Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases Commons^™

Appalachian Regional Model For Organizing And Sustaining County-Level Diabetes Coalitions, Richard Crespo, Molly Shrewsberry, Darrlyn Cornelius-Averhart, Henry B. King Jr.

Family and Community Health

This article describes a model for developing diabetes coalitions in rural Appalachian counties and presents evidence of their sustainability. The rural Appalachian coalition model was developed through a partnership between two federal agencies and a regional university. Coalitions go through a competitive application process to apply for one-time $10,000 grants. The project has funded 7 to 9 coalitions annually since 2001, reaching 66 total coalitions in 2008. Sustainability of the coalitions is defined by the number of coalitions that voluntarily report on their programs and services. In 2008, 58 of 66 (87%) coalitions in the Appalachian region continue to function …

Residence In A Distressed County In Appalachia As A Risk Factor For Diabetes, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 2006-2007, Lawrence Barker, Richard Crespo, Robert B. Gerzoff, Sharon Denham, Molly Shrewsberry, Darrlyn Cornelius-Averhart

Family and Community Health

Introduction

We compared the risk of diabetes for residents of Appalachian counties to that of residents of non-Appalachian counties after controlling for selected risk factors in states containing at least 1 Appalachian county.

Methods

We combined Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data from 2006 and 2007 and conducted a logistic regression analysis, with self-reported diabetes as the dependent variable. We considered county of residence (5 classifications for Appalachian counties, based on economic development, and 1 for non-Appalachian counties), age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, household income, smoking status, physical activity level, and obesity to be independent variables. The classification “distressed” refers to …

Growth Environment And Sex Differences In Lipids, Bodyshape And Diabetes Risk, Mary Schooling, Tai Hing Lam, G. Neil Thomas, Benjamin J. Cowling, Michelle Heys, Edward D. Janus, Gabriel M. Leung

Publications and Research

Background
Sex differences in lipids and body shape, but not diabetes, increase at puberty. Hong Kong Chinese are mainly first or second generation migrants from China, who have shared an economically developed environment for years, but grew up in very different environments in Hong Kong or contemporaneously undeveloped Guangdong, China. We assessed if environment during growth had sex-specific associations with lipids and body shape, but not diabetes.

Methodology and Principal Findings
We used multivariable regression in a population-based cross-sectional study, undertaken from 1994 to 1996, of 2537 Hong Kong Chinese residents aged 25 to 74 years with clinical measurements of …

Diabetes Alters Vascular Mechanotransduction: Pressure-Induced Regulation Of Mitogen Activated Protein Kinases In The Rat Inferior Vena Cava, Kevin M. Rice, Devashish H. Desai, Sunil K. Kakarla, Anjaiah Katta, Deborah L. Preston, Paulette Wehner, Eric R. Blough

MIIR Faculty Research

Background

Diabetes mellitus is an important risk factor for increased vein graft failure after bypass surgery. However, the cellular and molecular mechanism(s) underlying vessel attrition in this population remain largely unexplored. Recent reports have suggested that the pathological remodeling of vein grafts may be mediated by mechanically-induced activation of the mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathways and the MAPK-related induction of caspase-3 activity. On the basis of these findings, we hypothesized that diabetes may be associated with alterations in how veins "sense" and "respond" to altered mechanical loading.

Methods

Inferior venae cavae (IVC) from the non-diabetic lean (LNZ) and …