Prevalence, and associated risk factors, of self-reported diabetes mellitus in a sample of adult urban population in Greece: MEDICAL Exit Poll Research in Salamis (MEDICAL EXPRESS 2002)

BACKGROUND: The continuous monitoring and future prediction of the growing epidemic of diabetes mellitus worldwide presuppose consistent information about the extent of the problem. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of diagnosed diabetes and to identify associated risk factors in a sample of adult urban Greek population. METHODS: A cross-sectional population-based survey was conducted in municipality of Salamis, Greece, during an election day (2002). The study sample consisted of 2805 participants, aged 20–94 years. Data were collected using a standardized short questionnaire that was completed by a face-to-face interview. Multiple regression analyses were performed to evaluate the association of diabetes with potential risk factors. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of diagnosed diabetes was 8.7% (95% CI 7.7–9.8%). After age adjustment for the current adult population (2001 census) of Greece, the projection prevalence was calculated to 8.2%. Multivariate logistic regression analysis identified as independent risk factors: increasing age (odds ratio, OR = 1.07, 95% CI 1.06–1.08), male sex (OR = 1.43, 95% CI 1.04–1.95), overweight and obesity (OR = 1.97, 95% CI 1.29–3.01 and OR = 3.76, 95% CI 2.41–5.86, respectively), family history of diabetes (OR = 6.91, 95% CI 5.11–9.34), hypertension (OR = 2.19, 95% CI 1.60–2.99) and, among women, lower educational level (OR = 2.62, 95% CI 1.22–5.63). The prevalence of overweight and obesity, based on self-reported BMI, were 44.2% and 18.4%, respectively. Moreover, the odds for diabetes in obese subjects with family history were 25-fold higher than those with normal weight and without family history of diabetes, while the odds in overweight subjects with family history of diabetes were 15-fold higher. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicated that the prevalence of diabetes is high in Greek population. It is suggested that the main modifiable contributing factor is obesity, whose effect is extremely increased upon positive heredity presence

Effects of instrumentation changes on ocean surface temperature measured in situ

Measurements of ocean surface temperature are an important climate record, complementing terrestrial air temperature observations, records of marine air temperature, ocean subsurface temperatures and ocean heat content. Sea-surface temperature (SST) has been measured since the mid-18th Century, although observations are sparse in the early period. Historically, marine observing systems relied on observations made by seafarers and necessary information on measurement methods is often not available. There are many historical descriptions of observing practice and instrumentation, some including quantification of biases between different methods. This documentation has been used, with the available observations, to develop models for the expected biases which vary according to how the measurement were made, over time and with the environmental conditions. Adjustments have been developed for these biases and some gridded SST datasets adjust for these differences and provide uncertainty estimates, including uncertainties in the bias adjustments. The modern in situ SST observing system continues to evolve and now includes many observations from moored and drifting buoys which must be characterised relative to earlier observations to provide a consistent record of multi-decadal changes in SST

Young People Talk about Citizenship: Empirical Perspectives on Theoretical and Political Debates

This article has been published in the journal, Citizenship Studies [© Taylor & Francis]. The definitive version: LISTER, R., SMITH, N., MIDDLETON, S. and COX, L., 2003. Young people talk about citizenship: empirical perspectives on theoretical and political debates. Citizenship Studies, 7(2), pp. 235-253, is available at: http://www.journalsonline.tandf.co.uk/openurl.asp?genre=journal&eissn=1469-3593.The citizenship literature includes remarkably few empirical studies. In this article we report on how young people in a British city perceive citizenship and their own transitions as citizens. Of five models which emerged, the most dominant was ‘universal status’, followed by ‘respectable economic independence’, ‘constructive social participation’ and, less frequently, ‘social-contractual’ and ‘right to a voice’. The extent to which the young people identified themselves as citizens reflected these models and their own life experiences. They drew clear distinctions between what it means to be a ‘good’ and a ‘first class’ citizen and had greater difficulty articulating their rights than their responsibilities. Overall, their responses drew on fluid understandings of citizenship but pointed more towards communitarian than liberal or civic-republican citizenship paradigms. They also underlined how everyday understandings of citizenship can have both inclusionary and exclusionary implications