Impact of family history of diabetes and ethnicity on -cell function in obese, glucose-tolerant individuals.

Context: The increased insulin secretion in response to reduced insulin sensitivity (SI) is heritable, but whether the genetic predisposition is restricted to members of high-risk Caucasian families is unknown. Furthermore, the relative importance of insulin resistance and defective beta-cell compensation in the increased prevalence of type 2 diabetes (T2DM) in African-American compared with Caucasian individuals is uncertain.

Objectives: We tested whether obese individuals with a family history of T2DM have decreased beta-cell compensation compared with obese controls without a family history of T2DM.

Retinol binding protein 4 expression in humans: relationship to insulin resistance, inflammation, and response to pioglitazone.

Context: Retinol binding protein 4 (RBP4) was recently found to be expressed and secreted by adipose tissue, and was strongly associated with insulin resistance.

Objective: The aim was to determine the relationship between RBP4 and obesity, insulin resistance, and other markers of insulin resistance in humans.

Design And Patients: RBP4 mRNA levels in adipose tissue and muscle of nondiabetic human subjects with either normal or impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) were studied, along with plasma RBP4.

Do visual analogue scale (VAS) derived standard gamble (SG) utilities agree with Health Utilities Index utilities? A comparison of patient and community preferences for health status in rheumatoid arthritis patients.

Background: Assessment of Health Related Quality of Life (HRQL) has become increasingly important and various direct and indirect methods and instruments have been devised to measure it. In direct methods such as Visual Analog Scale (VAS) and Standard Gamble (SG), respondent both assesses and values health states therefore the final score reflects patient's preferences. In indirect methods such as multi-attribute health status classification systems, the patient provides the assessment of a health state and then a multi-attribute utility function is used for evaluation of the health state.