Diabetes mellitus type 1 According to the current definition, two fasting glucose measurements above 126 mg/dl (7.0 mmol/l) is considered diagnostic for diabetes mellitus. In type 1, pancreatic beta cells in the islets of Langerhans are destroyed, decreasing endogenous insulin production. This distinguishes type 1's origin from type 2. Type 2 diabetes is characterized by insulin resistance, while type 1 diabetes is characterized by insulin deficiency, generally without insulin resistance. Another hallmark of type 1 diabetes is islet autoreactivity, which is generally measured by the presence of autoantibodies directed towards the beta cells. The appearance of diabetes-related autoantibodies has been shown to be able
Epigenetics of diabetes Type 2 associated FTO gene, which has shown to increase susceptibility to both obesity and Type 2 Diabetes. When looked at further, it was shown to have increased methylation levels in a haplotype associated with Type 2 Diabetes. To find exactly which portion of the gene led to the higher levels of risk, one group of researchers performed a sliding window analysis. Using the information, they narrowed the search down to the 46 kb linkage disequilibrium block, and within that region found a 7.7 kb region in which methylation levels were abnormally high. Pyrosequencing found that this difference was due to single