OBJECTIVEWaist circumference (WC) is used to define central obesity. This study aimed to compare the performance of two recommended locations of WC measurement.RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODSA cohort of 1,898 subjects who were without diabetes from 2006 to 2012 were followed for a median of 31 months (Taiwan Lifestyle Study). The WC-IC, recommended by the National Cholesterol Education Program Third Adult Treatment Panel, was measured at the superior border of the iliac crest, and the WC-mid, recommended by World Health Organization and International Diabetes Federation, was measured midway between the lowest ribs and the iliac crest. The abdominal subcutaneous fat area (SFA) and visceral fat area (VFA) were assessed by computed tomography.RESULTSThere was greater difference between WC-IC and WC-mid measurements in women than in men (P < 0.001). Both WC-IC and WC-mid correlated significantly with BMI, VFA, and SFA (all P < 0.001). WC-mid was better correlated to VFA than WC-IC, particularly in women, and it correlated more strongly to blood pressure, plasma glucose, hemoglobin A1c, triglyceride levels, HDL cholesterol, and C-reactive protein (all P < 0.05). The association of WC-mid with hypertension, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome was slightly better than that of WC-IC (area under the receiver operator curve 0.7 vs. 0.69, 0.71 vs. 0.68, and 0.75 vs. 0.7, respectively; all age-adjusted P < 0.05). With 90 cm (male)/80 cm (female) as criteria for central obesity, WC-mid, but not WC-IC, predicted the incidence of diabetes development (age-adjusted P = 0.003).CONCLUSIONSWC-mid is a better measurement to define central obesity than WC-IC, particularly in women.

Measuring the percentage change in the BNP level during a SBT may help improve the predictive value of SBT on weaning outcome.

ObjectiveWhether retroperitoneal fat should be included in the measurement of visceral fat remains controversial. We compared the relationships of fat areas in peritoneal, retroperitoneal, and subcutaneous compartments to metabolic syndrome, adipokines, and incident hypertension and diabetes.MethodsWe enrolled 432 adult participants (153 men and 279 women) in a community-based cohort study. Computed tomography at the umbilicus level was used to measure the fat areas.ResultsRetroperitoneal fat correlated significantly with metabolic syndrome (adjusted odds ratio (OR), 5.651, p<0.05) and the number of metabolic abnormalities (p<0.05). Retroperitoneal fat area was significantly associated with blood pressure, plasma glycemic indices, lipid profile, C-reactive protein, adiponectin (r = −0.244, P<0.05), and leptin (r = 0.323, p<0.05), but not plasma renin or aldosterone concentrations. During the 2.94±0.84 years of follow-up, 32 participants developed incident hypertension. Retroperitoneal fat area (hazard ration (HR) 1.62, p = 0.003) and peritoneal fat area (HR 1.62, p = 0.009), but not subcutaneous fat area (p = 0.14) were associated with incident hypertension. Neither retroperitoneal fat area, peritoneal fat area, nor subcutaneous fat areas was associated with incident diabetes after adjustment.ConclusionsRetroperitoneal fat is similar to peritoneal fat, but differs from subcutaneous fat, in terms of its relationship with metabolic syndrome and incident hypertension. Retroperitoneal fat area should be included in the measurement of visceral fat for cardio-metabolic studies in human.

We demonstrated control and detection of UV-induced 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) polarization using silicon nanowire field-effect transistors made by top-down lithograph technology. The electric dipole moment in APTES films induced by UV-illumination was shown to produce negative effective charges. When individual dipoles were aligned with an externally applied electric field, the collective polarization can prevail over the UV-induced charges in the wires and give rise to an abnormal resistance enhancement in n-type wires. Real-time detection of hybridization of 15-mer poly-T/poly-A DNA molecules was performed, and the amount of hybridization-induced charges in the silicon wire was estimated. Based on these results, detection sensitivity of the wire sensors was discussed.Hetero-interfaces between organic and semiconductor oxides have attracted extensive attentions 1-4 due to the critical role of molecule assembly in the sensing electronics involving hybrid structures. APTES 5 (3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane) and other compounds such as PTS 6 (n-propyltrichlorosilane), OTS 7 (n-octadecyltrichlorosilane), TCTS 8 (n-triacontyltrichlorosilane), OTMS 9 (n-octadecyltrimethoxysilane), and AHT-MS 9 (n-aminoheptadecyltrimethoxysilane) with head-andtail functional groups are widely used interfacing molecules, and assembly of these molecules is essential in surfacemodification technologies. Silanization of oxidized semiconductor surfaces is a commonly employed scheme for functionalization of sensors. The functional groups would then provide binding sites for attachment of probe molecules, such as single-strand DNA (ssDNA), on the semiconductor sensing devices. The nanowire-based sensors have been demonstrated 10-14 as an ultra sensitive detector for probing molecular charges at the wire surface. However, surface modification of the functional groups on the nanowire surface is not a trivial task. Extensive studies in the surfacemodification were reported in the past years, 5-9 but issues concerning monolayer molecule ordering in terms of the electric dipole moment remain unexplored. Taking APTES as an example, in this study, we proposed a simple method to align the molecule dipoles, and the degree of alignment was examined by underneath Si-nanowire (SiNW) field effect transistors. This method provides a sensitive way for structure investigation of few molecules at the nanometer scale, which is otherwise unfeasible by the present-day examination tools. † These authors contributed equally to this work.