Men in Macau SAR have higher prevalence in metabolic syndrome and among related metabolic components: a cross-sectional Macau Health Survey

Abstract Background: Macau has recently experienced expansive socioeconomic growth, leading to lifestyle changes that could have contributed to the development of certain diseases. Little information exists on the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) and associated risk factors. This information is important, since the management of MetS is tightly connected with prevention of cardiovascular diseases in the population. Methods: This study is based on the cross-sectional Macau Health Survey 2006. Information on anthropometry, physical measurements, socio-demographics, laboratory tests and life-style habits was collected by trained health professionals from a random sub-population sample, aged 18-44 (32.6 ± 8.3). Body Mass Index (BMI) cut-offs were based on WHO criteria for Asian population. The prevalence of MetS, as defined by the International Diabetes Federation was calculated and the associated lifestyle factors were analysed. Results: Among Macau's adults (n = 1592), the age-adjusted prevalence of MetS was over two times higher in men (10.5%) than in woman (3.7%), (p <0.01). 15.8% were overweight (BMI ≥23 < 25) and 18.8% were obese (BMI ≥25). Man had significantly higher risk profile in almost all components of MetS (p <0.001), except the waist circumference and HDL. BMI, age and education were significantly related to MetS in both genders (p <0.001). Conclusions: We found significant gender differences in MetS among the 18 -44 year old population of Macau, which should be addressed separately in the gender-specific preventive strategies

Global, regional and time-trend prevalence of central obesity: a systematic review and meta-analysis of 13.2 million subjects

We aimed to examine the global prevalences of central obesity according to age, sex, race, place of residence, geographical region, national income level, and the definitions of central obesity. MEDLINE and Embase were searched. Studies with sample size of ≥ 500 and investigated individuals aged ≥ 15 years were included. Metaprop (a Stata command) was adopted to conduct a meta-analysis of prevalence, and the Freeman-Tukey Double Arcsine Transformation was used to stabilize the variances. A random-effects model was used to evaluate the prevalence and 95% confidence intervals (CI) of central obesity. There were 288 studies involving 13,233,675 individuals in this analysis. The overall prevalence of central obesity was 41.5% (95% CI 39.9–43.2%). A higher prevalence was found in older individuals, female subjects, urban residents, Caucasians, and populations of higher income level countries. Regarding regional variations, the highest prevalence was found in Sothern America (55.1%, 95% CI 45.8–64.3%) and Central American (52.9%, 95% CI 32.7–72.7%). Its prevalence was rapidly rising from 1985 to 2014. From 1985–1999 to 2010–2014, younger subjects aged 15–40 years showed a more drastic rise in prevalence (16.3 to 33.9%) than subjects aged > 40 years (43.6 to 57.9%). Male individuals have a more drastic rise (25.3 to 41.6%) than females (38.6 to 49.7%). Major increasing in prevalence of the condition in the past three decades, particularly in certain subgroups. These findings could act as a useful reference to inform public health strategies to minimize the impact of central obesity on population health

The prevalence of metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular risk factors in adults in southern China

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The metabolic syndrome has been shown to increase the incidence of cardiovascular disease. Little information exists on the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome for southern Chinese. We therefore investigate the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome in a southern Chinese population with 85 million residents.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The Guangdong Nutrition and Health Survey 2002 is a cross-sectional survey designed to assess the health and nutritional status of 85 million residents in Guangdong province located in southern China. Stratified multistage random sampling method was applied in this survey and a provincial representative sample of 6,468 residents aged 20 years or above was obtained in the present study. The participants received a full medical check-up including measurement of blood pressure, obesity indices, fasting lipids and glucose levels. Data describing socioeconomic and lifestyle factors was also collected through interview. Metabolic syndrome was defined in accordance with the International Diabetes Federation criteria.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The prevalence of metabolic syndrome was 7.30%, translating into a total of 4.0 million residents aged 20 years or above having the condition in this southern Chinese population. The urban population had higher prevalence of the syndrome than the rural population (10.57% vs 4.30%). Females had a higher prevalence of metabolic syndrome than males (8.99% vs 5.27%). More than 60% of the adults had at least one component of the metabolic syndrome.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our results indicate that a large proportion of southern Chinese adults have the metabolic syndrome and associated risk factors. The metabolic syndrome has become an important public health problem in China. These findings emphasize the urgent need to develop population level strategies for the prevention, detection, and treatment of cardiovascular risk in China.</p

Increased leisure-time physical activity associated with lower onset of diabetes in 44 828 adults with impaired fasting glucose:a population-based prospective cohort study

AimsTo evaluate the effects of habitual leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) on incident type 2 diabetes in a prospective cohort of Chinese adults with impaired fasting glucose (IFG).Methods44 828 Chinese adults aged 20–80 years with newly detected IFG but free from cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease were recruited and followed up from 1996 to 2014. Incident type 2 diabetes was identified by fasting plasma glucose ≥7 mmol/L. The participants were classified into four categories based on their self-reported weekly LTPA: inactive, low, moderate, or high. Hazard ratios (HRs) and population attributable fractions (PAFs) were estimated with adjustment for established diabetic risk factor.ResultsAfter 214 148 person-years of follow-up, we observed an inverse dose–response relationship between LTPA and diabetes risk. Compared with inactive participants, diabetes risk in individuals reporting low, moderate and high volume LTPA were reduced by 12% (HR 0.88, 95% CI 0.80 to 0.99; P=0.015), 20% (HR 0.80, 95% CI 0.71 to 0.90; P&lt;0.001), and 25% (HR 0.75, 95% CI 0.67 to 0.83; P&lt;0.001), respectively. At least 19.2% (PAF 19.2%, 95% CI 5.9% to 30.6%) of incident diabetes cases could be avoided if the inactive participants had engaged in WHO recommendation levels of LTPA. This would correspond to a potential reduction of at least 7 million diabetic patients in the Greater China area.ConclusionsOur results show higher levels of LTPA are associated with a lower risk of diabetes in IFG subjects. These data emphasise the urgent need for promoting physical activity as a preventive strategy against diabetes to offset the impact of population ageing and the growing obesity epidemic.</jats:sec

