ise

Money Wise: Improving How EU Funds Support Migration and Integration Policy Objectives

European policymakers are negotiating the blueprint for the next EU funding cycle—a plan that will determine how much money is available for migration and integration aims, what it can be used for, and who can access it. This policy brief explores some of the limitations of EU funds, as well as strategies that could help them more effectively serve migration and integration policy goals.




ise

More Than a DREAM (Act), Less Than a Promise

The first bill introduced in the 116th Congress to offer a path to legal status to DREAMers, the American Dream and Promise Act of 2019, could legalize nearly 2.7 million unauthorized immigrants brought to the United States as children, as well as those eligible for Temporary Protected Status or Deferred Enforced Departure, as this commentary explains.





ise

Pork and Pea Pastizzi with Mustard Mayonnnaise

This recipe features on Foodie Tuesday, a weekly segment on 774 Drive with Raf Epstein, 3.30PM, courtesy of Shane Delia. This recipe is from Shane's book, and SBS series, "Shane Delia's Spice Journey".




ise

Chocolate brownies with crystallised ginger and macadamia nuts

140g unsalted butter 200g dark chocolate 100g light brown sugar 100g caster sugar 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 2 eggs 1 egg yolk 85g plain flour 55g macadamia nuts, lightly toasted, chopped 30g crystallised ginger, chopped Sifted cocoa powder, to dust




ise

Local Pecan & Carrot Cake with cheats Caramelised Fig Vanilla Ice Cream

I love a carrot cake . Usually walnuts are used however who doesn't want to take advantage of the local new season pecans at our local markets . Happy baking!




ise

Murwillmbah Asparagus with a Blood Orange Hollandaise sauce

Spring has definitely in the air well and truly. Loving the produce, country aromas, and appearance as I cycle through the country side. I love asparagus... this local stuff growing by a great friend and awesome farmer. Side dishes are often overlooked but are a very important part to a great meal.





ise

Roast local pork belly with caramelised pear sauce

Plenty of pears around at the moment. This sauce is a nice alternative to the traditional apple sauce with pork.




ise

Latin American Responses to the Venezuelan and Nicaraguan Migration Crises

Leading policymakers and key stakeholders from Latin America, as well as representatives of major international institutions, offer their views on the challenges ahead as Latin American governments seek to chart strategies for responding to large-scale forced migration flows, such as those from Venezuela and Nicaragua.




ise

Williams apologises to Tiger for slur

Tiger Woods says he was hurt by a racist slur from his former caddie Steve Williams, who referred to him as a "black arsehole".




ise

Glycated Hemoglobin, Prediabetes, and the Links to Cardiovascular Disease: Data From UK Biobank

OBJECTIVE

HbA1c levels are increasingly measured in screening for diabetes; we investigated whether HbA1c may simultaneously improve cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk assessment, using QRISK3, American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association (ACC/AHA), and Systematic COronary Risk Evaluation (SCORE) scoring systems.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

UK Biobank participants without baseline CVD or known diabetes (n = 357,833) were included. Associations of HbA1c with CVD was assessed using Cox models adjusting for classical risk factors. Predictive utility was determined by the C-index and net reclassification index (NRI). A separate analysis was conducted in 16,596 participants with known baseline diabetes.

RESULTS

Incident fatal or nonfatal CVD, as defined in the QRISK3 prediction model, occurred in 12,877 participants over 8.9 years. Of participants, 3.3% (n = 11,665) had prediabetes (42.0–47.9 mmol/mol [6.0–6.4%]) and 0.7% (n = 2,573) had undiagnosed diabetes (≥48.0 mmol/mol [≥6.5%]). In unadjusted models, compared with the reference group (<42.0 mmol/mol [<6.0%]), those with prediabetes and undiagnosed diabetes were at higher CVD risk: hazard ratio (HR) 1.83 (95% CI 1.69–1.97) and 2.26 (95% CI 1.96–2.60), respectively. After adjustment for classical risk factors, these attenuated to HR 1.11 (95% CI 1.03–1.20) and 1.20 (1.04–1.38), respectively. Adding HbA1c to the QRISK3 CVD risk prediction model (C-index 0.7392) yielded a small improvement in discrimination (C-index increase of 0.0004 [95% CI 0.0001–0.0007]). The NRI showed no improvement. Results were similar for models based on the ACC/AHA and SCORE risk models.

