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We present observations of 12C32S, 12C34S, 13C32S, and 12C33S J = 2−1 lines toward a large sample of massive star-forming regions by using the Arizona Radio Observatory 12 m telescope and the IRAM 30 m. Taking new measurements of the carbon 12C/13C ratio, the 32S/34S isotope ratio was determined from the integrated 13C32S/12C34S line intensity ratios for our sample. Our analysis shows a 32S/34S gradient from the inner Galaxy out to a galactocentric distance of 12 kpc. An unweighted least-squares fit to our data yields 32S/34S = (1.56 ± 0.17)DGC + (6.75 ± 1.22) with a correlation coefficient of 0.77. Errors represent 1σ standard deviations. Testing this result by (a) excluding the Galactic center region, (b) excluding all sources with C34S opacities >0.25, (c) combining our data and old data from previous study, and (d) using different sets of carbon isotope ratios leads to the conclusion that the observed 32S/34S gradient is not an artifact but persists irrespective of the choice of sample and carbon isotope data. A gradient with rising 32S/34S values as a function of galactocentric radius implies that the solar system ratio should be larger than that of the local interstellar medium. With the new carbon isotope ratios, we indeed obtain a local 32S/34S isotope ratio about 10% below the solar system one, as expected in the case of decreasing 32S/34S ratios with time and increased amounts of stellar processing. However, taking older carbon isotope ratios based on a lesser amount of data, such a decrease is not seen. No systematic variation of 34S/33S ratios along galactocentric distance was found. The average value is 5.9 ± 1.5, the error denoting the standard deviation of an individual measurement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This study examined the change in dementia literacy and dementia worry over a 5-year span among older Chinese Americans living in Arizona., Design, Setting, Participants, and Measurement: This study used survey data collected among a purposive sample of 703 community-dwelling Chinese Americans aged 55 years or older living in the metropolitan areas of Phoenix, Arizona, from 2013 to 2017. The average age of participants was 73.1 (SD = 8.7) and 64.2% were female. Dementia literacy was measured by dementia knowledge (knowledge about Alzheimer's disease and related dementia) and dementia beliefs (biased attitude toward dementia). Dementia worry was measured by assessing participants' fear toward and concerns of developing dementia., Results: Regression analyses found dementia knowledge decreased ( p < 0.05) and dementia beliefs remained unchanged ( p > 0.05) from 2013 to 2017 among participants. Dementia worry only increased among those who lived alone. Significant correlates of dementia worry included low formal education level, depressive symptoms, and family conflict., Conclusions: Public health education targeting older Chinese Americans should aim to enhance dementia knowledge and to rectify their biased attitudes toward dementia. Psychosocial education or counseling should be available to older Chinese Americans who present dementia worry, particularly for those who live alone. More studies using diverse study designs, such as a longitudinal design, are needed to examine change in dementia literacy and worry among this population.

Rapid antigen tests, such as the Abbott BinaxNOW COVID-19 Ag Card (BinaxNOW), offer results more rapidly (approximately 15-30 minutes) and at a lower cost than do highly sensitive nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) (1). Rapid antigen tests have received Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for use in symptomatic persons (2), but data are lacking on test performance in asymptomatic persons to inform expanded screening testing to rapidly identify and isolate infected persons (3). To evaluate the performance of the BinaxNOW rapid antigen test, it was used along with real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing to analyze 3,419 paired specimens collected from persons aged ≥10 years at two community testing sites in Pima County, Arizona, during November 3-17, 2020. Viral culture was performed on 274 of 303 residual real-time RT-PCR specimens with positive results by either test (29 were not available for culture). Compared with real-time RT-PCR testing, the BinaxNOW antigen test had a sensitivity of 64.2% for specimens from symptomatic persons and 35.8% for specimens from asymptomatic persons, with near 100% specificity in specimens from both groups. Virus was cultured from 96 of 274 (35.0%) specimens, including 85 (57.8%) of 147 with concordant antigen and real-time RT-PCR positive results, 11 (8.9%) of 124 with false-negative antigen test results, and none of three with false-positive antigen test results. Among specimens positive for viral culture, sensitivity was 92.6% for symptomatic and 78.6% for asymptomatic individuals. When the pretest probability for receiving positive test results for SARS-CoV-2 is elevated (e.g., in symptomatic persons or in persons with a known COVID-19 exposure), a negative antigen test result should be confirmed by NAAT (1). Despite a lower sensitivity to detect infection, rapid antigen tests can be an important tool for screening because of their quick turnaround time, lower costs and resource needs, high specificity, and high positive predictive value (PPV) in settings of high pretest probability. The faster turnaround time of the antigen test can help limit transmission by more rapidly identifying infectious persons for isolation, particularly when used as a component of serial testing strategies., Competing Interests: All authors have completed and submitted the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors form for disclosure of potential conflicts of interest. No potential conflicts of interest were disclosed.

