Objective To examine the association of atherosclerosis burden in the survivors of an asymptomatic elderly cohort study and its relationship to other coronary risk factors (specifically, age) by evaluating aortic athe...Objective To examine the association of atherosclerosis burden in the survivors of an asymptomatic elderly cohort study and its relationship to other coronary risk factors (specifically, age) by evaluating aortic atherosclerotic wall burden by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Methods A total of 312 participants in an ongoing observational cohort study underwent cardiac and descending thoracic aorta imaging by MRI. Maximum wall thickness was measured and the mean wall thickness calculated.Wall/outer wall ratio was used as a normalized wall index (NWI) adjusted for artery size difference among participants. Percent wall volume (PWV) was calculated as NWI ×100.Results In this asymptomatic cohort (mean age: 76 years), the mean (SD) aortic wall area andwall thicknesswere 222 ±45 mm2 and 2.7 ±0.4 mm, respectively. Maximum wall thickness was 3.4 ±0.6 mm, and PWV was 32% ±4%. Women appeared to have smaller wall area,but after correcting for their smaller artery size, had significantly higher PWV than men (P = 0.03). Older age was associatedwith larger wall area (P = 0.04 for trend) with similar PWVs. However, there were no statistically significant associations between standard risk factors,Framingham global risk, or metabolic syndrome status, therapy for cholesterol or hypertension, coronary or aortic calcium score, and the aortic wall burden. Aortic calcificationwas associated with coronary calcification. Conclusions Asymptomatic elderly in this cohort had a greater descending thoracic aortic wall volume that correlated with age, andwomen had a significantly increased PWV compared to men. In these survivors, the atherosclerotic aortic wall burden was not significantly associated with traditional risk factors or with coronary or aortic calcium scores or coronary calcium progression. Results suggest that age, or as yet unidentified risk factor(s), may be responsible for the increase in atherosclerosis.展开更多
The long-term “Grain-to-Green Program” (GGP) on China’s Loess Plateau is a major global ecological engineering project which has significantly boosted vegetation renewal. Some studies have found that the rate of re...The long-term “Grain-to-Green Program” (GGP) on China’s Loess Plateau is a major global ecological engineering project which has significantly boosted vegetation renewal. Some studies have found that the rate of restoration is quite rapid during the implementation of ecological engineering, however, the influence of multi-scale climatic conditions on the performance of ecological engineering is unclear. In this study, multiple sources of remote sensing data were used to estimate the dynamics of vegetation structural and functional indicators, water-related local climatic factors, and atmospheric circulation factors. These datasets were also used to detect possible causes for vegetation restoration on the Loess Plateau over the past 20 years. The results show that widespread increases in rates of normalized difference vegetation indexes (NDVI), leaf area indexes (LAI), gross primary production (GPP), and aboveground biomass carbon (ABC) during 2000–2016 were significantly higher than before 2000. GPP was significantly correlated with rainfall and surface runoff on a monthly scale, and there were significant positive correlations between GPP and atmospheric circulation. Our results demonstrate that both vegetation structural and functional indicators rapidly increase, and ecological engineering greatly accelerated vegetation restoration after 2000. Local climatic conditions and atmospheric circulation patterns enhance vegetation growth and impact of ecological engineering.展开更多
文摘Objective To examine the association of atherosclerosis burden in the survivors of an asymptomatic elderly cohort study and its relationship to other coronary risk factors (specifically, age) by evaluating aortic atherosclerotic wall burden by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Methods A total of 312 participants in an ongoing observational cohort study underwent cardiac and descending thoracic aorta imaging by MRI. Maximum wall thickness was measured and the mean wall thickness calculated.Wall/outer wall ratio was used as a normalized wall index (NWI) adjusted for artery size difference among participants. Percent wall volume (PWV) was calculated as NWI ×100.Results In this asymptomatic cohort (mean age: 76 years), the mean (SD) aortic wall area andwall thicknesswere 222 ±45 mm2 and 2.7 ±0.4 mm, respectively. Maximum wall thickness was 3.4 ±0.6 mm, and PWV was 32% ±4%. Women appeared to have smaller wall area,but after correcting for their smaller artery size, had significantly higher PWV than men (P = 0.03). Older age was associatedwith larger wall area (P = 0.04 for trend) with similar PWVs. However, there were no statistically significant associations between standard risk factors,Framingham global risk, or metabolic syndrome status, therapy for cholesterol or hypertension, coronary or aortic calcium score, and the aortic wall burden. Aortic calcificationwas associated with coronary calcification. Conclusions Asymptomatic elderly in this cohort had a greater descending thoracic aortic wall volume that correlated with age, andwomen had a significantly increased PWV compared to men. In these survivors, the atherosclerotic aortic wall burden was not significantly associated with traditional risk factors or with coronary or aortic calcium scores or coronary calcium progression. Results suggest that age, or as yet unidentified risk factor(s), may be responsible for the increase in atherosclerosis.
基金The work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China(41601181)the Scientifi c Research Program of Shanghai Science and Technology Commission(20DZ1204702).
文摘The long-term “Grain-to-Green Program” (GGP) on China’s Loess Plateau is a major global ecological engineering project which has significantly boosted vegetation renewal. Some studies have found that the rate of restoration is quite rapid during the implementation of ecological engineering, however, the influence of multi-scale climatic conditions on the performance of ecological engineering is unclear. In this study, multiple sources of remote sensing data were used to estimate the dynamics of vegetation structural and functional indicators, water-related local climatic factors, and atmospheric circulation factors. These datasets were also used to detect possible causes for vegetation restoration on the Loess Plateau over the past 20 years. The results show that widespread increases in rates of normalized difference vegetation indexes (NDVI), leaf area indexes (LAI), gross primary production (GPP), and aboveground biomass carbon (ABC) during 2000–2016 were significantly higher than before 2000. GPP was significantly correlated with rainfall and surface runoff on a monthly scale, and there were significant positive correlations between GPP and atmospheric circulation. Our results demonstrate that both vegetation structural and functional indicators rapidly increase, and ecological engineering greatly accelerated vegetation restoration after 2000. Local climatic conditions and atmospheric circulation patterns enhance vegetation growth and impact of ecological engineering.
