572 research outputs found
Lower insulin clearance is associated with increased risk of type 2 diabetes in Native Americans
No full textAims/hypothesis
Impaired insulin clearance is implicated in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes, but prospective evidence remains limited. Therefore, we sought to identify factors associated with the metabolic clearance rate of insulin (MCRI) and to investigate whether lower MCRI is associated with increased risk of incident type 2 diabetes.
Methods
From a longitudinal cohort, 570 adult Native Americans without diabetes living in the Southwestern United States were characterised at baseline and 448 participants were monitored over a median follow-up period of 7.9 years with 146 (32%) incident cases of diabetes identified (fasting plasma glucose ≥7.0 mmol/l, 2 h plasma glucose [2-h PG] ≥11.1 mmol/l, or clinical diagnosis). At baseline, participants underwent dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry or hydrodensitometry to assess body composition, a 75 g OGTT, an IVGTT to assess acute insulin response (AIR), and a hyperinsulinaemic–euglycaemic clamp to assess MCRI and insulin action (M).
Results
In adjusted linear models, MCRI was inversely associated with body fat percentage (r = −0.35), fasting plasma insulin (r = −0.55) and AIR (r = −0.22), and positively associated with M (r = 0.17; all p < 0.0001). In multivariable Cox proportional hazard models, lower MCRI was associated with an increased risk of diabetes after adjustment for age, sex, heritage, body fat percentage, AIR, M, fasting plasma glucose, 2-h PG, and fasting plasma insulin (HR per one-SD difference in MCRI: 0.77; 95% CI 0.61, 0.98; p = 0.03).
Conclusions/interpretation
Lower MCRI is associated with an unfavourable metabolic phenotype and is associated with incident type 2 diabetes independent of established risk factors
Encyclopedia contributions: entries C-G in Oxford Companion to Australian Gardens
No full textCaulfield, Harold William; p.131\ud
Cowan, Alexander; p.164\ud
Cowley, Ebenezer; p.164\ud
East Talgai Station; p.193\ud
Eaves, S.H.; p.193-194\ud
Edgar, J.S.; p.196\ud
Everist, Selwyn; p.206\ud
Experimental Farms and Gardens; pp.207-208\ud
Government Houses - Queensland; pp.267-26
Rates of referable eye disease in the Scottish National Diabetic Retinopathy Screening Programme
No full textAims: Diabetic retinopathy screening aims to detect people at risk of visual loss due to proliferative diabetic retinopathy, but also refers cases of suspected macular oedema (maculopathy). At the introduction of screening, ophthalmology was concerned that referral rates would be unmanageable. We report yield of referable disease by referral reason for the first 5 years of the programme. Methods: We extracted screening results from a nationwide clinical diabetes database to calculate annual referral rates to ophthalmic clinics. We used logistic regression to examine associations between clinical measures and referable disease. Results: 182 397 people underwent =successful retinal screening between 2006 and 2010. The yield of referable eye disease was highest in the first 2 years of screening (7.0% and 6.0%) before stabilising at ~4.3%. The majority of referrals are due to maculopathy with 73% of referrals in 2010 based on a finding of maculopathy. Conclusions: The commonest cause for referral is for suspected macular oedema (maculopathy). Referral rates for retinopathy have stabilised, as predicted, at relatively low rates. However, ophthalmology workload continues to rise as new treatment options (ie, monthly intraocular injections) have unexpectedly increased the impact on ophthalmology. A review of the screening referral path for maculopathy may be timely.</p
Metformin is the key factor in elevated plasma growth differentiation factor-15 levels in type 2 diabetes : A nested, case–control study
No full textProduced as a tissue defence response to hypoxia and inflammation, growth differentiation factor-15 (GDF-15) is elevated in people receiving metformin treatment. To gain insight into the relationship of GDF-15 with metformin and major cardiovascular risk factors, we analysed the data from the SUMMIT cohort (n = 1438), a four-centre, nested, case–control study aimed at verifying whether biomarkers of atherosclerosis differ according to the presence of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. While in univariate analysis, major cardiovascular risk factors, with the exception of gender and cholesterol, increased similarly and linearly across GDF-15 quartiles, the independent variables associated with GDF-15, both in participants with and without diabetes, were age, plasma creatinine, N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide, diuretic use, smoking exposure and glycated haemoglobin. In participants with diabetes, metformin treatment was associated with a 40% rise in GDF-15 level, which was independent of the other major factors, and largely explained their elevated GDF-15 levels. The relatively high GDF-15 bioavailability might partly explain the protective cardiovascular effects of metformin
Public duty and private interest: report of the Committee of Inquiry established by the Prime Minister on 15 February 1978
No full textThis was the first report to set out the principles that underpin public servants\u27 and politicians\u27 obligations to disclose and manage conflicts of interest.
