Diabetes mellitus has been a scourge of the developed world
糖尿病已经成为发达国家的一大杀手，
with an estimated 400,000,000 people worldwide suffering from this disease, and 50% more predicted within twenty years.
全世界据估计已有4亿人患上糖尿病，而在未来二十年内，这个数字预计会增加50%。
Its early symptoms, which include increased thirst and large volumes of urine, were recognized as far back as 1500 BCE in Egypt.
它的早期症状包括口渴、多尿，早在公元前1500年前的埃及就已被发现。
While the term diabetes, meaning 'to pass through,'
而“糖尿病”这个词，其本意是“通过”，
was first used in 250 BCE by the Greek physician Apollonius of Memphis,
最早是在公元前250年由希腊医生孟菲斯提出的，
Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, associated respectively with youth and obesity,
1型糖尿病和2型糖尿病的发病机理不同，分别与年龄和肥胖有关，
were identified as separate conditions by Indian physicians somewhere in the 5th century CE.
这两种类型的区分是在5世纪时由某地的印度医生提出。
But despite the disease being known,
尽管糖尿病早就被人们所认识，
a diagnosis of diabetes in a human patient would remain tantamount to a death sentence until the early 20th century, its causes unknown.
可一直到20世纪初，被诊断出患了糖尿病还是跟被判了死刑差不多，因为它的诱因不明。
What changed this dire situation was the help of humanity's longtime animal partner:
帮助我们脱离这个困境的是人类一直以来的动物伙伴：
Canis lupus familiaris, domesticated from Grey wolves thousands of years ago.
数千年前从灰狼驯化而成的--犬类。
In 1890, the German scientists Von Mering and Minkowski demonstrated that
1890年，德国科学家冯·梅林和明科夫斯基发现，
removing a dog's pancreas caused it to develop all the signs of diabetes,
摘除狗的胰腺会导致糖尿病的所有症状，
thus establishing the organ's central role in the disease.
由此确立了胰脏对于糖尿病的核心作用。
But the exact mechanism by which this occurred remained a mystery until 1920,
然而这其中的确切机理一直是个谜，直到1920年，
when a young Canadian surgeon named Frederick Banting and his student, Charles Best, advanced the findings of their German colleagues.
一个名叫弗雷德里克·班廷的年轻的加拿大医生和他的学生查尔斯·贝斯特才进一步证实了他们的德国同事们的发现。
Working under Professor Macleod at the University of Toronto,
在多伦多大学教授麦克劳德的带领下，
they confirmed that the pancreas was responsible for regulating blood glucose,
他们证实，胰腺是负责调节血糖的，
successfully treating diabetic dogs by injecting them with an extract they had prepared from pancreas tissue.
通过注射胰腺组织的提取物，他们成功治愈了患糖尿病的狗。

By 1922, the researchers working with biochemist James Collip
到1922年，这些研究者又与生物学家詹姆斯·科利普一起，
were able to develop a similar extract from beef pancreas
从牛的胰腺中得到一种相似的提取物，
to first treat a 14-year-old diabetic boy, followed by six additional patients.
并首次治疗了一个十四岁的糖尿病男孩，接着又治疗了另外六位病人。
The manufacturing process for this extract, now known as insulin,
这种提取物（也就是现在为人熟知的胰岛素）的生产，
was eventually turned over to a pharmaceutical company that makes different types of injectable insulin to this day.
最终被交付给一家制药公司，如今他们已经生产了各种各样的注射用胰岛素。
Banting and Macleod received the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1923 for their discovery.
班廷和麦克劳德因此获得了1923年的诺贝尔医学奖。
But Banting chose to share his portion with Charles Best, for his help in the initial studies involving dogs.
但班廷选择与查尔斯·贝斯特分享他的奖金，以感谢他在最初的研究中引入了狗。
But while medical experimentation on animals remains controversial,
虽然将动物用于医学试验仍然颇具争议，
in this case at least, it was not just a matter of exploiting dogs for human needs.
但至少在这个例子中，并不只是利用狗来满足人类需求而已。
Dogs develop diabetes at the rate of two cases per 1,000 dogs, almost the same as that of humans under 20.
一千条狗中就有两例患有糖尿病，这几率几乎跟20岁以下的人类一样。
Most canine cases are of Type 1 diabetes,
大多数的犬病例是1型糖尿病，
similar to the type that young children develop following immune system destruction of the pancreas,
跟儿童或青少年中胰腺免疫系统损坏造成的糖尿病类似，
and genetic studies have shown that the dog disease has many similar hallmarks of the human disease.
遗传学研究表明，犬类疾病与人类疾病还有很多相似之处。
This has allowed veterinarians to turn the tables,
这也令兽医们改变了局面，
successfully using insulin to treat diabetes in man's best friend for over 60 years.
他们已经成功地利用胰岛素为人类最好的朋友治疗糖尿病超过60年。
Many dog owners commit to managing their dogs' diabetes with insulin injected twice daily, regimented feedings,
许多狗主人致力于治疗他们的糖尿病犬，这包括每天两次的胰岛素注射、定量喂食，
and periodic blood measurements using the same home-testing glucose monitors used by human patients.
他们还用人类患者使用的家用血糖监测仪来定期地测量血糖。
And if the purified pig insulin commonly used for dogs fails to work for a particular dog,
如果犬类常用的纯化猪胰岛素对某条狗不见效，
the vet may even turn to a formulation of human insulin, bringing the process full circle.
兽医甚至会转用人类用胰岛素的制剂，可以说是“以其犬之道，还治其犬之身”。
After all that dogs have done for us throughout the ages,
一直以来狗为我们做了太多，
including their role in a medical discovery that has saved countless human lives,
它们在医学发现中扮演的重要角色，拯救了无数人命，
using that same knowledge to help them is the least we could do.
我们最基本的回报的就是运用这些知识反过来帮助他们。