru when warm water accumulates on the surface and sets the current to move down south along the edge of Peru, only to be blocked by the El Niño current moving up from the south pole. The standstill exacerbates warming, causing heavy precipitation in the region, depriving the other half of the globe of sufficient rainfall, and setting aberrations in climatic patterns in different parts of the world. This phenomenon - together its counterpart, La Niña (opposite pattern)- arises from geographic patterns of land masses. The Atlantic and Pacific oceans are blocked by the Isthmus of Panama down the tip of South America. It is only near the Antarctic where they exchange warm and cool water before flowing back to the equator. But for other reasons heretofore unknown, this "bridge" is blocked. This phenomenon occurs in cycle and each time it does, it is on Christmas eve, for which it got its name, Child Jesus.

This climatic phenomenon was approaching its main stage which spans two to three years, then comes back after seven years normal years. That’s why some people call it the seven-year itch, and science summed up the cycle into a ten-year period, with a rare sub-cycle in between. El Niño is characterized by extreme dry and hot weather conditions, the rains coming late and very little, thus farmers fail to plant on time or harvest so little, sending the economy to its knees. It precipitated the declaration of Martial Law in the country in 1971 plagued by acute food shortage and widespread unrest. El Niño had another episode in the early eighties which caused a loss of billions of dollars worldwide. The nineties were equally bad, and now came the twenties which caused the highest deficit in rice production forcing the country to import rice, ten percent of its annual consumption, translated into one million metric tons.

El Niño triggers a number of botanical phenomena. The red Passiflora vine carpeting the Grotto in a garden at St. Paul University QC bore a full-grown fruit. Although it is a relative of the edible passion fruit, this species has sterile flowers, but stress must have stimulated the plant to produce fruit and ultimately seeds, a way of preserving the species. There was a rare species of Pandanus that produced curious fruits resembling breadfruit. I suppose that in the wild, the fruits split open upon maturity in order to disseminate the seeds. Animals feed on them and scatter the seeds in the process.

The climbing Derris does not normally flower, but here it displayed a bouquet of bright pink flowers arranged like a huge lei. In many respects, the flowers resemble those of legume including madre de cacao and katuray. Derris is a legume that contains a toxic principle, rotenone, which makes it useful to farmers as natural insecticide.

One of the five rambutan seedlings now three years ago suddenly bloomed, indeed too young to reproduce. Just like any maiden flower, it did not develop into fruit. Neither did the flowers of the lone pili standing near the pond and the Chico. In the case of the two, being monoecious plants, their flowers settle only in the presence of a male counterpart. “But who knows, some busy bees can bring in the pollen from a far place?”  Sel said, short of betting for his hypothesis. There’s no doubt pollinators cross kilometers to deliver their goods, riding of wind and water, the nocturnal ones like moths and skippers navigate accurately in the night to reach their destination by dawn, and by morning the receptive female flowers get their prize.

To an observant eye and sensitive olfactory sense, the garden had a cinnamon whose flowers exude the characteristic condiment odor. Alagao, lagundi, dita, molave – and of course, ilang-ilang, make the morning air naturally scented. The only date palm then in this garden flowered for the first time, mocked by a much taller and older neighboring fishtail palm in having profuse flowers, littering the surrounding grounds. Mature nuts that fell to the ground germinated into numerous seedlings.

 Kalumpang blooms full in extreme dry summer, QC

Gardens at this time of the year are at their best looking form, brandishing varied colors, not only of their flowers but leaves, young and old, and other parts. Let me cite the red palm (bright red leaf sheaths), bunga de Jolo (bright red ripe nuts in clusters), croton or San Franscisco (variegated and multicolored leaves), bougainvillea (false flowers, actually specialized leaves, are white, red, pink, and shades of different combination). The talisay or umbrella tree demonstrates a classical example of deciduousness, its leaves turning to yellow, orange, red and purple before dropping to the ground.

Even the champagne palm, betel nut, McArthur palm respond to the dry spell with forced inflorescences. The shingle tree, relative of nangka and other relatives – the figs (Ficus spp) are abloom.

Pond plants respond to El Niño, especially on shallow area, dried mudflats and along the banks. Cattails (Typha) and papyrus bend to the weight of their flowers. Waterlies – Nynmphaea and Eichornia may appear to have more flowers than leaves. So with the lotus. There are many annual plants that are also full of flowers.

