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This chapter examines the meta-ethical question regarding subject selection in newborn screening for diabetes. Data show that over 90% of parents give permission for diabetes screening of their newborns in the US and abroad. It is argued that prediction research in newborns has potentially serious psychosocial implications, especially when it is introduced into the unsuspecting general population, and research designs must account for them. Recommendations are proposed that balance the need for research access with protection, to minimize harm to infants and their families.

CFR section 46.407 of Subpart D of the federal regulations addresses research that is not otherwise approvable. Research is not otherwise approvable because either (1) it seeks to enroll healthy children, but offers no prospect of direct benefit and entails more than minimal risk; or (2) it seeks to enroll children with a disorder or condition, but offers no prospect of direct benefit and entails more than a minor increase over minimal risk. According to CFR section 46.407, such research can be permissible if it is reviewed and approved by a panel of experts convened by the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. The regulations also require public review of the research. Prior to the year 2000, only two panels of experts were convened. This chapter examines the University of Washington’s experience with its protocol, Precursors to Diabetes in Japanese American Youth, as a case study of the strengths and limitations of the 407 process in 2001.

This chapter focuses on diabetes translation research. Translation research is applied research for health care and policy that strives to study how to translate available knowledge and make it useful for reducing the burden of diabetes. Translation research explores the reasons why efficacious treatments have not reduced the burden of diabetes and evaluates potential solutions. Although proven treatments and research studies that document the efficacy of treatments are widely available, inadequate implementation of such treatments is observed. To mitigate and reduce the burden of a disease, research must not only focus on the efficacy of a treatment but also illuminate how such treatment can be translated into clinical practice at a population level. Translation research may be considered an extension of effectiveness research, but it also takes on other components of health services research, public health, and community medicine.

This chapter summarizes the major Web-based information, education, and research resources on diabetes prevention and control that are available to public health researchers and practitioners from organizations in the federal government, voluntary and professional organizations, and the private sector. Informational and educational resources are described for public health researchers and practitioners and for public and patient audiences.

This chapter provides an introduction aimed at making the field of decision science more accessible. Because so many chronic diseases are preventable or manageable through behavioral changes, decision science could provide a valuable resource for understanding and improving health decisions and the outcomes that follow them. With its combination of empirical and analytical methods, decision science provides broadly applicable approaches to help people make health decisions in ways that are informed by both medical and social science. It is especially helpful for decisions made in the face of uncertainty whether individuals make them on their own or in consultation with health care providers.