Int. J. Epidemiol. Table of Contents for October 2010; Vol. 39, No. 5
----------------------------------------------------------------
Editor's Choice
----------------------------------------------------------------
George Davey Smith
John Snow or Raymond Pearl: who would you rather have dinner
with?
Int. J. Epidemiol. 2010 39: 1129-1132; doi:10.1093/ije/dyq216.
http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/39/5/1129?etoc
----------------------------------------------------------------
Editorial
----------------------------------------------------------------
Debbie A Lawlor and Nish Chaturvedi
Methods of measurements in epidemiology--call for a new type of
paper in
the IJE
Int. J. Epidemiol. 2010 39: 1133-1136; doi:10.1093/ije/dyq178.
http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/39/5/1133?etoc
----------------------------------------------------------------
Reprints and Reflections
----------------------------------------------------------------
C Spearman
The proof and measurement of association between two things
Int. J. Epidemiol. 2010 39: 1137-1150; doi:10.1093/ije/dyq191.
http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/39/5/1137?etoc
Sandy Lovie and Pat Lovie
Commentary: Charles Spearman and correlation: a commentary on
'The proof
and measurement of association between two things'
Int. J. Epidemiol. 2010 39: 1151-1153; doi:10.1093/ije/dyq183.
http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/39/5/1151?etoc
Julie Perks
Commentary: 'The next trick is impossible.'
Int. J. Epidemiol. 2010 39: 1153-1155; doi:10.1093/ije/dyq182.
http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/39/5/1153?etoc
Donna Spiegelman
Commentary: Some remarks on the seminal 1904 paper of Charles
Spearman
'The Proof and Measurement of Association between Two Things'
Int. J. Epidemiol. 2010 39: 1156-1159; doi:10.1093/ije/dyq201.
http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/39/5/1156?etoc
Nick de Klerk
Commentary: Spearman's 'The proof and measurement of association
between
two things'
Int. J. Epidemiol. 2010 39: 1159-1161; doi:10.1093/ije/dyq200.
http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/39/5/1159?etoc

Glucosamine Causes The Death Of Pancreatic Cells

Glucosamine Causes The Death Of Pancreatic Cells

High doses or prolonged use of glucosamine causes the death of pancreatic cells and could increase the risk of developing diabetes, according to a team of researchers at Université Laval's Faculty of Pharmacy. Details of this discovery were recently published on the website of the Journal of Endocrinology.

In vitro tests conducted by Professor Frédéric Picard and his team revealed that glucosamine exposure causes a significant increase in mortality in insulin-producing pancreatic cells, a phenomenon tied to the development of diabetes. Cell death rate increases with glucosamine dose and exposure time. "In our experiments, we used doses five to ten times higher than that recommended by most manufacturers, or 1,500 mg/day," stressed Professor Picard. "Previous studies showed that a significant proportion of glucosamine users up the dose hoping to increase the effects," he explained.

Picard and his team have shown that glucosamine triggers a mechanism intended to lower very high blood sugar levels. However, this reaction negatively affects SIRT1, a protein critical to cell survival. A high concentration of glucosamine diminishes the level of SIRT1, leading to cell death in the tissues where this protein is abundant, such as the pancreas.

Individuals who use large amounts of glucosamine, those who consume it for long periods, and those with little SIRT1 in their cells are therefore believed to be at greater risk of developing diabetes. In a number of mammal species, SIRT1 level diminishes with age. This phenomenon has not been shown in humans but if it were the case, the elderly - who constitute the target market for glucosamine - would be even more vulnerable.

"The key point of our work is that glucosamine can have effects that are far from harmless and should be used with great caution," concluded Professor Picard.

The results obtained by Picard and his team coincide with recent studies that cast serious doubt on the effectiveness of glucosamine in treating joint problems.

This study was co-authored by Mathieu Lafontaine-Lacasse and Geneviève Doré.

