City splash the cash on deadline day

Manchester City completed a triple swoop for Inter Milan star Maicon, Swansea winger Scott Sinclair and Fiorentina defender Matija Nastasic as the Premier League champions embarked on a transfer deadline day spending spree.

City boss Roberto Mancini has endured a frustrating time in the transfer market since the end of last season, but there was a late flurry of activity at Eastlands before Friday's 2200GMT deadline.

The Italian's ?6 million move for Sinclair was followed by the capture of Brazil right-back Maicon for ?3 million.

Next up was a ?12 million deal for Serbia's Nastasic, which saw City defender Stefan Savic join Fiorentina in part exchange for the 19-year-old, as well as the arrival of former Arsenal goalkeeper Richard Wright on a free transfer.

Mancini wasn't finished there and he was hoping to complete a move for Benfica midfielder Javi Garcia in the final minutes before the transfer window shut until January.

To make room for his fresh recruits, Mancini sold Dutch midfielder Nigel de Jong to AC Milan, while Paraguay striker Roque Santa Cruz moved to Malaga on a season-long loan.

Tottenham were the other big movers, signing Lyon goalkeeper Hugo Lloris and swooping for Fulham forward Clint Dempsey.

United States international Dempsey was reported to be having a medical with Tottenham after Liverpool and Aston Villa were unable to complete a deal for the ?7 million-rated star.

As well as gate-crashing the Dempsey chase, Tottenham boss Andre Villas-Boas pushed through an ?8 million swoop for French international Lloris, who signed a four-year contract.

"I am here because I believe in Tottenham," Lloris told Spurs TV Online.

"They have great team and everything is right to win a place in the Champions League next year."

On a frantic day at White Hart Lane, Villas-Boas also sold Holland midfielder Rafael van der Vaart to his former club Hamburg and off-loaded Mexico forward Giovani Dos Santos to Spanish club Real Mallorca.

Fulham boss Martin Jol sealed a significant coup for his club as he signed Bulgarian striker Dimitar Berbatov from Manchester United for ?5 million.

Berbatov rejected interest from Juventus, Fiorentina and Tottenham to be reunited with Jol, who worked with the forward at Spurs.

"I'm delighted to have signed for Fulham and I look forward to playing under Martin Jol once again," Berbatov said.

Jol also brought in former England left-back Kieran Richardson from Sunderland, who then landed Tottenham defender Danny Rose on loan as a replacement.

Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers continued his Anfield clear-out as Scotland international Charlie Adam was sold to Stoke for ?4 million, while fellow midfielder Jay Spearing joined Bolton on a season-long loan and striker Nathan Eccleston moved to Blackpool.

Across Merseyside, Everton signed Bryan Oviedo from FC Copenhagen after agreeing a ?5 million fee for the Costa Rica defender.

Southampton finally signed Gaston Ramirez from Bologna for around ?12 million after chasing the 21-year-old Uruguay playmaker for several weeks, and also landed USA Under-20 international goalkeeper Cody Cropper from Ipswich.

Swansea, needing a replacement for Sinclair, signed Spain winger Pablo Hernandez from Valencia for a club record ?5.55 million.

Arsenal allowed South Korea striker Park Chu-young to go out on loan to Celta Vigo with a view to a permanent switch, while Denmark striker Nicklas Bendtner agreed a season-long loan with Italian champions Juventus.

QPR midfielder Joey Barton joined French club Marseille on a season-long loan, with defender Stephane Mbia moving in the other direction on a two-year contract.

Aston Villa boss Paul Lambert bolstered his squad with the signings of Belgium striker Christian Benteke, who cost ?7 million from Genk, ?2 million Crewe midfielder Ashley Westwood and young striker Jordan Bowery, a ?500,000 capture from Chesterfield.

West Bromwich Albion signed Dynamo Kiev's Macedonia left-back Goran Popov on a season-long loan with a view to a permanent deal.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/man-city-sign-sinclair-amid-deadline-day-frenzy-141507258--sow.html

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Minnesota construction starts jump in July | Finance & Commerce

Posted: 8:10 am Thu, August 30, 2012
By ?BRIAN JOHNSON
Tags: American Institute of Architects, Associated General Contractors of Minnesota, Dave Semerad, John Campobasso, Kraus-Anderson, McGraw-Hill Construction, Ralph Gentile, Robert Murray, UnitedHealth Group

Construction cranes look down on the United Health Group campus at Highway 62 and Shady Oak Road in Eden Prairie. The project boosted non-residential construction starts in July. (Staff photo: Bill Klotz)

Year-to-date still down 22% from 2011

With its 71-acre new campus under way in Eden Prairie, UnitedHealth Group is bearing gifts for Minnesota?s construction industry.

Call it Christmas in July. The year to date isn?t as bountiful as 2011, however.

Cranes are looming over UnitedHealth?s 71-acre campus at Highway 62 and Shady Oak Road, a site that will include about $250 million in investments through 2016 with four new buildings, transportation improvements and parking.

The project is a big reason why new contracts for non-residential construction in the Twin Cities area rose to $248.5 million in July, significantly up from the $67.9 million in July 2011. McGraw-Hill puts the value of the UnitedHealth project?s first phase at $101 million.

Overall in Minnesota, non-residential construction starts more than doubled to $401.8 million in July, up from $161.9 million in July 2011, according to McGraw-Hill.

