Overview
Diabetes has long been recognized as a disease of high blood sugar, and there has been a continuous search for the reason for its development and effective treatment. In 2005, the World Health Organization estimated that more than 180 million people worldwide suffer from diabetes mellitus and indicated this figure is likely to double within the next 20 years. Among the 3.8 million diabetes-related deaths each year, about two thirds are attributable to cardiovascular complications, and diabetes is now considered to be a major metabolic risk factor for heart disease. This book compiles review articles relating to biochemical and molecular mechanisms of hyperglycaemia. Topics are of interest to basic research scientists, clinicians and graduate students, studying the pathogenesis of diabetes-induced cardiovascular dysfunction. Some chapters are directed toward enhancing our understanding of novel ways for the prevention/treatment of cardiomyopathy.Twenty-five articles are organized in three sections. The first section covers general aspects of the metabolic derangements in diabetic cardiomyopathy, including metabolic alterations and substrate utilization, as well as cardiac remodeling in the heart; role of diet in the development of metabolic syndrome in the heart; effect of hyperglycaemia in terms of biochemical and structural alterations in heart. The second section covers cellular and molecular mechanisms indicating that diabetic cardiomyopathy is a multifactorial and complex problem. The third section discusses the prevention and treatment of diabetes using appropriate diet, proper supplements including antioxidants, angiotensin inhibitors and other drugs. The book discusses diverse mechanisms of diabetic cardiomyopathy with information on new therapeutic approaches for finding solutions to prevent or reverse the development of cardiac dysfunction.
