Automatic imagine analyzer to assess retinal vessel caliber (Altair) tool validation for the analysis of retinal vessels

Objective: To assess the reliability and validity of the tool Automatic image analyzer to assess retinal vessel caliber (ALTAIR) to analyze the vascularization of the retina and cardiovascular risk prediction. Design and method: Cross-sectional of tools validation study. We included 250 subjects in total, aged 62 +/- 9 years, 51% males. We have made a validation of reliability analyzing the intraclass correlation (ICC) intra observer, inter observer and inter device (compared with AVindex calculator) to the thickness, area and length of arteries and veins of the retina in 3 concentric circles from the disc in 120 retinographies. The concurrent validity was performed with 250 subjects and 497 retinographies, analyzing the relationship with age, blood pressure, parameters of vascular structure and function, renal function and cardiovascular risk estimated with scales. Results: In the sample, the 32% are obese, 68% hypertensive and 17% diabetic. The interobserver ICC for thickness, area and length of veins and arteries ranged from 0.809 to length of arteries to 0.916 to veins area. The intra observer ICC for intra thickness, area and length of veins and arteries ranged from 0.640 for the length of the veins and 0.906 for the area of the arteries and the inter device ICC was for arteriovenous ratio (AVR) 0.887, thickness of arteries 0.590 and veins thickness 0.677. We found a moderate correlation of the age (r between 0.30 and 0.50, p < 0.001) with the retinal vascular parameters analyzed. In multiple linear regression analysis after adjusting for age and sex, the association of AVR and arterial thickness with the diastolic blood pressure and albumin creatinine ratio and arterial area and length with systolic arterial blood pressure and carotid intima-media thickness remains. Also the thickness area and length of the vessels show an association with cardiovascular risk estimated SCORE scale. Conclusions: The ALTAIR tool shows a good reliability in the concordance inter observers, intra observer and inter device measurements and a concordant validity to show an association with vascular parameters, target organ damage and cardiovascular risk

CIBERER : Spanish national network for research on rare diseases: A highly productive collaborative initiative

Altres ajuts: Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII); Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación.CIBER (Center for Biomedical Network Research; Centro de Investigación Biomédica En Red) is a public national consortium created in 2006 under the umbrella of the Spanish National Institute of Health Carlos III (ISCIII). This innovative research structure comprises 11 different specific areas dedicated to the main public health priorities in the National Health System. CIBERER, the thematic area of CIBER focused on rare diseases (RDs) currently consists of 75 research groups belonging to universities, research centers, and hospitals of the entire country. CIBERER's mission is to be a center prioritizing and favoring collaboration and cooperation between biomedical and clinical research groups, with special emphasis on the aspects of genetic, molecular, biochemical, and cellular research of RDs. This research is the basis for providing new tools for the diagnosis and therapy of low-prevalence diseases, in line with the International Rare Diseases Research Consortium (IRDiRC) objectives, thus favoring translational research between the scientific environment of the laboratory and the clinical setting of health centers. In this article, we intend to review CIBERER's 15-year journey and summarize the main results obtained in terms of internationalization, scientific production, contributions toward the discovery of new therapies and novel genes associated to diseases, cooperation with patients' associations and many other topics related to RD research

Association between measurements of arterial stiffness and target organ damage in a general Spanish population

AbstractIntroduction Little is known about the relationship between arterial stiffness and cardiovascular target organ damage (TOD) in the general population. The aim was to analyse the relationship between different measurements of arterial stiffness and TOD, in a general Spanish population without a history of cardiovascular event.Materials and methods Transversal descriptive study. Through stratified random sampling, a total of 501 individuals were included. Carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cf-PWV) was measured using a SphygmoCor System®, the cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI) was determined with aVasera VS-1500® and brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (ba-PWV)was calculated through a validated equation.Results The average age was 55.84 ± 14.26.The percentage of vascular TOD, left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) and renal TOD was higher in men (p < .001). A positive correlation was obtained between carotid intima-media thickness (c-IMT) and the measurements of vascular function. In the model 1 of the logistic regression analysis, cf-PWV was associated with vascular TOD (OR = 1.15, p = .040), ba-PWV was associated with vascular TOD (OR = 1.20, p = .010) and LVH (OR = 1.12, p = .047).Conclusions The different measurements of arterial stiffness are highly associated with each other. Moreover, cf-PWV and ba-PWV were associated with vascular TOD, and ba-PWV with LVH, although they disappear when adjusting for cardiovascular risk factors.Key MessagesThere is a strong correlation between the different measurements of vascular structure and function.Carotid-femoral and brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity were positively associated with vascular target organ damage, the latter was also positively associated with left ventricular hypertrophy.This associations disappear when adjusting for cardiovascular risk factors