Markers of inflammation in South Asian and European infants from birth to 2 years in Manchester, UK

Inflammatory markers, including serum C-reactive protein (CRP), are predictors of coronary heart disease (CHD) in adults. South Asians in the UK have higher rates of CHD in adulthood than national rates.We tested the hypotheses that South Asian infants would have higher serum concentrations of CRP and homocysteine than European infants up to 2 years of age and that higher infant weight is associated with elevation of inflammatory markers. Infants of South Asian and European origin were investigated in a mixed cross sectional-longitudinal cohort study. Mothers were recruited ante-natally from St Mary’s Hospital,Manchester by postal invitation and telephone call to non-responders. Infants with metabolic or congenital abnormalities, known syndromes or pre-maturity were excluded. Measurements were collected at birth and either 3, 6, 12 or 24 months. High sensitivity CRP and homocysteine were measured by an immulite immunoassay. We used mixed linear modelling to assess whether infant weight, ethnicity, length of follow-up or their interaction were associated with inflammatory makers in infants during follow-up. Data are presented on 306 infants (109 South Asian and 197 European). We found that European infants had higher serum CRP than South Asian infants during follow-up which was of borderline significance.There was no difference in serum homocysteine between ethnic groups during followup and no significant interaction between ethnicity and follow-up. Infant weight was significantly associated with CRP but not homocysteine. In this ongoing longitudinal study,we found little difference in inflammatory markers in infants from birth to 2 years despite markedly higher rates of CHD in South Asian than European adults. Life course exposure to risk factors may play a more dominant role in the development of CHD.

Nation-state belonging among Asian Australians and the question of transnationalism

Research shows that migrants are likely to develop multiple attachments to local and global allegiances that lie beyond the boundaries of the nation-state. Drawing on the Asian Australian experience as a point of departure, this article explores whether Asian Australian migrants from a range of different social and cultural backgrounds are more or less likely than the rest of the Australian population to feel a sense of belonging to the nation-state. Using the Australian Survey of Social Attitudes 2003, the results show that Asian Australian migrants have similar views towards the nation-state as the rest of the Australian population. Given that research on the Asian Australian migrant experience is predominantly located in cultural studies, the results suggest the importance of using survey research as another avenue to understand the migrant experience.

Estimating money demand functions for South Asian countries

In this paper, we estimate a money demand function for a panel of five South Asian countries. We find that the money demand and its determinants, namely real income, real exchange rate and short-term domestic and foreign interest rates are cointegrated both for individual countries as well as for the panel, and panel long-run elasticities provide robust evidence of statistically significant relationships between money demand and its determinants. Our test for panel Granger causality suggests short-run causality running from all variables, except foreign interest rate, to money demand, and we find evidence that except for Nepal money demand functions are stable.

A culturally appropriate diet and lifestyle intervention can successfully treat the components of metabolic syndrome in female Pakistani immigrants residing in Melbourne, Australia

This study was designed to test the effectiveness of a culturally appropriate diet and lifestyle intervention to treat metabolic syndrome in female Pakistani immigrants residing in Melbourne, Australia. Forty Pakistani women with metabolic syndrome (aged 20-50 years) completed a 12-week culturally appropriate diet and exercise program. Results indicate that, before intervention, participants were sedentary, taking 4000 ± 22.6 steps per day, and had an obese-classified body mass index (BMI) of 29.2 ± 0.46 kg/m2 (BMI was categorized in accordance with guidelines specifically designed for Asians) and high waist circumference of 132 ± 25.95 cm. Participants were hypertensive (systolic, 135 ± 1.3 mm Hg; diastolic, 86 ± 0.68 mm Hg), were dyslipidemic (total cholesterol, 6.8 ± 0.15 mmol/L; triglycerides, 2.9 ± 0.09 mmol/L), and had elevated blood glucose (6.4 ± 0.33 mmol/L) and fasting blood insulin (45 ± 6.3 μU/mL) levels. After the 12-week culturally appropriate intervention, activity increased (8600 ± 596.7 steps per day, P < .05); and BMI (27.8 ± 0.45 kg/m2), blood pressure (systolic, 125 ± 1.4 mm Hg; diastolic, 80 ± 0.6 mm Hg), cholesterol (5.5 ± 0.1 mmol/L), blood glucose (5.9 ± 0.33 mmol/L), and blood insulin (24.14 ± 1.8 μU/mL) levels were all significantly reduced (P < .05). This study revealed that the Pakistani female migrants who had metabolic syndrome and its components can successfully be treated via a culturally appropriate diet and lifestyle intervention. The success of the current program raises the possibility that other high-risk ethnic groups can also be treated with a culturally appropriate program.

