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Objective: To examine whether exposure to the Chinese famine during fetal life and early childhood is associated with the risks of metabolic syndrome and whether this association is modified by later life environment. Research Design and Methods: We used data of 7,874 adults born between 1954 and 1964 from the 2002 China National Nutrition and Health Survey. Famine exposure groups were defined as nonexposed; fetal exposed; and early childhood, midchildhood, or late childhood exposed. Excess death rate was used to determine the severity of the famine. The ATP III criteria were used for the definition of metabolic syndrome (three or more of the following variables: elevated fasting triglyceride levels, lower HDL cholesterol levels, elevated fasting glucose levels, higher waist circumference, high blood pressure). Results: In severely affected famine areas, adults who were exposed to the famine during fetal life had a higher risk of metabolic syndrome, as compared with nonexposed subjects (odds ratio 3.13 [95% CI 1.24–7.89, P = 0.016]). Similar associations were observed among adults who were exposed to the famine during early childhood, but not for adults exposed to the famine during mid- or late childhood. Participants who were born in severely affected famine areas and had Western dietary habits in adulthood or were overweight in adulthood had a particularly high risk of metabolic syndrome in later life. Conclusions: Exposure to the Chinese famine during fetal life or infancy is associated with an increased risk of metabolic syndrome in adulthood. These associations are stronger among subjects with a Western dietary pattern or who were overweight in adulthood.

Significance The ability to perform electrochemical testing in the field, and in resource-limited environments, and to transmit data automatically to “the cloud” can enable a broad spectrum of analyses useful for personal and public health, clinical analysis, food safety, and environmental monitoring. Although the developed world has many options for analysis and web connection, the developing world does not have broad access to either the expensive equipment necessary to perform these tests or the advanced technologies required for network connectivity. To overcome these limitations, we have developed a simple, affordable, handheld device that can perform all the most common electrochemical analyses, and transmit the results of testing to the cloud from any phone, over any network, anywhere in the world.

Semiconductor-superconductor hybrid systems have outstanding potential for emerging high-performance nanoelectronics and quantum devices. However, critical to their successful application is the fabrication of high-quality and reproducible semiconductor-superconductor interfaces. Here, we realize and measure axial Al-Ge-Al nanowire heterostructures with atomically precise interfaces, enwrapped by an ultrathin epitaxial Si layer further denoted as Al-Ge/Si-Al nanowire heterostructures. The heterostructures were synthesized by a thermally induced exchange reaction of single-crystalline Ge/Si core/shell nanowires and lithographically defined Al contact pads. Applying this heterostructure formation scheme enables self-aligned quasi one-dimensional crystalline Al leads contacting ultrascaled Ge/Si segments with contact transparencies greater than 96%. Integration into back-gated field-effect devices and continuous scaling beyond lithographic limitations allows us to exploit the full potential of the highly transparent contacts to the 1D hole gas at the Ge-Si interface. This leads to the observation of ballistic transport as well as quantum confinement effects up to temperatures of 150 K. Low-temperature measurements reveal proximity-induced superconductivity in the Ge/Si core/shell nanowires. The realization of a Josephson field-effect transistor allows us to study the subgap structure caused by multiple Andreev reflections. Most importantly, the absence of a quantum dot regime indicates a hard superconducting gap originating from the highly transparent contacts to the 1D hole gas, which is potentially interesting for the study of Majorana zero modes. Moreover, underlining the importance of the proposed thermally induced Al-Ge/Si-Al heterostructure formation technique, our system could contribute to the development of key components of quantum computing such as gatemon or transmon qubits

Background: Both stressful intrauterine milieus and genetic susceptibility have been linked to later life diabetes risk. The present study aims to examine the interaction between low birth weight, a surrogate measure of stressful intrauterine milieus, and genetic susceptibility in relation to risk of type 2 diabetes in adulthood. Methods: The analysis included two independent, nested case-control studies of in total 2591 cases of type 2 diabetes and 3052 healthy controls from prospective cohorts: the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS) and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (HPFS). We developed 2 genotype scores using susceptibility loci recently identified through Genome Wide Association Studies: 1) an ‘obesity genotype score’ based on 32 BMI-predisposing single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs); and 2) a ‘diabetes genotype score’ based on 35 diabetes-predisposing SNPs. Results: Both the obesity genotype score and diabetes genotype score showed consistently significant association with risk of type 2 diabetes in NHS and HPFS ( P for trend < 0.01). In the pooled sample of the two cohorts, we found significant interaction between birth weight and obesity genotype score in relation to type 2 diabetes ( P for interaction=0.017). In low birth weight individuals (≤ 2.5 kg), the multivariable-adjusted odds ratio (OR) was 2.55 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.34–4.84) in the comparison of the highest with the lowest quartile of the obesity genotype score, while the OR was 1.27 (95%CI: 1.04–1.55) among individuals with birth weight above 2.5kg. Diabetes genotype score also showed stronger association with type 2 diabetes risk in individuals with low birth weight than those with high birth weight. Comparing individuals of the highest with the lowest quartile of the diabetes genotype score, the multivariable-adjusted odds ratio was 3.80 (95%CI: 1.76–8.24) among individuals with low birth weight and was 2.27 (95%CI: 1.82–2.83) among those with high birth weight. However, test for interaction was marginal ( P =0.16). Conclusion: Our data suggest low birth weight and genetic susceptibility to obesity may synergistically affect adulthood risk of type 2 diabetes.