Source: Université Laval

Copyright: Medical News Today

ACARAJÉ DE FEIJÃO BRANCO OU FRADINHO

Recipe - ACARAJÉ  DE FEIJÃO BRANCO OU FRADINHO

By Paloma Jorge Amado Costa (Brazilian) 

Acarajé with white beans or black eyed pea 

Ingredients

• 1 kg white beans (or black eyed peas)
• 1kg onions
• 1 onion (for frying)
• Salt
• Palm oil (for frying; you may use other oil if you prefer)

Instructions

• Beat the beans quickly in a blender or food processor to break the skin and then let them rest in water overnight. 
• Discard the water and remove the skins (if you wish, keep them). Pass the beans through a meat grinder or mix in a blender or food processor. 
• Grind the onions and mix with the beans and salt and mix well. Make the balls with two spoons.
• Heat he oil (add sufficient amount to cover about half the height of the balls) and add the entire onion.
• Fry the balls in both sides, turning them when one side is brown.

You may serve them by themselves or cut in halves and accompanied by dried shrimp with spicy sauce and vatapá.

MOLHO DE CAMARÃO SECO (dried shrimp sauce)

Ingredients

• 200 g dried shrimp
• 1 onion
• 1 cup palm oil (you may use other oil if you prefer)
• 5 cashew nuts
• Salt
• 1 cup dried red malagueta pepper (you may adjust quantity to your taste!)

Instructions

• Chop the onion
• Mix the pepper in a blender or crush with mortar and pestle.
• Beat cashew and dried shrimp
• Fry the onion and add the cashew/shrimp
• Add the rest of the shrimp and cook for about 5 minutes.
• Serve cold

VATAPÁ

Ingredients

• 1kg white bread
• ½ kg onions
• 300 g dried shrimp
• 250 g cashew nuts
• 250 g peanuts
• 3 cups unsweetened coconut milk
• 50 g ginger
• 2 cups palm oil

Fish or chicken broth (if made at home, use salt, garlic, tomatoes, onions, peppers, cilantro and lime juice or rind)

Instructions

• Chop the bread and let it soak with 1/3 of the coconut milk and then blend in the mixer.
• Chop the onions
• Blend the dry shimp
• Beat the peanuts and the cashew with 1/3 of the coconut milk
• Grind the ginger
• Fry onions and dry shrimp
• Add the bread, mixing always
• Add peanuts, cashew and ginger and continue mixing
• Add the broth mixing well
• Add the rest of the coconut milk
• Mix until the mixture frees itself from the pan.

Tent Tube Repair and Replacement

This is site I found for tent tube replacement or repair. Do you know
any better places for tent tube replacement? Thanks.

http://www.polesforyou.com/index.htm

Access 20 years of survey methodology for public health researchers

Access 20 years of survey methodology for public health researchers

Read our free virtual issue, Survey Methodology for Public Health
Researchers: Selected Readings from 20 years of Public Opinion
Quarterly. The virtual issue's 18 articles illustrate the range of
survey methods material that can be found in POQ and include conclusions
that are still valid today. Specially chosen by guest editor Floyd J.
Fowler, the articles will be of interest to those who work and research
in public health and health services more broadly.

http://www.oxfordjournals.org/our_journals/poq/collectionspage.html

The Lack of Utility of Circulating Biomarkers of Inflammation and Endothelial Dysfunction for Type 2 Diabetes Risk Prediction Among Postmenopausal Women

Arch Intern Med -- The Lack of Utility of Circulating Biomarkers of
Inflammation and Endothelial Dysfunction for Type 2 Diabetes Risk
Prediction Among Postmenopausal Women: The Women's Health Initiative
Observational Study, September 27, 2010, Chao et al.

A study from WHI:
http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/170/17/1557

In the spotlight: Margins of predicted outcomes

In the spotlight: Margins of predicted outcomes
http://www.stata.com/news/statanews.25.3.pdf

Hierarchical and Covariance Models for Public Health Data

Hierarchical and Covariance Models for Public Health Data
By Prof. Sudipto Banerjee

http://www.biostat.umn.edu/~sudiptob/CDC/CDC_2010.html

ADDITION: No significant benefit of intensive therapy in diabetes

September 22, 2010 | Lisa Nainggolan

Stockholm, Sweden - Intensive multifactorial treatment was not significantly better than routine care in a study of 3000 patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes treated by general practitioners, at least in terms of the primary outcome, a composite of first cardiovascular events. Results of the Anglo-Danish-Dutch Study in General Practice of Intensive Treatment and Complication Prevention in Type 2 Diabetic Patients Identified by Screening (ADDITION) trial were reported today at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) 2010 Meeting by Dr Simon J Griffin (University of Cambridge, UK).

