Type 2 diabetes and its correlates among adults in Bangladesh: a population based stud

Type 2 diabetes is one of the most prevalent non-communicable diseases in Bangladesh. However, the correlates of type 2 diabetes among adults in Bangladesh remain unknown. We aimed to investigate the correlates of type 2 diabetes among the adults in Bangladesh. Methods : We conducted a cross-sectional study using data from the nationally representative 2011 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey. A random sample of 7,543 (3,823 women and 3,720 men) adults of age 35 years and older from both urban and rural areas, who participated in the survey was included. Diabetes was defined as having a fasting plasma blood glucose level of ≥ 7 mm/L or taking diabetes medication during the survey. Hypothesized factors, e.g., age, sex, education, place of residence, social status, body mass index, and hypertension were considered in the analyses. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to identify the important correlates of type 2 diabetes. Results : Among the respondents, the overall prevalence of diabetes was 11 %, and the prevalence was slightly higher in women (11.2 %) than men (10.6 %). Respondents with the age group of 55–59 years had higher odds of having diabetes (odds ratios (OR) = 2.37, 95 % confidence interval (CI): 1.76–3.21) than the age group of 35–39 years. Moreover, respondents who had higher educational attainment (OR = 1.67, 95 % CI: 1.18–2.36) and higher social status (OR = 2.01, 95 % CI: 1.50–2.70) had higher odds of having diabetes than the respondents with no education and lower social status, respectively. We also found socioeconomic status, place of residence (rural or urban), regions of residence (different divisions), overweight and obesity, and hypertension as significant correlates of type 2 diabetes in Bangladesh. Conclusions: Our study shows that older age, higher socioeconomic status, higher educational attainment, hypertension, and obesity were found to be significant correlates of type 2 diabetes. Need-based policy program strategies including early diagnosis, awareness via mass media, and health education programs for changing lifestyles should be initiated for older age, wealthy, and/or higher educated individuals in Bangladesh. Moreover, area-specific longitudinal research is necessary to find out the underlying causes of regional variations

Feeding lower-protein diets based on red clover and grass or alfalfa and corn silage does not affect milk production but improves nitrogen use efficiency in dairy cows

Reducing the dietary crude protein (CP) concentration can decrease the financial cost and lower the environmental impact of milk production. Two studies were conducted to examine the effects of reducing the dietary CP concentration on animal performance, nutrient digestibility, milk fatty acid (FA) profile, and nitrogen use efficiency (NUE; milk N/N intake) in dairy cows fed legume silage-based diets. Thirty-six multiparous Holstein-Friesian dairy cows that were 76 ± 14 (mean ± SD) days in milk and 698 ± 54 kg body weight were used in a 3 × 3 Latin square design in each of 2 studies, with 3 periods of 28 d. In study 1, cows were fed diets based on a 50:50 ratio of red clover to grass silage [dry matter (DM) basis] containing 1 of 3 dietary CP concentrations: high (H) = 175 g of CP/kg of DM; medium (M) = 165 g of CP/kg of DM; or low (L) = 150 g of CP/kg of DM. In study 2, cows were fed 175 g of CP/kg of DM with a 50:50 ratio of alfalfa to corn silage (H50) or 1 of 2 diets containing 150 g of CP/kg of DM with either a 50:50 (L50) or a 60:40 (L60) ratio of alfalfa to corn silage. Cows in both studies were fed a total mixed ration with a forage-to-concentrate ratio of 52:48 (DM basis). All diets were formulated to meet the MP requirements, except L (95% of MP requirements). In study 1, cows fed L ate 1.6 kg of DM/d less than those fed H or M, but milk yield was similar across treatments. Mean milk protein, fat, and lactose concentrations were not affected by diet. However, the apparent total-tract nutrient digestibility was decreased in cows fed L. The NUE was 5.7 percentage units higher in cows fed L than H. Feeding L also decreased milk and plasma urea concentrations by 4.4 mg/dL and 0.78 mmol/L, respectively. We found no effect of dietary treatment on the milk saturated or monounsaturated FA proportion, but the proportion of polyunsaturated FA was increased, and milk odd- and branched-chain FA decreased in cows fed L compared with H. In study 2, DM intake was 2 kg/d lower in cows receiving L50 than H50. Increasing the alfalfa content and feeding a low-CP diet (L60) did not alter DMI but decreased milk yield and milk protein concentration by 2 kg/d and 0.6 g/kg, respectively, compared with H50. Likewise, milk protein and lactose yield were decreased by 0.08 kg/d in cows receiving L60 versus H50. Diet had no effect on apparent nutrient digestibility. Feeding the low-CP diets compared with H50 increased the apparent NUE by approximately 5 percentage units and decreased milk and plasma urea concentrations by 7.2 mg/dL and 1.43 mmol/L, respectively. Dietary treatment did not alter milk FA profile except cis-9,trans-11 conjugated linoleic acid, which was higher in milk from cows receiving L60 compared with H50. We concluded that reducing CP concentration to around 150 g/kg of DM in red clover and grass or alfalfa and corn silage-based diets increases the apparent NUE and has little effect on nutrient digestibility or milk performance in dairy cows

