Depressive symptoms and cardiovascular burden-related mortality among the aged.

Background: Depressive symptoms have been linked to increased cardiovascular mortality among the elderly. This study was aimed to test the independent and additive predictive value of depressive symptoms and B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP), a marker of direct cardiovascular stress and a strong predictor of mortality, together with traditional cardiovascular risk markers on total and cardiovascular mortalities in a general elderly population.

Methods: A total of 508 subjects aged 75 or older participated in the study.

B-type natriuretic peptide and severity of cognitive disorder.

Background: Natriuretic peptides have been linked to cognitive disorder in previous studies. The aim of this study was to examine the association between the severity of cognitive disorder and the levels of B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) in an older general population.

Material And Methods: This study is a part of the larger population-based, multidisciplinary Kuopio 75+ health study.

The prognostic capacity of B-type natriuretic peptide on cognitive disorder varies by age.

Introduction: It is known that blood levels of natriuretic peptides associate with cognitive disorder among the middle-aged. We aimed to test whether this association is valid in an older population aged 75 years or older.

Methods: A total of 601 older subjects aged 75 or older participated in the study.

Mini-Mental State Examination score and B-type natriuretic peptide as predictors of cardiovascular and total mortality in an elderly general population.

INTRODUCTION. The aim of the present study was to examine the power of B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) and mild cognitive impairment as independent predictors of total and cardiovascular mortality in combination with established cardiovascular risk markers in an elderly general population without severe cognitive impairment. METHODS.

Effects of Protostrongylus sp. and Pneumocystis sp. on the pulmonary tissue and the condition of mountain and brown hares from Finland.

Mountain hares (Lepus timidus) and brown hares (Lepus europaeus) shot by hunters in several game management districts in southern and central Finland during the hunting season from September to the end of February 1998-2001 were examined for Protostrongylus sp. and Pneumocystis sp. Of the mountain hares, 96.

Occurrence and destruction of PAHs, PCBs, CIPhs, CIBzs, and PCDD/Fs in ash from gasification of straw.

Two experiments were performed with an atmospheric circulating fluidized bed gasifier (ACFBG), the first with pelletized straw and the second with loose straw, to investigate the occurrence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), chlorophenols (CIPhs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polychlorinated benzenes (ClBzs), polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) in the bottom ash and fly ash formed during gasification. Only PAHs were present in large amounts, and only in the fly ash, ranging from 300 to 555 mg/kg ash in the tests with pelletized straw and from 73 to 118 mg/kg ash in those with loose straw. These amounts are so high that environmentally safe disposal or reuse of the ash would be difficult, so the development of a technique to handle the problem was included in the project.