Distribution of Glycated Haemoglobin According to Early-Life and Contemporary Characteristics in Adolescents and Adults without Diabetes:The 1982 and 1993 Pelotas Birth Cohorts

AIM:Glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c), a marker of glucose control in individuals with diabetes mellitus, is also related with the incidence of cardiometabolic risk in populations free of disease. The aim of this study was to describe the distribution of HbA1c levels according to early-life and contemporary factors in adolescents and adults without diabetes mellitus. METHODS:HbA1c was measured in adults aged 30 years and adolescents aged 18 years who are participants in the 1982 and 1993 Pelotas Birth Cohorts, respectively. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were performed to describe the HbA1c mean values according to early-life and contemporary characteristics collected prospectively since birth. RESULTS:The distribution of the HbA1c was approximately normal in both cohorts, with a mean (SD) 5.10% (0.43) in the 1982 cohort, and 4.89% (0.50) in the 1993 cohort. HbA1c mean levels were significantly higher in individuals self-reported as black/brown skin color compared to those self-reported as white in both cohorts. Parental history of diabetes was associated with higher HbA1c mean in adults, while stunting at one year old presented an inverse relation with the outcome in adolescents. No other early and contemporary factors were associated with HbA1c levels in adults or adolescents. CONCLUSIONS:We found a consistent relationship between HbA1c and skin color in both cohorts. Further research is needed to understand the role of genomic ancestry on levels of HbA1c concentrations which may inform policies and preventive actions for diabetes mellitus and cardiometabolic risk

Antihydrogen formation dynamics in a multipolar neutral anti-atom trap

Antihydrogen production in a neutral atom trap formed by an octupole-based magnetic field minimum is demonstrated using field-ionization of weakly bound anti-atoms. Using our unique annihilation imaging detector, we correlate antihydrogen detection by imaging and by field-ionization for the first time. We further establish how field-ionization causes radial redistribution of the antiprotons during antihydrogen formation and use this effect for the first simultaneous measurements of strongly and weakly bound antihydrogen atoms. Distinguishing between these provides critical information needed in the process of optimizing for trappable antihydrogen. These observations are of crucial importance to the ultimate goal of performing CPT tests involving antihydrogen, which likely depends upon trapping the anti-atom

Search For Trapped Antihydrogen

We present the results of an experiment to search for trapped antihydrogen atoms with the ALPHA antihydrogen trap at the CERN Antiproton Decelerator. Sensitive diagnostics of the temperatures, sizes, and densities of the trapped antiproton and positron plasmas have been developed, which in turn permitted development of techniques to precisely and reproducibly control the initial experimental parameters. The use of a position-sensitive annihilation vertex detector, together with the capability of controllably quenching the superconducting magnetic minimum trap, enabled us to carry out a high-sensitivity and low-background search for trapped synthesised antihydrogen atoms. We aim to identify the annihilations of antihydrogen atoms held for at least 130 ms in the trap before being released over ~30 ms. After a three-week experimental run in 2009 involving mixing of 10^7 antiprotons with 1.3 10^9 positrons to produce 6 10^5 antihydrogen atoms, we have identified six antiproton annihilation events that are consistent with the release of trapped antihydrogen. The cosmic ray background, estimated to contribute 0.14 counts, is incompatible with this observation at a significance of 5.6 sigma. Extensive simulations predict that an alternative source of annihilations, the escape of mirror-trapped antiprotons, is highly unlikely, though this possibility has not yet been ruled out experimentally.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figure