Identifying the needs of people with long COVID: a qualitative study in the UK

Objectives To identify the needs of people with long COVID (LC) in the UK. Design Qualitative study using the Framework Analysis to analyse focus group discussions. Participants 25 adults with LC aged 19–76 years including 17 men and 8 women. Average disease duration was 80.1 weeks. Setting Eight focus groups were conducted in April 2023 online and in-person at the University of Leeds (UoL), UK. Recruitment routes included advertisement via Leeds Community Healthcare services, the English National Opera Breathe Programme and within the UoL. Results Three key themes/needs were identified. (Theme 1) Support systems including community groups, disability benefits, clinical services and employment support should be accessible and tailored to the needs of people with LC. (Theme 2) Research should investigate the physiology of symptoms, new clinical tests and treatment interventions to improve clinical understanding of the condition and symptom management. (Theme 3) Societal awareness should be promoted via local and national initiatives to educate the public about the condition and reduce stigma. Conclusions Participants experienced varied and individual challenges to daily life due to LC. There is a need for government acknowledgement of LC as a disability to ensure people with LC have access to disability support and legal protection. Policy development should be patient-driven and acknowledge the individual needs of people with LC in order to improve their quality of life

D-branes in T-fold conformal field theory

We investigate boundary dynamics of orbifold conformal field theory involving T-duality twists. Such models typically appear in contexts of non-geometric string compactifications that are called monodrofolds or T-folds in recent literature. We use the framework of boundary conformal field theory to analyse the models from a microscopic world-sheet perspective. In these backgrounds there are two kinds of D-branes that are analogous to bulk and fractional branes in standard orbifold models. The bulk D-branes in T-folds allow intuitive geometrical interpretations and are consistent with the classical analysis based on the doubled torus formalism. The fractional branes, on the other hand, are `non-geometric' at any point in the moduli space and their geometric counterparts seem to be missing in the doubled torus analysis. We compute cylinder amplitudes between the bulk and fractional branes, and find that the lightest modes of the open string spectra show intriguing non-linear dependence on the moduli (location of the brane or value of the Wilson line), suggesting that the physics of T-folds, when D-branes are involved, could deviate from geometric backgrounds even at low energies. We also extend our analysis to the models with SU(2) WZW fibre at arbitrary levels.Comment: 38 pages, no figure, ams packages. Essentially the published versio

Interacting Generalised Cosmic Chaplygin gas in Loop quantum cosmology: A singularity free universe

In this work we investigate the background dynamics when dark energy is coupled to dark matter with a suitable interaction in the universe described by Loop quantum cosmology. Dark energy in the form of Generalised Cosmic Chaplygin gas is considered. A suitable interaction between dark energy and dark matter is taken into account in order to at least alleviate (if not solve) the cosmic coincidence problem. The dynamical system of equations is solved numerically and a stable scaling solution is obtained. A significant attempt towards the solution of the cosmic coincidence problem is taken. The statefinder parameters are also calculated to classify the dark energy model. Graphs and phase diagrams are drawn to study the variations of these parameters. It is seen that the background dynamics of Generalised Cosmic Chaplygin gas is completely consistent with the notion of an accelerated expansion in the late universe. From the graphs, generalised cosmic Chaplygin gas is identified as a dark fluid with a lesser negative pressure compared to Modified Chaplygin gas, thus supporting a 'No Big Rip' cosmology. It has also been shown that in this model the universe follows the power law form of expansion around the critical point, which is consistent with the known results. Future singularities that may be formed in this model as an ultimate fate of the universe has been studied in detail. It was found that the model is completely free from any types of future singularities.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1109.1481, arXiv:1102.275

