Common carotid intima media thickness and ankle-brachial pressure index correlate with local but not global atheroma burden:a cross sectional study using whole body magnetic resonance angiography

Common carotid intima media thickness (CIMT) and ankle brachial pressure index (ABPI) are used as surrogate marker of atherosclerosis, and have been shown to correlate with arterial stiffness, however their correlation with global atherosclerotic burden has not been previously assessed. We compare CIMT and ABPI with atheroma burden as measured by whole body magnetic resonance angiography (WB-MRA).50 patients with symptomatic peripheral arterial disease were recruited. CIMT was measured using ultrasound while rest and exercise ABPI were performed. WB-MRA was performed in a 1.5T MRI scanner using 4 volume acquisitions with a divided dose of intravenous gadolinium gadoterate meglumine (Dotarem, Guerbet, FR). The WB-MRA data was divided into 31 anatomical arterial segments with each scored according to degree of luminal narrowing: 0 = normal, 1 = <50%, 2 = 50-70%, 3 = 70-99%, 4 = vessel occlusion. The segment scores were summed and from this a standardized atheroma score was calculated.The atherosclerotic burden was high with a standardised atheroma score of 39.5±11. Common CIMT showed a positive correlation with the whole body atheroma score (β 0.32, p = 0.045), however this was due to its strong correlation with the neck and thoracic segments (β 0.42 p = 0.01) with no correlation with the rest of the body. ABPI correlated with the whole body atheroma score (β -0.39, p = 0.012), which was due to a strong correlation with the ilio-femoral vessels with no correlation with the thoracic or neck vessels. On multiple linear regression, no correlation between CIMT and global atheroma burden was present (β 0.13 p = 0.45), while the correlation between ABPI and atheroma burden persisted (β -0.45 p = 0.005).ABPI but not CIMT correlates with global atheroma burden as measured by whole body contrast enhanced magnetic resonance angiography in a population with symptomatic peripheral arterial disease. However this is primarily due to a strong correlation with ilio-femoral atheroma burden

Vertical imbalance in organic carbon budgets is indicative of a missing vertical transfer during a phytoplankton bloom near South Georgia (COMICS)

The biological carbon pump, driven principally by the surface production of sinking organic matter and its subsequent remineralization to carbon dioxide (CO2) in the deep ocean, maintains atmospheric CO2 concentrations around 200 ppm lower than they would be if the ocean were abiotic. One important driver of the magnitude of this effect is the depth to which organic matter sinks before it is remineralised, a parameter we have limited confidence in measuring given the difficulty involved in balancing sources and sinks in the ocean's interior. One solution to this imbalance might be a temporal offset in which organic carbon accumulates in the mesopelagic zone (100–1000 m depth) early in the productive season before it is consumed later. Here, we develop a novel accounting method to address non-steady state conditions by estimating fluxes of particulate organic matter into, and accumulation within, distinct vertical layers in the mesopelagic zone using high-resolution spatiotemporal vertical profiles. We apply this approach to a time series of measurements made during the declining phase of a large diatom bloom in a low-circulation region of the Southern Ocean downstream of South Georgia. Our data show that the major export event led to a significant accumulation of organic matter in the upper mesopelagic zone (100–200 m depth) which declined over the following weeks, implying that temporal offsets need to be considered when compiling budgets. However, even when accounting for this accumulation, a mismatch in the vertically resolved organic carbon budget remained, implying that there are likely widespread processes that we do not yet understand that redistribute material vertically within the mesopelagic zone

Vertical imbalance in organic carbon budgets is indicative of a missing vertical transfer during a phytoplankton bloom near South Georgia (COMICS)

The biological carbon pump, driven principally by the surface production of sinking organic matter and its subsequent remineralization to carbon dioxide (CO2) in the deep ocean, maintains atmospheric CO2 concentrations around 200 ppm lower than they would be if the ocean were abiotic. One important driver of the magnitude of this effect is the depth to which organic matter sinks before it is remineralised, a parameter we have limited confidence in measuring given the difficulty involved in balancing sources and sinks in the ocean's interior. One solution to this imbalance might be a temporal offset in which organic carbon accumulates in the mesopelagic zone (100–1000 m depth) early in the productive season before it is consumed later. Here, we develop a novel accounting method to address non-steady state conditions by estimating fluxes of particulate organic matter into, and accumulation within, distinct vertical layers in the mesopelagic zone using high-resolution spatiotemporal vertical profiles. We apply this approach to a time series of measurements made during the declining phase of a large diatom bloom in a low-circulation region of the Southern Ocean downstream of South Georgia. Our data show that the major export event led to a significant accumulation of organic matter in the upper mesopelagic zone (100–200 m depth) which declined over the following weeks, implying that temporal offsets need to be considered when compiling budgets. However, even when accounting for this accumulation, a mismatch in the vertically resolved organic carbon budget remained, implying that there are likely widespread processes that we do not yet understand that redistribute material vertically within the mesopelagic zone

