Incidence of Hypertension in a Cohort of Spanish University Graduates:The SUN Study

Hypertension is a major public health problem. However, no estimates of age- and sex-specific incidences are available for the Spanish population. Our objective was to estimate the incidence of hypertension in a cohort of university graduates in Spain. We followed up 5648 individuals aged 25-65 years who were initially free of hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease for a median of 30 months. New diagnoses of hypertension were identified using mailed questionnaires. We validated the self-reported diagnosis of hypertension. In 18 250 person-years of follow-up, we identified 248 new cases of hypertension. The unadjusted incidences of hypertension in women and men were 8.2 per 1000 person-years (95% CI, 6.7-10.1) and 21.8 per 1000 person-years (95% CI, 18.6-25.4), respectively. The cumulative probability of receiving a medical diagnosis of hypertension by the age of 65 years was 50% among women and 72% among men. In conclusion, we have provided new evidence confirming that hypertension is one of the most important public health problems in Spain

ECG, an essential tool to guide arrhythmic mitral valve prolapse diagnosis

A 35-year-old man was referred for cardiac check-up because of suspected reflex syncope. He underwent a tilt-test challenge without syncope provocation. The electrocardiography (ECG) showed sinus rhythm with polymorphic premature ventricular contractions (PVC), with right bundle branch block morpholog

Low-fat dairy consumption and reduced risk of hypertension: the Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra (SUN) cohort

BACKGROUND: Some observational studies have shown a beneficial effect of dairy consumption on blood pressure, especially in overweight and relatively young (<40 y) persons. However, no results from prospective studies conducted in a free-living population exist that show this association in middle-aged adults. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to assess whether total, low-fat, and whole-fat dairy consumption was associated prospectively with the risk of hypertension. DESIGN: This was a prospective study conducted in 5880 university graduates in Spain, aged >20 y in 2000 (mean age: 37 y), free of hypertension and cardiovascular disease at baseline, and followed-up with mailed questionnaires for a median of 27 mo. Dairy consumption was assessed with a previously validated semiquantitative food-frequency questionnaire. RESULTS: One hundred eighty new cases of hypertension were identified. The hazard ratio of hypertension between extreme quintiles of low-fat dairy product consumption was 0.46 (95% CI: 0.26, 0.84; P for trend = 0.02) after adjustment for the main known risk factors for hypertension and several dietary factors. No significant association between whole-fat dairy products or total calcium intake and incident hypertension was seen. CONCLUSION: In this Mediterranean cohort, low-fat dairy consumption, but not whole-fat dairy consumption, was associated with a lower risk of incident hypertension

Application of Deep Learning for Quality Assessment of Atrial Fibrillation ECG Recordings

[EN] In the last years, atrial fibrillation (AF) has become one of the most remarkable health problems in the developed world. This arrhythmia is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular events, being its early detection an unresolved challenge. To palliate this issue, long-term wearable electrocardiogram (ECG) recording systems are used, because most of AF episodes are asymptomatic and very short in their initial stages. Unfortunately, portable equipments are very susceptible to be contaminated with different kind of noises, since they work in highly dynamics and ever-changing environments. Within this scenario, the correct identification of free-noise ECG segments results critical for an accurate and robust AF detection. Hence, this work presents a deep learning-based algorithm to identify high-quality intervals in single-lead ECG recordings obtained from patients with paroxysmal AF. The obtained results have provided a remarkable ability to classify between high- and low-quality ECG segments about 92%, only misclassifying around 7% of clean AF intervals as noisy segments. These outcomes have overcome most previous ECG quality assessment algorithms also dealing with AF signals by more than 20%.This research has been supported by the grants DPI2017-83952-C3 from MINECO/AEI/FEDER EU, SBPLY/17/180501/000411 from Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha, AICO/2019/036 from Generalitat Valenciana and FEDER 2018/11744.Huerta, A.; Martinez-Rodrigo, A.; Arias, MA.; Langley, P.; Rieta, JJ.; Alcaraz, R. (2020). Application of Deep Learning for Quality Assessment of Atrial Fibrillation ECG Recordings. IEEE. 1-4. https://doi.org/10.22489/CinC.2020.367S1

Numerical Simulation of the effect adiabatic temperature increase in martensitic transformation of austenitic steels

The predictions of the constitutive model agree with experimental results in terms of macroscopy stress-strain curves and volume fraction of martensite formed during loadin

Gln27Glu polymorphism in the beta2 adrenergic receptor gene and lipid metabolism during exercise in obese women

