Modern Medical Consequences of the Ancient Evolution of a Long, Flexible Lumbar Spine.

Modern human bipedality is unique and requires lumbar lordosis, whereas chimpanzees, our closest relatives, have short lumbar spines rendering them incapable of lordosis. To facilitate lordosis, humans have longer lumbar spines, greater lumbosacral angle, dorsally wedged lumbar vertebral bodies, and lumbar zygapophyseal joints with both increasingly coronal orientation and further caudal interfacet distances. These features limit modern lower lumbar spine and lumbosacral joint ailments, albeit imperfectly.

Community-based pre-pregnancy care programme improves pregnancy preparation in women with pregestational diabetes.

Aims/hypothesis: Women with diabetes remain at increased risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes associated with poor pregnancy preparation. However, women with type 2 diabetes are less aware of and less likely to access pre-pregnancy care (PPC) compared with women with type 1 diabetes. We developed and evaluated a community-based PPC programme with the aim of improving pregnancy preparation in all women with pregestational diabetes.

Novel loci for adiponectin levels and their influence on type 2 diabetes and metabolic traits: a multi-ethnic meta-analysis of 45,891 individuals.

Circulating levels of adiponectin, a hormone produced predominantly by adipocytes, are highly heritable and are inversely associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D) and other metabolic traits. We conducted a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies in 39,883 individuals of European ancestry to identify genes associated with metabolic disease. We identified 8 novel loci associated with adiponectin levels and confirmed 2 previously reported loci (P = 4.

A genome-wide association search for type 2 diabetes genes in African Americans.

African Americans are disproportionately affected by type 2 diabetes (T2DM) yet few studies have examined T2DM using genome-wide association approaches in this ethnicity. The aim of this study was to identify genes associated with T2DM in the African American population. We performed a Genome Wide Association Study (GWAS) using the Affymetrix 6.

Twelve type 2 diabetes susceptibility loci identified through large-scale association analysis.

By combining genome-wide association data from 8,130 individuals with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and 38,987 controls of European descent and following up previously unidentified meta-analysis signals in a further 34,412 cases and 59,925 controls, we identified 12 new T2D association signals with combined P<5x10(-8). These include a second independent signal at the KCNQ1 locus; the first report, to our knowledge, of an X-chromosomal association (near DUSP9); and a further instance of overlap between loci implicated in monogenic and multifactorial forms of diabetes (at HNF1A). The identified loci affect both beta-cell function and insulin action, and, overall, T2D association signals show evidence of enrichment for genes involved in cell cycle regulation.

New genetic loci implicated in fasting glucose homeostasis and their impact on type 2 diabetes risk.

Levels of circulating glucose are tightly regulated. To identify new loci influencing glycemic traits, we performed meta-analyses of 21 genome-wide association studies informative for fasting glucose, fasting insulin and indices of beta-cell function (HOMA-B) and insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) in up to 46,186 nondiabetic participants. Follow-up of 25 loci in up to 76,558 additional subjects identified 16 loci associated with fasting glucose and HOMA-B and two loci associated with fasting insulin and HOMA-IR.

Increased expression of a scavenger receptor (CD36) in monocytes from subjects with Type 2 diabetes.

Uptake of modified low density lipoprotein (LDL) by monocyte-macrophages is mediated by the scavenger receptor CD36, which is upregulated in vitro by high glucose concentrations and oxidatively modified LDL. We hypothesised that monocyte CD36 expression would be higher in Type 2 diabetes, and would increase during acute hyperglycaemia. Sixteen subjects with Type 2 diabetes and 11 controls underwent a 75 g oral glucose load.

Plasma F2 isoprostanes: direct evidence of increased free radical damage during acute hyperglycemia in type 2 diabetes.

Objectives: Acute hyperglycemia in type 2 diabetes increases the generation of plasma 8-epi-prostaglandin F2 (8-epi-PGF2alpha) isoprostane, a sensitive direct marker of in vivo free radical oxidative damage to membrane phospholipids.

Research Design And Methods: A total of 21 patients with type 2 diabetes underwent an oral 75-g glucose tolerance test. Plasma 8-epi-PGF2alpha isoprostane concentrations (by gas chromatography [GC]/mass spectrometry [MS]), intralymphocyte reduced-to-oxidized glutathione ratios, and plasma total antioxidant capacity were measured at baseline and 90 min after glucose loading.