Aims/hypothesis Although the associations between obstructive sleep apnoea and type 2 diabetes mellitus have been reported in cross-sectional design studies, findings on the prospective association between the two conditions are limited. We examined prospectively the association between nocturnal intermittent hypoxia as a surrogate marker of obstructive sleep apnoea and risk of type 2 diabetes. Methods A total of 4,398 community residents aged 40 to 69 years who had participated in sleep investigation studies between 2001 and 2005 were enrolled. Nocturnal intermittent hypoxia was assessed by pulse-oximetry and defined by the number of oxygen desaturation measurements ≤3% per h, with five to <15 per h corresponding to mild and 15 events or more per h corresponding to moderate-to-severe nocturnal intermittent hypoxia, respectively. The development of type 2 diabetes was defined by: (1) fasting serum glucose ≥7.00 mmol/l (126 mg/dl); (2) non-fasting serum glucose ≥11.1 mmol/l (200 mg/dl); and/ or (3) initiation of glucose-lowering medication or insulin therapy. Multivariable model accounted for age, sex, BMI, smoking status, current alcohol intake, community, borderline type 2 diabetes, habitual snoring, excessive daytime sleepiness, sleep duration and (for women) menopausal status.Results By the end of 2007, 92.2% of participants had been followed up (median follow-up duration [interquartile range] 3.0 [2.9-4.0] years) and 210 persons identified as having developed diabetes. The multivariable-adjusted hazard ratio (95% CI) for developing type 2 diabetes was 1.26 (0.91-1.76) among those with mild nocturnal intermittent hypoxia and 1.69 (1.04-2.76) among those with moderate-to-severe nocturnal intermittent hypoxia (p=0.03 for trend). Conclusions/interpretation Nocturnal intermittent hypoxia was associated with increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes among middle-aged Japanese.

It has been pointed out that the hard structure of an EVA glove deteriorates e±ciency of tasks in the space environment. We also found a claim that an EVA glove did not allow an astronaut to acquire contact information at the¯ngertips. In the study, we proposed a SkilMate Hand for space EVA gloves which has both a tactile media and a power assist devices. We locate SkilMate in a wider framework of wearable intelligent machines which assist in a®ording such working surroundings that they can exhibit their skills in spite of their necessity for wearing special suits typically in hazardous environments. The paper focuses on the development of a¯nger system of a SkilMate Hand, and begins with determination of the design guidelines through analyses from an interview with an astronaut. To improve the task e±ciency, we manufacture a power assist device which compensates the bending moment exerted at a human¯nger joint utilizing an ultrasonic motor. We show the structure and the control strategy of the motor drives. To overcome the second problem of tactile insensibleness, we produce a tactile media device which is composed of a slip sensor element on the outer side and a vibrotactile display element on the inner side of a SkilMate Hand. Transduction characteristics of both pressure sensitive conductive rubber and piezo-rubber are experimentally examined in the low temperature region. Finally, piezo-rubber is chosen to be used as a slip sensing transducer. Such a proposal of a wearable intelligent machine as that of a SkilMate with its concept has not been o®ered, and moreover, the technical argument about temperature dependence of tactile sensing performance has not been intensively made so far in the¯eld of robotics.

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