 

Griffin said the study "was pragmatic and relevant to everyday general practice" and shows that "intensive treatment in people with screen-detected diabetes is feasible" in primary care. The lack of a significant effect of the intensive intervention on the primary end point was likely the result of the great improvements in the routine care of diabetes over the course of the study in the three countries involved, Denmark, the Netherlands, and the UK, he commented.

 

"Even in the routine-care group that did not receive significant additional support, cardiovascular risk factors improved in the five years following detection by screening. Our intervention to promote more intensive treatment was associated with statistically significant but relatively modest differences in prescribed treatment, in levels of risk factors, and in the proportion of patients for whom treatment targets were achieved. These relatively small differences were in turn associated with a nonsignificant 17% relative reduction in the incidence of a composite CV end point over five years," he told meeting attendees.

Important to note also, said Griffin, was the fact that maintaining average glycated hemoglobin (HbA_1c) levels of 6.5% in the intensive-treatment arm of the study was not associated with any increased mortality risk. This is seen as particularly important in the wake of the ACCORD results, a trial in which intensive glucose lowering appeared to increase mortality.

Commentators applauded the ADDITION trial, which they noted must have been very difficult to carry out. The invited discussant, Dr William H Herman (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor), explained that all prior studies of this nature have been observational, and this was research that "I personally believed would never be performed." ADDITION demonstrates that primary-care-based stepwise screening for type 2 diabetes "is feasible and identifies patients with substantial levels of cardiovascular risk that is potentially modifiable," said Herman.

Common Errors in English Usage

http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html#errors

Changes in Terminology for Childhood Overweight and Obesity

Changes in Terminology for Childhood Overweight and Obesity

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr025.pdf

Statistic software, books etc. websites

Statistic software, books etc. websites

This website listed here comprise a powerful, conveniently-accessible,
multi-platform statistical software package. There are also links to
online statistics books, tutorials, downloadable software, and related
resources.

http://statpages.org/

Russ Lenth's power and sample-size page

Russ Lenth's power and sample-size

A nice website for power and sample size calculation.

http://www.stat.uiowa.edu/~rlenth/Power/#Download_to_run_locally

JAMA -- Beyond Hemoglobin A1c--Need for Additional Markers of Risk for Diabetic Microvascular Complications, June 9, 2010, Hirsch and Brownlee 303 (22): 2291

Beyond Hemoglobin A1c--Need for Additional Markers of Risk for Diabetic
Microvascular Complications

http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/303/22/2291

Recent population changes in A1c and insulin among adults with preserved glucose homeostasis

Recent population changes in A1c and insulin among adults with preserved
glucose homeostasis

Attached please find our distribution paper published on Diabetologia
last week (http://www.springerlink.com/content/c5137gn6gh426115/). The
homeostasis concept at a individual level is not new, but this is a new
insight (thanks Henry teaching me this word in English) from a
population perspective. To me, this is an most important study/a
milestone of my diabetic study career so far; it changes my ways of
thinking and ordering all pieces of puzzle of diabetes significantly.

I enjoy the process of this study and very appreciate all the
contributions from the authors, Yiling

Medical News: CODHy: Debate Rages on HbA1c for Diabetes Diagnosis - in Meeting Coverage, CODHy from MedPage Today

Debate Rages on HbA1c for Diabetes Diagnosis

http://www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingCoverage/CODHy/20132

Quotes

“To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.” ~ Anatole

“Only as high as I reach can I grow, only as far as I seek can I go, only as deep as I look can I see, only as much as I dream can I be.” ~ Karen Ravn

“Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.” ~ Dr. Seuss

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” ~ Winston Churchill

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” ~ John Quincy Adams

“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.” ~ Lao Tzu

Word and Phrase search in PDF Files

Word and Phrase search in PDF files - a feature of PDFXChange
http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/word-and-phrase-search-pdf-files
.htm

Don't Be Loopy: Re-Sampling and Simulation the SASR Way

Don't Be Loopy: Re-Sampling (bootstrapping) and Simulation the SAS(r)
Way

http://www.lexjansen.com/wuss/2009/anl/ANL-Cassell.pdf

A French view on obesity as a social construction, with mention of CDC.

A French view on obesity as a social construction, with mention of CDC.

