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- Emerging Risk Factors, Collaboration, et al.
(author)
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The Emerging Risk Factors Collaboration: analysis of individual data on lipid, inflammatory and other markers in over 1.1 million participants in 104 prospective studies of cardiovascular diseases
- 2007
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In: Eur J Epidemiol. - 0393-2990. ; 22:12, s. 839-69
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Many long-term prospective studies have reported on associations of cardiovascular diseases with circulating lipid markers and/or inflammatory markers. Studies have not, however, generally been designed to provide reliable estimates under different circumstances and to correct for within-person variability. The Emerging Risk Factors Collaboration has established a central database on over 1.1 million participants from 104 prospective population-based studies, in which subsets have information on lipid and inflammatory markers, other characteristics, as well as major cardiovascular morbidity and cause-specific mortality. Information on repeat measurements on relevant characteristics has been collected in approximately 340,000 participants to enable estimation of and correction for within-person variability. Re-analysis of individual data will yield up to approximately 69,000 incident fatal or nonfatal first ever major cardiovascular outcomes recorded during about 11.7 million person years at risk. The primary analyses will involve age-specific regression models in people without known baseline cardiovascular disease in relation to fatal or nonfatal first ever coronary heart disease outcomes. This initiative will characterize more precisely and in greater detail than has previously been possible the shape and strength of the age- and sex-specific associations of several lipid and inflammatory markers with incident coronary heart disease outcomes (and, secondarily, with other incident cardiovascular outcomes) under a wide range of circumstances. It will, therefore, help to determine to what extent such associations are independent from possible confounding factors and to what extent such markers (separately and in combination) provide incremental predictive value.
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- Danesh, John, et al.
(author)
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Plasma fibrinogen level and the risk of major cardiovascular diseases and nonvascular mortality: an individual participant meta-analysis
- 2005
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In: JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association. - : American Medical Association (AMA). - 1538-3598 .- 0098-7484. ; 294:14, s. 1799-1809
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Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- CONTEXT: Plasma fibrinogen levels may be associated with the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke. OBJECTIVE: To assess the relationships of fibrinogen levels with risk of major vascular and with risk of nonvascular outcomes based on individual participant data. DATA SOURCES: Relevant studies were identified by computer-assisted searches, hand searches of reference lists, and personal communication with relevant investigators. STUDY SELECTION: All identified prospective studies were included with information available on baseline fibrinogen levels and details of subsequent major vascular morbidity and/or cause-specific mortality during at least 1 year of follow-up. Studies were excluded if they recruited participants on the basis of having had a previous history of cardiovascular disease; participants with known preexisting CHD or stroke were excluded. DATA EXTRACTION: Individual records were provided on each of 154,211 participants in 31 prospective studies. During 1.38 million person-years of follow-up, there were 6944 first nonfatal myocardial infarctions or stroke events and 13,210 deaths. Cause-specific mortality was generally available. Analyses involved proportional hazards modeling with adjustment for confounding by known cardiovascular risk factors and for regression dilution bias. DATA SYNTHESIS: Within each age group considered (40-59, 60-69, and > or =70 years), there was an approximately log-linear association with usual fibrinogen level for the risk of any CHD, any stroke, other vascular (eg, non-CHD, nonstroke) mortality, and nonvascular mortality. There was no evidence of a threshold within the range of usual fibrinogen level studied at any age. The age- and sex- adjusted hazard ratio per 1-g/L increase in usual fibrinogen level for CHD was 2.42 (95% confidence interval [CI], 2.24-2.60); stroke, 2.06 (95% CI, 1.83-2.33); other vascular mortality, 2.76 (95% CI, 2.28-3.35); and nonvascular mortality, 2.03 (95% CI, 1.90-2.18). The hazard ratios for CHD and stroke were reduced to about 1.8 after further adjustment for measured values of several established vascular risk factors. In a subset of 7011 participants with available C-reactive protein values, the findings for CHD were essentially unchanged following additional adjustment for C-reactive protein. The associations of fibrinogen level with CHD or stroke did not differ substantially according to sex, smoking, blood pressure, blood lipid levels, or several features of study design. CONCLUSIONS: In this large individual participant meta-analysis, moderately strong associations were found between usual plasma fibrinogen level and the risks of CHD, stroke, other vascular mortality, and nonvascular mortality in a wide range of circumstances in healthy middle-aged adults. Assessment of any causal relevance of elevated fibrinogen levels to disease requires additional research.
