Type 2 diabetes mellitus, pandemic in 21st century.

In the second half of the 20th century it became obvious that a relentless increase in Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), affecting the economically affluent countries, is gradually afflicting also the developing world. This chapter shows the threat that the T2DM epidemic represents to mankind, with the astonishing recent discoveries on the role of obesity and of body fat in this metabolic disorder. Presently, the highest prevalence of T2DM is in Saudi Arabia.

Global prevalence and future of diabetes mellitus.

This chapter addresses the prevalence of diabetes mellitus (DM) in various countries according to geographic regions, as designated in an atlas publishedby the International Diabetes Federation in 2011. These include countries and territories in Europe, Africa, Middle East, North Africa, North America and Caribbean islands, South and Central America, South-East Asia and the Western Pacific Islands. Actual prevalence of DM (cases per 100 population) is expressed not only specifically for each individual country (national value) but more importantly, corrected by the population, age structure (comparative value) and also as an estimate of DM trend in 2030.

Dramatic decline of ischaemic heart disease mortality in post communist central Europe: recovery from totality.

After 1970 the preexisting gap in population health between democratic Europe and communist countries became even more prominent. While in the democratic Europe there was a progressive rise in life expectancy associated with the decline in ischaemic heart disease (IHD), the trend on the other side of the iron curtain was exactly reverse. After the fall of communism in 1989 population health in the post-communist central Europe (CE) rapidly signalled a favourable recovery.

Short life expectancy and metabolic syndrome in Romanies (gypsies) in Slovakia.

The aim of this review is to explain short life expectancy in Romanies. Romanies represent the second largest minority in Slovakia (about 7%). Most of them exist on the fringes of the majority society.

Intracellular and interstitial expression of Helicobacter pylori virulence genes in gastric precancerous intestinal metaplasia and adenocarcinoma.

Gastric intestinal metaplasia (IM) and gastric cancer are associated with Helicobacter pylori, but the bacterium often is undetectable in these lesions. To unravel this apparent paradox, IM, H. pylori presence, and the expression of H.