Ultrasonic Assessment of Myocardial Microstructure in Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Sarcomere Mutation Carriers With and Without Left Ventricular Hypertrophy.

Background: The noninvasive assessment of altered myocardium in patients with genetic mutations that are associated with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) remains challenging. In this pilot study, we evaluated whether a novel echocardiography-based assessment of myocardial microstructure, the signal intensity coefficient (SIC), could detect tissue-level alterations in HCM sarcomere mutation carriers with and without left ventricular hypertrophy.

Methods And Results: We studied 3 groups of genotyped individuals: sarcomere mutation carriers with left ventricular hypertrophy (clinical HCM; n=36), mutation carriers with normal left ventricular wall thickness (subclinical HCM; n=28), and healthy controls (n=10).

Chemical Composition of Fine Particulate Matter and Life Expectancy: In 95 US Counties Between 2002 and 2007.

Background: In a previous study, we provided evidence that a decline in fine particulate matter (PM2.5) air pollution during the period between 2000 and 2007 was associated with increased life expectancy in 545 counties in the United States. In this article, we investigated which chemical constituents of PM2.

Temporal trends in the population attributable risk for cardiovascular disease: the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study.

Background: The extent to which the relative contributions of traditional cardiovascular risk factors to incident cardiovascular disease (CVD) may have changed over time remains unclear.

Methods And Results: We studied 13 541 participants (56% women, 26% black) in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study, aged 52 to 66 years and free of CVD at exams in 1987 through 1989, 1990 through 1992, 1993 through 1995, or 1996 through 1998. At each examination, we estimated the population attributable risks (PAR) of traditional risk factors (hypertension, diabetes mellitus, obesity, hypercholesterolemia, and smoking) for the 10-year incidence of CVD.

Residential exposure to aircraft noise and hospital admissions for cardiovascular diseases: multi-airport retrospective study.

Objective: To investigate whether exposure to aircraft noise increases the risk of hospitalization for cardiovascular diseases in older people (≥ 65 years) residing near airports.

Design: Multi-airport retrospective study of approximately 6 million older people residing near airports in the United States. We superimposed contours of aircraft noise levels (in decibels, dB) for 89 airports for 2009 provided by the US Federal Aviation Administration on census block resolution population data to construct two exposure metrics applicable to zip code resolution health insurance data: population weighted noise within each zip code, and 90th centile of noise among populated census blocks within each zip code.

Effect of air pollution control on life expectancy in the United States: an analysis of 545 U.S. counties for the period from 2000 to 2007.

Background: In recent years (2000-2007), ambient levels of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) have continued to decline as a result of interventions, but the decline has been at a slower rate than previous years (1980-2000). Whether these more recent and slower declines of PM2.