Insulin Resistance, Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes, and Related Complications 2015

The dramatic increase in obesity and diabetes worldwide poses a huge socioeconomic burden to healthcare systems. In type 1 diabetes, autoimmune-mediated destruction of pan-creatic beta-cell results in insulin deficiency [1]. Obesity is one of the major causes of type 2 diabetes [1–3]. In type 2 diabetes, a combination of peripheral insulin resistance and aberrant production of insulin are amongst the paradox commonly encountered in the pathogenesis of the disease [1– 3]. However, both forms of diabetes are characterized by elevated inflammation/oxidative stress, glucotoxicity, lipotox-icity, endoplasmic reticulum-induced stress with increased apoptosis and necrosis that ultimately leads to destruction loss of beta cells, and related complications including cardiomyopathy, nephropathy, neuropathy, and hepatopathy [1, 4–7]. Although insulin resistance has traditionally been associated with type 2 diabetes, recent evidence suggests that insulin resistance in type 1 diabetes is increasing [8–10]; therefore, novel mechanistic approaches deciphering insulin resistance are needed. The etiology of insulin resistance is complicated and several factors are implicated, so deciphering this multifaceted disease remains challenging, although a wide body of evidence suggests that oxidative stress, inflammation, genetic, habitual, environmental, and epigenetic factors may be involved [1, 11]. Thus, further research is needed for more in-depth and comprehensive understanding of the pathophysi-ology of insulin resistance in both type 1 and type 2 diabetes, and especially in situations where diabetes is comorbid with other chronic conditions such as obesity and hypertension. This special issue will showcase a broad spectrum research and review papers addressing thematic problems associated with insulin resistance, type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes, and related complications. To underscore the role of insulin resistance in children, M. P. van der Aa et al. wrote a research article on the prevalence and incidence of childhood insulin resistance, while S.-H. Nam and coworkers investigated the effects of cardioankle vascular index on metabolic syndrome, a multifactorial condition characterized by insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, hyperglycemia, hypertension, and other factors. Similarly, R. Burrows et al. gave further insights for diagnosing metabolic syndrome in adolescents in a research article. In another related research article, M. Fabre-gat et al. investigated the genetic profile of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) alleles and non-HLA in type 2 diabetes, while P. Tiwari wrote a systematic review about the current therapeutic strategies for the management of diabetes. Given that diabetes and hypertension are characterized by elevated inflammation/oxidative stress [4, 12–14] and these two patho-physiological driving forces are implicated in many cardiac complications [4, 12–14], …