The ibs.GRANADA proteomics platform organizes an activity for the international day of girls and science
On February 24, on the occasion of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, Sonia Morales Santana, as Head of the ibs.GRANADA Proteomics Platform, held a biomarker workshop on healthy habits to prevent type 2 diabetes, for students in the first cycle of primary school at CEIP Abencerrajes in Granada.
In recent years there has been an increase in cases of type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) in children and adolescents, when just one or two generations ago, type 2 diabetes in children was practically non-existent. This increase occurs in parallel to the prevalence of obesity and sedentary lifestyles. Currently, 4 out of 10 children between 3 and 8 years of age are overweight in our country, being an important factor in adult obesity, and in the development of DM2, so that almost 14% of people over 18 years of age, suffer from DM2 diabetes in Spain.
This workshop on type 2 diabetes in schoolchildren was organized with the aim of giving visibility to this disease and raising awareness of the importance of implementing healthy lifestyle habits from an early age, as an effective tool to prevent this disease. In addition, the acquisition of knowledge of the tests that are carried out in the laboratory to know the state of health will be promoted.
Three activities were carried out that began with a question and answer session to probe knowledge about diabetes in general, exposing the differences between DM1 and DM2, as well as the risk factors for developing DM2. Afterwards, more questions were asked about the foods they consume the most and the amount of daily exercise they do, and with this, a division of the foods mentioned was elaborated with the participants into two groups from more to less healthy. Finally, with the help of drawings on cards of various menus, sedentary habits or physical exercises, two sets of cards were made on each table: A) Healthy habits and B) Unhealthy habits. Each set of cards on each table A) and B), were assigned tubes containing an imitation serum sample (water with food coloring) from people with said habits.
With all this, a simulation of laboratory analysis was carried out on the samples to detect and quantify proteins by ELISA immunoassay. The students were able to determine cholesterol levels (low-density lipoproteins, LDL) and “long-term sugar” levels (glycosylated hemoglobin, HbA1c) in samples of people with healthy and unhealthy habits. Finally, a debate was held on the health consequences of having high blood levels of “sugar” and fats.