Tabled in 1979, this is the first time a digitised version of this report, known as the \u27Bowen report\u27, has been made publically available.
The intention to establish this inquiry was announced in a press statement issued by the then Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser on 16 December 1977. The statement mentioned the difficult position in which a Prime Minister finds himself when he is called upon to pass judgment on colleagues with whom he has worked closely, particularly as the Prime Minister must act as a judge and jury when allegations of impropriety are raised.
Fraser expressed his disatisfaction with a previous inquiry on the topic, conducted by a Parliamentary committee. He stated that he would instead he would appoint a judge or Queen\u27s Counsel, to be assisted by a businessman and an accountant, to carry out a new inquiry.
On 15 February 1978 Fraser stated that the new inquiry would be conducted by the Chief Judge of the Federal Court of Australia, the Hon. Sir Nigel Bowen, K.B.E., as well as Sir Cecil Looker, and Sir Edward Cain, C.B.E.
The terms of reference were:
1. To recommend whether a statement of principles can be drawn up on the nature of private interests, pecuniary or otherwise, which could conflict with the public duty of any or all persons holding positions of public trust in relation to the Commonwealth.
2. To recommend whether principles can be defined which would promote the avoidance and if necessary the resolution of any conflicts of interest which the Inquiry may, under paragraph (1) above, find to be possible.
3. In the event of a finding under paragraph (2) above that principles can be defined, to recommend what those principles should be.
4. Without limiting the scope of paragraph (3) above, to recommend whether or not a register under judicial or other supervision should be maintained so that, in the event of allegations of impropriety, the allegation may be open to judicial investigation and report.
5. For the purposes of paragraph(1) above, \u27persons holding positions of public trust in relation to the Commonwealth\u27 to include the following:
(a) Ministers;
(b) Senators and Members of the House of Representatives;
(c) Staff of (a) and (b);
(d) Members of the Australian Public Service; and
(e) Such other persons or classes of persons which in the opinion of the Committee ought to be included.
This is the final report of the inquiry, which has helped shaped the conduct of the public service to this day.
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Part of the Policy History Collection. Digitisation of this report has been supported by the National Library of Australia.
