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A study indicates that changes in the body that lead to type 2 diabetes occur long before current diagnostic thresholds for prediabetes are met. The study challenges conventional thinking about the onset of type 2 diabetes, identifying a risk category before prediabetes, called "pre-prediabetes." At this stage, people with normal glucose tolerance already have severe insulin resistance, early beta cell dysfunction and measurable cardiovascular disease. In this study, DeFronzo's team of scientists examined people with normal glucose tolerance, per ADA standards, and found that one measurement—one-hour glucose levels during an OGTT—is far better at predicting future disease. A value between...

Osteoarthritis is a common chronic condition that usually causes joint pain and can be severe enough to require knee and hip replacements. In the United States, the number of total knee replacement (TKR) and total hip replacement (THR) surgeries is estimated to reach 572 000 per year by 2030. No medications are currently known to prevent or reverse osteoarthritis. A team of researchers from China, Taiwan and Australia aimed to determine whether metformin use was associated with a lower risk of TKR or THR as evidence to date has been sparse and inconclusive. They analyzed data from 69 706 participants...