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A quick trip to Yahoo! Reference revealed that the pancreas is a small, irregularly shaped organ that resides between your stomach and your spine. The pancreas has two primary purposes: to secrete enzymes into your digestive system that help break down carbohydrates and protein, and to produce hormones that help maintain normal blood sugar levels. The pancreas is technically part of the endocrine system, though it plays an important role in the digestive system as well. The endocrine system is a collection of glands, including your pituitary, thyroid, and adrenal glands, that secrete hormones to monitor your metabolism and cell
growth, among many other things. The islets of Langerhans are specialized patches of endocrine tissue that are found throughout the pancreas and are involved in hormone production. Beta cells, the most common type of cells in the islets, produce insulin, which regulates blood glucose. Insufficient insulin results in diabetes mellitus. Another disease associated with the pancreas is pancreatic cancer. According to Pancreatica, a medical resource for pancreatic cancer patients and survivors, each year about 29,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with adenocarcinoma of the pancreas. For some inspirational words on the subject of cancer, we
refer you to the late Stephen Jay Gould's essay, "The Median Isn't the Message."
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