Aspirin, non-aspirin analgesics and the risk of hypertension in the SUN cohort.

The use of aspirin and non-aspirin analgesics has been associated with changes in blood pressure. The aim of this study was to investigate prospectively the association between the regular use of aspirin and non-aspirin analgesics and the incidence of hypertension. METHODS: The SUN project is an ongoing, continuously expanding, prospective cohort of Spanish university graduates initially free of hypertension, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer; 9986 (mean age 36 years) were recruited during 1999-2005 and followed up for a mean of 51 months. Regular aspirin and non-aspirin analgesic use and the presence of other risk factors for hypertension were assessed by questionnaire at baseline, and the incidence of hypertension was assessed using biennial follow-up questionnaires. RESULTS: In total, 543 new cases of hypertension were identified during follow-up. Regular aspirin use (i.e. 2 or more days/week) was associated with a higher risk of hypertension (hazard ratio=1.45; 95% confidence interval, 1.02-2.04) after adjustment for various confounding factors. Regular use of non-aspirin analgesic drugs was also associated with a higher risk of hypertension (hazard ratio=1.69; 95% confidence interval, 1.28-2.23). CONCLUSIONS: The regular use of aspirin and non-aspirin analgesics were both associated with an increased risk of developing hypertension, independently of other risk factors

Consumo de alcohol e incidencia de hipertensión en una cohorte mediterránea: el estudio SUN

Introduction and objectives. To assess prospectively the association between alcohol consumption, including alcoholic beverage preference and days of consumption per week, and the risk of hypertension in a Mediterranean cohort. Methods. We prospectively followed 9,963 Spanish men and women initially without hypertension. Self-reported and validated data on diet and hypertension diagnoses were collected. Results. During follow-up (median [interquartile range], 4.2 [2.5-6.1] years), 554 incident cases of hypertension were identified over a total of 43,562 person-years. The hazard ratio for hypertension among those who consumed alcohol on ≥5 days per week was 1.28 (95% confidence interval, 0.97-1.7) compared to abstainers. Among those who drank alcohol ≥5 days per week, the hazard ratio for hypertension associated with consuming ≥1 drink per day was 1.45 (95% confidence interval, 1.06-2) compared with abstainers. The consumption of beer or spirits, but not wine, was associated with an increased risk of hypertension. The hazard ratio associated with consuming >0.5 drinks of beer or spirits per day was 1.53 (95% confidence interval, 1.18-1.99) compared with abstainers. In contrast, there was a nonsignificant inverse association between red wine intake and the risk of hypertension. Conclusions. In this Mediterranean population, the consumption of beer or spirits, but not wine, was associated with a higher risk of developing hypertension. However, the weekly pattern of alcohol consumption did not have a significant impact on the risk of hypertension

A longitudinal assessment of alcohol intake and incident depression: the sun project

Background: Longitudinal studies assessing the long-term association between alcohol intake and depression are scarce. The type of beverage may also be important. Therefore we aimed to prospectively evaluate the influence of alcohol intake on incident depression in a Mediterranean cohort. Methods: We assessed 13,619 university graduates (mean age: 38 years, 42% men) participating in a Spanish prospective epidemiological cohort (the SUN Project), initially free of depression. They were recruited between 1999–2008 and biennially followed-up during 2001–2010. At baseline, a 136-item validated food–frequency questionnaire was used to assess alcohol intake. Wine was the preferred beverage. Participants were classified as incident cases of depression if they reported a new clinical diagnosis of depression by a physician and/or initiated the use of antidepressant drugs. Cox regression and restricted cubic splines analyses were performed over 82,926 person-years. Results: Only among women, an U-shaped relationship between total alcohol intake and depression risk was found (P=0.01). Moderate alcohol intake (5–15 g/day) was associated with lower risk (Hazard Ratio: 0.62; 95% Confidence Interval: 0.43-0.89). No association was apparent for higher intakes of alcohol or for any specific type of alcoholic beverage. Conclusions: Moderate alcohol intake might protect against depression among women. Further confirmatory studies are needed

The Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer, MEDA. A Suite of Environmental Sensors for the Mars 2020 Mission

86 pags., 49 figs., 24 tabs.NASA’s Mars 2020 (M2020) rover mission includes a suite of sensors to monitor current environmental conditions near the surface of Mars and to constrain bulk aerosol properties from changes in atmospheric radiation at the surface. The Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA) consists of a set of meteorological sensors including wind sensor, a barometer, a relative humidity sensor, a set of 5 thermocouples to measure atmospheric temperature at ∼1.5 m and ∼0.5 m above the surface, a set of thermopiles to characterize the thermal IR brightness temperatures of the surface and the lower atmosphere. MEDA adds a radiation and dust sensor to monitor the optical atmospheric properties that can be used to infer bulk aerosol physical properties such as particle size distribution, non-sphericity, and concentration. The MEDA package and its scientific purpose are described in this document as well as how it responded to the calibration tests and how it helps prepare for the human exploration of Mars. A comparison is also presented to previous environmental monitoring payloads landed on Mars on the Viking, Pathfinder, Phoenix, MSL, and InSight spacecraft.This work has been funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, through the projects No. ESP2014-54256-C4-1-R (also -2-R, -3-R and -4-R) and AYA2015-65041-P; Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, projects No. ESP2016-79612-C3-1-R (also -2-R and -3-R), ESP2016-80320-C2-1-R, RTI2018-098728-B-C31 (also -C32 and -C33) and RTI2018-099825-B-C31; Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial; Ministry of Science and Innovation’s Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology; Grupos Gobierno Vasco IT1366-19; and European Research Council Consolidator Grant no 818602. The US co-authors performed their work under sponsorship from NASA’s Mars 2020 project, from the Game Changing Development program within the Space Technology Mission Directorate and from the Human Exploration and Operations Directorate