But the most classical of the El Niño phenomenon is the flowering of the bamboo. Yes, bamboos do bear flowers. Since it is a grass its inflorescence is similar to that of rice, corn and grass weeds. According to the old folks, and validated by science, a bamboo flowers only in hard times. Extreme drought triggers the plants to save its own species. As predicted by its flowering, surely the economic crisis is with us.

The the peak of El Niño in China, panda bears face food shortage because the bamboos either remain dormant or die, so that supplemental feed coming from areas not affected by drought becomes necessary. Otherwise the bears starve and die, or migrate to other areas where they become vulnerable to various danger.

These are mainly indigenous, how about the exotic ones which have yet to adjust to their new environment? Dr. Cabigan and I could not agree on what a tree was, claimed to have been brought from Rome by a religious sister. I said it is similar to that of a locquat, which I had seen in China. Some say it is fig, others, nut – like chestnut.

One morning, Dr. Cabigan called me again, this time to tell me that the mystery tree had flowered. Every morning we visited the buds to see if they had opened. One by one the buds shrank and fell to the ground, leaving a mystery to us. By its buds, we concluded it is neither Smyrna nor locquat. Both of us just told any inquirer it is a St. Agnes tree, the name of the religious sister who inrtroduced the plant.

Indeed, El Niño holds many mysteries, the botanical garden the arena of awe and respect to the One who make all these possible. More than anything in difficult times, the preparation for death is also a preparation for rebirth and resurrection. And this is what makes the garden truly beautiful.~

* Reprint of previous article of the same title published in Paulinews, circa 1998. This is a tribute to the former gardeners of the EcoSanctuary of the St Paul University, then College, the only botanical garden of its kind.  New and high rise buildings have ensconced the once spacious garden, which as a consequence, lost its ecological significance.        Dr Abe V Rotor

 Profuse flowering of kapok (Ceiba pentandra) predicts extreme drought condition. 

 Flowering of bamboo is another indication of El Niño, which comes in a cycle of 7 years, hence the biblical dream  of the Pharaoh of Egypt which Joseph interpreted as 7 years of plenty, followed by 7 years of famine.  For  prediction the Pharoah appointed Joseph governor of Egypt.  He introduced the concept and practice of maintaining buffer stock, the mainstay of food security today.

"The chestnut has a flower!” My friend Dr. Sel Cabigan called, his word breaking the dry and warm morning air.

There I saw a single bud, the size and shape of a pencil, off-white, shy, peeping from under the tree’s palm shaped leaves, and bearing a glistening dewdrop. Frankly, it was the first time I had seen a chestnut, and flowering at that, on Philippine soil - and blooming at a very early age. Dr. Cabigan and I, who are both agriculturists, just stood beside the breast-high tree, silent as we pondered.

That year was an El Niño year. El Niño starts on the equator west of Peru when warm water accumulates on the surface and sets the current to move down south along the edge of Peru, only to be blocked by the El Niño current moving up from the south pole. The standstill exacerbates warming, causing heavy precipitation in the region, depriving the other half of the globe of sufficient rainfall, and setting aberrations in climatic patterns in different parts of the world. This phenomenon - together its counterpart, La Niña (opposite pattern)- arises from geographic patterns of land masses. The Atlantic and Pacific oceans are blocked by the Isthmus of Panama down the tip of South America. It is only near the Antarctic where they exchange warm and cool water before flowing back to the equator. But for other reasons heretofore unknown, this "bridge" is blocked. This phenomenon occurs in cycle and each time it does, it is on Christmas eve, for which it got its name, Child Jesus.

This climatic phenomenon was approaching its main stage which spans two to three years, then comes back after seven years normal years. That’s why some people call it the seven-year itch, and science summed up the cycle into a ten-year period, with a rare sub-cycle in between. El Niño is characterized by extreme dry and hot weather conditions, the rains coming late and very little, thus farmers fail to plant on time or harvest so little, sending the economy to its knees. It precipitated the declaration of Martial Law in the country in 1971 plagued by acute food shortage and widespread unrest. El Niño had another episode in the early eighties which caused a loss of billions of dollars worldwide. The nineties were equally bad, and now came the twenties which caused the highest deficit in rice production forcing the country to import rice, ten percent of its annual consumption, translated into one million metric tons.

