Diabetes in American Indians: Reflections and future directions

Abstract

The two goals of the next generation of diabetes research should be to reduce the incidence of diabetes mellitus and to decrease the risk of complications from the disease. The prevention of diabetes will require a better understanding of the interaction of genetic and host-environmental factors, especially energy balance, diet and exercise, and specific nutrients. The prevention of weight gain should probably be of highest priority. The prevention of complications needs to focus on hyperinsulinemia, hyperglycemia, blood pressure, smoking, and lipoproteins. Clinical trials are needed to evaluate objectively the benefits of specific interventions. Such trials should be closely linked to community health programs to maximize the health status of the population. S tudies of diabetes risk among the Pima Indians are some of the best examples of the interplay between epidemiology, genetics, clinical research, and basic metabolic studies. Probably more has been learned about the etiology and natural history of NIDDM from these studies than any other research.The results of these studies may affect not only the health status of the high-risk Native American populations, but also may lead to understanding the risk factors for diabetes in other populations.Current research has shown that NIDDM almost certainly results from expression of a major gene abnormality. This abnormality is expressed as NIDDM when it occurs in association with specific risk factors related to energy metabolism that have as one of their end points the development of obesity.FUTURE DIRECTIONS-Two goals of the next generation of research should be to I) reduce the number of new cases of NIDDM, especially by primary prevention and 2) decrease the complications of the disease.There is no one simple answer to the question of identification of the specific risk factors for diabetes. The belief that diabetes may be caused by changes in diet from the traditional less dense, high-fiber Native American Indian foods to more calorically dense, high-fat western foods is certainly appealing. However, it is also possible that decreases in energy expenditure over time, rather than changes in calories or diet, might be

Investigation of the surface layer formed during the processing of quartz glass using mechanochemical and ionic polishing

“…Typical single-layer optical model of a polished surface with an isotropic SL, used in most works [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23], is shown in Fig. 1, a.…”

“…Altered layer on the surface of optical elements with properties other than those of the volume, formed during mechanochemical processing (grinding−polishing), affects light transmittance in the UV region and radiation resistance [1][2][3][4]. The optical properties of this layer were previously actively studied mainly by the methods of ellipsometry and spectroscopy [5][6][7][8][9][10]. At present, for these problems, the entire arsenal of modern technical means for monitoring the atomic and molecular composition of defects in the surface layer is widely used [11][12][13][14][15][16][17].…”

“…At the same time, it should be noted that many studies related to the study of SL, as well as adsorbed water films and thin polymer coatings on the surface of polished glass, were carried out by a single-layer model using ellipsometry [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23], since this method has high sensitivity as applied to the study of thin films. However, in the study of SL, the presence of adsorbed water films on the surface gives an additional phase shift of the light beam, which leads to systemic errors in the calculation of SL parameters in the framework of a single-layer model [21].…”