Aims/hypothesisFTO harbours the strongest known obesity-susceptibility locus in Europeans. While there is growing evidence for a role for FTO in obesity risk in Asians, its association with type 2 diabetes, independently of BMI, remains inconsistent. To test whether there is an association of the FTO locus with obesity and type 2 diabetes, we conducted a meta-analysis of 32 populations including 96,551 East and South Asians.MethodsAll studies published on the association between FTO-rs9939609 (or proxy [r2 > 0.98]) and BMI, obesity or type 2 diabetes in East or South Asians were invited. Each study group analysed their data according to a standardised analysis plan. Association with type 2 diabetes was also adjusted for BMI. Random-effects meta-analyses were performed to pool all effect sizes.ResultsThe FTO-rs9939609 minor allele increased risk of obesity by 1.25-fold/allele (p = 9.0 × 10−19), overweight by 1.13-fold/allele (p = 1.0 × 10−11) and type 2 diabetes by 1.15-fold/allele (p = 5.5 × 10−8). The association with type 2 diabetes was attenuated after adjustment for BMI (OR 1.10-fold/allele, p = 6.6 × 10−5). The FTO-rs9939609 minor allele increased BMI by 0.26 kg/m2 per allele (p = 2.8 × 10−17), WHR by 0.003/allele (p = 1.2 × 10−6), and body fat percentage by 0.31%/allele (p = 0.0005). Associations were similar using dominant models. While the minor allele is less common in East Asians (12–20%) than South Asians (30–33%), the effect of FTO variation on obesity-related traits and type 2 diabetes was similar in the two populations.Conclusions/interpretationFTO is associated with increased risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes, with effect sizes similar in East and South Asians and similar to those observed in Europeans. Furthermore, FTO is also associated with type 2 diabetes independently of BMI.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00125-011-2370-7) contains peer-reviewed but unedited supplementary material, which is available to authorised users.

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Water ice is an important water source in lunar polar soil. Drilling and sampling lunar polar soil are important engineering tasks of lunar exploration. In view of the influence of temperature rise on the quality of samples obtained by drilling, the heat transfer and temperature rise in drilled ice-containing lunar soil were investigated. In this study, a thermal simulation model for drilling lunar soil was established based on the discrete element method (DEM). Simulations of the drilling temperature of lunar soil containing ice at 3–5% were performed assuming normal pressure and low temperature. After validating the feasibility and accuracy of the simulation method, the temperatures of the drilling tools and lunar soil were analyzed. Furthermore, drilling in a vacuum was simulated as well, and the results indicated that ice sublimation was negligible for reasonable drilling procedures in the current study.