The month saw large year-over-year increases in construction starts for everything from single-family houses and apartments to roads and bridges. The value of residential and ?non-building? contracts ? including highways and bridges ? soared 53 percent and 62 percent, respectively.

One factor in those big increases: Last July?s state government shutdown idled and delayed road and bridge projects throughout the state, skewing the monthly comparisons in the non-building category.

Despite the bump in July, the year-to-date value of non-residential contracts statewide is down 22 percent to $1.359 billion from $1.736 billion.

Ralph Gentile, senior economist for McGraw Hill?s Research and Analytics unit based in Bedford, Mass., said Minnesota non-residential construction starts peaked at $3.379 billion in 2007.

Non-residential starts fell to $1.993 billion in 2010, but climbed to $2.809 billion in 2011, according to Gentile.

Nationally, new construction starts were down 10 percent in July, according to McGraw-Hill.

?The construction industry is still struggling to gain upward traction as construction starts continue to exhibit an up-and-down pattern,? Robert Murray, vice president of economic affairs for McGraw-Hill Construction, said in a news release.

In July, the American Institute of Architects? Architecture Billings Index, a forecast of future construction spending, remained in negative territory. The July index was 48.7; anything under 50 indicates a decrease in billings.

Meanwhile, the Associated General Contractors reported this week that construction employment dropped in 165 out of 337 U.S. metro areas between July 2011 and July 2012.

The Minneapolis-St. Paul area lost 3,500 construction jobs between July 2011 and July 2012, but the state as a whole gained 4,100 construction jobs, according to the AGC analysis.

The overall numbers for Minnesota appear to be encouraging. So far in 2012, Minnesota has seen $4.9 billion worth of new contracts for all types of construction, up 18 percent from this time last year, according to McGraw-Hill.

Dave Semerad, CEO of the Associated General Contractors of Minnesota, said the market is seeing ?pent-up demand? from a backlog of projects that have been waiting to proceed.

Besides the UnitedHealth Group construction, other non-residential projects that contributed to the July numbers include a plant conversion project for Sappi Manufacturing in Cloquet ($85 million), and a new school for Legacy Christian Academy in Ramsey ($30 million).

Non-building projects include the Interchange transit hub near Target Field in downtown Minneapolis ($55.8 million), and a Highway 60 grading and surfacing project in Nobles County ($14.5 million).

Westside Flats Apartments in St. Paul ($17 million) was the month?s top residential project, according to McGraw-Hill Construction Research and Analytics.

McGraw-Hill defines residential projects as one- and two-family homes and apartments. But single-family housing accounts for the majority of the residential construction start total, according to Gentile.

The Keystone Report, which tracks homebuilding building permits in the 13-county metro area, says Twin Cities residential building permits are up 42 percent so far this year.

Metro area cities have issued 2,608 permits for 4,829 new housing units through mid-August, up from 1,837 permits for 2,731 units a year ago, according to Keystone.

John Campobasso, vice president and director of marketing for Minneapolis-based Kraus-Anderson, said business is up quite a bit from last year.

Kraus-Anderson just started building the $38 million Third North apartment project at 800 N. Third St. in Minneapolis, for example, and recently completed or is finishing school projects in the Alexandria, Wadena and Stillwater districts.

People in the industry are still cautious, but things are ?going in the right direction,? Campobasso said.

The Twin Cities generally reflects the statewide trends. Overall, the 13-county Twin Cities area saw $415.5 million in new construction contracts in July, up from $172.52 million a year ago, McGraw-Hill noted.

Source: http://finance-commerce.com/2012/08/minnesota-construction-starts-jump-in-july/

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Romney makes Mormonism part of his big night

Ted and Pat Oparowsky addresses the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., on Thursday, Aug. 30, 2012. Mitt Romney read the eulogy at their sons funeral. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Ted and Pat Oparowsky addresses the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., on Thursday, Aug. 30, 2012. Mitt Romney read the eulogy at their sons funeral. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, left, and his vice presidential running mate Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., pose for photos with campaign staff before a walk through on the stage of the Republican National Convention on Thursday, Aug. 30, 2012, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

FILE - In this Aug. 29, 2012 file photo, Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks at the American Legion National Convention in Indianapolis. When Romney addresses the Republican convention Thursday night, he'll do it from a stage that puts him a little bit closer to the crowd inside the convention hall. His campaign hopes the evening ends with Americans feeling a little bit closer to the Republican presidential candidate, too. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

After keeping his religious beliefs mostly private, Mitt Romney highlighted his dedication to his faith in his own remarks and through the heartfelt testimony of friends Thursday night as he became the first Mormon nominee for president on a major party ticket.

The comments were a turning point for the former Massachusetts governor, who has wrestled with how much to discuss being a Mormon, a faith that faced prejudice from its earliest days and remains little known to most Americans.

In his acceptance speech on the final day of the Republican National Convention, Romney recalled growing up as one of the few Mormons in his community, and of finding support from church friends when he and his wife, Ann, first moved to Massachusetts. Instead of his usual broad reference to faith and God, Romney referred to Mormonism by name.

"We were Mormons and growing up in Michigan; that might have seemed unusual or out of place but I really don't remember it that way," Romney said. "My friends cared more about what sports teams we followed than what church we went to."

Still, the most memorable insights came from others. Fellow Mormons Ted and Pat Oparowski recalled how Romney helped their dying son write his will. And Pam Finlayson, who belonged to Romney's congregation, remembered him stroking the back of her prematurely born daughter during a hospital visit and bringing over Thanksgiving dinner.