Genetic variation in SIRT1 affects obesity-related phenotypes in several populations. The purpose of this study was to determine whether variation in SIRT1 affects susceptibility to obesity or type 2 diabetes in Pima Indians, a population with very high prevalence and incidence rates of these diseases. Genotypic data from single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) identified by sequencing regions of SIRT1 combined with SNPs in/near SIRT1 from a prior genome-wide association study determined that 4 tag SNPs (rs7895833, rs10509291, rs7896005, and rs4746720) could capture information across this gene and its adjacent 5' region. The tag SNPs were genotyped in a population-based sample of 3501 Pima Indians (44% had diabetes, 58% female) for association with type 2 diabetes and BMI. Metabolic trait data and adipose biopsies were available on a subset of these subjects. Two tag SNPs, rs10509291 and rs7896005, were nominally associated with type 2 diabetes (P=0.01, OR=1.25 95%CI 1.05-1.48, and P=0.02, OR=1.17 95%CI 1.02-1.34, respectively; additive P values adjusted for age, sex, birth year, and family membership), but not BMI (adjusted P values 0.52 and 0.45, respectively). Among metabolically characterized subjects with normal glucose tolerance (N=243), those carrying the diabetes risk allele (T) for rs10509291 and (G) for rs7896005 had a reduced acute insulin response (AIR) to an intravenous glucose bolus (adjusted P=0.045 and 0.035, respectively). SIRT1 expression in adipose biopsies was negatively correlated with BMI (adjusted P=0.00001). We conclude that variation in SIRT1 is nominally associated with reduced AIR and increased risk for type 2 diabetes. SIRT1 expression in adipose is correlated with BMI, but it remains unknown whether this is a cause or consequence of obesity., (Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Objective: A prior genome-wide association (GWA) study in Pima Indians identified variants within PCLO that were associated with early-onset type 2 diabetes. PCLO encodes a presynaptic cytomatrix protein that functions as a Ca(2+) sensor that may be involved in insulin secretion and/or insulin action. Therefore, PCLO was analyzed as a candidate gene for type 2 diabetes., Research Design and Methods: Sequencing of PCLO identified four nonsynonymous variants and a 10-amino acid insertion. These variants, together with 100 additional variants identified by sequencing or chosen from databases, were genotyped for association analysis in the same 895 subjects analyzed in the prior GWA study (300 case subjects with diabetes onset at aged <25 years, 334 nondiabetic control subjects aged >45 years, and 261 discordant siblings of the case or control subjects for within-family analyses), as well as 415 nondiabetic Pima Indians who had been metabolically phenotyped for predictors of diabetes. Selected variants were further genotyped in a population-based sample of 3,501 Pima Indians., Results: Four variants were modestly associated with early-onset type 2 diabetes in both general and within-family analyses (P = 0.004-0.04, recessive model), where the diabetes risk allele was also nominally associated with a lower insulin-mediated glucose disposal rate (P = 0.009-0.14, recessive model) in nondiabetic Pima Indians. However, their association with diabetes in the population-based sample was weaker (P = 0.02-0.20, recessive model)., Conclusions: Variation within PCLO may have a modest effect on early-onset type 2 diabetes, possibly as a result of reduced insulin action, but has minimal, if any, impact on population-based risk for type 2 diabetes.

The muscarinic acetylcholine receptor subtype M3 (CHRM3) gene is expressed in islet beta-cells and has a role in stimulating insulin secretion; therefore, CHRM3 was analyzed as a candidate gene for type 2 diabetes in Pima Indians. Ten variants were genotyped in a family-based sample (n = 1,037), and 1 variant (rs3738435) located in the 5' untranslated region of an alternative transcript was found to be modestly associated with both early-onset type 2 diabetes and the acute insulin response in a small subset of these subjects. To better assess whether this variant has a role in acute insulin secretion, which could affect risk for early-onset type 2 diabetes, rs3738435 was genotyped in a larger group of normal glucose-tolerant Pima Indians who had measures of acute insulin secretion (n = 282) and a larger case-control group of Pima Indians selected for early-onset type 2 diabetes (n = 348 case subjects with age of onset <25 years; n = 392 nondiabetic control subjects aged >45 years). Genotyping in these larger sets of subjects confirmed that the C allele of rs3738435 was associated with a reduced acute insulin response (adjusted P = 0.00006) and was also modestly associated with increased risk of early-onset type 2 diabetes (adjusted P = 0.02).