In search of respect and continuity of care: Hungarian women's experiences with midwifery-led, community birth.

Introduction: To describe and compare intervention rates and experiences of respectful care when Hungarian women opt to give birth in the community.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional online survey (N = 1257) in 2014. We calculated descriptive statistics comparing obstetric procedure rates, respectful care indicators, and autonomy (MADM scale) across four models of care (public insurance; chosen doctor or chosen midwife in the public system; private midwife-led community birth).

Time to glucose peak during an oral glucose tolerance test identifies prediabetes risk.

Context: Morphological characteristics of the glucose curve during an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) (time to peak and shape) may reflect different phenotypes of insulin secretion and action, but their ability to predict diabetes risk is uncertain.

Objective: To compare the ability of time to glucose peak and curve shape to detect prediabetes and β-cell function.

Design And Participants: In a cross-sectional evaluation using an OGTT, 145 adults without diabetes (age 42±9 years (mean±SD), range 24-62 years, BMI 29.

Stress Measured by Allostatic Load Score Varies by Reason for Immigration: The Africans in America Study.

Objective: Reason for immigration as a biological stress has not been studied in Africans. Our goal was to determine in African immigrants, if biological stress measured by allostatic load score (ALS) varies by reason for immigration.

Methods: Using an ALS which had been previously developed with the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data to assess stress due to racism and nativity, ALS was calculated in 85 African immigrants (67% male, age 42 ± 10 years).

The Association between Stress Measured by Allostatic Load Score and Physiologic Dysregulation in African Immigrants: The Africans in America Study.

Introduction: Allostatic load score (ALS) summarizes the physiological effect of stress on cardiovascular, metabolic and immune systems. As immigration is stressful, ALS could be affected.

Objective: Associations between age of immigration, reason for immigration, and unhealthy assimilation behavior and ALS were determined in 238 African immigrants to the United States (age 40 ± 10, mean ± SD, range 21-64 years).

Glycated Albumin Identifies Prediabetes Not Detected by Hemoglobin A1c: The Africans in America Study.

Background: Following immigration to the US, many Africans transition from a low-normal to a high-normal or overweight body mass index (BMI). This weight change is associated with a high rate of prediabetes in the nonobese. Studies in East Asians reveal that glycated albumin is effective in identifying prediabetes in nonobese Asians.

Variation in the Calculation of Allostatic Load Score: 21 Examples from NHANES.

After decades of resistance, there is now a genuine consensus that disease cannot be prevented or even successfully treated unless the role of stress is addressed alongside traditionally recognized factors such as genes and the environment. Measurement of allostatic load, which is quantified by the allostatic load score (ALS), is one of the most frequently used methods to assess the physiologic response to stress. Even though there is universal agreement that in the calculation of ALS, biomarkers from three categories should be included (cardiovascular, metabolic and immune), enormous variation exists in how ALS is calculated.