Association of smoking and physical inactivity with MRI derived changes in cardiac function and structure in cardiovascular healthy subjects

We aimed to investigate the association of smoking and physical exercise on ventricular function and structure, determined by cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR), in subjects without known cardiovascular diseases. A total of 381 participants (median age 57 years) of the Cooperative Health Research in the Region of Augsburg (KORA) FF4 cohort underwent CMR. The participants' smoking and sporting habits were measured by a questionnaire. Physical inactivity was associated with a reduction of left ventricular ejection fraction (LV-EF), stroke volume, early diastolic peak filling rate and peak ejection rate of the left ventricle as well as right ventricular stroke volume. LV-EF was reduced in subjects with almost no physical activity compared to subjects with regular physical activity (68.4%, 95%CI 66.8-70.1% vs. 70.8%, 95%CI 69.2-72.3%, p < 0,05). Smokers had lower right ventricular end-diastolic volumes (80.6 ml/m(2), 95%CI 76.7-84.5 ml/m(2);never-smokers: 85.5 ml/m(2), 95%CI 82.6-88.3 ml/m(2);p < 0.05) but higher extracellular volume fractions (ECV) and fibrosis volumes (34.3 ml, 95%CI 32.5-36.0 ml, vs. 31.0 ml, 95%CI 29.6-32.3 ml, p < 0.01). We conclude that asymptomatic individuals without known cardiovascular diseases show differences in cardiac function and structure depending on their physical activity and smoking habits. This underlines the importance of prevention and health education

Diagnosis of quarantine organisms at the JKI in the National Reference Laboratory for organisms harmful to plants

Dem JKI wurde im April 2019 durch das Bundesministerium für Ernährung und Landwirtschaft (BMEL) die Funktion des nationalen Referenzlaboratoriums (NRL) für Schadorganismen der Pflanzen zugewiesen. Mit dieser Funktion des NRL für Deutschland sind bestimmte Zuständigkeiten und Aufgaben verbunden, die in der EU-Verordnung 2017/625 (EU, 2017) geregelt sind. Dazu gehören auch Referenzuntersuchungen bzw. die Diag­nose von Quarantäneschadorganismen (QSO). Das NRL stellt eine übergeordnete Einheit innerhalb des JKI dar. Durch insgesamt 14 Prüflabore der JKI-Institute für Pflanzenschutz in Ackerbau und Grünland (A), nationale und internationale Angelegenheiten der Pflanzengesundheit (AG), Epidemiologie und Pathogendiagnostik (EP), Pflanzenschutz in Gartenbau und Forst (GF), Pflanzenschutz in Obst- und Weinbau (OW) wird die Referenzfunktion bei der Diagnose zu verschiedensten (Quarantäne)-Schadorganismen der Pathogengruppen Bakterien, Insekten, Nematoden, Pilze (einschließlich Oomyceten), Phytoplasmen und Viren wahrgenommen.In April 2019, the JKI was officially designated as the Natio­nal Reference Laboratory (NRL) for organisms harmful to plants by the Federal Ministry of Food and Agri­culture (BMEL). This function as NRL for Germany is associated with certain responsibilities and tasks, which are specified in the EU Regulation 2017/625 (EU, 2017). This also includes reference tests and the diagnosis of quarantine pests, respectively. The NRL represents a super­ordinate unit inside JKI. A total of 14 test laboratories from different JKI institutes, namely for Plant Protection in Field Crops and Grassland (A), for National and International Plant Health (AG), for Epidemiology and Pathogen Diagnostics (EP), Plant Protection in Horti­culture and Forests (GF), and for Plant Protection in Fruit Crops and Viticulture (OW) are in charge to carry out a reference function in the diagnosis of (quarantine) pests in the pathogen groups of bacteria, fungi (including oomycetes), insects, nematodes, phytoplasma und viruses

The German National Pandemic Cohort Network (NAPKON): rationale, study design and baseline characteristics

Schons M, Pilgram L, Reese J-P, et al. The German National Pandemic Cohort Network (NAPKON): rationale, study design and baseline characteristics. European Journal of Epidemiology . 2022.The German government initiated the Network University Medicine (NUM) in early 2020 to improve national research activities on the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic. To this end, 36 German Academic Medical Centers started to collaborate on 13 projects, with the largest being the National Pandemic Cohort Network (NAPKON). The NAPKON's goal is creating the most comprehensive Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) cohort in Germany. Within NAPKON, adult and pediatric patients are observed in three complementary cohort platforms (Cross-Sectoral, High-Resolution and Population-Based) from the initial infection until up to three years of follow-up. Study procedures comprise comprehensive clinical and imaging diagnostics, quality-of-life assessment, patient-reported outcomes and biosampling. The three cohort platforms build on four infrastructure core units (Interaction, Biosampling, Epidemiology, and Integration) and collaborations with NUM projects. Key components of the data capture, regulatory, and data privacy are based on the German Centre for Cardiovascular Research. By April 01, 2022, 34 university and 40 non-university hospitals have enrolled 5298 patients with local data quality reviews performed on 4727 (89%). 47% were female, the median age was 52 (IQR 36-62-) and 50 pediatric cases were included. 44% of patients were hospitalized, 15% admitted to an intensive care unit, and 12% of patients deceased while enrolled. 8845 visits with biosampling in 4349 patients were conducted by April 03, 2022. In this overview article, we summarize NAPKON's design, relevant milestones including first study population characteristics, and outline the potential of NAPKON for German and international research activities.Trial registration https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04768998 . https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04747366 . https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04679584. © 2022. The Author(s)

