Measurement of Carotid Artery Longitudinal Displacement.

<p><b>Panel A.</b> Image of the right common carotid artery. The overlay schematic of the tracing point locations (green circles) are used for the determination of longitudinal displacement. A region of interest was identified by measuring 0.5 cm caudal from the carotid bulb along the far wall of the distal common carotid artery, using an onscreen measuring tool (Microsoft Windows Ruler). The second and third points were placed 0.1 cm apart, extending caudally. Each point that was placed at the intima-media interface is tracked using a “speckle tracking” algorithm (TomTec, Unterscheissheim, Germany) that tracks specific pixel movement during the cardiac cycle. <b>Panel B.</b> Sample output of a longitudinal displacement waveform indicated by the solid blue line. This was generated using a “speckle tracking” algorithm (TomTec, Unterscheissheim, Germany) with a free-trace feature that makes no geometric assumptions about the shape of the object being analyzed. Longitudinal displacement (mm) is on the y-axis and time (ms) is on the x-axis. Arrows mark the maximum and minimum displacement of the second and third beats in the ultrasound loop. The dotted lines represent the total longitudinal displacement for these beats. Reported longitudinal displacement values are averaged over two cardiac cycles.</p

Bland-Altman Plot for Inter-Reader Reproducibility of Carotid Artery Longitudinal Displacement.

<p>The solid line at zero represents perfect inter-reader reproducibility. The second solid line at 0.012 represents the mean difference. The dashed lines represent +2 standard deviations (top) and -2 standard deviations (bottom) from the mean.</p

Baseline Subject Characteristics.

<p>All values are means (standard deviations).</p>*<p>Central blood pressures and stiffness measurements were obtained from 37 subjects in the placebo and 38 subjects in the vitamin D arms, respectively.</p><p>25OH Vitamin D = 25-hydroxyvitamin D.</p><p>DBP  =  diastolic blood pressure.</p><p>FMD  =  flow-mediated dilation.</p><p>HDL  =  high density lipoprotein.</p><p>LDL  =  low density lipoprotein.</p><p>SBP  =  systolic blood pressure.</p

Participant Characteristics by Tertiles of Carotid Artery Longitudinal displacement.

<p>Abbreviations: IMT = intima-media thickness; YEM = Young’s Elastic Modulus; DC = Distensibility coefficient; LD = longitudinal displacement.</p><p>Participant Characteristics by Tertiles of Carotid Artery Longitudinal displacement.</p

CONSORT 2010 Flow Diagram.

<p>The first 34 subjects were part of a pilot study performed under NCT 00690417. The remainder of the subjects were performed under NCT 01049048.</p

(A). Prevalence of Specific Major ECG Abnormalities. (B). Prevalence of Specific Minor ECG Abnormalities.

<p><a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0062311#pone-0062311-g002" target="_blank">Figure 2A</a> shows percentages of the specific major ECG abnormalities and <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0062311#pone-0062311-g002" target="_blank">figure 2B</a> shows percentages of the specific minor ECG abnormalities at baseline (blue) and at year 3 (red). Year 3 percentages include both continued smokers and those who abstained. All p-values for comparisons between baseline and year 3 ECG abnormalities were non-significant (<0.05). BBB = Bundle Branch Block; AV = Atrioventricular.</p

Prevalence of Major and Minor ECG Abnormalities.

<p>The percentage of subjects with major and minor ECG abnormalities at baseline (blue) and at year 3 (red). Year 3 percentages include both continued smokers and those who abstained. All p-values for comparisons between baseline and year 3 ECG abnormalities were non-significant (<0.05). <i>ECG = electrocardiogram. *Subjects may have had more than one major and/or minor ECG abnormalities. Each abnormality was tallied separately.</i></p

Subject Characteristics at Baseline and Year 3.

<p>ECG = electrocardiogram cpd = cigarettes per day.</p>*<p>Carbon monoxide levels for the current smokers at year 3 was 19.1(11.0) ppm.</p>**<p>Cigarettes per day for the current smokers at year 3 was 13.5 (8.2) cpd.</p

Comparison of Continuing Smokers and Abstainers at year 3.

<p>ECG = electrocardiogram cpd = cigarettes per day.</p