The combined effect of the T2DM susceptibility genes is an important risk factor for T2DM in non-obese Japanese: a population based case-control study.

BACKGROUND: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a complex endocrine and metabolic disorder. Recently, several genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified many novel susceptibility loci for T2DM, and indicated that there are common genetic causes contributing to the susceptibility to T2DM in multiple populations worldwide. In addition, clinical and epidemiological studies have indicated that obesity is a major risk factor for T2DM. However, the prevalence of obesity varies among the various ethnic groups. We aimed to determine the combined effects of these susceptibility loci and obesity/overweight for development of T2DM in the Japanese. METHODS: Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in or near 17 susceptibility loci for T2DM, identified through GWAS in Caucasian and Asian populations, were genotyped in 333 cases with T2DM and 417 control subjects. RESULTS: We confirmed that the cumulative number of risk alleles based on 17 susceptibility loci for T2DM was an important risk factor in the development of T2DM in Japanese population (P<0.0001), although the effect of each risk allele was relatively small. In addition, the significant association between an increased number of risk alleles and an increased risk of T2DM was observed in the non-obese group (P<0.0001 for trend), but not in the obese/overweight group (P=0.88 for trend). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that there is an etiological heterogeneity of T2DM between obese/overweight and non-obese subjects.

Development of the visually impaired person guidance system using GPS.

Most of the visually impaired are able to walk independently, if they have the mental map of their walking area. However, in their unknown area, they cannot walk alone and they need a guide dog or help of others for walking. And not only a supporter of the visually impaired but a visually impaired person receives stress while walking. More over in Japan, there are about 300,000 visually impaired persons, and are about 900 guide dogs. These number of guide dogs are too few. Therefore, an auto navigation system for the visually impaired is required in Japan. Our objective is the development of the auto navigation system for the visually impaired. This navigation system obtains the position of an user (visually impaired user) by DGPS. From the digital map data base in our system and the position of an use are analyzed, and suitable route to the destination is calculated, and then our system guides the way to the destination to the user. In this paper, we'd like to report about our new navigation system for the visually impaired and report some experimental results of our system. From these results, we think our system will be a powerful for the visually impaired.