“Macrobot”: An Automated Segmentation-Based System for Powdery Mildew Disease Quantification

Managing plant diseases is increasingly difficult due to reasons such as intensifying the field production, climatic change-driven expansion of pests, redraw and loss of effectiveness of pesticides, rapid breakdown of the disease resistance in the field, and other factors. The substantial progress in genomics of both plants and pathogens, achieved in the last decades, has the potential to counteract this negative trend, however, only when the genomic data is supported by relevant phenotypic data that allows linking the genomic information to specific traits. We have developed a set of methods and equipment and combined them into a “Macrophenomics facility.” The pipeline has been optimized for the quantification of powdery mildew infection symptoms on wheat and barley, but it can be adapted to other diseases and host plants. The Macrophenomics pipeline scores the visible powdery mildew disease symptoms, typically 5-7 days after inoculation (dai), in a highly automated manner. The system can precisely and reproducibly quantify the percentage of the infected leaf area with a theoretical throughput of up to 10000 individual samples per day, making it appropriate for phenotyping of large germplasm collections and crossing populations

Pancreatic fat content by magnetic resonance imaging in subjects with prediabetes, diabetes, and controls from a general population without cardiovascular disease.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE:Despite the relevance of pancreatic fat content in the development of metabolic diseases, its association with impaired glucose metabolism, diabetes, and other adipose tissue compartments remains unclear. Thus, we determined differences in pancreatic fat content by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) between subjects with prediabetes, diabetes, and normal controls in a cohort from the general population. METHODS:Subjects without history of cardiovascular disease with established diabetes or prediabetes as well as normal controls were included and underwent whole-body MRI on a 3T scanner. Pancreatic fat content was quantified by measuring the proton-density fat fraction (PDFFpanc) using a 3D multi-echo GRE sequence (increment: 1.23 ms, 6 echoes) by placing ROIs in the pancreatic head, body, and tail by independent readers. In addition, hepatic fat content as well as abdominal subcutaneous and visceral adipose tissue (SAT and VAT) were measured by multi-echo GRE and 3D 2-point volume-interpolated DIXON MRI, respectively. Univariate and multivariate analyses were employed to determine associations. RESULTS:A total of 385 subjects were included in the analysis (median age: 57 years, 58.2% males), of them 53 were classified as subjects with diabetes, 95 as prediabetes, and 237 as controls (13.8%, 24.7%, and 61.6%; respectively). The median PDFFpanc was 5.2% [IQR 3.3-9.4], and significantly higher in subjects with prediabetes and diabetes as compared to controls (PDFFpanc: 6.2% [IQR: 3.5-12] vs. 8.6% [IQR: 4.3-17.5] vs. 4.9% [3.1-7.4], p0.12). While in univariate analysis BMI, PDFFhepatic, SAT and VAT were associated with PDFFpanc (all p<0.05), only VAT predicted PDFFpanc independently (β: 0.02, 95%-confidence interval: 0.01-0.04, p<0.001). CONCLUSION:While pancreatic fat content differs significantly between subjects with prediabetes, diabetes and controls, this association may be confounded by age, gender, and the amount of VAT in this cross-sectional study

Alcohol consumption, but not smoking is associated with higher MR-derived liver fat in an asymptomatic study population.

The aim of our study was to determine the relation of alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking on continuous-measured hepatic fat fraction (HFF) in a population free of cardiovascular disease. We suggested a direct correlation of alcohol consumption with HFF and increased HFF in former smokers compared to current smokers.Data from 384 subjects (mean age: 56 years, 58% men) of a population-based cohort study (KORA) were included in a cross-sectional design. Liver fat was assessed by 3 Tesla magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) using a multi-echo Dixon sequence and T2-corrected single voxel multi-echo spectroscopy (1H-MRS). Smoking status was classified as never, former or current smoker and alcohol consumption as non-, moderate (0.1-39.9 g/day for men and 0.1-19.9 g/day for women), or heavy drinker (≥ 40 g/day for men and ≥ 20 g/day for women). Fatty liver disease was defined as HFF≥5.56%.Average HFF was 8.8% by 1H-MRS and 8.5% by MRI. Former smokers showed a higher HFF (MRI: β = 2.64; p = 0.006) and a higher FLD prevalence (MRI: OR = 1.91; p = 0.006) compared to never smokers. Current smokers showed decreased odds for FLD measured by 1H-MRS after multivariable adjustment (OR = 0.37; p = 0.007) with never smoker as reference. Heavy drinking was positively associated with HFF (1H-MRS: β = 2.99; p = 0.003) and showed highest odds for FLD (1H-MRS: OR = 3.05; p = 0.008) with non-drinker as reference. Moderate drinking showed a positive association with HFF (1H-MRS: β = 1.54; p = 0.061 and MRI: β = 1.75; p = 0.050).Our data revealed lowest odds for FLD in current smokers, moderate drinkers showing higher HFF than non-drinkers and heavy drinkers showing highest HFF and odds for FLD. These findings partly conflict with former literature and underline the importance of further studies to investigate the complex effects on liver metabolism

