Frequent Premature Atrial Contractions Are Associated With Poorer Cognitive Function in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study

Objective: To evaluate the association of premature atrial contraction (PAC) frequency with cognitive test scores and prevalence of dementia or mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Materials and Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional analysis using Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study visit 6 (January 1, 2016, through December 31, 2017) data. We included 2163 participants without atrial fibrillation (AF) (age mean ± SD, 79±4 years; 1273 (58.9%) female; and 604 (27.97.0% Black) who underwent cognitive testing and wore a leadless, ambulatory electrocardiogram monitor for 14 days. We categorized PAC frequency based on the percent of beats: less than 1%, minimal; 1% to <5%, occasional; greater than or equal to 5%, frequent. We derived cognitive domain-specific factor scores (memory, executive function, language, and global z-score). Dementia and MCI were adjudicated. Results: During a mean analyzable time of 12.6±2.6 days, 339 (15.7%) had occasional PACs and 107 (4.9%) had frequent PACs. Individuals with frequent PACs (vs minimal) had lower executive function factor scores by 0.30 (95% CI, -0.46 to -0.14) and lower global factor scores by 0.20 (95% CI, -0.33 to -0.07) after multivariable adjustment. Individuals with frequent PACs (vs minimal) had higher odds of prevalent dementia or MCI after multivariable adjustment (odds ratio, 1.74; 95% CI, 1.09 to 2.79). These associations were unchanged with additional adjustment for stroke. Conclusion: In community-dwelling older adults without AF, frequent PACs were cross-sectionally associated with lower executive and global cognitive function and greater prevalence of dementia or MCI, independently of stroke. Our findings lend support to the notion that atrial cardiomyopathy may be a driver of AF-related outcomes. Further research to confirm these associations prospectively and to elucidate underlying mechanisms is warranted

SCREENING OF SOME PLANT EXTRACTS FOR THEIR OVIPOSITION DETERRENT PROPERTIES AGAINST THE PULSE BEETLE, CALLOSOBRUCHUS CHINENSIS (L.)

Ten plant extracts in two different solvents (Acetone and Pet-ether) were evaluated for their oviposition deterrent properties against the pulse beetle, Callosobruchus chinensis (L.). Out of the plants tested. Acetone extracts of Cassia occidentalis, Croton bonplandianum and Pet-ether extracts of Verbesina encelioides, Cassia occidentalis were found to be effective in deterring oviposition. &nbsp

Localized query: Color spanning variations

Let P be a set of n points and each of the points is colored with one of the k possible colors. We present efficient algorithms to pre-process P such that for a given query point q, we can quickly identify the smallest color spanning object of the desired type containing q. In this paper, we focus on (i) intervals, (ii) axis-parallel square, (iii) axis-parallel rectangle, (iv) equilateral triangle of fixed orientation, as our desired type of objects

An in-place min-max priority search tree

One of the classic data structures for storing point sets in R2 is the priority search tree, introduced by McCreight in 1985. We show that this data structure can be made in-place, i.e., it can be stored in an array such that each entry stores only one point of the point set and no entry is stored in more than one location of that array. It combines a binary search tree with a heap. We show that all the standar

An optimal algorithm for plane matchings in multipartite geometric graphs

Let P be a set of n points in general position in the plane which is partitioned into color classes. The set P is said to be color-balanced if the number of points of each color is at most ⌊n/2⌋. Given a color-balanced point set P, a balanced cut is a line which partitions P into two color-balanced point sets, each of size at most 2n/3+1. A colored matching of P is a perfect matching in which every edge connects two points of distinct colors by a straight line segment. A plane colored matching is a colored matching which is non-crossing. In this paper, we present an algorithm which computes a balanced cut for P in linear time. Consequently, we present an algorithm which computes a plane colored matching of P optimally in Θ(nlog⁡n) time

An in-place priority search tree

One of the classic data structures for storing point sets in R2 is the priority search tree, introduced by Mc- Creight in 1985. We show that this data structure can be made in-place, i.e., it can be stored in an array such that each entry only stores one point of the point set. We show that the standard query operations can be an- swered within the same time bounds as for the original priority search tree, while using only O(1) extra space

On the number of shortest descending paths on the surface of a convex terrain

The shortest paths on the surface of a convex polyhedron can be grouped into equivalence classes according to the sequences of edges, consisting of n-triangular faces, that they cross. Mount (1990) [7] proved that the total number of such equivalence classes is Θ(n4). In this paper, we consider descending paths on the surface of a 3D terrain. A path in a terrain is called a descending path if the z-coordinate of a point p never increases, if we move p along the path from the source to the target. More precisely, a descending path from a point s to another point t is a path Π such that for every pair of points p=(x(p),y(p),z(p)) and q=(x(q),y(q),z(q)) on Π, if dist(s,p)<dist(s,q) then z(p)≥z(q). Here dist(s,p) denotes the distance of p from s along Π. We show that the number of equivalence classes of the shortest descending paths on the surface of a convex terrain is Θ(n4). We also discuss the difficulty of finding the number of equivalence classes on a convex polyhedron

An optimal algorithm for plane matchings in multipartite geometric graphs

Let P be a set of n points in general position in the plane which is partitioned into color classes. P is said to be color-balanced if the number of points of each color is at most ⌊n/2⌋. Given a color-balanced point set P, a balanced cut is a line which partitions P into two colorbalanced point sets, each of size at most 2n/3+1. A colored matching of P is a perfect matching in which every edge connects two points of distinct colors by a straight line segment. A plane colored matching is a colored matching which is non-crossing. In this paper, we present an algorithm which computes a balanced cut for P in linear time. Consequently, we present an algorithm which computes a plane colored matching of P optimally in Θ(n log n) time