Circulating 250HD, dietary vitamin D, PTH, and calcium associations with incident cardiovascular disease and mortality: The MIDSPAN Family Study

<p>Context: Observational studies relating circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD) and dietary vitamin D intake to cardiovascular disease (CVD) have reported conflicting results.</p> <p>Objective: Our objective was to investigate the association of 25OHD, dietary vitamin D, PTH, and adjusted calcium with CVD and mortality in a Scottish cohort.</p> <p>Design and Setting: TheMIDSPAN Family Study is a prospective study of 1040 men and 1298 women from the West of Scotland recruited in 1996 and followed up for a median 14.4 yr. Participants: Locally resident adult offspring of a general population cohort were recruited from 1972–1976.</p> <p>Main Outcome Measures: CVD events (n = 416) and all-cause mortality (n=100) were evaluated.</p> <p>Results: 25OHD was measured using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry in available plasma (n=2081). Median plasma 25OHD was 18.6 ng/ml, and median vitamin D intake was 3.2 µ g/d (128 IU/d). Vitamin D deficiency (25OHD<15 ng/ml) was present in 689 participants (33.1%). There was no evidence that dietary vitamin D intake, PTH, or adjusted calcium were associated with CVD events or with mortality. Vitamin D deficiency was not associated with CVD (fully adjusted hazard ratio=1.00; 95% confidence interval=0.77–1.31). Results were similar after excluding patients who reported an activity-limiting longstanding illness at baseline (18.8%) and those taking any vitamin supplements (21.7%). However, there was some evidence vitamin D deficiency was associated with all-cause mortality (fully adjusted hazard ratio=2.02; 95% confidence interval=1.17–3.51).</p> <p>Conclusion: Vitamin D deficiency was not associated with risk of CVD in this cohort with very low 25OHD. Future trials of vitamin D supplementation in middle-aged cohorts should be powered to detect differences inmortality outcomes as well as CVD.(J Clin EndocrinolMetab97: 0000 –0000, 2012)</p&gt

Does COVID-19 Vaccination Warrant the Classical Principle " ofelein i mi vlaptin"?

The current severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic warrants an imperative necessity for effective and safe vaccination, to restrain Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) including transmissibility, morbidity, and mortality. In this regard, intensive medical and biological research leading to the development of an arsenal of vaccines, albeit incomplete preconditioned evaluation, due to emergency. The subsequent scientific gap raises some concerns in the medical community and the general public. More specifically, the accelerated vaccine development downgraded the value of necessary pre-clinical studies to elicit medium- and long-term beneficial or harmful consequences. Previous experience and pathophysiological background of coronaviruses' infections and vaccine technologies, combined with the global vaccines' application, underlined the obligation of a cautious and qualitative approach, to illuminate potential vaccination-related adverse events. Moreover, the high SARS-CoV-2 mutation potential and the already aggregated genetical alterations provoke a rational vagueness and uncertainty concerning vaccines' efficacy against dominant strains and the respective clinical immunity. This review critically summarizes existing evidence and queries regarding SARS-CoV-2 vaccines, to motivate scientists' and clinicians' interest for an optimal, individualized, and holistic management of this unprecedented pandemic

Effect of Functional Capacity Evaluation information on the judgment of physicians about physical work ability in the context of disability claims

Purpose To test whether Functional Capacity Evaluation (FCE) information lead insurance physicians (IPs) to change their judgment about the physical work ability of claimants with musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). Methods Twenty-seven IPs scored twice the physical work ability of two claimants for 12 specified activities, using a visual analogue scale. One claimant performed an FCE, the other served as a control. Outcome measure was the difference between experimental and control group in number of shifts in the physical work ability for the total of 12 specified activities. Results The IPs changed their judgment about the work ability 141 times when using FCE information compared to 102 times when not using this information (P-value = 0.001), both in the direction of more and less ability. Conclusions The IPs change their judgment of the physical work ability of claimants with MSDs in the context of disability claim procedures more often when FCE information is provide

The genetic history of the Southern Arc: a bridge between West Asia and Europe

By sequencing 727 ancient individuals from the Southern Arc (Anatolia and its neighbors in Southeastern Europe and West Asia) over 10,000 years, we contextualize its Chalcolithic period and Bronze Age (about 5000 to 1000 BCE), when extensive gene flow entangled it with the Eurasian steppe. Two streams of migration transmitted Caucasus and Anatolian/Levantine ancestry northward, and the Yamnaya pastoralists, formed on the steppe, then spread southward into the Balkans and across the Caucasus into Armenia, where they left numerous patrilineal descendants. Anatolia was transformed by intra–West Asian gene flow, with negligible impact of the later Yamnaya migrations. This contrasts with all other regions where Indo-European languages were spoken, suggesting that the homeland of the Indo-Anatolian language family was in West Asia, with only secondary dispersals of non-Anatolian Indo-Europeans from the steppe

Joint illumination and visible-light communication systems : data rates and extra power consumption

Visible Light Communications (VLC) have been promoted as an energy-efficient Gb/s-technology for indoor settings, since VLC can be merged with the illumination functionality. As a result, Joint Illumination and visible-light Communication (JIC) systems are perceived as a green technology and the research on VLC mainly focuses on increasing the data rates. In this paper, we demonstrate that the communication functionality of JIC systems comes always with an extra power consumption compared to illumination-only systems due to fundamental limitations in the LED sources operation. Furthermore, our analysis shows that apart from the LED sources, the extra power consumption of JIC systems depends on the illumination pattern and the JIC drivers. Finally, by examining jointly the maximum transmission rates (communication capacity) of JIC systems and their power consumption, we are able to judge their power efficiency compared to other competing technologies and determine potential application areas

Joint illumination and visible-light communication systems : data rates and extra power consumption

Visible Light Communications (VLC) have been promoted as an energy-efficient Gb/s-technology for indoor settings, since VLC can be merged with the illumination functionality. As a result, Joint Illumination and visible-light Communication (JIC) systems are perceived as a green technology and the research on VLC mainly focuses on increasing the data rates. In this paper, we demonstrate that the communication functionality of JIC systems comes always with an extra power consumption compared to illumination-only systems due to fundamental limitations in the LED sources operation. Furthermore, our analysis shows that apart from the LED sources, the extra power consumption of JIC systems depends on the illumination pattern and the JIC drivers. Finally, by examining jointly the maximum transmission rates (communication capacity) of JIC systems and their power consumption, we are able to judge their power efficiency compared to other competing technologies and determine potential application areas