Currently, qigong and tai chi exercises are the two most common preventive as well as therapeutic interventions for chronic metabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). However, the quantitative evaluation of these interventions is limited. This study aimed to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of qigong and tai chi intervention in middle-aged and older adults with T2DM. The study included 103 eligible participants, who were randomized to participate for 12 weeks, in one of the following intervention groups for the treatment of T2DM: fitness qigong, tai chi, and control group. Three biochemical measures, including fasting plasma glucose (FPG), glycated hemoglobin (HbA1C), and C-peptide (C-P) levels, assessed at baseline and 12 weeks, served as the primary outcome measures. During the training process, 16 of the 103 participants dropped out. After the 12-week intervention, there were significant influences on HbA1C (F_2,83 = 4.88, p = 0.010) and C-P levels (F_2,83 = 3.64, p = 0.031). Moreover, significant reduction in C-P levels was observed after 12-week tai chi practice (p = 0.004). Furthermore, there was a significant negative correlation between the duration of T2DM and the relative changes in FPG levels after qigong intervention, and the relative changes in HbA1C levels were positively correlated with waist-to-height ratio after tai chi practice. Our study suggests that targeted qigong exercise might have a better interventional effect on patients with a longer duration of T2DM, while tai chi might be risky for people with central obesity. Trial registration: This trial was registered in Chinese Clinical Trial Registry. The registration number is ChiCTR180020069. The public title is “Health-care qigong · study for the prescription of chronic diabetes intervention.”

Significance: Speciation is the basis of the origin of biodiversity in nature. Sympatric speciation (SS) is still a controversial model of the origin of new species, since first proposed by Darwin in 1859. Here, we complement earlier genomic evidence with new analyses of transcriptome profiling, DNA editing, and microRNA, examined in the blind subterranean rodent, Spalax galili , in the Galilee Mountains, Israel, all substantiating SS with gene flow. Gene ontology enrichment of differentially expressed genes, in the abutting soil populations, highlights evolving reproductive isolation, despite a few interpopulation recombinants. Because sharply divergent geological, edaphic, climatic, and biotic interfaces abound in nature, we conclude that SS may be a common model of the origin of new species, as envisaged by Darwin.

Significance: Sympatric speciation (SS) has always been controversial since it was proposed by Darwin. Recently, we showed SS empirically in Spalax by amplified fragment-length polymorphism (AFLP), mitochondrial, and nuclear genomes. Similarly, SS in spiny mice, Acomys , from Evolution Canyon I (EC I), was earlier proposed by mtDNA and AFLP. Here, we show that full transcriptome data substantiates SS under sharp microclimatic and ecological divergence with gene flow, displaying extensive adaptive complexes to slope-specific stresses coupled with habitat choice and signals of reproductive isolation. Remarkably, strong natural selection across a sharply divergent ecological microsite overrules gene flow and advances SS, which is common at EC I. Because microsite ecological, geological, edaphic, and climatic divergences are widespread in nature, we conclude that SS might be a common mode of speciation.