BACKGROUND: The Glu27Glu genotype in the beta-2-adrenergic receptor (ADRB2) is associated with fat mass, body mass index and obesity in females. In our population, we previously found an association of higher body mass index (BMI) among women who reported more physical activity and carried the Glu27 allele as compared to non carriers with the same level of activity. OBJECTIVE: To examine the lipid metabolism differences, both at rest and during submaximal exercise in ADRB2 Glu27Glu vs Gln27Gln obese women. SUBJECTS: Eight obese women with the Glu27Glu genotype (age, 43±5 y; body mass index (BMI), 31.7±0.9 kg/m2; percentage fat mass, 42.0±1.3; WHR, 0.83±0.02; and VO2max, 21.6±0.9 ml/kg/min) were compared with seven obese women with the Gln27Gln genotype (age, 43±5 y; BMI, 33.9±1.3 kg/m2; percentage fat mass, 41.6±1.2; WHR, 0.83±0.02; and VO2max, 20.6±0.8 ml/kg/min). MEASUREMENTS: The ADRB2 polymorphism was identified by PCR-RFLP. Respiratory quotient was determined by indirect calorimetry at baseline, during 1 h of walking on a treadmill and 1 h after the exercise. Plasma triglycerides, glycerol, FFA, hydroxybutyrate, glucose and lactate were assayed by spectrophotometric methods. Insulin, leptin and progesterone were measured by radioimmunoassay. Adrenaline and noradrenaline were quantified by high performance liquid chromatography. RESULTS: The ADRB2 Glu27Glu subjects had lower plasma glycerol (P=0.047) and lower hydroxybutyrate (P=0.001) throughout the study than the Gln27Gln group. Plasma triglycerides (P=0.001), lactate (P<0.05) and serum insulin (P<0.05) remained higher in the Glu27Glu group vs the Gln27Gln group. The respiratory quotient (RQ) was higher in the Glu27Glu obese women along the study (P=0.046), and fat oxidation was significantly lower in this group during the recovery (P=0.048). The other variables did not differ statistically between groups. CONCLUSION: These data suggest that both lipolysis and fat oxidation promoted by an acute submaximal exercise intervention could be blunted in the polymorphic ADRB2 Glu27Glu group of our female obese population

Dehydro­leucodin: a guaiane-type sesquiterpene lactone

Dehydro­leucodin [systematic name: (1S,6S,2R)-9,13-dimeth­yl-5-methyl­ene-3-oxatricyclo­[8.3.0.02,6]trideca-9,12-diene-4,11-dione], C15H16O3, is a guanolide isolated from Artemisia douglasiana. The fused-ring system contains a seven-membered ring that adopts a chair conformation, a fused planar cyclo­pentenone ring and a five-membered lactone ring fused in envelope conformation. The absolute structure determined by X-ray analysis agrees with that previously assigned to this compound by NMR studies [Bohlmann & Zdero (1972 ▶). Tetra­hedron Lett. 13, 621–624] and also with that of leucodine, a closely related guaianolide [Martinez et al. (1988 ▶). J. Nat. Prod. 51, 221–228]

Nitric oxide produces HLA-G nitration and induces metalloprotease-dependent shedding creating a tolerogenic milieu

Human leucocyte antigen G (HLA-G) is a tolerogenic molecule that protects the fetus from maternal immune attack, may favour tumoral immunoescape and is up-regulated in viral and inflammatory diseases. The aim of this work was to discover if nitric oxide (NO) could affect HLA-G expression or function because NO is an important modulator of innate and adaptive immunity. For this purpose HLA-G expression and function were analysed following treatment with a NO donor or a peroxynitrite donor in various cell lines expressing HLA-G either spontaneously or upon transfection. Results showed NO-dependent nitration of both cellular and soluble HLA-G protein, but not all HLA-G moieties underwent nitration. Endogenous biosynthesis of NO by both U-937-HLA-G1 and M8-HLA-G5 stable transfectants also caused HLA-G nitration. The NO decreased total HLA-G cellular protein content and expression on the cell surface, while increasing HLA-G shedding into the culture medium. This effect was post-transcriptional and the result of metalloprotease activity. By contrast, NO pretreatment did not affect HLA-G capability to suppress NK cytotoxicity and lymphocyte proliferation. Our studies show that NO regulates the availability of HLA-G molecules without modifying their biological activities

Hypothesis-oriented food patterns and incidence of hypertension: 6-year follow-up of the SUN (Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra) prospective cohort

Objective To study the association between adherence to several a priori-defined healthy food patterns and the risk of hypertension. Design Prospective, multipurpose, dynamic cohort study (recruitment permanently open). We followed up 10 800 men and women (all of them university graduates), who were initially free of hypertension, for a variable period (range 2–6 years, median 4·6 years). During follow-up, 640 participants reported a new medical diagnosis of hypertension. Baseline diet was assessed using a validated 136-item FFQ. Validated information about non-dietary potential confounders was also gathered. We calculated adherence to fifteen different hypothesis-oriented food patterns and assessed the association between each of them and incident hypertension using multivariable Cox models. Setting The SUN (Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra – University of Navarra Follow-up) Project, Spain. Subjects Participants recruited to the SUN cohort before October 2005 were eligible for inclusion; after excluding those with self-reported hypertension or CVD at baseline, or with extreme total energy intake, data of 10 800 were analysed. Results Higher adherence to the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet (range of the score: 0 to 5) was significantly associated with a lower risk for developing hypertension (P for trend = 0·02). The other food patterns showed no significant association with incident hypertension. Conclusions Our results support a long-term protection of the DASH diet against the incidence of hypertension, but we found no evidence of a similar inverse association with hypertension for any other a priori-defined healthy food pattern