"When I see Mitt Romney, I know him to be a loving father, a man of faith and a caring and compassionate friend," Finlayson said from the podium in Tampa, Fla.

Romney is from one of the most prominent families in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His father was governor of Michigan and a successful executive in the auto industry.

Starting in the 1980s, he served as an LDS bishop in the Boston suburb of Belmont, a job akin to the pastor of a congregation. He then became stake president, the top Mormon authority in his region, which meant he presided over several congregations in a district similar to a diocese. He counseled Latter-day Saints on their most personal concerns, regarding marriage, parenting, finances and faith. He worked with immigrant converts from Haiti, Cambodia and other countries.

"We had remarkably vibrant and diverse congregants from all walks of life and many who were new to America," Romney said. "We prayed together, our kids played together and we always stood ready to help each other out in different ways."

Grant Bennett, an assistant to Romney at the Belmont congregation, told delegates Thursday that Romney had "a listening ear and a helping hand." He said Romney devoted as many as 20 hours a week to the position at his own expense. Bennett used the full name of the church in his remarks, the only speaker to do so.

Other convention speakers had already laid a foundation for this new openness. Vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan, a Roman Catholic, said in his speech a night earlier that "our different faiths come together in the same moral creed."

Republican evangelicals have been playing down conflict with Latter-day Saints. Most prominently, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee told delegates Wednesday night, said, "I care far less as to where Mitt Romney takes his family to church, than I do about where he takes this country."

Huckabee, a Southern Baptist pastor before he entered politics, had publicly questioned Mormon beliefs when he was competing against Romney in the 2008 presidential primary. Most Christians don't consider Latter-day Saints part of traditional Christianity, although Mormons do.

A Gallup poll in June found that voter bias against Mormons has barely budged for decades. In the survey, 18 percent of Americans said they would not vote for a well-qualified presidential candidate who happens to be a Mormon, compared to 17 percent who said so in 1967, when Romney's father George had been seeking the Republican nomination.

However, the campaign clearly felt more confident discussing the LDS Church since Romney clinched the nomination.

Polls indicate that Republican voters are willing to set aside their concerns about the LDS church to oust President Barack Obama. A recent poll by the Pew Research Center found that a majority of people who know that Romney is Mormon are comfortable with his religion or don't consider it a concern. In the days leading up to the convention, Romney told interviewers he prays daily and discussed the doubts he experienced about his religion when he, like most young Mormon men, fulfilled his church duty to serve as a missionary. Romney served in overwhelmingly Catholic France during the 1960s, and faced hostility as an American and a Mormon.

"I don't think underlying attitudes have changed," said John Green, director of the University of Akron's Bliss Institute for Applied Politics. "I don't think evangelicals are any less skeptical about Mormons, but an election is a choice and Republicans have something to work with here because of the unpopularity of Obama among this group of evangelicals."

___

Associated Press writer Steve Peoples in Tampa, Fla., contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-08-31-Romney-Mormon/id-b1ce0cb6735c4300b6b97cc2018cbae4

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Huawei MediaPad 7 Lite hands-on at IFA 2012

Huawei MediaPad 7 Lite handson video

Back in July, word got out that Huawei was prepping a revised version of its entry-level Android tablet, dubbed the MediaPad 7 Lite. As that name implies, this Android ICS tab's of the 7-inch variety and, thus, lends itself well to one-handed use for busy on-the-go types. Considering this isn't part of the outfit's top shelf portfolio, its mix of specs have been kept quite modest: there's a single-core 1.2GHz Cortex A8 CPU underneath that 1,024 x 600 IPS display. But before you knock it for falling short of even 720p territory, bear in mind this device's being marked at a 229 Euro price point -- so it's affordable and geared squarely for the budget segment.

Loaded up with a mostly stock version of Android 4.0.3 and global radios for 3G / WiFi, this humble tab's made for mobile use, as the OEM's VP of Euro operations assured us repeatedly. Performance-wise, its lack of a dual-core setup is heavily apparent, since there was a considerable lag between our touch input and onscreen effect. The tab also sports 8GB of internal storage, a rear 3.2-megapixel camera and 1.3-megapixel front facer -- helpful if you're out and about and want to video chat -- in addition to a 4,100mAh battery.

As for the MediaPad 7 Lite's build, well, it's a bit disappointing especially given the attractive design of the Nexus 7 which is comparably priced and higher specced. In all, it feels rather chunky in-hand, but it does feature a metallic back bordered by solid white plastic. It's set to be released this August in South Africa, China, Russia, Philippines and Taiwan, followed by Germany in October for 249 Euros. Check out our gallery below and stay tuned for a video tour.

