The Insulin Express

A travel memoir through thirty countries, a thousand insulin injections, and one man’s journey from despair to confidence. With tips and information from the American Diabetes Association. In the middle of a yearlong backpacking trip around the world with his wife, Oren Liebermann is teaching English to young Buddhist monks in Pokhara, Nepal, when his body begins to fail him. He is constantly thirsty and exhausted, and by the time he steps on a scale, he has lost forty-five pounds. At a local clinic, a doctor gives him a diagnosis that will change his life forever: “I’m sorry to tell you, my friend, that you are a diabetic.” Devastated, Liebermann is trapped in a freezing hospital room, trying to recover enough to fly home. His friends and family urge him to call off the rest of his trip. He had quit his job as a TV news reporter for this dream-come-true journey, but the nightmare diagnosis has thrown his world into disarray. However, Liebermann and his wife, Cassie, make a decision. They have an adventure to finish, and he has the rest of his life to live. Bold, raw, and poignantly candid, The Insulin Express tells the story of what happens when the best-made travel plans are subject to the ever-present chaos of life, and how a major setback can turn into the opportunity of a lifetime. Despite struggling with a chronic disease that almost kills him in the Himalayas, Liebermann hikes along the Great Wall of China, conquers the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, and sips cobra whiskey in Laos. What begins as a travel chronicle across thirty countries transforms into a single journey of resilience and self-discovery—going from hopelessly lost and then wonderfully found.

During the past decade, the continued interest in insulin-related growth factors has been documented by a plethora of research programs and publications focused on these growth factors. Both molecular and cellular biological techniques have improved and enabled investigators to study the properties of the growth factors in depth. This volume covers the molecular (genetic) aspects of the growth factors, their binding proteins and receptors, as well as those factors affecting their gene transcription and translation. In addition, aspects of the cellular action of these growth factors through their receptors and how this impacts normal cellular function are discussed. The book will provide valuable information for researchers in physiology, biology, endocrinology, and metabolism.

The new millennium has seen a major paradigm shift in insect endocrinology. Great advancements are being made which establish that nutrition and growth play a central role in diverse cellular and physiological phenomena during insect development and reproduction. Nutrition affects rates of growth and is mainly regulated by the function of the pathway of insulin/insulin-like growth factor signalling. This pathway is highly conserved across species and ultimately regulates rates of cell growth and proliferation in growing organs. Insulin and insulin-like peptides (ILPs) are some of the best studied hormones in the animal kingdom and all share a common structural motif and initiate a wide range of closely similar physiological processes in higher organisms. In insects, nutrition, via circulating sugar, promotes release of ILPs from brain neurosecretory cells into the haemolymph, which act on peripheral tissues and stimulate protein synthesis and cell growth. Therefore, insect ILPs are common mediators between nutrition and growth in insects and are functionally analogous to mammalian insulin. The 1980s and 1990s witnessed great progress in elucidation of the physiological and molecular mechanism of action of numerous insect hormones involved in regulation of growth, development, reproduction and metabolism. But the signals for the initiation or termination of controlled events remained largely unknown. ILPs were first identified from the silkmoth Bombyx mori and were named bombyxins, but related peptides were soon found in numerous species and their functions elucidated. The insulin signalling pathway is now recognized as a central factor in the timing of cell proliferation, growth, longevity, reproduction, and reproductive diapause, as well as social behaviour. Recent work has revealed that the insulin signalling pathway is closely integrated with that of various other hormones, including ecdysteroids, the juvenile hormones and neuropeptide(s) such a prothoracicotropic hormone. In addition, the pathway is also linked with both circadian (daily) and photoperiodic (seasonal) clocks potentially providing a basis for its timing function. This Research Topic aims to provide the only current collection of recent advances on insect ILPs. We encouraged submissions on all areas related to identification, characterization, regulation and physiological functions of insect ILPs. We welcomed both full and short reviews and original research articles.

Advances in Proinsulin Research and Application: 2013 Edition is a ScholarlyEditions™ book that delivers timely, authoritative, and comprehensive information about C-Peptide. The editors have built Advances in Proinsulin Research and Application: 2013 Edition on the vast information databases of ScholarlyNews.™ You can expect the information about C-Peptide in this book to be deeper than what you can access anywhere else, as well as consistently reliable, authoritative, informed, and relevant. The content of Advances in Proinsulin Research and Application: 2013 Edition has been produced by the world’s leading scientists, engineers, analysts, research institutions, and companies. All of the content is from peer-reviewed sources, and all of it is written, assembled, and edited by the editors at ScholarlyEditions™ and available exclusively from us. You now have a source you can cite with authority, confidence, and credibility. More information is available at http://www.ScholarlyEditions.com/.

The islets of Langerhans, the primary source of hormone production in the pancreas, have been the focus of research into the nature of diabetes for decades. In recent years, the molecular biology of this multiendocrine organ has been intensively investigated, with a corresponding increase in our understanding of the normal and pathological functioning of islet cells.

This book balances the behavioral and database aspects of customer relationship management, providing students with a comprehensive introduction to an often overlooked, but important aspect of marketing strategy. Baran and Galka deliver a book that helps students understand how an enhanced customer relationship strategy can differentiate an organization in a highly competitive marketplace. This edition has several new features: Updates that take into account the latest research and changes in organizational dynamics, business-to-business relationships, social media, database management, and technology advances that impact CRM New material on big data and the use of mobile technology An overhaul of the social networking chapter, reflecting the true state of this dynamic aspect of customer relationship management today A broader discussion of the relationship between CRM and the marketing function, as well as its implications for the organization as a whole Cutting edge examples and images to keep readers engaged and interested A complete typology of marketing strategies to be used in the CRM strategy cycle: acquisition, retention, and win-back of customers With chapter summaries, key terms, questions, exercises, and cases, this book will truly appeal to upper-level students of customer relationship management. Online resources, including PowerPoint slides, an instructor’s manual, and test bank, provide instructors with everything they need for a comprehensive course in customer relationship management.

Current Topics in Developmental Biology