In exploration of low-cost electrocatalysts for direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs), Pt modified tungsten carbide (WC) materials are found to be great potential candidates for decreasing Pt usage whilst exhibiting satisfactory reactivity. In this work, the mechanisms, onset potentials and activity for electrooxidation of methanol were studied on a series of Pt-modified WC catalysts where the bar...

BACKGROUND In Japan, waist circumference (WC) percentiles to screen for childhood metabolic syndrome (MetS) are unavailable. The objectives of this study were to develop WC and WC-to-height ratio (WC/Ht) percentile curves by age and sex for Japanese children, and to test their utility in screening for MetS in children with obesity who are otherwise healthy. METHODS The WC and WC/Ht percentile...

BACKGROUND Waist circumference (WC), a measure of abdominal obesity, is associated with higher mortality independent of body mass index (BMI). Less is known about the association between WC and mortality within categories of BMI or for the very high levels of WC that are now common. METHODS We examined the association between WC and mortality among 48,500 men and 56,343 women, 50 years or old...

OBJECTIVES To determine whether for a given waist circumference (WC), a larger hip circumference (HC) was associated with a reduced risk of insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes (T2D), hypertension and cardiovascular disease (CVD) in HIV-infected patients. A second objective was to determine whether, for a given WC, the addition of HC improved upon estimates of abdominal adiposity, in particular ...

Observational evidence shows that the Walker circulation (WC) in the tropical Pacific has strengthened in recent decades. In this study, we examine the WC trend for 1979–2005 and its relationship with the precipitation associated with the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) using the sea surface temperature (SST)-constrained Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project (AMIP) simulations of the Co...

OBJECTIVE Percent fat is often considered the reference for establishing the magnitude of adipose tissue accumulation and the risk of excess adiposity. However, the increasing recognition of a strong link between central adiposity and metabolic disturbances led us to test whether waist circumference (WC) is more highly correlated with metabolic syndrome components than percent fat and other rel...

OBJECTIVE Waist circumference (WC) is a useful anthropometric tool to estimate cardiometabolic risk. However, BMI influences the relationship between WC and health. This study determined BMI-, sex- and race-specific WC thresholds. METHODS The study sample included 6,452 whites and African Americans (AA) aged 18-64 years. WC, BMI, and cardiovascular risk factors were assessed in the clinic. An...

OBJECTIVES Little is known about the effect of waist circumference (WC) on brachial artery pulse wave velocity (baPWV) independent of hip circumference (HC). Therefore, this study aimed to dissociate specific effect of WC on baPWV independent of HC. METHODS Of 1,053 rural residents (2004-2005), 777 subjects with no known history of coronary artery diseases or diabetes mellitus over 40 yr were...

By this study we seek the expectable range of waist circumference (WC) for every degree of body mass index (BMI), which will serve to studies targeting ascertaining the health risk. We studied 2,932 patients (39.6% men and 60.4% women, between 18 and 96 years ) of the same ethnic group who consecutively attended outpatient departments of our clinics between 2000 and 2004. BMI correlated linearl...

BACKGROUND School-based screening and prevention programs for adiposity generally target school children in grades 4 and 6 (age 9-11 years). The aims of this study were to evaluate the validity of body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) in identifying abdominal adiposity in fifth-grade Japanese school children and to determine optimal cut-off values for...