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Huawei MediaPad 7 Lite hands-on at IFA 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 31 Aug 2012 07:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/31/huawei-mediapad-7-lite-hands-on/

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Logitech unveils lineup of UE headphones for in, on and around your ears (hands-on)

Logitech unveils lineup of UE headphones for in, on, and around your ears

Logitech acquired Ultimate Ears awhile back to take advantage of its experience with professional audio, and now it's leveraged some of that institutional knowledge to create a UE line of headphones aimed at consumers. First up, there's the $100 UE 4000 on-ear model that comes in three colors: black, blue and magenta, plus a detachable cord with an in-line mic and audio controls compatible with iOS devices. The UE 6000 model takes things up a notch with an over-ear design that folds up for easy storage on the go, has an in-line remote, plus it adds active noise cancellation technology for $200. Then there's the UE 9000 Bluetooth wireless cans that also have ANC and a full suite of on-ear controls for iPhone or iPad, which can be had for $400. Lastly, there's the $400 UE 900 in-ear headphones sporting a quad-armature design and two sets braided cables -- one with in-line controls, and one without. All of the UE models start shipping in the US today, and will be available in Europe next month. We got to try on and try out all of Logitech's new gear for a brief listening session awhile back, so join us after the break for our impressions.

Continue reading Logitech unveils lineup of UE headphones for in, on and around your ears (hands-on)

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Logitech unveils lineup of UE headphones for in, on and around your ears (hands-on) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Aug 2012 15:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/29/logitech-ue-headphones/

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Surprisingly bright superbubble: Winds from massive stars and shocks from supernovas carve out 'superbubbles' in the gas

ScienceDaily (Aug. 30, 2012) ? A new composite image shows a superbubble in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a small satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, located about 160,000 light years from Earth. Many new stars, some of them very massive, are forming in the star cluster NGC 1929, which is embedded in the nebula N44.

The massive stars produce intense radiation, expel matter at high speeds, and race through their evolution to explode as supernovas. The winds and supernova shock waves carve out huge cavities called superbubbles in the surrounding gas. X-rays from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory (blue) show hot regions created by these winds and shocks, while infrared data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope (red) outline where the dust and cooler gas are found. The optical light from the 2.2m Max-Planck-ESO telescope (yellow) in Chile shows where ultraviolet radiation from hot, young stars is causing gas in the nebula to glow.

A long-running problem in high-energy astrophysics has been that some superbubbles in the LMC, including N44, give off a lot more X-rays than expected from models of their structure. A Chandra study published in 2011 showed that there are two extra sources of the bright X-ray emission: supernova shock waves striking the walls of the cavities, and hot material evaporating from the cavity walls. The observations show no evidence for an enhancement of elements heavier than hydrogen and helium in the cavities, thus ruling out this possibility as an explanation for the bright X-ray emission. T

his is the first time that the data have been good enough to distinguish between different sources of the X-rays produced by superbubbles.

The Chandra study of N44 and another superbubble in the LMC was led by Anne Jaskot from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. The co-authors were Dave Strickland from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD, Sally Oey from University of Michigan, You-Hua Chu from University of Illinois and Guillermo Garcia-Segura from Instituto de Astronomia-UNAM in Ensenada, Mexico.

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/eFvVNZbdtfU/120830130452.htm

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Lance Armstrong: I Still Beat Cancer, I Still Won The Tour De France

This is how Lance Armstrong introduced himself at a cancer conference Wednesday:

?My name is Lance Armstrong. I am a cancer survivor,? he said to open his speech to the World Cancer Congress. ?I?m a father of five. And yes, I won the Tour de France seven times.?

Pretty badass.

Armstrong announced last week he would no longer challenge the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency?s drug charges against him. USADA threw out his competitive victories dating to 1998, which include all seven Tour wins.

Armstrong, who has maintained his innocence, focused on his experience as a cancer survivor and the work of his charitable foundation.

Armstrong also announced his foundation would donate an additional $500,000 to a joint initiative aimed at increasing access to cancer care around the world.

Armstrong briefly returned to the doping scandal at the end of his remarks, vowing it wouldn?t impact his charitable work.

?I think the real issue here is one of distraction,? he said. ?I?m going to tell this to you all as if you?re friends and partners and allies. I?m not going to be distracted from this fight.?

Source: http://entertainment.wagerweb.com/sports/lance-armstrong-i-still-beat-cancer-i-still-won-the-tour-de-france-45658.html

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Self Improvement Suggestions That Everybody Must Stick to ...

Obtaining the allow you to need to have can be a whole lot easier than it seems. Often it just consists of getting the correct reserve on the proper time. There exists a wide variety of literature on self-help that makes it a little intricate. This information will offer you some recommendations and recommendations with regards to self help.

While you have to be upbeat at all times, a good serving of realism is required to handle every day conditions. The truth is no one is infallible, and you will probably be better dished up through your optimism when you are mindful of your personal boundaries. Anyone has restrictions with their abilities so don?t let truth help you get lower. Each and every achievement is just one move even closer achievement.

A lot of people don?t make an effort to nag other people ? it simply comes in a natural way. Regrettably, nagging can have really the alternative effect: constructing resentment and compromising output. You might find that the needs can be summed up tidily inside a 1-word memory rather than an extended rant about how furious you will certainly be when your spouse forgets to buy milk at the shop. You might shorten it to a solitary phrase: ?Dairy!? Even though this is a small modify it could get to the stage quite quick.

Fall madly in love, if not romantically then by means of modifying your overall perspective and mind-set on life and its particular joys. Love is an all-natural substantial that emits endorphins and allows your mind and body to go up in opposition to hurdles. You will notice that you may affect others along with your enjoy, impressive these people to find delights in their life.

Make your ideology function in your day-to-day existence by applying its ideas to anything that comes about. If you feel in the effectiveness of positive energy, be sure to be aware the place you believe that the secret is functioning in your life. Furthermore, this will help you identify when something is throwing your harmony off.