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- Guilford, Tim, et al.
(author)
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GPS tracking of the foraging movements of Manx Shearwaters Puffinus puffinus breeding on Skomer Island, Wales
- 2008
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In: Ibis. - 1474-919X. ; 150, s. 462-473
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We report the first successful use of miniature Global Positioning System loggers to track the ocean-going behaviour of a c. 400g seabird, the Manx Shearwater Puffinus puffinus. During three field seasons, breeding birds were tracked during the incubation and chick rearing periods on their foraging excursions from the large colony on Skomer Island, Pembrokeshire, UK. Foraging effort was concentrated in the Irish Sea. Likely foraging areas were identified to the north off the Mull of Galloway (some 330km from Skomer), in Dundalk Bay, Cardigan Bay, and more diffusely to the west of the colony both locally and off southern Ireland. No foraging excursions were recorded significantly to the south of the colony, conflicting with the conclusions of earlier studies based on ringing recoveries and off-shore observations. We discuss several explanations including the hypothesis that foraging may have shifted substantially northwards in recent decades (although the possibility that breeding birds forage further south in the very early part of the season remains open). We found no obvious relationship between birds’ positions and water depth, although night-time observations were more likely to be in shallower water than day-time observations. We also found that despite the fact that shearwaters can be observed rafting off-shore from their colonies in the hours prior to making landfall at night, breeding birds are usually located much further from the colony in the last eight hours before arrival, a finding that has significance for the likely effectiveness of marine protection areas if they are only local to the colony. Short sequences of precise second-by-second fixes gathered every two hours enabled us to measure movement speed and direction. Movement speeds were bimodal, corresponding to sitting on the water and flying, with flight behaviour separable into erratic (perhaps indicative of searching for food) and directional (perhaps indicative of travelling). Movement behaviour had a diurnal pattern, with flight predominating in the morning and evening, with more sitting at night and around midday. We also provide a first direct measurement of mean flight speed during directional flight (approximately 40 kmh-1), slower than a shearwater’s predicted Vmr (maximum range velocity) and suggesting that birds are exploiting wave or dynamic soaring during long-distance travel.
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- Meade, F. C., et al.
(author)
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Magma Ascent along a Major Terrane Boundary: Crustal Contamination and Magma Mixing at the Drumadoon Intrusive Complex, Isle of Arran, Scotland
- 2009
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In: Journal of Petrology. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0022-3530 .- 1460-2415. ; 50:12, s. 2345-2374
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The composite intrusions of Drumadoon and An Cumhann crop out on the SE coast of the Isle of Arran, Scotland and form part of the larger British and Irish Palaeogene Igneous Province, a subset of the North Atlantic Igneous Province. The intrusions (shallow-level dykes and sills) comprise a central quartz-feldspar-phyric rhyolite flanked by xenocryst-bearing basaltic andesite, with an intermediate zone of dark quartz-feldspar-phyric dacite. New geochemical data provide information on the evolution of the component magmas and their relationships with each other, as well as their interaction with the crust through which they travelled. During shallow-crustal emplacement, the end-member magmas mixed. Isotopic evidence shows that both magmas were contaminated by the crust prior to mixing; the basaltic andesite magma preserves some evidence of contamination within the lower crust, whereas the rhyolite mainly records upper-crustal contamination. The Highland Boundary Fault divides Arran into two distinct terranes, the Neoproterozoic to Early Palaeozoic Grampian Terrane to the north and the Palaeozoic Midland Valley Terrane to the south. The Drumadoon Complex lies within the Midland Valley Terrane but its isotopic signatures indicate almost exclusive involvement of Grampian Terrane crust. Therefore, although the magmas originated at depth on the northern side of the Highland Boundary Fault, they have crossed this boundary during their evolution, probably just prior to emplacement.
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