CONCLUSIONS

The near twofold higher unadjusted risk for CVD in people with prediabetes is driven mainly by abnormal levels of conventional CVD risk factors. While HbA1c adds minimally to cardiovascular risk prediction, those with prediabetes should have their conventional cardiovascular risk factors appropriately measured and managed.




ise

Visit-to-Visit HbA1c Variability Is Associated With Cardiovascular Disease and Microvascular Complications in Patients With Newly Diagnosed Type 2 Diabetes

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the association between visit-to-visit HbA1c variability and cardiovascular events and microvascular complications in patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

This retrospective cohort study analyzed patients from Tayside and Fife in the Scottish Care Information–Diabetes Collaboration (SCI-DC) who were observable from the diagnosis of diabetes and had at least five HbA1c measurements before the outcomes were evaluated. We used the previously reported HbA1c variability score (HVS), calculated as the percentage of the number of changes in HbA1c >0.5% (5.5 mmol/mol) among all HbA1c measurements within an individual. The association between HVS and 10 outcomes was assessed using Cox proportional hazards models.

RESULTS

We included 13,111–19,883 patients in the analyses of each outcome. The patients with HVS >60% were associated with elevated risks of all outcomes compared with the lowest quintile (for example, HVS >80 to ≤100 vs. HVS ≥0 to ≤20, hazard ratio 2.38 [95% CI 1.61–3.53] for major adverse cardiovascular events, 2.4 [1.72–3.33] for all-cause mortality, 2.4 [1.13–5.11] for atherosclerotic cardiovascular death, 2.63 [1.81–3.84] for coronary artery disease, 2.04 [1.12–3.73] for ischemic stroke, 3.23 [1.76–5.93] for heart failure, 7.4 [3.84–14.27] for diabetic retinopathy, 3.07 [2.23–4.22] for diabetic peripheral neuropathy, 5.24 [2.61–10.49] for diabetic foot ulcer, and 3.49 [2.47–4.95] for new-onset chronic kidney disease). Four sensitivity analyses, including adjustment for time-weighted average HbA1c, confirmed the robustness of the results.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study shows that higher HbA1c variability is associated with increased risks of all-cause mortality, cardiovascular events, and microvascular complications of diabetes independently of high HbA1c.




ise

Association of BMI, Fitness, and Mortality in Patients With Diabetes: Evaluating the Obesity Paradox in the Henry Ford Exercise Testing Project (FIT Project) Cohort

OBJECTIVE

To determine the effect of fitness on the association between BMI and mortality among patients with diabetes.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

We identified 8,528 patients with diabetes (self-report, medication use, or electronic medical record diagnosis) from the Henry Ford Exercise Testing Project (FIT Project). Patients with a BMI <18.5 kg/m2 or cancer were excluded. Fitness was measured as the METs achieved during a physician-referred treadmill stress test and categorized as low (<6), moderate (6–9.9), or high (≥10). Adjusted hazard ratios for mortality were calculated using standard BMI (kilograms per meter squared) cutoffs of normal (18.5–24.9), overweight (25–29.9), and obese (≥30). Adjusted splines centered at 22.5 kg/m2 were used to examine BMI as a continuous variable.

RESULTS

Patients had a mean age of 58 ± 11 years (49% women) with 1,319 deaths over a mean follow-up of 10.0 ± 4.1 years. Overall, obese patients had a 30% lower mortality hazard (P < 0.001) compared with normal-weight patients. In adjusted spline modeling, higher BMI as a continuous variable was predominantly associated with a lower mortality risk in the lowest fitness group and among patients with moderate fitness and BMI ≥30 kg/m2. Compared with the lowest fitness group, patients with higher fitness had an ~50% (6–9.9 METs) and 70% (≥10 METs) lower mortality hazard regardless of BMI (P < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Among patients with diabetes, the obesity paradox was less pronounced for patients with the highest fitness level, and these patients also had the lowest risk of mortality.




ise

Impact of Glucose Level on Micro- and Macrovascular Disease in the General Population: A Mendelian Randomization Study

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate whether high glucose levels in the normoglycemic range and higher have a causal genetic effect on risk of retinopathy, neuropathy, nephropathy, chronic kidney disease (CKD), peripheral arterial disease (PAD), and myocardial infarction (MI; positive control) in the general population.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

This study applied observational and one-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses to individual-level data from 117,193 Danish individuals, and validation by two-sample MR analyses on summary-level data from 133,010 individuals from the Meta-Analyses of Glucose and Insulin-Related Traits Consortium (MAGIC), 117,165 from the CKDGen Consortium, and 452,264 from the UK Biobank.

RESULTS

Observationally, glucose levels in the normoglycemic range and higher were associated with high risks of retinopathy, neuropathy, diabetic nephropathy, PAD, and MI (all P for trend <0.001). In genetic causal analyses, the risk ratio for a 1 mmol/L higher glucose level was 2.01 (95% CI 1.18–3.41) for retinopathy, 2.15 (1.38–3.35) for neuropathy, 1.58 (1.04–2.40) for diabetic nephropathy, 0.97 (0.84–1.12) for estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) <60 mL/min/1.73 m2, 1.19 (0.90–1.58) for PAD, and 1.49 (1.02–2.17) for MI. Summary-level data from the MAGIC, the CKDGen Consortium, and the UK Biobank gave a genetic risk ratio of 4.55 (95% CI 2.26–9.15) for retinopathy, 1.48 (0.83–2.66) for peripheral neuropathy, 0.98 (0.94–1.01) for eGFR <60 mL/min/1.73 m2, and 1.23 (0.57–2.67) for PAD per 1 mmol/L higher glucose level.

