The February 2012 issue of APS contains articles by leading experts on several topics that relate to obesity etiology, animal models, therapeutics and clinical implications.
Etiology:
Barton reviewed factors underlying the accelerated vascular disease development due to obesity. It also highlights the importance of recognizing childhood obesity as a disease condition and its permissive role in aggravating the development of other diseases.
Ke et al demonstrated that rs916055 in ALOX15 gene was significantly associated with the percentage of fat mass in Chinese nuclear families with male offspring in the family-based association study using QTDT approach.
Gao et al re-evaluated the biological significance of chronic inflammation in obesity.
Animal model:
Nilsson et al summarized and compared a number of monogenetic and polygenic models of obesity in view of their translational character.
Hansen et al validated the gubra DIO-rats as a useful animal model of human obesity.
Diagnosis and treatment:
Herbst et al reviewed the diagnosis, clinical type, inheritance, histology, physiology, disease conditions, and treatment recommendations of rare adipose disorders (RADs) including multiple symmetric lipomatosis (MSL), lipedema and Dercum’s disease (DD).
He et al briefly reviewed the discovery, characterization and current status of a novel class of cyclobutane-derivative-based non-peptidic agonists for GLP-1R, including Boc5 and its newly discovered analogue WB4-24.
For more information please visit www.nature.com/aps/focus/obesity.
(2012-01-15)