Approximately 38 million Americans suffer from diabetes mellitus, of which over 90% have type II diabetes [3]. Type II diabetes consists of two major symptoms: insulin resistance, or the inability of tissues to respond properly to insulin, and insufficient secretion of insulin by pancreatic beta cells [4]. A decrease in insulin efficacy will not only have a detrimental effect on glucose-mediated mechanisms, but on metabolism as a whole. As shown in Figure 1, the rate of type II diabetes differs all around the world.
Insulin-stimulated pathways are crucial for glucose homeostasis and are responsible for meeting the temporal glucose demands of the body [4]. Insulin is an endocrine peptide hormone that binds to membrane-bound receptors on specific cell types—specifically in skeletal muscle, liver, and white adipocyte cells. The specific responses generated by insulin binding differ between tissue types, including enhanced glucose uptake and glycogen synthesis in skeletal muscle, decreased gluconeogenesis activity in liver, and suppression of lipolysis in white adipocytes [6].
Although there is no known cure for type II diabetes, recent research has promoted the practice of intermittent fasting to mitigate the effects of this disease and increase insulin sensitivity. Intermittent fasting involves shortening one’s so-called “eating window” to about eight hours each day, leaving the remaining 16 hours for inducing the fasted state. Although the exact time frame for the eating or fasted state is relatively flexible, its effects on insulin sensitivity are crucial to combat the prevalence of type II diabetes.
Awesome page as well! I might add a sentence or two about the specific impact of glucagon, its structure, and impact on normal metabolism similarly to the second paragraph for insulin. Glucagon function, of course in addition to insulin, seems important to your “answer” page, and it might be worth it to add a sentence or two here. That is very minor, however, overall looks super good!
Nice background info! I really like how everything is concise and to the point. The “Rates of Type II DM In 2015” image is very interesting. I think it would be worthwhile to elaborate more about these dichotomies around the world. For example, why might certain regions have a higher incidence rate/percentage of type II diabetes mellitus than others? Is it due to diet, lifestyle, access to resources, etc? Or are there perhaps genetic predispositions in certain ethnicities that may lead to a higher/earlier onset to type II diabetes? It would be a very interesting aspect to consider, even in just a short paragraph.
A brief caption was added to the figure to elaborate on causes of type II DM and more information from the reference was added. We decided not to delve too deeply on causes because that’s not the main focus of our paper.
Fantastic job on the background page! The information presented builds seamlessly on concepts introduced in the Questions page without becoming repetitive. The inclusion of statistics on the prevalence of Diabetes Mellitus among Americans is a clever strategy, instilling a sense of relevance (essentially answering the question of “why do I care?”). On a personal note, I was wondering if the placement of the “Rates of Type II diabetes mellitus in 2015” graphic could be shifted to the top. Since this graphic relates specifically to the first sentence, placing it at the beginning might enhance the flow of the page as whole. Currently, I feel its position between paragraphs feels a bit abrupt, especially as the first paragraph progresses to discuss the symptoms/effects of Type II diabetes. Nevertheless, if the idea was to use the image as a break in the text, that also makes a lot of sense.
We added a lead on sentence to make the flow from the paragraph to figure less abrupt. Hopefully this would help the flow.
This page effectively answers the “so what?” of your project by pointing out the widespread prevalence and dehabilitation associated with type II diabetes. The figure is visually pleasing, and I think a quick explanation of possible reasons for the difference in prevalence would be great, especially why the Western Pacific has so many cases. Additionally, I liked the conclusion paragraph, as it sets the stage for the rest of the project.
Great summary of what insulin does. It would be helpful to elaborate on other metabolic processes that are affected by a decrease in insulin efficacy. As some my group members have already expressed, I think this page does an excellent job at establishing why this topic is important and worthy of a thorough investigation.