Commensurate and Incommensurate Vortex Lattice Melting in Periodic Pinning Arrays

We examine the melting of commensurate and incommensurate vortex lattices interacting with square pinning arrays through the use of numerical simulations. For weak pinning strength in the commensurate case we observe an order-order transition from a commensurate square vortex lattice to a triangular floating solid phase as a function of temperature. This floating solid phase melts into a liquid at still higher temperature. For strong pinning there is only a single transition from the square pinned lattice to the liquid state. For strong pinning in the incommensurate case, we observe a multi-stage melting in which the interstitial vortices become mobile first, followed by the melting of the entire lattice, consistent with recent imaging experiments. The initial motion of vortices in the incommensurate phase occurs by an exchange process of interstitial vortices with vortices located at the pinning sites. We have also examined the vortex melting behavior for higher matching fields and find that a coexistence of a commensurate pinned vortex lattice with an interstitial vortex liquid occurs while at higher temperatures the entire vortex lattice melts. For triangular arrays at incommensurate fields higher than the first matching field we observe that the initial vortex motion can occur through a novel correlated ring excitation where a number of vortices can rotate around a pinned vortex. We also discuss the relevance of our results to recent experiments of colloidal particles interacting with periodic trap arrays.Comment: 8 figure

Exclusive Queueing Process with Discrete Time

In a recent study [C Arita, Phys. Rev. E 80, 051119 (2009)], an extension of the M/M/1 queueing process with the excluded-volume effect as in the totally asymmetric simple exclusion process (TASEP) was introduced. In this paper, we consider its discrete-time version. The update scheme we take is the parallel one. A stationary-state solution is obtained in a slightly arranged matrix product form of the discrete-time open TASEP with the parallel update. We find the phase diagram for the existence of the stationary state. The critical line which separates the parameter space into the regions with and without the stationary state can be written in terms of the stationary current of the open TASEP. We calculate the average length of the system and the average number of particles

Twenty five years after KLS: A celebration of non-equilibrium statistical mechanics

When Lenz proposed a simple model for phase transitions in magnetism, he couldn't have imagined that the "Ising model" was to become a jewel in field of equilibrium statistical mechanics. Its role spans the spectrum, from a good pedagogical example to a universality class in critical phenomena. A quarter century ago, Katz, Lebowitz and Spohn found a similar treasure. By introducing a seemingly trivial modification to the Ising lattice gas, they took it into the vast realms of non-equilibrium statistical mechanics. An abundant variety of unexpected behavior emerged and caught many of us by surprise. We present a brief review of some of the new insights garnered and some of the outstanding puzzles, as well as speculate on the model's role in the future of non-equilibrium statistical physics.Comment: 3 figures. Proceedings of 100th Statistical Mechanics Meeting, Rutgers, NJ (December, 2008

Punctuated equilibria and 1/f noise in a biological coevolution model with individual-based dynamics

We present a study by linear stability analysis and large-scale Monte Carlo simulations of a simple model of biological coevolution. Selection is provided through a reproduction probability that contains quenched, random interspecies interactions, while genetic variation is provided through a low mutation rate. Both selection and mutation act on individual organisms. Consistent with some current theories of macroevolutionary dynamics, the model displays intermittent, statistically self-similar behavior with punctuated equilibria. The probability density for the lifetimes of ecological communities is well approximated by a power law with exponent near -2, and the corresponding power spectral densities show 1/f noise (flicker noise) over several decades. The long-lived communities (quasi-steady states) consist of a relatively small number of mutualistically interacting species, and they are surrounded by a ``protection zone'' of closely related genotypes that have a very low probability of invading the resident community. The extent of the protection zone affects the stability of the community in a way analogous to the height of the free-energy barrier surrounding a metastable state in a physical system. Measures of biological diversity are on average stationary with no discernible trends, even over our very long simulation runs of approximately 3.4x10^7 generations.Comment: 20 pages RevTex. Minor revisions consistent with published versio