Maternal Obesity, Overweight and Gestational Diabetes Affect the Offspring Neurodevelopment at 6 and 18 Months of Age – A Follow Up from the PREOBE Cohort

The study was registered at www.ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier:NCT01634464).Background: Brain development in fetal life and early infancy is critical to determine lifelong performance in various neuropsychological domains. Metabolic pathologies such as overweight, obesity, and gestational diabetes in pregnant women are prevalent and increasing risk factors that may adversely affect long-term brain development in their offspring.Objective: The objective of this research was to investigate the influence of maternal metabolic pathologies on the neurodevelopment of the offspring at 6 and 18 months of life.Design: This was a prospective case-control study of 331 mother- and child pairs from Granada, Spain. The mothers were included during pregnancy into four groups according to their pre-gestational body mass index and their gestational diabetes status; overweight (n:56), obese (n:64), gestational diabetic (n:79), and healthy normal weight controls (n:132). At 6 months and 18 months we assessed the children with the Bayley III scales of neurodevelopment.Results: At 6 months (n=215), we found significant group differences in cognition composite language, and expressive language. Post hoc test revealed unexpectedly higher scores in the obese group compared to the normal weight group and a similar trend in overweight and diabetic group. The effects on language remained significant after adjusting for confounders with an adjusted odds ratio for a value above median in composite language score of 3.3 (95% CI: 1.1, 10.0; p=0.035) for children of obese mothers. At 18 month (n=197), the offspring born to obese mothers had lost five points in language composite scores and the previous differences in language and cognition was replaced by a suggestive trend of lower gross motor scores in the overweight, obese, and diabetic groups.Conclusions: Infants of obese mothers had a temporary accelerated development of cognition and language, followed by a rapid deceleration until 18 months of age, particularly of language scores. This novel observation prompts further confirmative studies to explore possible placental and neurodevelopmental mechanisms involved.This study was funded by Spanish Ministry of Innovation and Science. Junta de Andalucía: Excellence Projects (P06-CTS-02341); Spanish Ministry of Education (Grant no. SB2010-0025); Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (BFU2012-40254-C03-01); Further support was received by Abbott Laboratories, Granada, Spain

Deep ocean particle flux in the Northeast Atlantic over the past 30 years: carbon sequestration is controlled by ecosystem structure in the upper ocean

The time series of downward particle flux at 3000 m at the Porcupine Abyssal Plain Sustained Observatory (PAP-SO) in the Northeast Atlantic is presented for the period 1989 to 2018. This flux can be considered to be sequestered for more than 100 years. Measured levels of organic carbon sequestration (average 1.88 gm−2 y−1) are higher on average at this location than at the six other time series locations in the Atlantic. Interannual variability is also greater than at the other locations (organic carbon flux coefficient of variation = 73%). We find that previously hypothesised drivers of 3,000 m flux, such as net primary production (NPP) and previous-winter mixing are not good predictors of this sequestration flux. In contrast, the composition of the upper ocean biological community, specifically the protozoan Rhizaria (including the Foraminifera and Radiolaria) exhibit a close relationship to sequestration flux. These species become particularly abundant following enhanced upper ocean temperatures in June leading to pulses of this material reaching 3,000 m depth in the late summer. In some years, the organic carbon flux pulses following Rhizaria blooms were responsible for substantial increases in carbon sequestration and we propose that the Rhizaria are one of the major vehicles by which material is transported over a very large depth range (3,000 m) and hence sequestered for climatically relevant time periods. We propose that they sink fast and are degraded little during their transport to depth. In terms of atmospheric CO2 uptake by the oceans, the Radiolaria and Phaeodaria are likely to have the greatest influence. Foraminifera will also exert an influence in spite of the fact that the generation of their calcite tests enhances upper ocean CO2 concentration and hence reduces uptake from the atmosphere

Aortic obstruction: anatomy and echocardiography

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Echocardiography is a valuable non-invasive technique for identifying the site and type of aortic obstruction. Knowledge of the morphological details of each type of obstruction is the basis for correct interpretation of the diagnostic images and clinical decisions. This study was undertaken to correlate the echocardiographic images with anatomic specimens of equivalent valvular and supravalvular aortic obstruction. Specimens were part of the collection of the Department of Embryology. Fifty six patients were studied, and forty specimens with aortic obstruction were analyzed.</p> <p><b>Echocardiographic characteristics</b>: Thirty one (55.3%) patients were women and twenty five (44.7%) men. Valvular aortic obstruction was found in Thirty six patients (64.3 %) and supravalvular aortic obstruction in twenty (35.7%). <b>Anatomic characteristics</b>: Of the forty specimens examined, twenty one (52.5%) had valvular aortic obstruction and nineteen (47.5%) supravalvular aortic obstruction.</p> <p>The anatomoechocardiographic correlation clearly showed that the anatomic findings of the specimen hearts and aortas corresponded to echocardiographic images of valvular and supravalvular aortic obstruction and provided solid corroboration of echocardiographic diagnoses.</p