News Release

Joslin's new textbook is leading source for advances in diabetes care

14th edition tailored to primary care and specialty practitioners

Book Announcement

Joslin Diabetes Center

BOSTON -- Joslin Diabetes Center, the world's leading authority in diabetes research, care and education, has published the fourteenth edition of Joslin Diabetes Mellitus, providing the medical profession with valuable new insights on diabetes research and treatments. With the first 5,000 copies selling in less than two months, the book is now in its second printing -- demonstrating an enthusiastic market for this comprehensive guide.

"Dramatic advances in the laboratory and the clinic are revolutionizing our understanding and the care of diabetes," said C. Ronald Kahn, M.D., President and Director of Joslin Diabetes Center, the Mary K. Iacocca Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School (HMS) and one of the book's six senior editors. "It's critical for both researchers and healthcare professionals to keep pace, particularly as diabetes is growing at epidemic proportions and research advances are coming quickly."

Tailored to primary care and specialty practitioners, the 1,209-page book, published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins of Philadelphia, harnesses the expertise of more than 125 diabetes authorities worldwide. Significantly expanding the previous edition, the current book contains 70 chapters. Beginning with the history of diabetes and the pioneering work of Elliott P. Joslin, M.D., founder of Joslin Diabetes Center, the father of modern day diabetes care and author of the first edition (published in 1916), the new textbook contains eight main sections, each designed to help healthcare practitioners and researchers solidify their understanding of diabetes and treatment of the disease.

In addition to serving as a comprehensive overview for endocrinologists and diabetes specialists, the new Joslin textbook is an important tool for primary care physicians, nurses and educators. "With millions of people with diabetes or at risk for developing the disease, primary caregivers are a critical part of the healthcare team, and this book provides them with an excellent tool," said Editor Gordon C. Weir, M.D., Head of Joslin's Section on Islet Transplantation and Cell Biology and HMS Professor of Medicine. "The more primary caregivers know about diabetes, the more they can do for their patients."

"Many of the advances in the research lab have been translated into the clinical practices outlined in this book," said Joslin Diabetes Mellitus Editor George L. King, M.D., Director of Research, Head of the Section on Vascular Cell Biology at Joslin and HMS Professor of Medicine.

"The textbook covers a wide spectrum of topics, ranging from the basic mechanisms of islet development and function, hormone action and regulation of metabolism, to the epidemiology and genetics of diabetes, the role of obesity, insulin therapy and oral agents, diabetes in minorities, nutrition and exercise, and the behavioral and psychological issues related to diabetes," said Editor Alan M. Jacobson, M.D., Senior Vice President of Joslin's Strategic Initiatives Division, Director of Behavioral and Mental Health, and HMS Professor of Psychiatry.

Included in the textbook are the following recent findings regarding the basic science of diabetes and its clinical care:

  • The biology of insulin function, including how it stimulates events inside cells to produce energy.
  • The role of fat cells--once considered dormant storage sites--which is thought to include secretion of a protein that regulates body tissues, such as brain cells and blood vessels.
  • An additional role for islet cells, which, in addition to secreting insulin, produce proteins that enhance insulin activity--a discovery that may lead to new drugs for treating diabetes.
  • Further insight into how high glucose levels cause eye and kidney damage, leading to possible ways to prevent these complications.
  • Promising new treatments for type 1 diabetes, including transplantation of islet cells.
  • Emerging new classes of drugs to treat type 2 diabetes, such as medications that target a nuclear molecule called PPAR-gamma, which promotes insulin sensitivity.

Other editors include Alan C. Moses, M.D., former Chief Medical Officer at Joslin and HMS Professor of Medicine; and Robert J. Smith, M.D., Director of Medicine at the Hallett Center for Diabetes and Endocrinology, Professor of Medicine at Brown Medical School, Providence, R.I. The fourteenth edition of Joslin Diabetes Mellitus can be purchased online through the Joslin Store at www.store.joslin.org or by calling toll-free (within the U.S.) 1-800-344-4501 or outside the U.S. at 1-508-583-3240.

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About Diabetes

An estimated 18 million Americans have type 2 diabetes; about one-third of those don't even know they have it. Type 2 diabetes, traditionally considered a disease of middle-aged and older adults, is occurring more frequently in younger people due to increasing obesity and sedentary lifestyle. Diabetes can lead to many serious complications, including heart disease, stroke, nerve damage, kidney failure and blindness. Over 41 million Americans are believed to have pre-diabetes, or risk factors that will lead to type 2 diabetes if left untreated. Approximately 1 million people in the U.S. have type 1 diabetes, which is associated with the body's failure to produce insulin, a hormone necessary for the body to convert glucose into energy. Insulin is required treatment for people with type 1.

About Joslin Diabetes Center

Joslin Diabetes Center, dedicated to conquering diabetes in all of its forms, is the global leader in diabetes research, care and education. Founded in 1898, Joslin is an independent nonprofit institution affiliated with Harvard Medical School. Joslin research is a team of more than 300 people at the forefront of discovery aimed at preventing and curing diabetes. Joslin Clinic, affiliated with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, the nationwide network of Joslin Affiliated Programs, and the hundreds of Joslin educational programs offered each year for clinicians, researchers and patients, enable Joslin to develop, implement and share innovations that immeasurably improve the lives of people with diabetes. As a nonprofit, Joslin benefits from the generosity of donors in advancing its mission. For more information on Joslin, call 1-800-JOSLIN-1 or visit www.joslin.org.

Note to editors: A photo of the cover of the fourteenth edition of Joslin Diabetes Mellitus, can be downloaded from the following link: https://store.joslin.org/images/Publications/diabetesmel_14th.gif


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