Better care for people with diabetes and endocrine diseases

With this issue, we launch Clinical Diabetes and Endocrinology (CDE), a new journal for health researchers and professionals involved in the care of people with diabetes and endocrine diseases. CDE is published collaboratively by the University of Michigan and our partners at BioMed Central. Our vision is to share new research and clinical knowledge in diabetes and endocrine diseases with the health professional community, so that ultimately, our patients can have better care. Each year, new knowledge and treatments for diabetes and endocrine diseases are uncovered in many parts of the world. In diabetes, discovery and development of the 11 classes of anti-hyperglycemia medications available today has spanned over nine decades [Table 1]. These medications have helped to improve glycemic control, but we need continued advances in understanding diabetes so that the burden of disease can be decreased both for individual patients and for society as a whole. From idea to patient, translational research spans the spectrum from basic science, to clinical research, to clinical trials, to approval by regulatory agencies. Because as many as 387 million patients worldwide have been diagnosed with diabetes in 2013 [1], we need progress in all of these areas. Among other endocrine disorders, genomics will unquestionably enhance our understanding and management of disease. The incidence of thyroid cancer has been increasing steadily [2]. In 2014, it was estimated there were 62,980 new cases of thyroid cancer in the US alone. New knowledge in molecular diagnosis [3] of thyroid cancer may greatly influence the choice of treatments and would benefit those affected. In adrenocortical carcinoma, genomic studies have allowed us to distinguish two groups of patients–one with poor prognosis and another with a far more favorable prognosis [4]. Translational research from mouse to human studies may lead to new ways to treat metastatic thyroid cancer [5].