Prospective study of coffee and tea consumption in relation to risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus among men and women: The Whitehall II study

At least fourteen cohort studies have documented all inverse association between coffee consumption and risk of type 2 diabetes. We examined the prospective association between coffee and tea consumption and the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus among British men (n 4055) and women (n 1768) from the Whitehall II cohort. During 11.7 years follow-up there were a total of 387 incident cases of diabetes confirmed by Self-report of doctor's diagnosis or glucose tolerance tests. Despite an inverse association between coffee intake and 2 h post-load glucose concentration at the baseline assessment, combined caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee (hazard ratio (HR) 0-80 95% CI 0.54, 1.18) or only decaffeinated coffee intake (HR 0.65: 95% CI 0.36, 1.16) was not significantly associated with diabetes risk at follow-up after adjustment for possible confounders. There was all association between tea intake and diabetes (HR 0.66: 95% CI 0.61, 1.22: P<0.05) after adjustment for age. gender. ethnicity and social status, which was not robust to further adjustments. There was. however, an association between combined intake of tea and coffee (two or more cups per clay of both beverage) and diabetes (HR 0.68: 95% CI 0.46, 0.99: P<0.05) after full adjustment. In conclusion, relatively moderate intake (more than three CLIPS per (lay) of coffee and tea were not prospectively associated with incidence of type 2 diabetes although there was evidence of a combined effect. The limited range of exposure and beverage consumption according to socio-economic class may explain these conflicting findings

Treatment of Young Children with HIV Infection: Using Evidence to Inform Policymakers

PMCID: PMC3404108This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

Winter Ecosystem Respiration and Sources of CO2 From the High Arctic Tundra of Svalbard: Response to a Deeper Snow Experiment

Currently, there is a lack of understanding on how the magnitude and sources of carbon (C) emissions from High Arctic tundra are impacted by changing snow cover duration and depth during winter. Here we investigated this issue in a graminoid tundra snow fence experiment on shale-derived gelisols in Svalbard from the end of the growing season and throughout the winter. To characterize emissions, we measured ecosystem respiration (Reco) along with its radiocarbon (14C) content. We assessed the composition of soil organic matter (SOM) by measuring its bulk-C and nitrogen (N), 14C content, and n-alkane composition. Our findings reveal that greater snow depth increased soil temperatures and winter Reco (25&nbsp;mg C m−2 d−1 under deeper snow compared to 13&nbsp;mg C m−2 d−1 in ambient conditions). At the end of the growing season, Reco was dominated by plant respiration and microbial decomposition of C fixed within the past 60&nbsp;years (Δ14C&nbsp;=&nbsp;62&nbsp;±&nbsp;8‰). During winter, emissions were significantly older (Δ14C&nbsp;=&nbsp;−64&nbsp;±&nbsp;14‰), and likely sourced from microorganisms decomposing aged SOM formed during the Holocene mixed with biotic or abiotic mineralization of the carbonaceous, fossil parent material. Our findings imply that snow cover duration and depth is a key control on soil temperatures and thus the magnitude of Reco in winter. We also show that in shallow Arctic soils, mineralization of carbonaceous parent materials can contribute significant proportions of fossil C to Reco. Therefore, permafrost-C inventories informing C emission projections must carefully distinguish between more vulnerable SOM from recently fixed biomass and more recalcitrant ancient sedimentary C sources

On Vague Computers

Vagueness is something everyone is familiar with. In fact, most people think that vagueness is closely related to language and exists only there. However, vagueness is a property of the physical world. Quantum computers harness superposition and entanglement to perform their computational tasks. Both superposition and entanglement are vague processes. Thus quantum computers, which process exact data without "exploiting" vagueness, are actually vague computers

No Contest: Defended Divorce in England & Wales

This is the final version of the report. Available from Nuffield Foundation via the link in this record.This report explores the relatively rare phenomenon of the ‘contested’ or ‘defended’ divorce in England & Wales. Contested divorce refers to cases where the respondent objects to the divorce on the basis that the marriage has not broken down and/or objects to the reasons given for the divorce. In about 600 cases each year - fewer than 1% of all divorces – the respondent will file an Answer to formally defend the divorce. The report is the first study of defended divorce since the 1980s. It sets out to explore why people do (and do not) defend divorce proceedings, how the court responds to these cases, and who appears to win what, if anything, as a result. The report also addresses two policy questions: whether the substantive law on divorce should be reformed to remove fault and, if reform were to occur, whether defence should still be possible or whether divorce could be safely and appropriately a purely administrative process. The report is based on court file analysis of 100 intend to defend (ITD) cases, a sample of 71 cases with Answers (including 29 of the ITD cases) and a comparison group of 300 undefended cases. This is supplemented by interviews and focus groups with petitioners and respondents, family lawyers and judges. No Contest? is a companion study to the previously published Finding Fault? report that examined undefended divorce cases. The Finding Fault report highlighted the gap between how the law works in theory and the pragmatic way it works in practice in undefended divorce cases. In the absence of law reform, the family justice system has developed something tantamount to immediate unilateral divorce ‘on demand’. Divorce is, in effect, already an administrative process that is masked by an often painful, and sometimes destructive, legal ritual with no obvious benefits for the parties or the state. The Finding Fault? report recommended reforming the law to remove fault entirely.Nuffield Foundatio

Mobilising communities to address alcohol harm : an Alcohol Health Champion approach

In this article, Cathy Ure et al. look at engaging communities in order to reduce alcohol harms. By training Alcohol Health Champions, individuals can support vulnerable friends and family, and work within their communities to influence policy and promote change