The risk of type 1 diabetes in immigrants and their offspring in Sweden : the influence of perinatal factors

Aims: The overall aim of this study was to investigate the trend in and risk factors for type 1 diabetes, with particular reference to parental socioeconomic position (SEP) and country of birth of subjects and their parents. We examined the effects of maternal body mass index (BMI), maternal duration of residence and parental diabetes on the risk of type 1 diabetes among children and adolescents/young adults with native Sweden-born or immigrant parents. Materials and methods: We used data from a nationwide dataset, The Migration and Health Cohort, in which information has been collected from national, longitudinal and clinical, health and sociodemographic registers (Studies I–IV). We followed the populations of children (0–14 years) and adolescents/young adults (15–30 years) born outside Sweden (immigrants), born in Sweden with at least one parent born outside Sweden (offspring of immigrants) and born in Sweden with both parents born in Sweden between 1969 and 2009. Incidence rate ratios with 95% confidence intervals for type 1 diabetes were estimated using Poisson regression models (Studies I–IV). We further calculated age-standardized rates of type 1 diabetes, using the world population as standard (Studies I and II). Results: We observed an upward trend in type 1 diabetes incidence among children younger than 15 years of age, but not among adolescents/young adults aged 15 to 30 years (Studies I and II). We also observed a shift towards a younger age at diagnosis both in offspring born to native Swedes and those born to immigrants (Study II). Boys younger than 15 years with parents with a low level of education as an indicator for a low level of SEP had a 9% decreased risk of type 1 diabetes compared with boys with highly educated parents, whereas no effect of parental education was found among girls. By contrast, among adolescents/young adults aged 15–30 years, the risk of type 1 diabetes decreased with increasing parental level of education (Study I). Compared with children of Sweden-born parents, immigrants and their offspring had a lower risk of type 1 diabetes. The lower risk was more pronounced among offspring with both parents born abroad (Studies I and II). Among children and young adult immigrants born in Asia, South Europe, East Europe and Latin America, the risk of type 1 diabetes was between 40% and 85% lower than in individuals born in Sweden (Study I). Among offspring of Asian, European (except North European) and Latin and North American parents, the risk of type 1 diabetes was between 35% and 65% lower than among offspring of Sweden-born parents, whereas the risk was 45–60% higher in offspring of East African parents (Study II). In comparison to offspring of non-diabetic parents, a seven-fold increased risk of type 1 diabetes was observed in offspring of both Nordic and non-Nordic parents with type 1 diabetes (Study III). In the Nordic cohort, fathers with type 1 diabetes conferred a greater risk of type 1 diabetes to their offspring than mothers, whereas maternal type 1 diabetes conveyed a higher risk in the non-Nordic cohort (Study III). Maternal obesity was associated with a 36% increased risk of type 1 diabetes in offspring of non-diabetic parents (Study III). The risk of type 1 diabetes increased with increasing duration of residence of the mother before delivery. The highest risk was observed in offspring of East African mothers who had been resident in Sweden for at least 11 years (Study IV). Conclusions: Country of birth is an important determinant of type 1 diabetes risk. The change in risks of type 1 diabetes over time and generations highlights the importance of lifestyle and environmental factors and their interaction with the genetic background in the aetiology of type 1 diabetes. Increasing prevalence of maternal overweight and obesity may partly explain the increasing incidence of type 1 diabetes in children of non-diabetic parents

Implementation of Fault Tolerance Algorithm to Restore Affected Nodes in Scheduling Clusters

Due to the convergence of the networks, the top priority objective of researchers is to get the network fully connected. Several types of networks have been introduced and proposed to improve performance. Cluster environment provides full support for various applications. Scheduling is one of the most important research-focusing areas, where different supporting algorithms are implemented. However, there is still a gap in scheduling to provide best network connectivity to all nodes. This paper targets nodes affected issue that occurs due to scalability, data sharing, while leaving and joining the nodes. To control and retain an affected node in the clustering scheduling, fault tolerance techniques are applied. The base of this technique is Node Recovery Algorithm (NRA). This algorithm supports disconnected nodes and restores them to join the scheduling. Furthermore, this algorithm maximizes the efficiency of the cluster and improves the performance

Traditional cow and camel milk production and marketing in agropastoral and mixed crop-livestock systems: the case of Mieso District, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia

This study was conducted to characterize the traditional milk production and marketing system, and to identify constraints and opportunities for further development. It was conducted in Mieso District of Oromia Regional State, located 300 km east of Addis Ababa and at about 200 km east of Adama. Five rural kebeles, Dire Kalu, Gena, Huse Mendera, Hunde Misoma and Welda Jejeba, that have milk production potential were selected. Farmers/agro-pastoralists from each rural kebele were also selected. Group discussion was conducted with key informants such as elders and experts in the Office of Pastoral and Rural Development to have an overview of the overall milk production and marketing system. The information generated in participatory rural appraisal phases was used for the preparation and development of a questionnaire for the formal survey. The formal survey was conducted by trained enumerators in 2005/06 using 120 farmers. To capture gender effects in the overall production system, the sample household on each rural kebele was stratified into female-and male-headed households. For the market study, from the three existing market sites, Mieso and Asebot markets were purposively selected. Milk marketing was monitored during the rainy and the dry seasons. A questionnaire was used to collect information on the amount of milk delivered, price and number of individuals who sell milk. During the monitoring phase, a diagnostic survey was undertaken to identify households that have lactating cows and/or camels in the selected five rural kebeles. There were generally two types of milk outlets identified in the district. These are traditional milk associations or groups and individual sellers. Feed scarcity, water shortage, security problem and limited access to veterinary services were identified as the major problems to dairy production and mortality due to diseases was also identified as a major cause of loss in cattle. The paper concludes with recommendations

Exploring new media technologies among young South African women

This article reflects on how the use of digitised communication and social media among young black South African women can be situated and assessed within the current context. The authors focus especially on nuanced explorations of “civic participation,” “empowerment” and “identity politics” in acknowledging the liberatory potential of young women’s use of information and communication technology (ICTs) and seeking to assess its effects in realistic ways. We therefore speculate about how the uses of ICTs can both open up new possibilities for activism and agency and reveal the difficult formation of what Nancy Fraser has called “subaltern counterpublics” (1992: 109–142) among socially marginalised young women.Department of HE and Training approved lis

Prevalence and factors that influence smokeless tobacco use among adults in pastoralist communities of Borena Zone, Ethiopia: mixed method study

Introduction Deaths due to tobacco consumption are on the rise, from 5.4 million in 2005 to 6.4 million in 2015 and 8.3 million in 2030 of which more than 80% will be in developing countries. Smokeless tobacco use is a significant health risk and cause of disease. Over 300 million people use smokeless tobacco worldwide. More than 250 million adult smokeless tobacco users are in low- and middle-income countries, the total burden of smokeless tobacco use is likely to be substantial. In Ethiopia, nationally representative data on the smokeless tobacco use is not available. Most studies conducted in the country focused on cigarette smoking. Material and Methods A community based cross-sectional study using quantitative and qualitative approaches was conducted from September 14–29, 2015. The study was conducted among adults in pastoralist communities in Borena zone, Ethiopia. A total of 634 households were selected randomly for interview. An interviewer-administered questionnaire and in-depth interview guide was used to assess adults’ practice, attitude, knowledge, and perception on Smokeless Tobacco use. Logistic regression was used to assess association between dependent and independent variables. Results Out of 634 participants, 287 (45.3%) of them were current users of smokeless tobacco. Being Muslim (AOR = .21, 95% CI: .13, .33), being Christian (AOR = .38, 95% CI: .22, .67), and having good health risk perception toward smokeless tobacco use (AOR = .49, 95% CI: .34, .70) were protective factors for smokeless tobacco use, whereas favorable attitude (AOR = 2.12, 95% CI: 1.48, 3.04) and high social pressure towards smokeless tobacco use (AOR = 1.73, 95% CI: 1.21, 2.47) were factors independently associated with smokeless tobacco use. Conclusions This study concludes that smokeless tobacco use is very common in the selected districts of the Borena zone. The practice is strong linked to the lifestyle of the community

Attending to the reasons for attribute non-attendance in Choice Experiments

This paper focuses on behavioural reasons underlying stated attribute non-attendance. In order to identify and incorporate procedures for dealing with heterogeneous attribute processing strategies, we ask respondents follow-up questions regarding their reasons for ignoring attributes. Based on these statements, we conclude that the standard way of assigning a zero impact of ignored attributes on the likelihood is inappropriate. We find that some respondents act in accordance with the passive bounded rationality assumption since they ignore an attribute simply because it does not affect their utility. Excluding these genuine zero preferences, as the standard approach essentially does, might bias results. Other respondents claim to have ignored attributes to simplify choices. However, we find that these respondents have actually not completely ignored attributes. We argue along the rationally adaptive behavioural model that preferences are indeed elicited in these cases, and we show how using a scaling approach can appropriately weight these observations in the econometric model. Finally, we find that some respondents ignore attributes for protest-like reasons which essentially convey no information about preferences. We suggest that using the standard approach combined with weighting procedures and recoding of non-attendance statements conditional on the specific reasons for non-attendance could be more appropriate than the current standard way of taking stated non-attendance into account.choice experiment, attribute non-attendance, passive bounded rationality, rationally adaptive behaviour, error component logit model