Reading opens an universe broader than we can easily traverse inside a life-time. Whether or not it portrays the straightforward lifetime of humble folks or the driving a vehicle will that spurs with a famous basic, by means of reading we can easily share in the life span of numerous individuals that got just before us. Their self improvement is transmuted into broadened understanding in yourself.

By no means quit something very easily. Often it can be an a valuable thing to find out the best time to give up. Generally, even so, people find it is just less difficult to give up. Delay stopping as long as you can. Consider your greatest plus your hardest in all you do.

Private development and growth usually are not the best issues you?ll ever do, however they are one of the most personally rewarding. The type of persona you create from dealing with life?s obstacles and coming out the other area being a more powerful individual is some thing no one can remove of your stuff.

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Source: http://www.searchipnews.com/2012/08/24/self-improvement-suggestions-that-everybody-must-stick-to/

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Ancestral link places Mexican-Americans at greater risk for metabolic disease

[ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 24-Aug-2012
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Contact: Jade Waddy
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University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston

New study results call for better screening for diabetes, heart disease

HOUSTON - (Aug. 23, 2012) Mexican-Americans with an ancestral link to Amerindian tribes were found to have higher insulin resistance levels, which is an indication of several chronic conditions such as type 2 diabetes, according to research by The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth).

"Now that we have identified the ancestral link, we have an opportunity to develop some new approaches to personalized medicine using genetic markers," said HuiQi Qu, Ph.D., the study's lead author and assistant professor at The University of Texas School of Public Health Brownsville Regional Campus, part of UTHealth. Study results are published in the August issue of Diabetes Care, a journal of the American Diabetes Association.

The findings are part of a series of recent articles published in five journals by UTHealth researchers and colleagues that examine the testing, diagnosing and treating of chronic diseases in the Mexican- American population using data and blood samples from the Cameron County Hispanic Cohort (CCHC).

"It is our hope that these findings will help healthcare providers and communities more efficiently identify high-risk persons as well as develop and provide intensified clinical and public health interventions," said Joseph McCormick, M.D., who established the CCHC and is the regional dean of the UT School of Public Health Brownsville Regional Campus. "It is important that we measure the burden of chronic disease, the risk factors, including behavioral, environmental, genetic and ancestry risk factors, so that we can take this information to our communities and work to address these issues."

According to McCormick, the series of findings increases the importance of ethnicity information in identifying people at high risk of disease. McCormick is a co-author of the series of articles.

In 2003, UTHealth researchers established the CCHC with funding from the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities. It is the only cohort in the United States studying health disparities in a purely Mexican-American population, according to McCormick. Almost 2,600 individuals have been enrolled in the cohort and research results help to uncover the high levels of health disparities such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease and mental health conditions that greatly affect the Hispanic population. Researchers have also investigated the lack of access to health services based on low levels of health insurance among this population.

In the Diabetes Care study, CCHC samples were used to measure the genetic and ancestry components of a range of risk factors to chronic diseases including insulin resistance. Males with an ancestral link to the Amerindian tribes were more likely to have an increased risk of insulin resistance.

As part of this study, researchers genotyped 103 ancestry informative markers to determine ancestral links to three major continental populations of European, African and Amerindians in order to determine associations with several potential metabolic conditions linked to chronic disease including insulin resistance. Ancestral informative markers are described as DNA signatures of one's ancestral origin that can be used to explore the relationship between ancestry and specific health conditions. According to researchers, these relatively recently discovered DNA ancestry signatures are being used to identify clues to disease susceptibility that are passed down and hidden in our genes.

The Mexican-American population is genetically mixed with mainly European and Amerindian ancestries, according to the article. Researchers also identified associations between ancestral components and common metabolic problems including serum lipid levels, blood pressure and liver injury.

In a separate quantitative clinical and epidemiologic study published in the August issue of Preventing Chronic Disease (PCD), UTHealth researchers found nearly 70 percent of the cohort had diabetes, hypertension or high cholesterol and a substantial portion of this group was unaware of their condition.

The study was conducted to determine the amount of preventable chronic disease going undiagnosed and untreated in a minority population. "This study also opens the window on a major missed opportunity for preventing common chronic diseases in a minority population and, if corrected, would reduce long-term medical, social and economical burdens," said Susan Fisher-Hoch, M.D., the study's lead author and professor of epidemiology at the UT School of Public Health Brownsville Regional Campus.

While 84 percent of those with hypertension had a previous diagnosis, that was true for only half of those with diabetes or hypercholesterolemia. "By failing to address these diseases in this population, we will continue to see an increase in rates of poorly controlled diabetes and elevated risk for related conditions such as cardiovascular, renal, liver and retinal disease," Fisher-Hoch said. "It's important to note that undiagnosed and missed opportunities for diagnosis are more complex than simple lack of access to care."

In October 2011, the World Economic Forum estimated that by 2030 chronic disease will cost $47 trillion globally. In a previous publication, UTHealth researchers estimated $227million a year in lost wages due to diabetes in the workplace in the Lower Rio Grande valley. This is in addition to the cost of treating diabetes and its complications.

Lack of insurance and education level

contributed to many cases of diabetes and hypertension that were undiagnosed in the Mexican-American population. Participants without insurance had a higher average glycosylated hemoglobin level and were less likely to be treated for many unrelated conditions such as osteoporosis, eye diseases and dyspepsia.

