Type 2 diabetes in migrant south Asians: mechanisms, mitigation, and management

South Asians, particularly when living in high-income countries, are at a substantially elevated risk of type 2 diabetes compared with white Europeans, and typically develop the disease 5–10 years earlier and at a lower BMI. Migrant south Asians seem to be more insulin resistant than white Europeans across the life course and potentially experience β-cell exhaustion at a younger age. Differences in adiposity (high percentage of body fat and high proportion of deep subcutaneous and visceral fat) and skeletal muscle (low percentage of lean mass and low cardiorespiratory fitness) are likely to contribute these factors. No clear evidence is available suggesting genetic factors make a major contribution to the increased risk of diabetes in south Asians, but epigenetic factors might have a role. Irrespective of future mechanistic discoveries, south Asians need to be encouraged and helped—by various culturally appropriate methods—to maintain a high physical activity level and low bodyweight across the life course to prevent diabetes. In clinical terms, cardiovascular risks have attenuated over time in migrant south Asians with diabetes but retinopathy and renal complication risks remain high because of the high levels of glycaemia and rapid glycaemic deterioration noted in this population. We review these aspects and suggest areas for future research

Clad In Steel: The Evolution of Plate Armor in Medieval Europe and its Relation to Contemporary Weapons Development

Plate armor developed and evolved in Medieval Europe in response to the effectiveness of weapon designs, which in turn changed to match the strength of contemporary armor

Nova Mediates Experience Dependent Processing of Orb2A mRNA

Memory serves the vital function of associating disparate stimuli to modify future behavior for fitness. For instance, Drosophila melanogaster can learn to associate neutral odors with sweet metabolically available sugars and remember this association for days. Memory formation is thought to rely on stable changes in synaptic strength dictated by the internal state of the organism and the nature of the external stimuli it encounters. In flies, long-term memory requires the efficient oligomerization of the translation regulator Orb2, a process that is dependent on the protein isoform Orb2A. The mechanisms that regulate Orb2A protein levels will therefore determine which experiences become lasting memories. Here we show that Orb2A mRNA exists in a non-protein coding form in the brain via intron retention. Upon exposure to external stimuli sufficient to induce long-term memory, the amount of protein coding Orb2A mRNA increases. Furthermore, the protein coding form of Orb2A mRNA requires the Drosophila homologue of Nova-1/2, a well characterized mammalian nervous system specific alternative splicing factor. Our results implicate mRNA processing as a regulatory step in memory formation via the Nova dependent maturation of Orb2A mRNA

The design of a rotor blade test facility

The Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department has developed a need for test facilities related to rotorcraft, specifically facilities capable of testing scaled rotorcraft models and experimental propellers and rotors. A design was completed to fill these needs.;The design included several factors; aerodynamic conditions during operation, flexibility of application, ease and cost of construction, and safety. The aerodynamic conditions involved in the testing of rotors or propellers in static conditions were investigated. Other testing involving downwash impingement on wings was considered and incorporated into the design.;In addition, the design of the power transmission components was completed. This included the power requirements for testing, drivetrain components, and selection of electric motor and controller for use. Finite element analysis of the facility\u27s frame in static loading conditions was completed in Pro/Mechanica to determine response to operational loads

Ethnic specific obesity cut-offs for diabetes risk: cross-sectional study of 490, 288 UK Biobank participants

OBJECTIVE To compare the relationship between adiposity and prevalent diabetes across ethnic groups in the UK Biobank cohort and to derive ethnic-specific obesity cutoffs that equate to those developed in white populations in terms of diabetes prevalence.<p></p> RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS UK Biobank recruited 502,682 U.K. residents aged 40–69 years. We used baseline data on the 490,288 participants from the four largest ethnic subgroups: 471,174 (96.1%) white, 9,631 (2.0%) South Asian, 7,949 (1.6%) black, and 1,534 (0.3%) Chinese. Regression models were developed for the association between anthropometric measures (BMI, waist circumference, percentage body fat, and waist-to-hip ratio) and prevalent diabetes, stratified by sex and adjusted for age, physical activity, socioeconomic status, and heart disease.<p></p> RESULTS Nonwhite participants were two- to fourfold more likely to have diabetes. For the equivalent prevalence of diabetes at 30 kg/m2 in white participants, BMI equated to the following: South Asians, 22.0 kg/m2; black, 26.0 kg/m2; Chinese women, 24.0 kg/m2; and Chinese men, 26.0 kg/m2. Among women, a waist circumference of 88 cm in the white subgroup equated to the following: South Asians, 70 cm; black, 79 cm; and Chinese, 74 cm. Among men, a waist circumference of 102 cm equated to 79, 88, and 88 cm for South Asian, black, and Chinese participants, respectively.<p></p> CONCLUSIONS Obesity should be defined at lower thresholds in nonwhite populations to ensure that interventions are targeted equitably based on equivalent diabetes prevalence. Furthermore, within the Asian population, a substantially lower obesity threshold should be applied to South Asian compared with Chinese groups.<p></p&gt

Conway groupoids, regular two-graphs and supersimple designs

A $2-(n,4,\lambda)$ design $(\Omega, \mathcal{B})$ is said to be supersimple if distinct lines intersect in at most two points. From such a design, one can construct a certain subset of Sym$(\Omega)$ called a "Conway groupoid". The construction generalizes Conway's construction of the groupoid $M_{13}$. It turns out that several infinite families of groupoids arise in this way, some associated with 3-transposition groups, which have two additional properties. Firstly the set of collinear point-triples forms a regular two-graph, and secondly the symmetric difference of two intersecting lines is again a line. In this paper, we show each of these properties corresponds to a group-theoretic property on the groupoid and we classify the Conway groupoids and the supersimple designs for which both of these two additional properties hold.Comment: 17 page

Why does voting get so complicated? : a review of theories for analyzing democratic participation.

The purpose of this article is to present a sample from the panoply of formal theories on voting and elections to Statistical Science readers who have had limited exposure to such work. These abstract ideas provide a framework for understanding the context of the empirical articles that follow in this volume. The primary focus of this theoretical literature is on the use of mathematical formalism to describe electoral systems and outcomes by modeling both voting rules and human behavior. As with empirical models, these constructs are never perfect descriptors of reality, but instead form the basis for understanding fundamental characteristics of the studied system. Our focus is on providing a general, but not overly simplified, review of these theories with practical examples. We end the article with a thought experiment that applies different vote aggregation schemes to the 2000 presidential election count in Florida, and we find that alternative methods provide different results

Authors' reply to Colquhoun and Buchinsky

No abstract available

Navigating later life transitions: An evaluation of emotional and psychological interventions

Transitions in later life, for instance retiring from paid work, changing career, ending or starting a relationship, can have a major impact on people’s lives and their wellbeing. Recognising a gap in preventative support for transitions such as these, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (CGF; UK Branch) has funded a number of projects that provide group-based psychological and emotional support as part of its Transitions in Later Life (TiLL) programme. CGF and the Centre for Ageing Better partnered on the evaluation of two of these courses — Working Longer and Living Life to the Full, a two-day course run by Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (CWP) and Changing Gears, a three-day course run by Age & Opportunity in Dublin, Ireland. The aim of the evaluation was to find out what impact the courses had on individual attributes that would help people be better prepared for later life transitions; what changes people make as a result of the courses; and what practice, resources or processes in the organisations are important in ensuring their implementation and efficacy