 

http://www.slideshare.net/Poulain/obesit-version-anglaise-1845333

 

Meditation | The Buddha | PBS Video

Meditation | The Buddha | PBS Video

http://video.pbs.org/video/1438055848/

HowStuffWorks - How Force, Power, Torque and Energy Work

If you've read many http://howstuffworks.com/ articles, you've seen a lot of terminology thrown around -- words such as mass, force, torque, work, power and energy. What do the-se words really mean, and are they interchangeable? Go to http://howstuffworks.com/ and find the answer.

Why Dichotomizing Variables is a Bad Idea

This is a nice review from the research perspective, but may be not so practicable without using dichotomized variable of a continuous variable. For example, the criteria of diabetes and hypertension diagnosis are based on dichotomized variables from continuous blood glucose level and blood pressure level.

_From Bob

        It is well recognized in the methodological literature that dichotomization of continuous variables introduces major problems in the analysis and interpretation of models derived in a data-dependent fashion. Nevertheless, dichotomization of continuous variables is widespread in clinical research. Problems include loss of information, reduction in power, uncertainty in defining the cutpoint, arriving at a biologically implausible step function as the estimate of a dose–response function, and the impossibility of detecting a non-monotonic dose–response relation. Uncertainty in how to select a ‘sensible’ cutpoint to group a continuous variable into two classes has led researchers to use either the median or an ‘optimal’ cutpoint. The latter approach gives a highly inflated type 1 error probability, together with biased parameter estimates and variances that are too small [9, 11]. Although some remedies for these diffculties have been developed [9, 21–23], none of the authors of these papers actually recommends the use of ‘optimal’ cutpoints with their proposed corrections. In general, the situation seems hardly to have improved since the advice in 1993 of Maxwell and Delaney [1] to avoid dichotomization, quoted at the beginning of this paper.

Instead of dichotomizing a continuous variable, we prefer to obtain a prognostic index by methodology which combines selection of variables with selection of functions for continuous variables [4, 26]. As stated in an editorial [2] in an epidemiological journal a decade ago, ‘these elegant approaches [fractional polynomials and splines] merit a larger role in epidemiology.’ Clinical researchers should in general avoid dichotomization at the model-building stage and adopt more powerful methods.

Royston, Patrick (2006) Statistics in Medicine 25:127-141

Please share this with your son.

Gentlemen,

Yes gentlemen, you are no longer the little Tiger Cubs we started out with 5 years ago.  Each of you have grown up into nice young men during that time. It has been my pleasure being first a Den Leader and then the Cubmaster for your years in the Pack.  Over these 5 years  have seen you boys grow not only in size but as a human beings.  I hope that Cub Scouts has been a positive experience for you.  For those that have decided to take a break from the Scouting program I hope that you will find your way back to it at some point.  Either in a few years as a Boy Scout or later as an adult with your son in Scouting.  The mission of the Boy Scouts is to instill values in young people and to help prepare them to make ethical choices during your lifetime.  These values can be found in the Scout Oath and Law.  Please remember the 12 point of the Scout Law and try to live your life based upon these 12 points, not only as a youth but also as an Adult.

It has been a pleasure working with you young gentlemen.

YIS

Mr. Alan  

In memory of Dr. John Denis McGarry

In memory of Dr. John Denis McGarry

Dr. Denis McGarry was a great teacher and sage. His lecture affects my way of thinking on diabetes. Unforgettable.

“In 1992, he published a famous paper in Science entitled “What if Minkowski Had Been Ageusic?” (1). In this paper he suggested that scientific concentration on abnormal glucose metabolism had masked the critical importance of abnormal fat metabolism, especially in type 2 diabetes. Subsequent to this paper there was a huge swing by investigators toward the key role of abnormal lipid metabolism in insulin resistance and lipotoxic damage to tissues as diverse as the heart and the β-cell of the pancreas.”

Please find the full article here.

K M Venkat Narayan: A case of well-intentioned public health reductionism?

K M Venkat Narayan: A case of well-intentioned public health
reductionism?

Very good comments.

http://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2010/03/04/k-m-venkat-narayan-a-case-of-well-in
tentioned-public-health-reductionism/

Findings - When It Comes to Salt, No Rights or Wrongs. Yet. - NYTimes.com

 

This article may not  be scientifically proved, but I like the title and Effect E. By the way, I don’t like the comparison of smoking and salt, it makes salt such a evil substance like cigarette. We cannot abstain from salt. The question is how much and the answer is it depends…

FDA internal reports unhappy about rosiglitazone (Avandia)

Research Ties Diabetes Drug to Heart Woes

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/20/health/policy/20avandia.html

 

Does anyone know why Avandia increases the risk of CHD? Is because of efficiently lowing the glucose level (too low)? Or any other side-effects.

