Irbesartan in Marfan syndrome (AIMS): a double-blind, placebo-controlled randomised trial

BACKGROUND: Irbesartan, a long acting selective angiotensin-1 receptor inhibitor, in Marfan syndrome might reduce aortic dilatation, which is associated with dissection and rupture. We aimed to determine the effects of irbesartan on the rate of aortic dilatation in children and adults with Marfan syndrome. METHODS: We did a placebo-controlled, double-blind randomised trial at 22 centres in the UK. Individuals aged 6-40 years with clinically confirmed Marfan syndrome were eligible for inclusion. Study participants were all given 75 mg open label irbesartan once daily, then randomly assigned to 150 mg of irbesartan (increased to 300 mg as tolerated) or matching placebo. Aortic diameter was measured by echocardiography at baseline and then annually. All images were analysed by a core laboratory blinded to treatment allocation. The primary endpoint was the rate of aortic root dilatation. This trial is registered with ISRCTN, number ISRCTN90011794. FINDINGS: Between March 14, 2012, and May 1, 2015, 192 participants were recruited and randomly assigned to irbesartan (n=104) or placebo (n=88), and all were followed for up to 5 years. Median age at recruitment was 18 years (IQR 12-28), 99 (52%) were female, mean blood pressure was 110/65 mm Hg (SDs 16 and 12), and 108 (56%) were taking β blockers. Mean baseline aortic root diameter was 34·4 mm in the irbesartan group (SD 5·8) and placebo group (5·5). The mean rate of aortic root dilatation was 0·53 mm per year (95% CI 0·39 to 0·67) in the irbesartan group compared with 0·74 mm per year (0·60 to 0·89) in the placebo group, with a difference in means of -0·22 mm per year (-0·41 to -0·02, p=0·030). The rate of change in aortic Z score was also reduced by irbesartan (difference in means -0·10 per year, 95% CI -0·19 to -0·01, p=0·035). Irbesartan was well tolerated with no observed differences in rates of serious adverse events. INTERPRETATION: Irbesartan is associated with a reduction in the rate of aortic dilatation in children and young adults with Marfan syndrome and could reduce the incidence of aortic complications

Low back pain in competitive rhythmic gymnasts

AIM: It has been reported that rhythmic gymnasts are at risk of suffering from low back injuries, because of repetitive lumbar hyperextensions. On the other hand, this sport requires features of leanness, muscular strength and flexibility that should represent protective factors for back pain. METHODS: This cross-sectional study aimed to assess the prevalence of low back pain in 67 club-level competitive rhythmic gymnasts aged 13-19 years. A standardized questionnaire was used to evaluate back-pain symptoms. Anthropometric measurements, time spent in physical activity, psychological testing results, smoking habits and age of menarche were recorded. One hundred and four age-matched general females served as control group. RESULTS: Low back pain complaints were reported by 7 rhythmic gymnasts and by 27 controls (10.4% vs 26.0%, p<0.05); the prevalent location of back pain was bilateral in gymnasts and central in controls. Gymnasts had lower body weight, body mass index, fat body mass and delayed menarche. The females with low-back pain displayed higher body weight, body mass index, fat body mass, age, a greater smoking habit and more anxious/depressive behaviour, both in the gymnast and in the control group. CONCLUSION: Competitive, club-level rhythmic gymnasts show a reduced prevalence of low back-pain. Being younger in age, having greater leanness, not smoking, displaying less anxious/depressive behaviour, and developing increased muscle strength and flexibility, all can represent preventive factors for low back pain. This study suggests that rhythmic gymnastics is not a discipline at increased risk of low back pain

Non-heart-beating organ donation: A two-edged sword

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Klimato signalai Europos izotopų tnkle ISONET

Over the last three years, 16 European isotope labs collaborated in the EU project ISONET (co-ordinator: G. Schleser, http//www.isonet-online.de) on developing the first large-scale network of 13C, 18O and 2H in from oak, pine and cedar tree-rings, covering sites from Fennoscandia to the Mediterranean region. The sampling design considered not only ecologically “extreme” sites, with a single climate factor predominantly determining tree growth, as required for ring width and wood density analyses (Bräuning & Mantwill 2005, Briffa et al. 2001, 2002, Frank & Esper 2005a, b), but also temperate regions with diffuse climate signals recorded in the ‘traditional’ tree ring parameters. This strategy, however, may enable expanding climatic reconstructions into regions not yet well covered. As reported earlier (Treydte et al. 2005), the aim is to estimate temperature, humidity and precipitation variations with annual resolution, to reconstruct local to European scale climate variability over the last 400 years. Climate variability is addressed on intra-annual to century timescales. This strategy should allow understanding both, high frequency variations including the exploration of seasonality signals and extreme events, and longer-term trends including source water/air mass changes and baseline variability across Europe. Here we present first climate calibration results for the 20th century, using 13C and 18O data from up to 25 sites currently available in the networkVytauto Didžiojo universiteta