This book examines the molecular and cellular processes in islet development, gene expression, and physiology and reviews how a better understanding of the pancreatic islet will advance efforts to develop new therapeutic approaches for diabetes.

When new fellows join my lab, I give them some reading materials so that they can orient themselves in their assignment in a new eld. When fellows leave my lab, some after writing their dissertations, I prefer to give them a book as a symbolic present. I was longing for a book that contained something on more or less eve- thing about the islets. At the same time, I wished it contained information as recent as possible. There are a few such books in the market but they are pretty outdated. I started picking islets myself from October 1990, when I joined the Rolf Luft Center, Karolinska Institutet. Over the years my fascination for islet research remained high. Since last year, I felt a stronger urge to do more for these mysterious and hidden mini-organs that are directly or indirectly involved in the pathogenesis of all forms of diabetes that affects ?250 million people in the world. After I launched the Islet (landesbioscience. com/journals/islets) and founded the Islet Society (isletso- ety. org), there was a momentum that could be utilized to create something equally meaningful i. e. this book. The idea cracked in September 2008. Starting September 19, 2008, I contacted an estimated 90% of the authors who published anything on the islets during 20072008 and who could be traced from the internet.

A long-awaited book on islets Comprehensive coverage from currents and molecules to the bedside In depth analysis of cutting edge research Great ideas and directions for future research Fundamental background information on islet research in a nutshell

Inhalt
Microscopic Anatomy of the Human Islet of Langerhans.- The Comparative Anatomy of Islets.- Approaches for Imaging Islets: Recent Advances and Future Prospects.- Islet Cell Development.- High Fat Programming of ?-Cell Failure.- Nutrient Regulation of Insulin Secretion and ?-Cell Functional Integrity.- Electrophysiology of Islet Cells.- ATP-Sensitive Potassium Channels in Health and Disease.- Role of Mitochondria in ?-cell Function and Dysfunction.- Basement Membrane in Pancreatic Islet Function.- Calcium Signaling in the Islets.- Electrical Bursting, Calcium Oscillations, and Synchronization of Pancreatic Islets.- Cyclic AMP Signaling in Pancreatic Islets.- Exocytosis in Islet ?-Cells.- The Novel Roles of Glucagon-Like Peptide-1, Angiotensin II, and Vitamin D in Islet Function.- Proteomics and Islet Research.- Wnt Signaling in Pancreatic Islets.- Molecular Pathways Underlying the Pathogenesis of Pancreatic ?-Cell Dysfunction.- Mechanisms of Pancreatic ?-Cell Apoptosis in Diabetes and Its Therapies.- ?-Cell Function in Obese-Hyperglycemic Mice [ob/ob Mice].- Islet Structure and Function in the GK Rat.- The ?-Cell in Human Type 2 Diabetes.- Clinical Approaches to Preserve ?-Cell Function in Diabetes.- Immunology of ?-Cell Destruction.- Toll-Like Receptors and Type 1 Diabetes.- Prevention of ?-Cell Destruction in Autoimmune Diabetes: Current Approaches and Future Prospects.- In Vivo Regeneration of Insulin-Producing ?-Cells.- Customized Cell-Based Treatment Options to Combat Autoimmunity and Restore ?-Cell Function in Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus: Current Protocols and Future Perspectives.- The Programmable Cell of Monocytic Origin (PCMO): A Potential Adult Stem/Progenitor Cell Source for the Generation of Islet Cells.- Islet Isolation for ClinicalTransplantation.- Human Islet Autotransplantation: The Trail Thus Far and the Highway Ahead.- Modulation of Early Inflammatory Reactions to Promote Engraftment and Function of Transplanted Pancreatic Islets in Autoimmune Diabetes.- Successes and Disappointments with Clinical Islet Transplantation.- Islet Cell Tumours.