Reproduced with permission of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet
Understanding the referential nature of looking: infants’ preference for object-directed gaze
No full textIn four experiments, we investigated whether 9-month-old infants are sensitive to the relationship between gaze direction and object location and whether this sensitivity depends on the presence of communicative cues like eye contact. Infants observed a face, which repeatedly shifted its eyes either toward, or away from, unpredictably appearing objects. We found that they looked longer at the face when the gaze shifts were congruent with the location of the object. A second experiment ruled out that this effect was simply due to spatial congruency, while a third and a fourth experiment revealed that a preceding period of eye contact is required to elicit the gaze–object congruency effect. These results indicate that infants at this age can encode eye direction in referential terms in the presence of communication cues and are biased to attend to scenes with object-directed gaze
Bone
No full textOBJECTIVEWe examined the diabetes-fracture relationship by race/ethnicity, including the link between pre-diabetes and fracture.RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODSWe used Medicare- and mortality-linked data for respondents age 65 years and older from the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) and NHANES 1999\ue2\u20ac\u201c2004 for three race/ethnic groups: non-Hispanic whites (NHW), non-Hispanic blacks (NHB), and Mexican Americans (MA). Diabetes was defined as diagnosed diabetes (self-reported) and diabetes status: diagnosed and undiagnosed diabetes (positive diagnosis or hemoglobin A1c (A1C) \ue2\u2030\ua5 6.5%); pre-diabetes (no diagnosis and A1C between 5.7%\ue2\u20ac\u201c6.4%); and no diabetes (no diagnosis and A1C < 5.7%). Non-skull fractures (n=750) were defined using published algorithms. Hazards ratios (HRs) were calculated using Cox proportional hazards models.RESULTSThe diabetes-fracture relationship differed significantly by race/ethnicity (pinteraction <0.05). Compared to those without diagnosed diabetes, the HRs for those with diagnosed diabetes were 2.37 (95% CI 1.49\ue2\u20ac\u201c3.75), 1.87 (95% CI 1.02\ue2\u20ac\u201c3.40), and 1.22 (95% CI 0.93\ue2\u20ac\u201c1.61) for MA, NHB, and NHW, respectively, after adjusting for significant confounders. HRs for diagnosed and undiagnosed diabetes were similar to those for diagnosed diabetes alone. Pre-diabetes was not significantly related to fracture risk, however. Compared to those without diabetes, adjusted HRs for those with pre-diabetes were 1.42 (95% CI 0.72\ue2\u20ac\u201c2.81), and 1.20 (95% CI 0.96\ue2\u20ac\u201c1.51) for MA and NHW, respectively. There were insufficient fracture cases to examine detailed diabetes status in NHB.CONCLUSIONSThe diabetes-fracture relationship was stronger in MA and NHB. Pre-diabetes was not significantly associated with higher fracture risk, however.CC999999/Intramural CDC HHS/United States2017-01-01T00:00:00Z25576672PMC475790
End-stage renal disease and survival in people with diabetes : a national database linkage study
No full text© The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Association of Physicians. Funding This work was supported by the Wellcome Trust through the Scottish Health Informatics Programme (SHIP). The SHIP is collaboration between the Universities of Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow and St Andrews and the Information Services Division of National Health Service National Service Scotland. Funding for diabetes register linkage and data extraction was provided by the Chief Scientist’s Office of the Scottish Government. The Scottish Diabetes Research Network receives financial support from National Health Services Research Scotland. The Scottish Renal Registry is funded by the Information Services Division of National Health Service National Services Scotland but relies heavily on the goodwill of the contributing renal units who spent a large amount time working with Scottish Renal Registry staff to ensure that the data held within the register are accurate and complete.Peer reviewe
Automated Sample Ratio Mismatch (SRM) Detection and Analysis
No full textBackground: Sample Ratio Mismatch (SRM) checks can help detect data quality issues in online experimentation [3]. Not all experimentation platforms provide these checks as part of their solution. Users of these platforms must therefore manually check for SRM, or rely on additional processes—such as checklists [2]—or automation. Objective: To ensure reliable and early detection of SRM, we wanted to automate the detection and analysis of SRM in experiments running on third-party experimentation platforms. Method: A set of Looker dashboards were built to facilitate self-serve SRM detection and root cause analysis. In addition, we added email and chat based alerting to pro-actively inform experimenters of SRM and guide them towards these dashboards when needed. Results: Several cases of SRM have been detected and experimenters have been warned. Bad decisions based on flawed data were avoided. We provide one such example as an illustration. Conclusions: SRM checks are relatively straightforward to automate and can be useful for data quality monitoring even for companies who rely on third-party experimentation platforms. Pro-active alerting—rather than passive reporting—can reduce time to detection and help non-experts avoid making decisions based on biased data.Software Engineerin
Analyzing the User-Generated Content on Disintermediation Effect: A Latent Segmentation Study of Bookers and Looker
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