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Diabetes, already a prevalent disease worldwide, is increasing at a rate consistent with a global epidemic. The number of people affected is expected to double in the next 15 years to about 200 million. The disease is already one of the commonest causes of kidney failure, blindness and amputations. There is an urgent need to prevent either the development of these complications or the disease itself. Dramatic advances in our understanding of the pathogenesis of diabetes have led to the hope that diabetes can indeed be prevented. Several major international collaborative projects have been initiated with this aim. In this book, an outstanding group of international scientists provide a broad outline of the advances in basic science which underpin these projects. The book offers a clear, comprehensive and up-to-date account for the interested clinician and scientist, and will be invaluable as a reference book for those working in the field.

Darwinian medicine looks at the ecological and evolutionary roots of disease. A disease is an interaction between a genome and its biotic or abiotic environment and therefore a disease is essentially an ecological process. Good understanding of ecology and a Darwinian way of thinking can give us novel and useful perspectives on health and disease. If we understand the disease process better, we can certainly prevent, control as well as treat diseases in a better way. Although the thought that the origins of obesity and type 2 diabetes (T2D) might lie in our hunter gatherer adaptations is not new, research over the last decade makes us rethink many of the classical concepts. Brain and behavior is increasingly being recognized as central to all the endocrine, metabolic and immunological changes that earmark type 2 diabetes and other metabolic syndrome disorders. A major change in paradigm appears to be on the horizon and the proposed book intends to speed up the paradigm shift by raising important questions, pointing out flaws and inadequacies in the prevalent paradigm and stimulating radical rethinking which would redirect and refine the line of research as well as bring some fundamental changes in drug discovery and clinical practice. ​

Diabetes mellitus is a disease with tremendous health and economic burden. A better understanding of how normal glucose homeostasis is maintained and the pathogenesis is important to identify new ways for diabetes treatment. This book addresses multiple aspects of this area of research. - Written by experts in the field - Informs on important topics related to the regulation of glucose homeostasis and the pathogenesis of diabetes mellitus, a field of intense research interest

It has been a challenge for us to edit this volume of Endocrinology and Metabo­ lism: Progress in Research and Clinical Practice. The topic of the pathogenesis of insulin-dependent, type I diabetes mellitus is particularly appropriate for this series, since advances in this area have been made, to a large extent, by applying state-of-the-art laboratory techniques to clinical samples. Over the last several years, a number of lines of evidence have been gathered, suggesting that classic type I diabetes mellitus results from the autoimmune des­ truction of pancreatic beta-cells in genetically susceptible individuals. This hypothesis is particularly appealing because it offers a rational approach to the prevention of diabetes by immunosuppression. We have tried to present a balanced, authoritative summary of the information currently available to support the autoimmune hypothesis for the pathogenesis of human type I diabetes, to place this information in historical perspective, to include relevant information from animal models of type I diabetes in which more invasive experimentation is ethical, and, finally, to update the reader on the current status of attempts to intervene in the progression of diabetes with immunosuppressive drugs. New York, New York Fredda Ginsberg-Fellner Robert C. McEvoy Contents Preface.................................................. v Contributors................................ Xl............. 1. The Autoimmune Hypothesis of Insulin-Dependent Diabetes: 1965 to the Present.......................................

Advances in Immunology, a long-established and highly respected publication, presents current developments as well as comprehensive reviews in immunology. This thematic volume focuses on the immunopathogenesis of type 1 diabetes mellitus. Edited and authored by the foremost scientists in this field, it provides up-to-date information and directions for future research.

Diabetes research on models comprising intact animal tissues, cell cultures and isolated pancreatic islets is essential for understanding the pathogenesis of the disease as well as the mechanisms responsible for the chronic complications associated with it. Enormous advances in the understanding of the development of diabetes and its prevention have recently been derived from work with such animal models. This book presents the state-of-the-art knowledge in the field of diabetes research directed at understanding the mechanisms governing the development of skeletal muscle insulin resistance. Muscle Metabolism will be of significant interest for those researching diabetes at an experimental level in both academia and the pharmaceutical industry. In addition, it will also be of interest to researchers in the fields of obesity, metabolism, endocrinology and molecular biology.

Diabetes research on models comprising intact animal tissues, cell cultures and isolated pancreatic islets is essential for understanding the pathogenesis of the disease as well as the mechanisms responsible for the chronic complications associated with it. Enormous advances in the understanding of the development of diabetes and its prevention hav