Ancestral diets determine vulnerability to type 2 diabetes

The middle classes from developing countries are more susceptible than western Caucasians to obesity, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease in today's changing environment. New research published today in Cell Metabolism ...

Obesity-related receptors have a unique structure

A collaboration led by Shigeyuki Yokoyama of RIKEN and Takashi Kadowaki and Toshimasa Yamauchi of the University of Tokyo has used the SPring-8 synchrotron facility in Harima, Japan to elucidate the structure of two receptors ...

Fat turns from diabetes foe to potential treatment

A new weapon in the war against type 2 diabetes is coming in an unexpected form: fat. Researchers have discovered a new class of potentially therapeutic lipids, called fatty-acid esters of hydroxy fatty acids (FAHFAs). These ...

Merck 2Q profit more than doubles

A big one-time gain and a tax benefit helped drugmaker Merck & Co. more than double its second-quarter profit, raise the lower end of its profit forecast and easily top analysts' expectations.

New biomedical animations make their debut

Three new Australian biomedical animations will debut today, showcasing a world of pulsating cells, writhing proteins and dividing DNA as they capture Australian research and bring it to life.

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Diabetes mellitus type 2

Diabetes mellitus type 2 or type 2 diabetes (formerly called [non-[insulin]]-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM), or adult-onset diabetes) is a disorder that is characterized by high blood glucose in the context of insulin resistance and relative insulin deficiency. While it is often initially managed by increasing exercise and dietary modification, medications are typically needed as the disease progresses. There are an estimated 23.6 million people in the U.S. (7.8% of the population) with diabetes with 17.9 million being diagnosed, 90% of whom are type 2. With prevalence rates doubling between 1990 and 2005, CDC has characterized the increase as an epidemic.

Traditionally considered a disease of adults, type 2 diabetes is increasingly diagnosed in children in parallel to rising obesity rates due to alterations in dietary patterns as well as in life styles during childhood.

Unlike type 1 diabetes, there is little tendency toward ketoacidosis in type 2 diabetes, though it is not unknown.[citation needed] One effect that can occur is nonketonic hyperglycemia which also is quite dangerous, though it must be treated very differently. Complex and multifactorial metabolic changes very often lead to damage and function impairment of many organs, most importantly the cardiovascular system in both types. This leads to substantially increased morbidity and mortality in both type 1 and type 2 patients, but the two have quite different origins and treatments despite the similarity in complications.[citation needed]

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