Globally, the incidence of diabetes has grown rapidly. The prevalence of diabetes in China was 11.6% in 2010. Diabetes has become a huge challenge for public health. The cause of diabetes is not yet completely clear. Potential risk factors include genetic factors, environmental factors, and interactions between the two. Genome-wide association studies have found a series of genetic variants that are closely related to diabetes. Several environmental factors, such as excessive energy intake and lack of physical activity, have been associated with increased risk of diabetes. In the meanwhile, genetic and environmental factors could modify each other’s effect on diabetes risk. With the advent of molecular techniques, post-genomics research, gut microbiota, and trans-omics have provided novel perspectives for the study of diabetes risk factors.
Epilepsy is a chronic brain dysfunction disease with complex and diverse causes, but 70%-80% of patients do not have obvious characteristic phenotypic symptoms. In order to provide precise treatment for epilepsy patients, research on the genetic pathogenic factors and pathogenesis of epilepsy has attracted much attention. Different types of epilepsy are constantly found to be closely related to mutations in specific genes, such as SCN1A, KCNA2, KCNT1, GABRA1, TSCs, CDKL5, and so on. Therefore, the development of broad-spectrum antiepileptic drugs is very difficult. However, plant-based drugs or functional ingredients derived from traditional medicinal herbs, such as cannabinol, aconitine, and dodecenal, will expand the development of safer and more effective anti epileptic drugs.