Association Between Residential Greenness and Cardiovascular Disease Risk

Background Exposure to green vegetation has been linked to positive health, but the pathophysiological processes affected by exposure to vegetation remain unclear. To study the relationship between greenness and cardiovascular disease, we examined the association between residential greenness and biomarkers of cardiovascular injury and disease risk in susceptible individuals. Methods and Results In this cross-sectional study of 408 individuals recruited from a preventive cardiology clinic, we measured biomarkers of cardiovascular injury and risk in participant blood and urine. We estimated greenness from satellite-derived normalized difference vegetation index ( NDVI ) in zones with radii of 250 m and 1 km surrounding the participants' residences. We used generalized estimating equations to examine associations between greenness and cardiovascular disease biomarkers. We adjusted for residential clustering, demographic, clinical, and environmental variables. In fully adjusted models, contemporaneous NDVI within 250 m of participant residence was inversely associated with urinary levels of epinephrine (-6.9%; 95% confidence interval, -11.5, -2.0/0.1 NDVI ) and F2-isoprostane (-9.0%; 95% confidence interval, -15.1, -2.5/0.1 NDVI ). We found stronger associations between NDVI and urinary epinephrine in women, those not on β-blockers, and those who had not previously experienced a myocardial infarction. Of the 15 subtypes of circulating angiogenic cells examined, 11 were inversely associated (8.0-15.6% decrease/0.1 NDVI ), whereas 2 were positively associated (37.6-45.8% increase/0.1 NDVI ) with contemporaneous NDVI . Conclusions Independent of age, sex, race, smoking status, neighborhood deprivation, statin use, and roadway exposure, residential greenness is associated with lower levels of sympathetic activation, reduced oxidative stress, and higher angiogenic capacity

Presence of multiple coronary angiographic characteristics for the diagnosis of acute coronary thrombus

Background: Coronary angiography is frequently employed to aid in the diagnosis of acute coronary thrombosis, but there is limited data to support its efficacy. The aim of the study was to evaluate sensitivity and specificity of five commonly used angiographic characteristics for diagnosis of acute coronary thrombosis: Ambrose complex lesion morphology; spherical, ovoid, or irregular filling defect; abrupt vessel cutoff; intraluminal staining; and any coronary filling defect. Methods: Coronary angiography of 80 acute myocardial infarction or stable coronary artery disease subjects were assessed in blinded fashion, for the presence or absence of five angiographic characteristics. Only lesions of ≥ 10% stenosis were included in the analysis. Presence or absence of each angiographic characteristic was compared between lesions with or without the following study defined outcomes: 1) histologically confirmed thrombus, 2) highly probable thrombus, and 3) highly unlikely thrombus. Results: A total of 323 lesions were evaluated. All studied angiographic characteristics were associated with histologically confirmed and highly probable thrombotic lesions vs. lesions not meeting criteria for these outcomes (p < 0.03), except for complex Ambrose morphology which was not associated with any of the study outcomes (p > 0.05). Specificity for identifying histologically confirmed or highly probable thrombotic lesion was high (92–100%), especially for spherical, ovoid, or irregular filling defect (99–100%) and intraluminal staining (99%). Sensitivity for identification of histologically confirmed or highly probable thrombotic lesions was low for all tested angiographic characteristics (17–60%). Conclusions: The presence of spherical, ovoid, or irregular filling defect or intraluminal staining was highly suggestive of coronary thrombus. However, none of the evaluated angiographic characteristics were useful for ruling out the presence of coronary thrombus. If confirmed in an independent cohort, these angiographic characteristic will be of significant value in confirming the diagnosis of acute coronary thrombosis.

