A spectrum of approaches for controlling diabetes

The management of diabetes is viewed as a control problem in which such diseases arise from a partial or total failure of one or more elements of the feedback loops responsible for maintaining homeostasis within the human organism. It is shown that a wide spectrum of approaches have relevance to this control problem, including closed-loop and open-loop approaches, short-term feedforward control, feedback control on a daily basis, and approaches to long-term diabetes management. In particular, it is shown that there are roles for both qualitative and quantitative model-based control system approaches as aids to the delivery of effective treatment.<>