Ethnic differences translate to inadequacy of high-risk screening for gestational diabetes mellitus in an Asian population: a cohort study

Background: universal and high-risk screening for gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) has been widely studied and debated. Few studies have assessed GDM screening in Asian populations and even fewer have compared Asian ethnic groups in a single multi-ethnic population.Methods: 1136 pregnant women (56.7% Chinese, 25.5% Malay and 17.8% Indian) from the Growing Up in Singapore Towards healthy Outcomes (GUSTO) birth cohort study were screened for GDM by 75-g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) at 26–28 weeks of gestation. GDM was defined using the World Health Organization (WHO) criteria. High-risk screening is based on the guidelines of the UK National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.Results: universal screening detected significantly more cases than high-risk screening [crude OR 2.2 (95% CI 1.7-2.8)], particularly for Chinese women [crude OR = 3.5 (95% CI 2.5-5.0)]. Pre-pregnancy BMI > 30 kg/m2 (adjusted OR = 3.4, 95% CI 1.5-7.9) and previous GDM history (adjusted OR = 6.6, 95% CI 1.2-37.3) were associated with increased risk of GDM in Malay women while GDM history was the only significant risk factor for GDM in Chinese women (adjusted OR = 4.7, 95% CI 2.0-11.0).Conclusion: risk factors used in high-risk screening do not sufficiently predict GDM risk and failed to detect half the GDM cases in Asian women. Asian women, particularly Chinese, should be screened to avoid under-diagnosis of GDM and thereby optimize maternal and fetal outcome

A Novel Timing Acquisition Technique for Perpendicular Magnetic Recording Channels

GLOBECOM - IEEE Global Telecommunications Conference42232-2236CRIE

Two algorithms for finding a minimal ratio Hamiltonian cycle in a network

Optimization41189-10

Lasing in Ne-Like Argon capillary discharge at low current and the effect of current prepulse

The output characteristics of saturated capillary discharge 46.9 nm Ne-Like argon soft x-ray laser obtained with relatively low main discharge current of less than 20 kA, with the lowest being 9 kA. The 3 mm diameter and 200 mm long alumina capillary with Argon filling pressure range between 0.1-0.4 mbar was pumped by a discharge current with a quarter-cycle of about 40 ns. A current pulse with a typical RC shape (decay time ~30 us) was used as a prepulse. Measurements indicate that the laser output is affected by the timing of the application of the prepulse. This effect is most significant when the time delay between the application of the prepulse and the onset of the main current is arount 2 to 4 us, and beyond these times, the effect is less significant

Wavefront reversal technique for self-referencing collimation testing

We present a wavefront reversal technique to produce a dual-field fringe pattern for self-referencing collimation testing in wedge-plate lateral-shear interferometry. The method requires only a suitably placed cubic beam splitter to produce two replicas of the fringe field formed by the wedge-plate lateral-shear interferometer. One of the replicas has a fringe pattern that is the reverse of the other. With these two fringe fields, the collimation testing has a built-in reference, and the detection sensitivity is twice that of a single-wedge-plate technique. (C) 2010 Optical Society of Americ

Conservative management of placenta accreta: Review of three cases

Singapore Medical Journal496e156-e159SIMJ

Extended generalised predictive control incorporating feedforward

Proceedings of the American Control Conference2703-2708PRAC

Partial integrability for general nonlinear systems

Zeitschrift fur Angewandte Mathematik und Physik54126-4

A Four-channel TEA N2 laser controlled by a multistage spark gap

A four-channel nanosecond transversely excited atmospheric (TEA) N2 laser controlled by a simple and cost effective multistage spark gap which offers a high flexibility in varying the time sequence of the laser pulses from over 100 ns to as low as 5 ns is described. The delays between these laser pulses depend mainly on two important spark gap breakdown parameters: the charging voltage and their respective gap separations. The jitters between these laser pulses are observed to be independent of the initial ignition of the multistage spark gap-hence a precision and very fast triggering technique that is usually crucial for such work can be dispensed with

A cubic system with eight small-amplitude limit cycles

Applied Mathematics Letters7423-27AMLE