CONCLUSIONS

Glucose levels in the normoglycemic range and higher were prospectively associated with a high risk of retinopathy, neuropathy, diabetic nephropathy, eGFR <60 mL/min/1.73 m2, PAD, and MI. These associations were confirmed in genetic causal analyses for retinopathy, neuropathy, diabetic nephropathy, and MI, but they could not be confirmed for PAD and seemed to be refuted for eGFR <60 mL/min/1.73 m2.




ise

Coronary Artery Disease and Type 2 Diabetes: A Proteomic Study

OBJECTIVE

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a major challenge in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D). Coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) provides a detailed anatomic map of the coronary circulation. Proteomics are increasingly used to improve diagnostic and therapeutic algorithms. We hypothesized that the protein panel is differentially associated with T2D and CAD.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

In CAPIRE (Coronary Atherosclerosis in Outlier Subjects: Protective and Novel Individual Risk Factors Evaluation—a cohort of 528 individuals with no previous cardiovascular event undergoing CCTA), participants were grouped into CAD (clean coronaries) and CAD+ (diffuse lumen narrowing or plaques). Plasma proteins were screened by aptamer analysis. Two-way partial least squares was used to simultaneously rank proteins by diabetes status and CAD.

RESULTS

Though CAD+ was more prevalent among participants with T2D (HbA1c 6.7 ± 1.1%) than those without diabetes (56 vs. 30%, P < 0.0001), CCTA-based atherosclerosis burden did not differ. Of the 20 top-ranking proteins, 15 were associated with both T2D and CAD, and 3 (osteomodulin, cartilage intermediate-layer protein 15, and HTRA1) were selectively associated with T2D only and 2 (epidermal growth factor receptor and contactin-1) with CAD only. Elevated renin and GDF15, and lower adiponectin, were independently associated with both T2D and CAD. In multivariate analysis adjusting for the Framingham risk panel, patients with T2D were "protected" from CAD if female (P = 0.007), younger (P = 0.021), and with lower renin levels (P = 0.02).

CONCLUSIONS

We concluded that 1) CAD severity and quality do not differ between participants with T2D and without diabetes; 2) renin, GDF15, and adiponectin are shared markers by T2D and CAD; 3) several proteins are specifically associated with T2D or CAD; and 4) in T2D, lower renin levels may protect against CAD.




ise

Latin American Responses to the Venezuelan and Nicaraguan Migration Crises

Leading policymakers and key stakeholders from Latin America, as well as representatives of major international institutions, offer their views on the challenges ahead as Latin American governments seek to chart strategies for responding to large-scale forced migration flows, such as those from Venezuela and Nicaragua. Spanish and English versions of the remarks are available.




ise

Diabetes and Back Pain: Markers of Diabetes Disease Progression Are Associated With Chronic Back Pain

Lorenzo Rinaldo
Jul 1, 2017; 35:126-131
Feature Articles




ise

Diabetes Management Issues for Patients With Chronic Kidney Disease

Kerri L. Cavanaugh
Jul 1, 2007; 25:90-97
Feature Articles




ise

The Miniseries ‘Devs’ Delivers a Delicious Dose of Heroism and Villainy

By Scott T. Allison Devs is the ideal TV mini-series for people to sink their teeth into, for many reasons: (1) It’s both science and science-fiction; (2) it’s brilliant mix of psychology, philosophy, religion, and technology; (3) it tantalizes us with the mysteries of love, life, death, time, and space; and (4) it features a … Continue reading The Miniseries ‘Devs’ Delivers a Delicious Dose of Heroism and Villainy



  • Commentary and Analysis

ise

Stress Has Risen In This Age Group More Than Any Other (M)

Even before the pandemic, this age group were reporting record levels of levels.

Support PsyBlog for just $5 per month. Enables access to articles marked (M) and removes ads.

