Atrial fibrillation is associated with reduced brain volume and cognitive function independent of cerebral infarcts.

To access publisher's full text version of this article, please click on the hyperlink in Additional Links field or click on the hyperlink at the top of the page marked Files. This article is open access.Atrial fibrillation (AF) has been associated with cognitive decline independent of stroke, suggesting additional effects of AF on the brain. We aimed to assess the association between AF and brain function and structure in a general elderly population.This is a cross-sectional analysis of 4251 nondemented participants (mean age, 76 ± 5 years) in the population-based Age, Gene/Environment Susceptibility-Reykjavik Study. Medical record data were collected for the presence, subtype, and time from first diagnosis of AF; 330 participants had AF. Brain volume measurements, adjusted for intracranial volume, and presence of cerebral infarcts were determined with magnetic resonance imaging. Memory, speed of processing, and executive function composites were calculated from a cognitive test battery. In a multivariable linear regression model, adjustments were made for demographic factors, cardiovascular risk factors, and cerebral infarcts.Participants with AF had lower total brain volume compared with those without AF (P<0.001). The association was stronger with persistent/permanent than paroxysmal AF and with increased time from the first diagnosis of the disease. Of the brain tissue volumes, AF was associated with lower volume of gray and white matter hyperintensities (P<0.001 and P = 0.008, respectively), but not of white matter hyperintensities (P = 0.49). Participants with AF scored lower on tests of memory.AF is associated with smaller brain volume, and the association is stronger with increasing burden of the arrhythmia. These findings suggest that AF has a cumulative negative effect on the brain independent of cerebral infarcts.Landspitali National University Hospital of Iceland Science Fund Helga Jonsdottir and Sigvaldi Kristjansson Memorial Fund National Institutes of Health/N01-AG-1-2100 National Institute on Aging Intramural Research Program Icelandic Heart Association Althingi (the Icelandic Parliament

John Howard and Fran Bailey with 'Big Pat', a runner in the Melbourne Cup, during the 2001 Federal election campaign in Victoria [picture] /

Title devised by cataloguer based on information supplied by vendor, see file 05/551.; Inscriptions: "A Chapman"--In pencil lower right on verso.; Part of the Andrew Chapman Campaign photograph collection, 1975-2004.; Also available in an electronic version via the Internet at: http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-vn4228264; Purchased from the photographer Andrew Chapman, 2007

Calima culture artefacts, Museo del Oro, Bogota, Colombia, 1977, [4] [picture] /

Condition: Good.; Title devised by cataloguer based on inscription on reverse.; Part of Wolfgang Sievers photographic archive.; Sievers number: V4560-add4 (devised number).; Inscriptions: "Calima-5202".; Also available in an electronic version via the Internet at: http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-vn4193267

A rare variant in MYH6 is associated with high risk of sick sinus syndrome

Contains fulltext : 95597.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access)Through complementary application of SNP genotyping, whole-genome sequencing and imputation in 38,384 Icelanders, we have discovered a previously unidentified sick sinus syndrome susceptibility gene, MYH6, encoding the alpha heavy chain subunit of cardiac myosin. A missense variant in this gene, c.2161C>T, results in the conceptual amino acid substitution p.Arg721Trp, has an allelic frequency of 0.38% in Icelanders and associates with sick sinus syndrome with an odds ratio = 12.53 and P = 1.5 x 10(2). We show that the lifetime risk of being diagnosed with sick sinus syndrome is around 6% for non-carriers of c.2161C>T but is approximately 50% for carriers of the c.2161C>T variant