Predicting long-term disease control in transplant-ineligible patients with multiple myeloma: impact of an MGUS-like signature

Disease control at 5 years would be a desirable endpoint for elderly multiple myeloma (MM) patients, but biomarkers predicting this are not defined. Therefore, to gain further insights in this endpoint, a population of 498 newly diagnosed transplant-ineligible patients enrolled in two Spanish trials (GEM2005MAS65 and GEM2010MAS65), has been analyzed. Among the 435 patients included in this post-hoc study, 18.6% remained alive and progression free after 5 years of treatment initiation. In these patients, overall survival (OS) rate at 10 years was 60.8% as compared with 11.8% for those progressing within the first 5 years. Hemoglobin (Hb) >= 12 g/dl (OR 2.74, p = 0.001) and MGUS-like profile (OR 4.18, p = 0.005) were the two baseline variables associated with long-term disease-free survival. Upon including depth of response (and MRD), Hb >= 12 g/dl (OR 2.27) and MGUS-like signature (OR 7.48) retained their predictive value along with MRD negativity (OR 5.18). This study shows that despite the use of novel agents, the probability of disease control at 5 years is still restricted to a small fraction (18.6%) of elderly MM patients. Since this endpoint is associated with higher rates of OS, this study provides important information about diagnostic and post-treatment biomarkers helpful in predicting the likelihood of disease control at 5 years

CIBERER : Spanish national network for research on rare diseases: A highly productive collaborative initiative

Altres ajuts: Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII); Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación.CIBER (Center for Biomedical Network Research; Centro de Investigación Biomédica En Red) is a public national consortium created in 2006 under the umbrella of the Spanish National Institute of Health Carlos III (ISCIII). This innovative research structure comprises 11 different specific areas dedicated to the main public health priorities in the National Health System. CIBERER, the thematic area of CIBER focused on rare diseases (RDs) currently consists of 75 research groups belonging to universities, research centers, and hospitals of the entire country. CIBERER's mission is to be a center prioritizing and favoring collaboration and cooperation between biomedical and clinical research groups, with special emphasis on the aspects of genetic, molecular, biochemical, and cellular research of RDs. This research is the basis for providing new tools for the diagnosis and therapy of low-prevalence diseases, in line with the International Rare Diseases Research Consortium (IRDiRC) objectives, thus favoring translational research between the scientific environment of the laboratory and the clinical setting of health centers. In this article, we intend to review CIBERER's 15-year journey and summarize the main results obtained in terms of internationalization, scientific production, contributions toward the discovery of new therapies and novel genes associated to diseases, cooperation with patients' associations and many other topics related to RD research

New insights into the subducting oceanic crust in the Middle American trench off western Mexico (17-19°N)

We present new multibeam bathymetric and multichannel seismic data on the Middle American Trench, between 17 and 19°N. These data show, north of the present tip of the East Pacific Rise, unsedimented seafloor with an abyssal hill fabric bare of sediments at the outer wall of the trench (18°30'N). Two multichannel seismic profiles orthogonal to the Middle American Trench display clear oceanic crust extending more than 20 km beneath the overriding plate. These seismic images suggest that the subducting oceanic crust along the Middle American Trench is younger than previously proposed. This result, therefore, implies a new location for the East Pacific Rise termination in relation to the trench. The subduction of this young oceanic crust off western Mexico provides new constraints on the deformation and magnetism of the western Mexican mainland. (Résumé d'auteur

Consumo de alcohol e incidencia de hipertensión en una cohorte mediterránea: el estudio SUN

Introduction and objectives. To assess prospectively the association between alcohol consumption, including alcoholic beverage preference and days of consumption per week, and the risk of hypertension in a Mediterranean cohort. Methods. We prospectively followed 9,963 Spanish men and women initially without hypertension. Self-reported and validated data on diet and hypertension diagnoses were collected. Results. During follow-up (median [interquartile range], 4.2 [2.5-6.1] years), 554 incident cases of hypertension were identified over a total of 43,562 person-years. The hazard ratio for hypertension among those who consumed alcohol on ≥5 days per week was 1.28 (95% confidence interval, 0.97-1.7) compared to abstainers. Among those who drank alcohol ≥5 days per week, the hazard ratio for hypertension associated with consuming ≥1 drink per day was 1.45 (95% confidence interval, 1.06-2) compared with abstainers. The consumption of beer or spirits, but not wine, was associated with an increased risk of hypertension. The hazard ratio associated with consuming >0.5 drinks of beer or spirits per day was 1.53 (95% confidence interval, 1.18-1.99) compared with abstainers. In contrast, there was a nonsignificant inverse association between red wine intake and the risk of hypertension. Conclusions. In this Mediterranean population, the consumption of beer or spirits, but not wine, was associated with a higher risk of developing hypertension. However, the weekly pattern of alcohol consumption did not have a significant impact on the risk of hypertension