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The article reports on the restoration of properties of the U.S. corporations and citizens in Vietnam. It is noted that the U.S. has lifted its economic embargo on Vietnam in 1994. The U.S. government sent a delegation to Hanoi to begin discussion on Vietnam's payment of $200 million in the U.S. claims. It is informed that almost a year later, the U.S. and Vietnam announced that Vietnam would pay the full value of the Claims. The U.S., on its part, would unfreeze Vietnamese assets held by the U.S. banks since 1975.

Type 2 diabetes (DM) is related to higher bone mineral density (BMD) in older white women, perhaps due to obesity and higher fasting insulin levels, but less data exists for men or those with impaired fasting glucose (IFG). We performed a cross-sectional analyses of 2000-02 baseline data from 5,995 community dwelling, ambulatory men aged ≥65 years from Birmingham, AL; Minneapolis, MN; Palo Alto, CA; Pittsburgh, PA; Portland, OR; and San Diego, CA in the Osteoporotic Fractures in Men (MrOS) Study. DM was defined as self-report of a diagnosis by a physician, hypoglycemic medication or fasting glucose (FG) ≥126 mg/dl; IFG was defined as FG ≥100 and < 126 mg/dl. BMD was measured by DXA (QDR 4500W, Hologic Inc) at the femoral neck and total hip and in a subset of 3207, by quantitative computerized tomography (QCT) for vertebral and femoral neck trabecular volumetric BMD (vBMD). Participants missing fasting blood draw and DM/IFG status were excluded. Of the remaining 5,556 participants (age 73.6±5.9 years; 90% white), 16% had DM and 37% had IFG. After adjustment for age, race, lean and fat mass, and fasting insulin, BMD and volumetric BMD remained 4-5% and 10-18% higher respectively in DM men and 1-2% and 5-8% higher respectively in men with IFG compared to men with normal FG for all measures (Table 1). Both diabetes and IFG were positively associated with higher BMD in these older men. Men with IFG had BMD intermediate between men with DM and normal FG. Higher lean and fat mass and higher fasting insulin levels did not account for these associations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unlabelled: In a prospective study of 1446 black and white adults 70-79 yr of age (average follow-up, 6.4 yr), vertebral TrvBMD from QCT predicted non-spine fracture in black and white women and black men, but it was not a stronger predictor than total hip aBMD from DXA. Hip aBMD predicted non-spine fracture in black men., Introduction: Areal BMD (aBMD) at multiple skeletal sites predicts clinical non-spine fractures in white and black women and white men. The predictive ability of vertebral trabecular volumetric BMD (TrvBMD) for all types of clinical non-spine fractures has never been tested or compared with hip aBMD. Also, the predictive accuracy of hip aBMD has never been tested prospectively for black men., Materials and Methods: We measured vertebral TrvBMD with QCT and hip aBMD with DXA in 1446 elderly black and white adults (70-79 yr) in the Health, Aging, and Body Composition Study. One hundred fifty-two clinical non-spine fractures were confirmed during an average of 6.4 yr of >95% complete follow-up. We used Cox proportional hazards regression to determine the hazard ratio (HR) and 95% CIs of non-spine fracture per SD reduction in hip aBMD and vertebral TrvBMD., Results: Vertebral TrvBMD and hip aBMD were both associated with risk of non-spine fracture in black and white women and black men. The age-adjusted HR of fracture per SD decrease in BMD was highest in black men (hip aBMD: HR = 2.04, 95% CI = 1.03, 4.04; vertebral TrvBMD: HR = 3.00, 95% CI = 1.29, 7.00) and lowest in white men (hip aBMD: HR = 1.23, 95% CI = 0.85, 1.78; vertebral TrvBMD: HR = 1.06, 95% CI = 0.73, 1.54). Adjusted for age, sex, and race, each SD decrease in hip aBMD was associated with a 1.67-fold (95% CI = 1.36, 2.07) greater risk of fracture, and each SD decrease in vertebral TrvBMD was associated with a 1.47-fold (95% CI = 1.18, 1.82) greater risk. Combining measurements of hip aBMD and vertebral TrvBMD did not improve fracture prediction., Conclusions: Low BMD measured by either spine QCT or hip DXA predicts non-spine fracture in older black and white women and black men. Vertebral TrvBMD is not a stronger predictor than hip aBMD of non-spine fracture.