El Niño triggers a number of botanical phenomena. The red Passiflora vine carpeting the Grotto in a garden at St. Paul University QC bore a full-grown fruit. Although it is a relative of the edible passion fruit, this species has sterile flowers, but stress must have stimulated the plant to produce fruit and ultimately seeds, a way of preserving the species. There was a rare species of Pandanus that produced curious fruits resembling breadfruit. I suppose that in the wild, the fruits split open upon maturity in order to disseminate the seeds. Animals feed on them and scatter the seeds in the process.

The climbing Derris does not normally flower, but here it displayed a bouquet of bright pink flowers arranged like a huge lei. In many respects, the flowers resemble those of legume including madre de cacao and katuray. Derris is a legume that contains a toxic principle, rotenone, which makes it useful to farmers as natural insecticide.

One of the five rambutan seedlings now three years ago suddenly bloomed, indeed too young to reproduce. Just like any maiden flower, it did not develop into fruit. Neither did the flowers of the lone pili standing near the pond and the Chico. In the case of the two, being monoecious plants, their flowers settle only in the presence of a male counterpart. “But who knows, some busy bees can bring in the pollen from a far place?”  Sel said, short of betting for his hypothesis. There’s no doubt pollinators cross kilometers to deliver their goods, riding of wind and water, the nocturnal ones like moths and skippers navigate accurately in the night to reach their destination by dawn, and by morning the receptive female flowers get their prize.

To an observant eye and sensitive olfactory sense, the garden had a cinnamon whose flowers exude the characteristic condiment odor. Alagao, lagundi, dita, molave – and of course, ilang-ilang, make the morning air naturally scented. The only date palm then in this garden flowered for the first time, mocked by a much taller and older neighboring fishtail palm in having profuse flowers, littering the surrounding grounds. Mature nuts that fell to the ground germinated into numerous seedlings.

 Kalumpang blooms full in extreme dry summer, QC

Gardens at this time of the year are at their best looking form, brandishing varied colors, not only of their flowers but leaves, young and old, and other parts. Let me cite the red palm (bright red leaf sheaths), bunga de Jolo (bright red ripe nuts in clusters), croton or San Franscisco (variegated and multicolored leaves), bougainvillea (false flowers, actually specialized leaves, are white, red, pink, and shades of different combination). The talisay or umbrella tree demonstrates a classical example of deciduousness, its leaves turning to yellow, orange, red and purple before dropping to the ground.

Even the champagne palm, betel nut, McArthur palm respond to the dry spell with forced inflorescences. The shingle tree, relative of nangka and other relatives – the figs (Ficus spp) are abloom.

Pond plants respond to El Niño, especially on shallow area, dried mudflats and along the banks. Cattails (Typha) and papyrus bend to the weight of their flowers. Waterlies – Nynmphaea and Eichornia may appear to have more flowers than leaves. So with the lotus. There are many annual plants that are also full of flowers.

But the most classical of the El Niño phenomenon is the flowering of the bamboo. Yes, bamboos do bear flowers. Since it is a grass its inflorescence is similar to that of rice, corn and grass weeds. According to the old folks, and validated by science, a bamboo flowers only in hard times. Extreme drought triggers the plants to save its own species. As predicted by its flowering, surely the economic crisis is with us.

The the peak of El Niño in China, panda bears face food shortage because the bamboos either remain dormant or die, so that supplemental feed coming from areas not affected by drought becomes necessary. Otherwise the bears starve and die, or migrate to other areas where they become vulnerable to various danger.

These are mainly indigenous, how about the exotic ones which have yet to adjust to their new environment? Dr. Cabigan and I could not agree on what a tree was, claimed to have been brought from Rome by a religious sister. I said it is similar to that of a locquat, which I had seen in China. Some say it is fig, others, nut – like chestnut.

One morning, Dr. Cabigan called me again, this time to tell me that the mystery tree had flowered. Every morning we visited the buds to see if they had opened. One by one the buds shrank and fell to the ground, leaving a mystery to us. By its buds, we concluded it is neither Smyrna nor locquat. Both of us just told any inquirer it is a St. Agnes tree, the name of the religious sister who inrtroduced the plant.