Diabetes and Pre-Diabetes as Determined by Glycated Haemoglobin A1c and Glucose Levels in a Developing Southern Chinese Population

BACKGROUND: The American Diabetes Association and World Health Organization have recently adopted the HbA1c measurement as one method of diagnostic criteria for diabetes. The change in diagnostic criteria has important implications for diabetes treatment and prevention. We therefore investigate diabetes using HbA1c and glucose criteria together, and assess the prevalent trend in a developing southern Chinese population with 85 million residents. METHODS: A stratified multistage random sampling method was applied and a representative sample of 3590 residents 18 years of age or above was obtained in 2010. Each participant received a full medical check-up, including measurement of fasting plasma glucose, 2-hour post-load plasma glucose, and HbA1c. Information on history of diagnosis and treatment of diabetes was collected. The prevalence of diabetes obtained from the present survey was compared with the data from the survey in 2002. RESULTS: The prevalence of diabetes based on both glucose and HbA1c measurements was 21.7% (95% CI: 17.4%-26.1%) in 2010, which suggests that more than 1 in 5 adult residents were suffering from diabetes in this developing population. Only 12.9% (95% CI: 8.3%-17.6%) of diabetic residents were aware of their condition. The prevalence of pre-diabetes was 66.3% (95% CI: 62.7%-69.8%). The prevalence of diabetes and pre-diabetes which met all the three diagnostic thresholds (fast plasma glucose, 2 hour post-load plasma glucose, and HbA1c) was 3.1% and 5.2%, respectively. Diabetes and pre-diabetes as determined by HbA1c measurement had higher vascular risk than those determined by glucose levels. The prevalence of diabetes increased from 2.9% (95% CI: 2.0%-3.7%) in 2002 to 13.8% (95% CI: 10.2%-17.3%) in 2010 based on the same glucose criteria. CONCLUSIONS: Our results show that the diabetes epidemic is accelerating in China. The awareness of diabetes is extremely low. The glucose test and HbA1c measurement should be used together to increase detection of diabetes and pre-diabetes

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Measurement and interpretation of same-sign W boson pair production in association with two jets in pp collisions at s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper presents the measurement of fducial and diferential cross sections for both the inclusive and electroweak production of a same-sign W-boson pair in association with two jets (W±W±jj) using 139 fb−1 of proton-proton collision data recorded at a centre-of-mass energy of √s = 13 TeV by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The analysis is performed by selecting two same-charge leptons, electron or muon, and at least two jets with large invariant mass and a large rapidity diference. The measured fducial cross sections for electroweak and inclusive W±W±jj production are 2.92 ± 0.22 (stat.) ± 0.19 (syst.)fb and 3.38±0.22 (stat.)±0.19 (syst.)fb, respectively, in agreement with Standard Model predictions. The measurements are used to constrain anomalous quartic gauge couplings by extracting 95% confdence level intervals on dimension-8 operators. A search for doubly charged Higgs bosons H±± that are produced in vector-boson fusion processes and decay into a same-sign W boson pair is performed. The largest deviation from the Standard Model occurs for an H±± mass near 450 GeV, with a global signifcance of 2.5 standard deviations

Search for pair production of squarks or gluinos decaying via sleptons or weak bosons in final states with two same-sign or three leptons with the ATLAS detector

A search for pair production of squarks or gluinos decaying via sleptons or weak bosons is reported. The search targets a final state with exactly two leptons with same-sign electric charge or at least three leptons without any charge requirement. The analysed data set corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb−1 of proton-proton collisions collected at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Multiple signal regions are defined, targeting several SUSY simplified models yielding the desired final states. A single control region is used to constrain the normalisation of the WZ + jets background. No significant excess of events over the Standard Model expectation is observed. The results are interpreted in the context of several supersymmetric models featuring R-parity conservation or R-parity violation, yielding exclusion limits surpassing those from previous searches. In models considering gluino (squark) pair production, gluino (squark) masses up to 2.2 (1.7) TeV are excluded at 95% confidence level

Performance and calibration of quark/gluon-jet taggers using 140 fb⁻¹ of pp collisions at √s=13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The identification of jets originating from quarks and gluons, often referred to as quark/gluon tagging, plays an important role in various analyses performed at the Large Hadron Collider, as Standard Model measurements and searches for new particles decaying to quarks often rely on suppressing a large gluon-induced background. This paper describes the measurement of the efficiencies of quark/gluon taggers developed within the ATLAS Collaboration, using √s=13 TeV proton–proton collision data with an integrated luminosity of 140 fb-1 collected by the ATLAS experiment. Two taggers with high performances in rejecting jets from gluon over jets from quarks are studied: one tagger is based on requirements on the number of inner-detector tracks associated with the jet, and the other combines several jet substructure observables using a boosted decision tree. A method is established to determine the quark/gluon fraction in data, by using quark/gluon-enriched subsamples defined by the jet pseudorapidity. Differences in tagging efficiency between data and simulation are provided for jets with transverse momentum between 500 GeV and 2 TeV and for multiple tagger working points