"We have taken more than ten years to develop this cohort, which is now yielding important advances in understanding just how poor the health is in this Hispanic minority," said Fisher-Hoch. "Half of all adults over 18 years of age are obese and one third have diabetes, and insulin resistance underlies most of this pathology." More than three quarters have no health insurance of any kind, so that most people delay care until severely ill and much of the chronic disease is untreated. The cost to the individual, the community and the nation is unsustainable, she added.

Participants on Medicaid or with private insurance were more likely to have received a diagnosis and been on the appropriate medication for all three conditions. However, many participants viewed navigating the U.S. health care system as complex and a deterrent to preventive and prompt treatment.

In further studies examining the Cameron County Hispanic Cohort, UTHealth researchers and colleagues found Mexican-Americans with diabetes, obesity and metabolic syndrome were more likely to have an ischemic electrocardiographic (EKG) abnormality, which suggests underlying coronary heart disease. Results from this study are published in the 2nd 2012 issue of the World Journal of Cardiovascular Diseases.

Furthermore, UTHealth researchers also examined EKG abnormalities that suggest abnormal parasympathetic tone of the heart, which is related to rhythm abnormalities and sudden cardiac death. Researchers found Mexican-Americans with obesity and metabolic syndromes were more likely to show these abnormalities in their EKGs. Based on these findings, researchers recommend using the resting EKG to evaluate obese patients and patients with metabolic syndrome. The resting EKG is a simple, low-cost and widely available cardiovascular diagnostic test that can provide a wealth of information related to coronary risk factors, according to the researchers.

"The presence of these markers of abnormal parasympathetic tone should alert a healthcare professional to further risk assessment or an intensification of appropriate therapies to potentially modulate this and attenuate risk," said Susan Laing, M.D., associate professor of cardiology at the UTHealth Medical School.

In a further study published in the July issue of Echocardiography using ultrasound, the same researchers also observed a high prevalence of abnormal carotid ultrasound findings in Mexican-Americans. The study evaluated the thickness of the innermost layers of the carotid arterial wall and plaquing among Mexican-Americans and correlated these markers with coronary risk factors and Framingham Risk Scores. The researchers found that there was misclassification of Mexican-Americans as "low risk" using the Framingham Risk Score, which was developed using Caucasian populations. Furthermore, all Mexican-American women were classified in the low risk group, despite the high prevalence of multiple risk factors including obesity and metabolic syndrome. The researchers found that a substantial proportion of Mexican-Americans who were categorized into the low to intermediate risk group had evidence of subclinical atherosclerosis, warranting reclassification into the high risk category. These observations further underline the importance of understanding that ethnic groups differ not only in the frequency of common diseases, but also in their clinical presentation, according to the researchers.

Based on their findings, researchers recommend the integration of carotid ultrasound findings when assessing coronary risk and the use of longer term prediction models as a better risk assessment tool in Mexican-Americans. "There are limitations in using the 10-year risk scoring system in this population. We found participants ranked in the low risk category but in fact, they already had atherosclerosis based on ultrasound," said Laing. "Being categorized into the low risk group gives both the patient and the healthcare provider a false sense of security and may exclude someone from being started on life saving preventive therapies."

According to Laing, "In the past, Hispanics were thought to have a lower susceptibility to cardiovascular disease compared to the general population. Our research has refuted this notion and I think we still have yet to see the full impact of the heart disease burden among Mexican-Americans as this relatively young minority group ages in the next few decades. Clearly this is an epidemic that is on its way, and data need to be obtained now. However, in order to develop culturally competent prevention and treatment strategies for Hispanic Americans, engaging this minority group in studies such as these is critical." The findings in these studies are particularly relevant to future public health planning given the changing landscape of the composition of the U.S. population, she said.

"Our research using the Cameron County Cohort has allowed us to pinpoint ways to improve the way healthcare providers address and treat insulin resistant conditions," said McCormick. "While publications are important to validate our observations, far more important is what we do with the information and how we work with our community to use the information to improve their health."

###

For the Diabetes Care study UTHealth co-authors include Craig Hanis, Ph.D. professor of epidemiology, human genetics and environmental sciences; Yang Lu, M.D., faculty associate. UTHealth co-authors for the Preventing Chronic Disease study include McCormick; Laing; Hanis; Monir Hossain, Ph.D., assistant professor of biostatistics; Mohammad Rahbar, Ph.D., professor of epidemiology, human genetics and environmental sciences; Belinda Reininger, Ph.D., associate professor of health promotion and behavioral sciences, and Kristina Vatcheva, a UT School of Public Health doctoral candidate. The World Journal of Cardiosvascular Diseases study was co-authored by UTHealth's McCormick; Vatcheva; David McPherson, M.D., chair of cardiology and Beverly Smulevitz. Laing; Smulevitz; Vatcheva; Rentrfo; McPherson, Fisher-Hoch and McCormick collaborated on the Echocardiography Journal study.

UTHealth researchers collaborated on these studies through the UTHealth Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences (CCTS), which helps to facilitate collaborative research between UTHealth's six schools and other health institutions.

Other co-authors included Anne R. Rentfro, Ph.D., R.N. at The University of Texas Brownsville, Quan Li, Ph.D. at the McGill University Health Center, and Saulette R. Queen, M.D.

