Adipokines and body fat composition in South Asians: results of the Metabolic Syndrome and Atherosclerosis in South Asians Living in America (MASALA) study.

ObjectiveTo investigate whether leptin and adiponectin are associated with body fat composition in a South Asian population independent of metabolic variables.DesignCross-sectional study.Subjects150 South Asian men and women, between the ages of 45-79 years, in the San Francisco Bay Area without pre-existing clinical cardiovascular disease.MeasurementsBlood samples were obtained to measure glucose metabolism variables, lipid profiles and adipokines. Total body fat was determined using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Abdominal computed tomography was used to measure subcutaneous, visceral and hepatic fat.ResultsAverage body mass index (BMI) was overweight at 26.1±4.6 kg m(-2) and did not differ by sex. However, women had significantly more total body fat (P<0.001) and subcutaneous fat (P<0.001) than men, whereas men had significantly more visceral fat (P<0.001) and hepatic fat (P=0.04) than women. Women had significantly higher levels of adiponectin (P<0.01) and leptin (P<0.01). In sex-stratified analyses, leptin was strongly associated with all-body composition measures in women (P<0.05) as well as in men (P<0.05 except for hepatic fat), whereas there was an insignificant trend towards an inverse association between adiponectin and body composition in both women and men, which was significant in combined bivariate analyses. In multivariate analyses, leptin was strongly associated with all measures of adiposity, including BMI (P<0.001), total body fat (P<0.001), visceral fat (P<0.001) and hepatic fat (P=0.01). However, adiponectin's inverse association with adiposity was significantly attenuated by high-density lipoprotein (HDL), triglycerides and insulin resistance. The association between adipokines and diabetes was markedly attenuated after adjusting for body composition.ConclusionDespite only modestly elevated BMI, South Asians have elevated levels of total and regional adiposity. Leptin is strongly associated with adiposity, whereas adiponectin's association with adiposity is attenuated by metabolic variables in South Asians. Adipokines in association with adiposity have an important role in the development of diabetes

Finite-temperature chiral transitions in QCD with the Wilson quark action

We investigate the finite-temperature phase structure and the scaling of the chiral condensate in lattice QCD with two degenerate light quarks, using a renormalization group improved gauge action and the Wilson quark action. We obtain a phase diagram which is consistent with that from the parity-flavor breaking scenario. The scaling relation for the chiral condensate assuming the critical exponents and the scaling function of the three dimensional O(4) model is remarkably satisfied for a wide range of parameters. This indicates that the chiral transition in two flavor QCD is of second order in the continuum limit.Comment: LaTeX, 3 pages, 4 EPS figures, Talk presented at LATTICE97 (finite temperature

Charmonium dissociation temperatures in lattice QCD with a finite volume technique

Dissociation temperatures of J/\psi, \psi', and \chi_c states play key roles in the sequential J/\psi suppression scenario for high energy heavy ion collisions. We report on a study of charmonium dissociation temperatures in quenched lattice QCD. On anisotropic lattices, we first subtract the effects of the constant mode in finite temperature meson correlators, which have lead to unphysical results in previous studies. We then extract ground and first exited state masses by diagonalizing correlation functions among different source and sink operators. To distinguish bound states from scattering states, we first compare the charmonium mass spectra under different spatial boundary conditions, and examine the shape and the volume-dependence of their Bethe-Salpeter wave functions. From these studies, we found so far no sign of scattering states up to about 2.3T_c.Comment: 4pages, 2figures, proceedings of Quark Matter 2008 (QM2008), Jaipur, India, Feb 4-10, 200

Daya Saing dan Permintaan Ekspor Produk Biofarmaka Indonesia di Negara Tujuan Utama Periode 2003-2012

Permintaan obat herbal dunia semakin meningkat, tentunya diperlukan USAha yang lebih intensif agar pasokan bahan baku produk biofarmaka dapat terpenuhi. Penelitian ini bertujuan melihat bagaimana daya saing yang terjadi antardua negara di dunia terhadap penyediaan produk ekspor serta menganalisis faktor yang memengaruhi permintaan ekspor produk biofarmaka dunia terhadap negara tujuan utama. Metode analisis yang digunakan dalam penenelitian ini adalah Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA), Export Product Dynamics (EPD) dan Gravity Model. Periode waktu yang diteliti adalah rata-rata tahun 2003 hingga 2012. Hasil penelitian menyimpulkan bahwa Indonesia memiliki daya saing yang baik terhadap komoditi kunyit dan kayu gaharu apabila dibandingkan dengan negara pesaing berdasarkan analisis RCA dan EPD dengan posisi daya saing “Lost Oppportunity”. Hasil estimasi faktor yang memengaruhi permintaan produk biofarmaka adalah Real GDP, Real Exchange Rate, Population dan Economic Distance berdasarkan analisis gravity model, seluruh variabel indepeden berpengaruh secara signifikan terhadap dependen dan sesuai dengan hipotesis

Flux Tube Model Signals for Baryon Correlations in Heavy Ion Collisions

The flux tube model offers a pictorial description of what happens during the deconfinement phase transition in QCD. The 3-point vertices of a flux tube network lead to formation of baryons upon hadronisation. Therefore, correlations in the baryon number distribution at the last scattering surface are related to the preceding pattern of the flux tube vertices, and provide a signature of the nearby deconfinement phase transition. I discuss the nature of the expected signal, which should be observable in heavy ion collisions at RHIC and LHC.Comment: LaTeX, 9 pages, 5 figures, (v2) Several arguments expanded for clarity, (v3) Minor typesetting changes, published versio

Equation of state in finite-temperature QCD with improved Wilson quarks

We study finite-temperature phase transition and equation of state for two-flavor QCD at $N_t=4$ using an RG-improved gauge action and a meanfield-improved clover quark action. The pressure is computed using the integral method. The O(4) scaling of chiral order parameter is also examined.Comment: LATTICE99(finite temperature), 3 page