The intrauterine environment is a major contributor to increased rates of metabolic disease in adults. Intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP) is a liver disease of pregnancy that affects 0.5%-2% of pregnant women and is characterized by increased bile acid levels in the maternal serum. The influence of ICP on the metabolic health of offspring is unknown. We analyzed the Northern Finland birth cohort 1985-1986 database and found that 16-year-old children of mothers with ICP had altered lipid profiles. Males had increased BMI, and females exhibited increased waist and hip girth compared with the offspring of uncomplicated pregnancies. We further investigated the effect of maternal cholestasis on the metabolism of adult offspring in the mouse. Females from cholestatic mothers developed a severe obese, diabetic phenotype with hepatosteatosis following a Western diet, whereas matched mice not exposed to cholestasis in utero did not. Female littermates were susceptible to metabolic disease before dietary challenge. Human and mouse studies showed an accumulation of lipids in the fetoplacental unit and increased transplacental cholesterol transport in cholestatic pregnancy. We believe this is the first report showing that cholestatic pregnancy in the absence of altered maternal BMI or diabetes can program metabolic disease in the offspring.

Background: Trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) is proposed as a possible culprit linking red meat intake and poor cardiovascular health. The relationship between diet, microbial metabolism, circulating TMAO levels, and cardiometabolic health in free-living individuals, is yet to be elucidated. Hypothesis: Specific microbial taxa may modulate associations of choline/L-carnitine and red meat intake with plasma TMAO levels and cardiometabolic traits. Method: We collected 2 pairs of fecal samples (n=925) and, simultaneously, 2 blood samples (n=473), 6 months apart, from 307 healthy men in the Men’s Lifestyle Validation Study in 2012. We performed Shotgun metagenomic sequencing using fecal samples and identified microbial taxonomic features using MetaPhlAn2. We measured hemoglobin A1c (HBA1c), and plasma levels of TMAO, lipids, and other cardiometabolic risk markers. Diet was assessed repeatedly using validated food-frequency questionnaires and dietary records. Results: Multivariable random-effect linear regressions identified 10 bacterial species that were significantly associated with TMAO levels ( FDR <0.05; Figure A ), and these species significantly modified the associations of dietary choline/L-carnitine and/or red meat intake with TMAO levels ( P interaction <0.05). In particular, Alistipes s hahii and Clostridium c itroniae significantly strengthened the association between red meat intake and TMAO levels, whereas Eubacterium b iforme attenuated this association ( P interaction <0.05). Consistently, the associations of higher red meat intake with higher HBA1c and lower high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels were more pronounced in the presence of A. s hahii and C. c itroniae or in the absence of E. b ifome ( Figure B ). Conclusions: We identified microbial taxa that modify the associations of red meat intake with circulating TMAO levels and cardiometabolic traits, in free-living men, suggesting an interplay between diet and microbial metabolism in producing TMAO and affecting cardiometabolic health.

Women with RLS had a higher CVD mortality rate, which may not be fully explained by common co-occurring disorders of RLS.

Recent genetic association studies have identified 55 genetic loci associated with obesity or body mass index (BMI). The vast majority, 51 loci, however, were identified in European-ancestry populations. We conducted a meta-analysis of associations between BMI and ∼2.5 million genotyped or imputed single nucleotide polymorphisms among 86 757 individuals of Asian ancestry, followed by in silico and de novo replication among 7488–47 352 additional Asian-ancestry individuals. We identified four novel BMI-associated loci near the KCNQ1 (rs2237892, P = 9.29 × 10−13), ALDH2/MYL2 (rs671, P = 3.40 × 10−11; rs12229654, P = 4.56 × 10−9), ITIH4 (rs2535633, P = 1.77 × 10−10) and NT5C2 (rs11191580, P = 3.83 × 10−8) genes. The association of BMI with rs2237892, rs671 and rs12229654 was significantly stronger among men than among women. Of the 51 BMI-associated loci initially identified in European-ancestry populations, we confirmed eight loci at the genome-wide significance level (P < 5.0 × 10−8) and an additional 14 at P < 1.0 × 10−3 with the same direction of effect as reported previously. Findings from this analysis expand our knowledge of the genetic basis of obesity.

Aurrion's heterogeneous integration platform enables simultaneous integration of active and passive photonic components on a silicon substrate. The platform provides photonic device library where each component is tailored to deliver maximum functionality for large scale photonic integrated circuits.