OBJECTIVEUsing the Hawaii component of the Multiethnic Cohort (MEC), we estimated diabetes incidence among Caucasians, Japanese Americans, and Native Hawaiians.RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODSAfter excluding subjects who reported diabetes at baseline or had missing values, 93,860 cohort members were part of this analysis. New case subjects were identified through a follow-up questionnaire (1999–2000), a medication questionnaire (2003–2006), and linkage with two major health plans (2007). We computed age-standardized incidence rates and estimated hazard ratios (HRs) for ethnicity, BMI, education, and combined effects of these variables using Cox regression analysis.RESULTSAfter a total follow-up time of 1,119,224 person-years, 11,838 incident diabetic case subjects were identified with an annual incidence rate of 10.4 per 1,000 person-years. Native Hawaiians had the highest rate with 15.5, followed by Japanese Americans with 12.5, and Caucasians with 5.8 per 1,000 person-years; the adjusted HRs were 2.65 for Japanese Americans and 1.93 for Native Hawaiians. BMI was positively related to incidence in all ethnic groups. Compared with the lowest category, the respective HRs for BMIs of 22.0–24.9, 25.0–29.9, and ≥30.0 kg/m2 were 2.10, 4.12, and 9.48. However, the risk was highest for Japanese Americans and intermediate for Native Hawaiians in each BMI category. Educational achievement showed an inverse association with diabetes risk, but the protective effect was limited to Caucasians.CONCLUSIONSWithin this multiethnic population, diabetes incidence was twofold higher in Japanese Americans and Native Hawaiians than in Caucasians. The significant interaction of ethnicity with BMI and education suggests ethnic differences in diabetes etiology.

One function of disgust is to act as a pathogen-avoidance system preventing contact with substances harbouring disease-causing organisms. Avoiding pathogens, however, requires systems for their detection. Whereas previous research on disgust has focused on visual and olfactory detection cues, one largely overlooked modality is touch. Here we examine whether tactile cues play a role in pathogen detection and activate the disgust response. Participants briefly touched and then rated stimuli varying along dimensions predicted to correlate with pathogen presence: moisture, temperature, and consistency. Results show that participants rated wet stimuli and stimuli resembling biological consistencies as more disgusting than dry stimuli and stimuli resembling inanimate consistencies, respectively. No main effect for temperature was found. We report on predicted interactions, the relationship between disgust ratings and perceived infection risk, and individual differences. Taken together, these data suggest that touch is an important modality providing information for disgust-related processes.