The University of Texas School of Public Health Brownsville Regional Campus was established in 2000 and has been committed to providing high quality, public health graduate education to the local residents of the Lower Rio Grande Valley of South Texas, as well as to national and international students. The campus offers multidisciplinary research programs involving genetics, immunology, bioinformatics, behavioral science, epidemiology, social science and environmental health research. The Hispanic Health Research Center (HHRC) is housed at the BRC. The center's main focus is to reduce or eliminate health disparities that exist in Hispanics living in the South Texas Border Region and nationally.


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[ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 24-Aug-2012
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Contact: Jade Waddy
jade.waddy@uth.tmc.edu
713-500-3307
University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston

New study results call for better screening for diabetes, heart disease

HOUSTON - (Aug. 23, 2012) Mexican-Americans with an ancestral link to Amerindian tribes were found to have higher insulin resistance levels, which is an indication of several chronic conditions such as type 2 diabetes, according to research by The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth).

"Now that we have identified the ancestral link, we have an opportunity to develop some new approaches to personalized medicine using genetic markers," said HuiQi Qu, Ph.D., the study's lead author and assistant professor at The University of Texas School of Public Health Brownsville Regional Campus, part of UTHealth. Study results are published in the August issue of Diabetes Care, a journal of the American Diabetes Association.

The findings are part of a series of recent articles published in five journals by UTHealth researchers and colleagues that examine the testing, diagnosing and treating of chronic diseases in the Mexican- American population using data and blood samples from the Cameron County Hispanic Cohort (CCHC).

"It is our hope that these findings will help healthcare providers and communities more efficiently identify high-risk persons as well as develop and provide intensified clinical and public health interventions," said Joseph McCormick, M.D., who established the CCHC and is the regional dean of the UT School of Public Health Brownsville Regional Campus. "It is important that we measure the burden of chronic disease, the risk factors, including behavioral, environmental, genetic and ancestry risk factors, so that we can take this information to our communities and work to address these issues."

According to McCormick, the series of findings increases the importance of ethnicity information in identifying people at high risk of disease. McCormick is a co-author of the series of articles.

In 2003, UTHealth researchers established the CCHC with funding from the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities. It is the only cohort in the United States studying health disparities in a purely Mexican-American population, according to McCormick. Almost 2,600 individuals have been enrolled in the cohort and research results help to uncover the high levels of health disparities such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease and mental health conditions that greatly affect the Hispanic population. Researchers have also investigated the lack of access to health services based on low levels of health insurance among this population.

In the Diabetes Care study, CCHC samples were used to measure the genetic and ancestry components of a range of risk factors to chronic diseases including insulin resistance. Males with an ancestral link to the Amerindian tribes were more likely to have an increased risk of insulin resistance.

As part of this study, researchers genotyped 103 ancestry informative markers to determine ancestral links to three major continental populations of European, African and Amerindians in order to determine associations with several potential metabolic conditions linked to chronic disease including insulin resistance. Ancestral informative markers are described as DNA signatures of one's ancestral origin that can be used to explore the relationship between ancestry and specific health conditions. According to researchers, these relatively recently discovered DNA ancestry signatures are being used to identify clues to disease susceptibility that are passed down and hidden in our genes.

The Mexican-American population is genetically mixed with mainly European and Amerindian ancestries, according to the article. Researchers also identified associations between ancestral components and common metabolic problems including serum lipid levels, blood pressure and liver injury.

In a separate quantitative clinical and epidemiologic study published in the August issue of Preventing Chronic Disease (PCD), UTHealth researchers found nearly 70 percent of the cohort had diabetes, hypertension or high cholesterol and a substantial portion of this group was unaware of their condition.

The study was conducted to determine the amount of preventable chronic disease going undiagnosed and untreated in a minority population. "This study also opens the window on a major missed opportunity for preventing common chronic diseases in a minority population and, if corrected, would reduce long-term medical, social and economical burdens," said Susan Fisher-Hoch, M.D., the study's lead author and professor of epidemiology at the UT School of Public Health Brownsville Regional Campus.

While 84 percent of those with hypertension had a previous diagnosis, that was true for only half of those with diabetes or hypercholesterolemia. "By failing to address these diseases in this population, we will continue to see an increase in rates of poorly controlled diabetes and elevated risk for related conditions such as cardiovascular, renal, liver and retinal disease," Fisher-Hoch said. "It's important to note that undiagnosed and missed opportunities for diagnosis are more complex than simple lack of access to care."

In October 2011, the World Economic Forum estimated that by 2030 chronic disease will cost $47 trillion globally. In a previous publication, UTHealth researchers estimated $227million a year in lost wages due to diabetes in the workplace in the Lower Rio Grande valley. This is in addition to the cost of treating diabetes and its complications.

Lack of insurance and education level

contributed to many cases of diabetes and hypertension that were undiagnosed in the Mexican-American population. Participants without insurance had a higher average glycosylated hemoglobin level and were less likely to be treated for many unrelated conditions such as osteoporosis, eye diseases and dyspepsia.

"We have taken more than ten years to develop this cohort, which is now yielding important advances in understanding just how poor the health is in this Hispanic minority," said Fisher-Hoch. "Half of all adults over 18 years of age are obese and one third have diabetes, and insulin resistance underlies most of this pathology." More than three quarters have no health insurance of any kind, so that most people delay care until severely ill and much of the chronic disease is untreated. The cost to the individual, the community and the nation is unsustainable, she added.