Over and undernutrition in the children of Australian immigrants : assessing the influence of birthplace of primary carer and english language use at home on the nutritional status of 4-5-year-olds

Objective. To document the relationship between childhood nutrition status and ethnicity (defined as the birthplace of primary carer and English language use at home) using a nationally representative sample of 4- to 5-year-old children. Design and participants. Cross-sectional population survey of 4 983 4- to 5-year-old children (2 537 boys and 2 446 girls) as part of Wave 1 (2004) of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. Main outcome measures. Overweight/obesity and thinness using the newly published body mass index cut-off points of Cole (2007). Results. In total, 20.6% (95%CI 19.5, 21.7) of children aged 4 to 5 years were estimated to be overweight or obese, while 1.0% (95%CI 0.8, 1.3) was thin. Unadjusted analyses showed a significant relationship between childhood overweight/obesity and primary carer's country of birth (χ2=15.9, p<0.01), but the significance became minimal after adjusting for socio-economic and demographic factors. The adjusted model suggests that boys of primary carer's born in Europe (excluding UK and Ireland) were less likely to be overweight/obese than boys whose primary carers were born in Australia, but the overall effect size was negligible. No difference was found for girls. In addition, boys who mainly spoke English at home were less likely to be overweight/obese (OR=0.49; 95%CI 0.27, 0.88; p=0.017) and thin (OR=0.27; 95%CI 0.12, 0.62; p=0.002) than boys who spoke a language other than English at home. No difference was found for girls. Conclusions. There is a relationship between main language spoken at home and nutritional status in 4-5-year-old boys but not girls. The use of English language at home may be a protective factor for normal weight in young boys. After adjustment for socio-economic and demographics characteristics, there was a negligible relationship between overweight/obesity in children and their primary carer's country of birth.

Cosmopolitan perspectives on European and Asian transnationalism

The article explores the implications of major social transformation in Asia for Europe. It specifically addresses expressions of cosmopolitan engagement between transnational organizations representing Asia and Europe. Within Asia, there is some evidence to indicate that cosmopolitanism is becoming a significant factor in culture and in politics, as is illustrated by increasing transnational cooperation within Asia and the dilution of national interests. A major question is whether such forms of cooperation will play a significant role in Asia's relation to Europe and whether as a consequence European—Asian relations will develop in a direction congruent with cosmopolitan principles. The thesis of the article is that if its momentum continues to develop, cosmopolitan relations and normative regionalism in Asia and Europe are significant factors in reshaping the world and transregional order, and that critical cosmopolitanism can be an alternative to nationalism and to narrowly defined globalization.

Modelling new public management in an Asian context : public sector reform in Malaysia

This article combines the key elements of new public management theories with theories of privatisation and total quality management. The key elements identified in this review are used to establish a general model of new public management. Based on western theorising, the model is acknowledged as having a cultural bias. As a corrective, the article reviews the empirical experience of Malaysian public sector reform between 1980 and 2000, with the findings being used to identifying country-specific characteristics as a means of refining the model in a way that reflects that experience. The discussion concludes by setting out a revised model of new public management which takes account of its application in a Malaysian context. The contention is that the process of enquiry leading to this contingent model of new public management might be adapted along similar lines for the purposes of analysing the application of public sector reform in other developing countries.

Examining the asymmetric behaviour of macroeconomic aggregates in Asian economies

The goal of this paper is to test for asymmetric behaviour of macroeconomic aggregates for three Asian economies; namely, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Korea. Whether macroeconomic aggregates can be characterised as asymmetric has important implications for policy-making and econometric modelling including forecasting. We examine two forms of asymmetries; specifically deepness, which arises when a detrended time series contains an asymmetric distribution, and steepness, which arises when the first difference of a series contains an asymmetric distribution. Overall, our findings suggest that for all three countries, the bulk of the series display asymmetry behaviour.