Phenotypic multiorgan involvement of subclinical disease as quantified by magnetic resonance imaging in subjects with prediabetes, diabetes, and normal glucose tolerance

Introduction Detailed mechanisms in the pathophysiology of diabetes disease are poorly understood, but structural alterations in various organ systems incur an elevated risk for cardiovascular events and adverse outcome. The aim of this study was to compare multiorgan subclinical disease phenotypes by magnetic resonance (MR) imaging to study differences between subjects with prediabetes, diabetes, and normal controls. Materials and Methods Subjects without prior cardiovascular disease were enrolled in a prospective case-control study and underwent multiorgan MR for the assessment of metabolic and arteriosclerotic alterations, including age-related white matter changes, hepatic proton density fat fraction, visceral adipose tissue volume, left ventricular remodeling index, carotid plaque, and late gadolinium enhancement. Magnetic resonance features were summarized in a phenotypic-based score (range, 0-6). Univariate, multivariate correlation, and unsupervised clustering were performed. Results Among 243 subjects with complete multiorgan MR data sets included in the analysis (55.6 ± 8.9 years, 62% males), 48 were classified as subjects with prediabetes and 38 as subjects with diabetes. The MR phenotypic score was significantly higher in subjects with prediabetes and diabetes as compared with controls (mean score, 3.00 ± 1.04 and 2.69 ± 0.98 vs 1.22 ± 0.98, P &lt; 0.001 respectively), also after adjustment for potential confounders. We identified 2 clusters of MR phenotype patterns associated with glycemic status (P &lt; 0.001), independent of the MR score (cluster II-metabolic specific: odds ratio, 2.49; 95% CI, 1.00-6.17; P = 0.049). Discussion Subjects with prediabetes and diabetes have a significantly higher phenotypic-based score with a distinctive multiorgan phenotypic pattern, which may enable improved disease characterization

Multivariate associations between demographics, cardiometabolic risk factors and pancreatic fat content.

<p>Multivariate associations between demographics, cardiometabolic risk factors and pancreatic fat content.</p

Characteristics and associated risk factors of diverticular disease assessed by magnetic resonance imaging in subjects from a western general population

ObjectivesDiverticular disease represents an increasing pathology and healthcare burden worldwide. Our aim was to study the prevalence, extent and distribution of asymptomatic diverticular disease assessed by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in a sample of a Western population.Methods: Subjects from a population-based cohort study who underwent 3-T MRI were analyzed for the prevalence and extent of diverticula of the colon using an isotropic VIBE-Dixon gradient-echo sequence. The extent of diverticular disease was categorized according to the number of diverticula in each colonic segment. Univariate and adjusted analyses were performed to assess associated characteristics and risk factors.Results: Among 393 subjects included in the analysis (56.4 9.2 years, 57.5% males), 164 (42%) had diverticular disease, with the highest prevalence in the left-sided colonic segments (93% diverticular disease in the descending and sigmoid segment). Subjects with advanced diverticular disease were older (62.1 vs. 54.4 years) and had a higher body mass index (BMI), LDL cholesterol levels and systolic blood pressure (30.2 5.1 vs. 27.8 4.9 kg/m(2), 149.8 29.3 vs. 135.2 +/- 32.9 mg/dl and 128.2 +/- 14.1 vs. 118.4 +/- 16.1 mmHg, respectively; all p &gt; 0.003) compared with subjects without diverticular disease. In contrast, no significant correlation could be found for gender, physical activity, smoking status and alcohol consumption (all p &gt; 0.31). Intra-rater reliability was excellent for all colonic segments (intra-class correlation [ICC] = 0.99-1.00), and inter-rater reliability was excellent for left- and right-sided colonic segments (ICC = 0.84-0.97).Conclusions: These findings provide insights into the disease mechanism of asymptomatic diverticular disease and may help to improve prevention of diverticulosis and its associated complications.Key Points center dot Overall prevalence of asymptomatic diverticular disease assessed by MRI was 42%, affecting predominantly the left-sided colon Asymptomatic diverticular disease was associated with age and cardiometabolic risk factors. Magnetic resonance imaging reveals insights into the pathophysiologic mechanism of asymptomatic diverticular disease

Assessment of pancreatic fat content in subjects with lower and higher pancreatic fat content undergoing 3T magnetic resonance imaging (multi-echo GRE Dixon sequence) from the general population.

<p>Pancreatic fat content was measured as proton-density fat fraction (PDFF_panc) in a region of interest (red circle). L = liver; S = spleen.</p