Addressing a topic of utmost importance in the field, this text addresses the epidemiology, diagnosis, assessment, and management of patients with metabolic syndrome-focusing on implications for cardiovascular disease risk. With an abundance of clearly organized tables, flowcharts, and practice guidelines, this blue-ribbon source succinctly analyzes recent clinical trials, compares and assesses recent and emerging therapies, and provides recommendations for the improved assessment and treatment of patients, while supplying a state-of-the-art overview of approaches to optimize and enhance patient care.

Insulin: Deficiency, Excess and Resistance in Human Disease provides an overview of the role of insulin in the pathogenesis of prevalent non-communicable diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer, along with a comprehensive review of insulin replacement therapies and novel cardioprotective and insulin-sensitizing drugs. Notable advances in precision diagnosis and therapy for single gene subtypes of diabetes in recent years are also discussed. The discovery of insulin and its lifesaving introduction into clinical practice is one of the most celebrated accomplishments of medical science. However, despite decades of progress and major technical advances, the goal of providing insulin replacement therapy that truly mimics normal physiology remains elusive.

The world is beset by a pandemic of obesity and type 2 diabetes and the need for new drugs is startlingly clear; recent years have seen a huge increase in research activity to fill this gap. The development of new drugs for diabetes and obesity must be founded upon a sound appreciation of the pathophysiology of these common disorders. The dual defects of insulin resistance and impaired insulin secretion are fundamental to the pathogenesis and progression of obesity-associated type 2 diabetes. There is a need to explain how new drugs can counter insulin resistance and insulin deficiency to a broad range of professionals, from clinical scientists active in early (and later) phase drug development to specialist physicians and increasingly primary care doctors who must tailor drug regimens to the individual patient. Clinical research methods for measuring insulin action and insulin secretion have become well-established in proof-of-mechanism studies; however, selection of the best techniques is by no means straightforward. The purpose of the book is to aid the selection of the most appropriate techniques for assessing insulin action, insulin secretion and body composition in humans (with particular reference to new drugs) in phase 1 and 2 studies and aid the understanding of drug effects and non-drug treatment strategies on key biochemical-hormonal defects of obesity and type 2 diabetes. The book will assume a working knowledge of human physiology relating to glucose metabolism and will be of interest to biomedical scientists, pharmacologists, academics involved in metabolic research and clinicians practicing in these specialties.