Undersampled Diffusion-Weighted Xe MRI Morphometry of Airspace Enlargement: Feasibility in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

Multi-b diffusion-weighted hyperpolarized gas MRI measures pulmonary airspace enlargement using apparent diffusion coefficients (ADC) and mean linear intercepts (). Rapid single-breath acquisitions may facilitate clinical translation, and, hence, we aimed to develop single-breath three-dimensional multi-b diffusion-weighted Xe MRI using k-space undersampling. We evaluated multi-b (0, 12, 20, 30 s/cm) diffusion-weighted Xe ADC/morphometry estimates using a fully sampled and retrospectively undersampled k-space with two acceleration-factors (AF = 2 and 3) in never-smokers and ex-smokers with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or alpha-one anti-trypsin deficiency (AATD).

Associations between environmental noise and myocardial infarction and stroke: Investigating the potential mediating effects of hypertension.

Background: We investigated whether hypertension may be a mediator in the pathway linking environmental noise exposure to incident MI and stroke.

Methods: Separately for MI and stroke, we built two population-based cohorts from linked health administrative data. Participants were residents of Montreal (Canada) between 2000 and 2014, aged 45 years and older who were free of hypertension and MI or stroke at time of entry.

Hyperpolarized Xe MRI at low field: Current status and future directions.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is dictated by the magnetization of the sample, and is thus a low-sensitivity imaging method. Inhalation of hyperpolarized (HP) noble gases, such as helium-3 and xenon-129, is a non-invasive, radiation-risk free imaging technique permitting high resolution imaging of the lungs and pulmonary functions, such as the lung microstructure, diffusion, perfusion, gas exchange, and dynamic ventilation. Instead of increasing the magnetic field strength, the higher spin polarization achievable from this method results in significantly higher net MR signal independent of tissue/water concentration.

Relationships between long-term residential exposure to total environmental noise and stroke incidence.

Background: Noise has been related to several cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) such as coronary heart disease and to their risk factors such as hypertension, but associations with stroke remain under-researched, even if CVD likely share similar pathophysiologic mechanisms.

Aim: The objective of the study was to examine the association between long-term residential exposure to total environmental noise and stroke incidence in Montreal, Canada.

Materials And Methods: We created an open cohort of adults aged ≥45years, free of stroke before entering the cohort for the years 2000 to 2014 with health administrative data.

State Union Density Effects on Workers' Support for Reducing Income Inequality, 1973-2016.

Research often borrows on common yet somewhat unsubstantiated beliefs that unions influence inequality attitudes among unionized and nonunionized workers. This paper draws on inequality attitude data from the General Social Survey and state-level union data from the Current Population Survey and County Business Patterns between 1973 and 2016 to test this hypothesis. Linear probability, fixed-effects, and marginal structural models estimate that a large increase in state union density moderately increases workers' support for reducing income inequality by three to 12 percentage points.