Participants on Medicaid or with private insurance were more likely to have received a diagnosis and been on the appropriate medication for all three conditions. However, many participants viewed navigating the U.S. health care system as complex and a deterrent to preventive and prompt treatment.

In further studies examining the Cameron County Hispanic Cohort, UTHealth researchers and colleagues found Mexican-Americans with diabetes, obesity and metabolic syndrome were more likely to have an ischemic electrocardiographic (EKG) abnormality, which suggests underlying coronary heart disease. Results from this study are published in the 2nd 2012 issue of the World Journal of Cardiovascular Diseases.

Furthermore, UTHealth researchers also examined EKG abnormalities that suggest abnormal parasympathetic tone of the heart, which is related to rhythm abnormalities and sudden cardiac death. Researchers found Mexican-Americans with obesity and metabolic syndromes were more likely to show these abnormalities in their EKGs. Based on these findings, researchers recommend using the resting EKG to evaluate obese patients and patients with metabolic syndrome. The resting EKG is a simple, low-cost and widely available cardiovascular diagnostic test that can provide a wealth of information related to coronary risk factors, according to the researchers.

"The presence of these markers of abnormal parasympathetic tone should alert a healthcare professional to further risk assessment or an intensification of appropriate therapies to potentially modulate this and attenuate risk," said Susan Laing, M.D., associate professor of cardiology at the UTHealth Medical School.

In a further study published in the July issue of Echocardiography using ultrasound, the same researchers also observed a high prevalence of abnormal carotid ultrasound findings in Mexican-Americans. The study evaluated the thickness of the innermost layers of the carotid arterial wall and plaquing among Mexican-Americans and correlated these markers with coronary risk factors and Framingham Risk Scores. The researchers found that there was misclassification of Mexican-Americans as "low risk" using the Framingham Risk Score, which was developed using Caucasian populations. Furthermore, all Mexican-American women were classified in the low risk group, despite the high prevalence of multiple risk factors including obesity and metabolic syndrome. The researchers found that a substantial proportion of Mexican-Americans who were categorized into the low to intermediate risk group had evidence of subclinical atherosclerosis, warranting reclassification into the high risk category. These observations further underline the importance of understanding that ethnic groups differ not only in the frequency of common diseases, but also in their clinical presentation, according to the researchers.

Based on their findings, researchers recommend the integration of carotid ultrasound findings when assessing coronary risk and the use of longer term prediction models as a better risk assessment tool in Mexican-Americans. "There are limitations in using the 10-year risk scoring system in this population. We found participants ranked in the low risk category but in fact, they already had atherosclerosis based on ultrasound," said Laing. "Being categorized into the low risk group gives both the patient and the healthcare provider a false sense of security and may exclude someone from being started on life saving preventive therapies."

According to Laing, "In the past, Hispanics were thought to have a lower susceptibility to cardiovascular disease compared to the general population. Our research has refuted this notion and I think we still have yet to see the full impact of the heart disease burden among Mexican-Americans as this relatively young minority group ages in the next few decades. Clearly this is an epidemic that is on its way, and data need to be obtained now. However, in order to develop culturally competent prevention and treatment strategies for Hispanic Americans, engaging this minority group in studies such as these is critical." The findings in these studies are particularly relevant to future public health planning given the changing landscape of the composition of the U.S. population, she said.

"Our research using the Cameron County Cohort has allowed us to pinpoint ways to improve the way healthcare providers address and treat insulin resistant conditions," said McCormick. "While publications are important to validate our observations, far more important is what we do with the information and how we work with our community to use the information to improve their health."

###

For the Diabetes Care study UTHealth co-authors include Craig Hanis, Ph.D. professor of epidemiology, human genetics and environmental sciences; Yang Lu, M.D., faculty associate. UTHealth co-authors for the Preventing Chronic Disease study include McCormick; Laing; Hanis; Monir Hossain, Ph.D., assistant professor of biostatistics; Mohammad Rahbar, Ph.D., professor of epidemiology, human genetics and environmental sciences; Belinda Reininger, Ph.D., associate professor of health promotion and behavioral sciences, and Kristina Vatcheva, a UT School of Public Health doctoral candidate. The World Journal of Cardiosvascular Diseases study was co-authored by UTHealth's McCormick; Vatcheva; David McPherson, M.D., chair of cardiology and Beverly Smulevitz. Laing; Smulevitz; Vatcheva; Rentrfo; McPherson, Fisher-Hoch and McCormick collaborated on the Echocardiography Journal study.

UTHealth researchers collaborated on these studies through the UTHealth Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences (CCTS), which helps to facilitate collaborative research between UTHealth's six schools and other health institutions.

Other co-authors included Anne R. Rentfro, Ph.D., R.N. at The University of Texas Brownsville, Quan Li, Ph.D. at the McGill University Health Center, and Saulette R. Queen, M.D.

The University of Texas School of Public Health Brownsville Regional Campus was established in 2000 and has been committed to providing high quality, public health graduate education to the local residents of the Lower Rio Grande Valley of South Texas, as well as to national and international students. The campus offers multidisciplinary research programs involving genetics, immunology, bioinformatics, behavioral science, epidemiology, social science and environmental health research. The Hispanic Health Research Center (HHRC) is housed at the BRC. The center's main focus is to reduce or eliminate health disparities that exist in Hispanics living in the South Texas Border Region and nationally.


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?


AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-08/uoth-alp082412.php

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