Diabetes and hypertension markedly increased the risk of ischemic stroke associated with high serum resistin concentration in a general Japanese population: the Hisayama Study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Resistin, secreted from adipocytes, causes insulin resistance in mice. The relationship between resistin and coronary artery disease is highly controversial, and the information regarding resistin and ischemic stroke is limited. In the present study, the association between serum resistin concentration and cardiovascular disease (CVD) was investigated in a general Japanese population.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A total of 3,201 community-dwelling individuals aged 40 years or older (1,382 men and 1,819 women) were divided into quintiles of serum resistin, and the association between resistin and CVD was examined cross-sectionally. The combined effect of either diabetes or hypertension and high serum resistin was also assessed. Serum resistin was measured using ELISA.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Compared to those without CVD, age- and sex-adjusted mean serum resistin concentrations were greater in subjects with CVD (p = 0.002) or ischemic stroke (p < 0.001), especially in those with lacunar and atherothrombotic infarction, but not elevated in subjects with hemorrhagic stroke or coronary heart disease. When analyzed by quintile of serum resistin concentration, the age- and sex-adjusted odds ratio (OR) for having CVD and ischemic stroke increased with quintile of serum resistin (p for trends, 0.02 for CVD, < 0.001 for ischemic stroke), while such associations were not observed for hemorrhagic stroke or coronary heart disease. Compared to the first quintile, the age- and sex-adjusted OR of ischemic stroke was greater in the third (OR = 3.54; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.17-10.67; p = 0.02), fourth (OR = 4.48; 95% CI, 1.53-13.09; p = 0.006), and fifth quintiles (OR = 4.70; 95% CI, 1.62-13.61; p = 0.004). These associations remained substantially unchanged even after adjustment for other confounding factors including high-sensitivity C-reactive protein. In the stratified analysis, the combination of high serum resistin and either diabetes or hypertension markedly increased the risk of ischemic stroke.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Elevated serum resistin concentration appears to be an independent risk factor for ischemic stroke, especially lacunar and atherothrombotic infarction in the general Japanese population. The combination of high resistin and the presence of either diabetes or hypertension increased the risk of ischemic stroke.</p

Magnetized Fast Isochoric Laser Heating for Efficient Creation of Ultra-High-Energy-Density States

The quest for the inertial confinement fusion (ICF) ignition is a grand challenge, as exemplified by extraordinary large laser facilities. Fast isochoric heating of a pre-compressed plasma core with a high-intensity short-pulse laser is an attractive and alternative approach to create ultra-high-energy-density states like those found in ICF ignition sparks. This avoids the ignition quench caused by the hot spark mixing with the surrounding cold fuel, which is the crucial problem of the currently pursued ignition scheme. High-intensity lasers efficiently produce relativistic electron beams (REB). A part of the REB kinetic energy is deposited in the core, and then the heated region becomes the hot spark to trigger the ignition. However, only a small portion of the REB collides with the core because of its large divergence. Here we have demonstrated enhanced laser-to-core energy coupling with the magnetized fast isochoric heating. The method employs a kilo-tesla-level magnetic field that is applied to the transport region from the REB generation point to the core which results in guiding the REB along the magnetic field lines to the core. 7.7 $\pm$ 1.3 % of the maximum coupling was achieved even with a relatively small radial area density core ($\rho R$ $\sim$ 0.1 g/cm$^2$). The guided REB transport was clearly visualized in a pre-compressed core by using Cu-$K_\alpha$ imaging technique. A simplified model coupled with the comprehensive diagnostics yields 6.2\% of the coupling that agrees fairly with the measured coupling. This model also reveals that an ignition-scale areal density core ($\rho R$ $\sim$ 0.4 g/cm$^2$) leads to much higher laser-to-core coupling ($>$ 15%), this is much higher than that achieved by the current scheme