Tailoring lifestyle programmes for diabetes prevention for US South Asians

Objective The purpose of this study was to develop and test the feasibility of a culturally tailored Diabetes Prevention Programme(DPP)for US South Asians,a large population with high diabetes risk.Design The South Asian Health and Prevention Education(SHAPE)study included:(1)focus group discussions with South Asian adults to understand views of lifestyle behaviours and diabetes prevention;(2)modification of the US DPP for South Asians and(3)a pilot,pre-post study to test the feasibility and impact of delivering the culturally tailored programme.Setting The study was conducted in Atlanta,Georgia,USA.Focus group discussions and intervention classes were held at locations within the community(eg,South Asian restaurants,a public library,university classrooms,a South Asian owned physical therapy studio).Participants The focus group discussions(n=17 with 109 individuals)included adults aged 25 years of older who self-identified as South Asian.Groups were stratified by age(25-40 years or older than 40 years)and sex.The SHAPE pilot study included 17(76.5%male with a mean age of 46.9±12 years)South Asian adults aged 25 years or older with pre-diabetes and body mass index(BMI)>22 kg/m2.results Formative data from 17 focus group discussions and a community board guided the modification of the DPP curriculum to reflect cultural food preferences and include tools to leverage social support,create a stronger foundation in exercise and overcome culturally specific barriers.The SHAPE pilot study included 17 South Asian adults with pre-diabetes and BMI>22 kg/m2.There were positive changes in participants’weight,waist circumference,blood pressure,plasma lipids,HbA1c and other cardiometabolic markers postintervention and 55%of participants regressed to normoglycaemia.Conclusion These results provide important information on the barriers faced by US South Asians in participating in‘standard’lifestyle change programs,indicate the feasibility of culturally tailored programmes and show positive impact of a culturally tailored programme for diabetes prevention in the South Asian population.

Preference status does not indicate intrinsic quality differences in Drosophila pseudoobscura

The good genes hypothesis states that choosers prefer individuals of high intrinsic quality to individuals of lower intrinsic quality.Variation in longevity is thought to reflect,in part,intrinsic quality differences of individuals in addition to the costs of mating and reproduction.Here we report longevity variation of Drosophila pseudoobscura,a species in which previous experiments have demonstrated that individual mate preferences(pre-touching mate assessments)of females and males are associated with enhanced numbers of eclosed(adult)offspring and higher egg-to-adult survival(offspring viability).Using mate assessment arenas and protocols similar to those in a previous experiment that demonstrated fitness benefits to breeders and their offspring of mating with individuals they preferred,we tested the following predictions:(i)preferred discriminatees live longer than non-preferred discriminatees;(ii)males live longer than females;and(iii)virgins live longer than mated individuals.The experiment yielded 938 individuals for longevity analysis.Sex and mating status affected longevity:males lived longer than females,virgin females lived longer than mated females,but there were no differences in longevity for mated and virgin males.Non-preferred discriminatees of both sexes survived as long as preferred discriminatees,a result inconsistent with the prediction of the good genes hypothesis for mate preferences.To our knowledge,this is the first demonstration of the cost of reproduction for females in D.pseudoobscura and of longevity variation of preferred and non-preferred discriminatees.