Nicholas Wade wrote an informative article for the New York Times Scientists Discover Gene That Confers Sizable Risk of Diabetes (free registration required) concerning diabetes.
Scientists have discovered a variant gene that confers a sizable extra risk of Type 2 diabetes and that is carried by more than a third of the American population.
The finding is being reported on Monday in the journal Nature Genetics by researchers at Decode Genetics. The company specializes in finding the genetic roots of human diseases by studying the Icelandic population. Decode Genetics first found the genetic variant in Icelanders and has now confirmed the finding in a Danish and an American population.
An immediate practical consequence of the discovery, Decode's chief executive, Kari Stefansson, said, will be a diagnostic test to identify people who carry the variant gene. If they know of their extra risk, he said, they will have an added incentive to stay thin and exercise.
Given the prevalence of Type II diabetes, I thought this was an interesting article to read.
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