→ Explore PsyBlog's ebooks, all written by Dr Jeremy Dean:




ise

Rates of Consensual and Nonconsensual Nonmonogamy Among Heterosexual, Gay, and Bisexual Adults

I was recently invited to write a book chapter on nonmonogamy in LGBTQ+ relationships, and one of the things I wanted to do in it was compare the prevalence of both consensual nonmonogamy (polyamory, open relationships, swinging) and nonconsensual nonmonogamy (cheating/infidelity). Further, I wanted to look at whether rates of these practices were similar or different for LGBTQ+ persons compared to heterosexual persons. However, I found it surprisingly difficult to locate reliable data points. The problem I kept running into is that study after study conflated consensual nonmonogamy with nonconsensual nonmonogamy. In other words, researchers were putting all of these folks into the same category without attempting to distinguish whether they were permitted under the rules of the relationship or not.




ise

An evolutionary perspective on human health and disease | Lara Durgavich

How does your genetic inheritance, culture and history influence your health? Biological anthropologist Lara Durgavich discusses the field of evolutionary medicine as a gateway to understanding the quirks of human biology -- including why a genetic mutation can sometimes have beneficial effects -- and emphasizes how unraveling your own evolutionary past could glean insights into your current and future health.




ise

Lawmakers vote to delay wage hike, raises because of virus




ise

After Okla. Historic Pay Raise, Morale Is Up—But Teacher Shortage Persists

Despite a $6,100 teacher pay raise this spring, school districts report that they're starting the new academic year with nearly 500 teaching vacancies.




ise

Barack Obama will headline televised prime-time commencement




ise

How Coronavirus Is Jeopardizing Teacher Pay Raises

The momentum to raise teacher salaries in several states has ground to a halt amid fears of coronavirus’ massive economic blow.




ise

New York Poised to Revamp Certification Exams

A task force is recommending that the state lowers the score required on the controversial national edTPA exam.




ise

New York Set to Revise Common-Core Reading and Math Standards

New York state is considering adopting a new set of K-12 reading and math standards that differ somewhat from the Common Core State Standards, which have had rocky reception in the state since they went into place in 2010.




ise

Ex-Obama Adviser Who Championed Teacher Evaluations to Seek Senate Seat

Can a Democrat with a record of tying test scores to teacher evaluations win a U.S. Senate seat in Colorado? Mike Johnston, a former Obama campaign adviser, wants to find out.




ise

Barack Obama will headline televised prime-time commencement




ise

To make terms of compromise a rule of Court or not? That is the question : an analysis of the options available to settle estate matters / presended by Christina Flourentzou, Supreme Court of South Australia..




ise

A lawyer in paradise / Robert Anderson..




ise

I've Got Two Tickets to Paradise.




ise

We Will Rise : Rising from the ashes to a n new beginning.




ise

Hallelujah! : let everything that has breath praise God / Peter Wade.




ise

Newstart allowance : is it time to raise it? / research undertaken by The South Australian Centre for Economic Studies, University of Adelaide ; funded by the Independent Research Fund.

This paper assesses whether the Newstart Allowance for unemployed people should be increased. It investigates the relationship of the Newstart Allowance to Average Weekly Earnings, the Federal Minimum Wage, and Australian poverty lines, and considers the typical the duration of unemployment and long term unemployment, duration of time on income support, overseas allowances, cost of living, and a comparison with policy makers' remuneration. It finds that the value of the allowance has eroded since it was first set and that unemployment for many is not a transitional situation, and concludes that an increase is warranted to bridge the gap to the poverty line.




ise

Report on review of detriment : Aboriginal land claims recommended for grant but not yet finalised / the Hon John Mansfield AM QC, Aboriginal Land Commissioner.




ise

Utilisation of carp biomass : final report / Dr Janet Howieson, Andrew Tilley, Ewan Colquhoun, Elise O'Keefe, Steven Nash, Declan McDonald, Tony Evans, Gerry Gillespie, David Hardwick, Dr Sarah Beavis, Charles Francina, Daniel McCorey, Luke Wheat.




ise

Winx : the authorised biography / Andrew Rule.

Race horses -- Australia -- History.




ise

Trigger warnings : political correctness and the rise of the right / Jeff Sparrow.

Trump, Donald, 1946- -- Public opinion.




ise

The death of expertise : the campaign against established knowledge and why it matters / Tom Nichols.

Ability -- United States.




ise

The rise of network christianity : how independent leaders are changing the religious landscape / Brad Christerson and Richard Flory.

Pentecostalism -- History -- 21st century.




ise

Can you help me? : inside the turbulent world of Huntington disease / Thomas Bird, MD.

Huntington's disease -- Patients -- Care.




ise

Milk of paradise : a history of opium / Lucy Inglis.

Opium -- History.




ise

The anarchy : the relentless rise of the East India Company / William Dalrymple ; maps and illustrations, Olivia Fraser.

East India Company -- History.




ise

The Australian disease : on the decline of love and the rise of non-freedom / Richard Flanagan.

Social psychology -- Australia.




ise

Hate Inc. : why today's media makes us despise one another / Matt Taibbi.

Mass media -- Political aspects -- United States.




ise

In praise of walking : the new science of how we walk and why it's good for us / Shane O'Mara.

Walking -- Social aspects.




ise

Memory wise : how memory works and what to do when it doesn't / Dr Anne Unkenstein.

Memory.