Indeed, El Niño holds many mysteries, the botanical garden the arena of awe and respect to the One who make all these possible. More than anything in difficult times, the preparation for death is also a preparation for rebirth and resurrection. And this is what makes the garden truly beautiful.~

* Reprint of previous article of the same title published in Paulinews, circa 1998. This is a tribute to the former gardeners of the EcoSanctuary of the St Paul University, then College, the only botanical garden of its kind.  New and high rise buildings have ensconced the once spacious garden, which as a consequence, lost its ecological significance.       

How I fight early diabetes to live happy and healthy - and long.

 Whenever I see a child glued to the TV or computer for hours and hours everyday, subsisting on junk food and sugared water, and has grown overweight, I say to myself, "Here's a future diabetic."
Dr Abe V Rotor 

Are you diabetic or prone to this worldwide disease?

I am at the borderline. My blood sugar is closely monitored, and I myself is the best monitor, because I could feel the signs and symptoms, then trace what I ate and did the past several days. Then I would take less sugar, eat less rice, and avoid meat, dairy and spicy food as much as possible. But the most effective way to keep my blood sugar on a safe level is regular exercise. 

 Not jogging though. Not biking anymore. Walking a distance would suffice. So instead of driving the car or taking the tricycle I walk two to three blocks to visit my barber or dentist or friend, attend meetings in the barangay, stroll in a garden, buy feeds for my pets.

Speaking of pets, I walk my dog, a Siberian-Labrador, every morning, sometimes in going to the bakeshop. It's not an easy walk with a working dog, what with hot pandesal it anticipates as a prize, thus stirring a concophony of sounds on reaching home. A squeaky parrot leads the parakeets, an askal howls like wild, a gander complains, our garden ponds come alive with five-year old catfish and pako fish splashing in the morning sun. It's feeding time, another hour to fill my leisure. Everything settles to peace and quiet.

When you are calm in the morning, it is likely that you spend the whole day with calmness too, ready to absorb whatever shock in life that comes around without taking the pill. And when the same calmness returns with relaxing shows and music, happy company with your family and neighborhood, you would simply find how well spent your day was. Peace-of-mind in very elusive indeed. And not all kinds of therapy lead you to it. And yet it is within reach, if not at finger tip.
Daily grind is the principal cause of diabetes and other ailments. Medical science merely guides you to be able to return to your fitness before the doctor found out you are suffereing of high blood, kidney problem, fatty liver, jittery nerves, high uric acid, and arthritic joints, sleeplessness. nervousness, and a host of other ailments - real and imaginary (psychosomatic) - unless you realize there is a good reason to live and a noble goal in life beyond the so-called The Good Life in which virtually everyone is frantically aiming at as if it were a  pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. . 

Easier said than done. Unless one has gone through a crossroad and made the right choice. I have met a number of patients who got a second lease of life. It is like saying, "You must almost die to be able to change your life." It's true, I am among them. Specially so that my genetic lineage is diabetic-prone. My dad was diabetic, and he didn't know it because he was a busy body on the farm, so he must have been burning his extra blood sugar. Not until he became sedentary because of old age. One day he hurt his foot and did not heal. Complications followed. He was 78.

But we are not pre-destined by our genes alone. There is no direct path that directly leads us to such fatalistic destiny. Diseases are not controlled by a single gene, and even if it involves multiple genes, there are built-in mechanisms in our body physiology that minimize, if not prevent, the expression - early or late - of the disease. On the other hand, many diseases can be prevented, at least postponed, by appropriate lifestyle, proper environment, adequate training and by active participation in disease control of our institutions - governmental, non-governmental, civic and community organizations.

How then can we explain the increasing number of cases, with more and more young people getting sick? In fact it is not only diabetes but other diseases as well like kidney malfunction, leukemia, stroke and heart attack, that have recently risen to alarming proportions. Then there are pathological diseases, surprisingly with ancient diseases included, like tubercolosis which continues to claim thousands of lives every year worldwide. Cases of depression and mental illnesses have also risen. Does it ring to us that the drug problem is linked with such psychological and emotional malady.

According to sociologists, as more and more people move from the rural to urban areas (There are more people living in the cities than in the provinces today.) chances are, vulnerability to the aforementioned diseases will continue to increase.