 

A Lasting Gift to Medicine That Wasn't Really a Gift

A Lasting Gift to Medicine That Wasn’t Really a Gift

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/02/health/02seco.html?th&emc=th

 

A cell line called HeLa (for Henrietta Lacks) was born. Those immortal cells soon became the workhorse of laboratories everywhere. HeLa cells were used to develop the first polio vaccine, they were launched into space for experiments in zero gravity and they helped produce drugs for numerous diseases, including Parkinson’s, leukemia and the flu. By now, literally tons of them have been produced.

Dr. Gey did not make money from the cells, but they were commercialized. Now they are bought and sold every day the world over, and they have generated millions in profits.

Ukrainian registry of type 2 dm shows U-shaped relation of BMI to mortality

Ukrainian registry of type 2 dm shows U-shaped relation of BMI to mortality
(Heart 2009;95:454-460. doi:10.1136/hrt.2008.150524)

Not too surprising, a common sense is that extreme, fundamental, or radical ends are not good. But one of the interesting figures (finding) is even obese population (≥45) had lower risk of death than low BMI population (<20 for all-cause death, and <21 for CVD death).

Manifest Destiny is an funny video related to the report of recent stable obesity rate.

This is a good omen. This means that we will see the diabetes prevalence going to reach the platform soon.
_____________________________________________
Obesity rate appears to be stabilizing.

ABC World News (1/13, story 8, 0:20, Stephanopoulos) reported, "New numbers today from the CDC show the rate of obesity stabilizing."
The New York Times (1/14, A20, Belluck) reports that "Americans, at least as a group, may have reached their peak of obesity." The good news is that "the numbers indicate that obesity rates have remained constant for at least five years among men and for closer to 10 years among women and children -- long enough for experts to say the percentage of very overweight people has leveled off." The bad news is that "nearly 34 percent of adults are obese, more than double the percentage 30 years ago," while "the share of obese children tripled during that time, to 17 percent," according to studies published online Jan. 13 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The first study "examined height and weight data in a nationally representative sample of 5,555 adult Americans collected in 2007 and 2008," the Los Angeles Times (1/14, Stein) reports. "In the sample, 33.8% of the subjects" were "obese." After comparing "those numbers...to ones collected from 1999 to 2006 in a similar sample," researchers found that "among women, obesity statistics remained fairly flat throughout the period encompassed by the two studies," while "obesity rates among men rose slightly during the decade, but leveled off in the later years."
In the second study of nearly 4,000 children ranging in age from two to 19, the Wall Street Journal (1/14, Dooren) reports, researchers found that 17% of the youngsters met the threshold for obesity and 32% could be deemed to be overweight, a pattern similar to what was seen a decade ago. For both studies, the Journal notes that the CDC researchers based their estimates on data derived from the most recent National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys.
USA Today (1/14, Hellmich) reports that "William Dietz, director of the CDC's Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity, says this may reflect that people are becoming aware of 'the adverse health consequences of obesity' and are adopting healthier habits." Still, when it comes to the impact of obesity on children, Cynthia L. Ogden, PhD, the author of both studies, is concerned, because "obese kids are at a greater risk of weight-related health problems such as high cholesterol, blood pressure, and diabetes, plus they are at a greater risk of becoming obese adults, she says."
Bloomberg News (1/14, Ostrow), the AP (1/14, Tanner), Reuters (1/14, Steenhuysen), Time (1/13, Kluger), HealthDay (1/13, Gordon), &&&WebMD (1/13, DeNoon), and &&&HeartWire (1/13, O'Riordan) also covered the story.

Why Genes Aren't Destiny
 An article from Time

A nice article for understanding the relation of disease and DNA and epigenetic markers

... Biologists offer this analogy as an explanation: if the genome is the hardware, then the epigenome is the software. "I can load Windows, if I want, on my Mac," says Joseph Ecker, a Salk Institute biologist and leading epigenetic scientist. "You're going to have the same chip in there, the same genome, but different software. And the outcome is a different cell type."...