News & Comment

Sex as a biological variable influences almost all aspects of health and disease, yet many research studies use only males or do not consider sex differences. We describe why sex-specific reporting is needed, including in basic and animal research, and we outline recommendations for sex-specific reporting in manuscript abstracts, Methods and Results sections, tables and figures.

How to adjust metabolic rate (MR) in mice that differ in body mass and composition continues to lead to controversies. Here, the challenges that reside in the analysis of mouse MR are highlighted to spur consensus on the unequivocal use of regression-based analysis to maximize reliability and relevance of conclusions.

Diabetes therapeutic approaches continue to expand and to be refined. As the field moves toward more intensive insulin- and cell-based therapies, care must be taken to mimic healthy physiological insulin dynamics and avoid hyperinsulinemia, with its deleterious downstream complications.

The two most common tests for determining metabolic health in mice are the glucose tolerance test (GTT) and insulin tolerance test (ITT). GTTs and ITTs are inexpensive and easy to perform, but how they are conducted and interpreted can radically change their meaning.

Some ‘species differences’ between mice and humans can be diminished simply by housing mice at warmer temperatures. Failure to strategically turn up the thermostat may undermine the translation of findings in mice to insights into human metabolic diseases.

The COVID-19 pandemic has stretched healthcare resources and caused severe knock-on effects on patients with metabolic diseases worldwide. We encourage clinicians and patient-interest groups in the field of diabetes and metabolism to raise their voices to ensure adequate care and admission of patients.

The prevalence of COVID-19-associated diabetes is not the result of a single event but of a combination of disease susceptibility associated with chronic illness and COVID-19-specific mechanisms affecting metabolism. Whether a separate entity of post-COVID-19 diabetes, possibly associated with lasting β-cell damage, also exists is not yet clear.