Evolutionists on the other hand, have traced a radical change from the Darwinian doctrine of "survival of the fittest." Breakthroughs in medical science have changed the course of human evolution from the natural process, thus integrating undesirable genes in our gene pool today. Vulnerabilty to diseases, among other aspects, is claimed to be one of the consequences.

These are of course, general findings and inferences which help explain why there are almost half a billion diabetics in the world today, mainly of Type II DM (Diabetes mellitus). Insulin treatment and strict monitoring are a must, otherwise the disease progresses to affect other organs of the body, and may lead to death. (Illustration)

--------------------

Here is an outline of diabetes II signs and symptom for your reference (From the Internet)

1. Extreme thirst
2. Frequent Urination
3. Weight change (for type 2 this could be a weight loss as in type 1 or a weight gain. People with type 2 diabetes increase their resistance to insulin when they gain weight. This will decrease the ability of cells in the body to use insulin and the result is an increased blood glucose.)
4. Fatigue
5. Vision changes and blurring of vision
6. Frequent infections (bacteria tends to thrive when blood glucose is high, this may include urinary tract infections and yeast infections)
7. Wounds and cuts that take a long time to heal
8. Tingling and numbness in the extremities (fingers and feet) High blood glucose over time can lead to damage to the nerves. This is a type of neuropathy common in diabetes.
9. In men, trouble with erections. 
10. Depressed, bored, lethargic, sensitive.
-------------------------------------
Whenever I see a child glued to the TV or computer for hours and hours everyday, subsisting on junk food and sugared water, and has grown overweight, I say to myself, "Here's a future diabetic." True enough, he is already diagnosed of Type I diabetes which comprise 10 percent of all diabetics. Fortunately medical treatment may not be needed for the moment.

This is misleading. All three types of diabetes, and others we do not know, have commonalities. I remember a foreigner jokingly remarked, "Filipinos are always eating." It's not only force of habit, we feel good when we eat a lot specially those with sweet tooth. Too much sugar punishes our organs, accumulates in our adipose tissues and the result is not only being overweight, but obese, a condition that is virtually irreversible.Obesity predisposes us to sedentary life. Doctors warn that overweight condition unless regulated shortens the life span of a person.

Typically since birth I was frail but physically active. Then in middle age I gained a lot of weight and lost interest in sports. My friends would tease me, my middle was "getting over my age." In short I became somewhat fat bellied like mu late father.  Two major operations - kidney and gall bladder - one year apart changed not only my lifestyle, but the meaning of life itself.

For fifteen years now I don't only see myself a survivor, but one with a purpose. I find each day a bonus, each evening a respite for thankgiving. When I read Dr Victor Frankl's book. "In Search for Meaning" I found a kind of freedom from the tender traps of the Good Life.

Someone is knocking as I continue writing this article. It is Mackie my three-year old granddaughter. "Let's paint, Lolo" she begs. "And play the violin," she adds in anticipation. Another hour of meaningful leisure. Markus my grandson is learning to walk. Who says there is generation gap?

Diabetes is a social disease, so with many other illnesses. It may sound theoretical until one realizes it is true. And if it is so, then its cure is likewise social in nature. Which leads us to think that infirmities are disquised lessons for mankind to strive harder in search of peace, love and compassion that binds this world we live in. ~.

Yes, you can weather the early signs and symptoms of diabetes. And if you are already there, there's a good chance you will win the battle. And can save others, too.
---------------------------
Diabetes, often referred to by doctors as diabetes mellitus, describes a group of metabolic diseases in which the person has high blood glucose (blood sugar), either because insulin production is inadequate, or because the body's cells do not respond properly to insulin, or both. Patients with high blood sugar will typically experience polyuria (frequent urination), they will become increasingly thirsty (polydipsia) and hungry (polyphagia).

As of 2015, an estimated 415 million people have diabetes worldwide, with type 2 DM making up about 90% of the cases. This represents 8.3% of the adult population, with equal rates in both women and men. From 2012 to 2015, diabetes is estimated to have resulted in 1.5 to 5.0 million deaths each year. Diabetes at least doubles a person's risk of death. The number of people with diabetes is expected to rise to 592 million by 2035. The global economic cost of diabetes in 2014 was estimated to be $612 billion USD. In the United States, diabetes cost $245 billion in 2012. (Internet, Wikipedia)