Highly strained III-V-V coaxial nanowire quantum wells with strong carrier confinement

Coaxial quantum wells (QWs) are ideal candidates for nanowire (NW) lasers, providing strong carrier confinement and allowing close matching of the cavity mode and gain medium. We report a detailed structural and optical study and the observation of lasing for a mixed group-V GaAsP NW with GaAs QWs. This system offers a number of potential advantages in comparison to previously studied common group-V structures (e.g., AlGaAs/GaAs) including highly strained binary GaAs QWs, the absence of a lower band gap core region, and deep carrier potential wells. Despite the large lattice mismatch (∼1.7%), it is possible to grow defect-free GaAs coaxial QWs with high optical quality. The large band gap difference results in strong carrier confinement, and the ability to apply a high degree of compressive strain to the GaAs QWs is also expected to be beneficial for laser performance. For a non-fully optimized structure containing three QWs, we achieve low-temperature lasing with a low external (internal) threshold of 20 (0.9) μJ/cm2/pulse. In addition, a very narrow lasing line width of ∼0.15 nm is observed. These results extend the NW laser structure to coaxial III–V–V QWs, which are highly suitable as the platform for NW emitters

Abstract 13338: Sociodemographic Differences in the Associations Between Omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid Levels and Lipid Profiles in the United States

Introduction: Omega-3 (n-3) fatty acids have been shown to improve cardiovascular disease related lipid profiles, however, it is unclear whether these benefits vary by sociodemographic status. Therefore, we conducted a cross-sectional study to examine sociodemographic differences in n-3 fatty acids and their associations with lipid profiles in the general US population. Methods: Data from 2,444 participants in the 2011-2012 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey were used in the study. Omega-3 fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), docosapentaenoic acid (DPA), and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) were measured in serum and analyzed as a percentage of total fatty acids. The primary outcomes included LDL/HDL ratio, total cholesterol/HDL ratio, and log of triglycerides/HDL ratio. Survey weighted regression with domain analysis were used to test for sociodemographic differences in associations. Results: We found that males had significantly lower levels of total n-3 fatty acids than females. Compared with Non-Hispanic Whites, Mexican Americans had lower levels of n-3 fatty acids, while Non-Hispanic Asians had higher levels. Omega-3 levels were also highest in college graduates and participants with a household income greater than $65,000. After adjusting for relevant confounders, we found an inverse association between DHA and LDL/HDL (-0.14 per 1$65,000, and college graduates. Subgroup analysis of total cholesterol/HDL revealed an inverse association with EPA in females, Non-Hispanic Blacks, and college graduates. Conclusions: In the United States, the beneficial effects of n-3 fatty acids on lipid profiles vary by sociodemographics. These results may be due to sociodemographic inequalities in n-3 fatty acid consumption. </jats:p

168-OR: The Inverse Association between Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Inflammation Is Modified by Plasma Levels of Omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids

Moderate intensity exercise has been shown to prevent the development and progression of chronic inflammatory diseases, including type 2 diabetes. Likewise, physical fitness is associated with reduced inflammation, morbidity, and mortality. Nonetheless, factors that contribute to the anti-inflammatory effect of physical fitness remain largely undefined. Using data collected from 437 participants in the 2003-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, we assessed how the omega-6/omega-3 fatty acid ratio (ω-6/ω-3) modifies the relationship between cardiorespiratory fitness (VO2max) and inflammation (C-reactive protein; CRP). Participants were 45% female with an average age of 32.9 years and with a BMI of 27.7 kg/m2. In adjusted models for CRP, we observed significant interactions between VO2max and ω-6/ω-3 quartiles. Participants with the highest quartile of ω-6/ω-3 showed a positive association between VO2max and CRP levels. Conversely, the lowest quartiles of ω-6/ω-3 were negatively associated with VO2max and CRP, ranging from -22.4% to -33.7% CRP per 10 ml/kg/min VO2max compared with the highest ω-6/ω-3 quartile (interaction p-value= 0.0149). This negative relationship was strengthened when alternatively modeling the interaction between total ω-3 levels and VO2max (interaction p-value=0.0002), wherein higher ω-3 levels resulted in a stronger negative association between VO2max and CRP. This was predominantly driven by alpha-linoleic acid (ALA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), but not docosapentaenoic acid (DPAn-3) levels. We also observed negative associations between circulating levels of monocytes and VO2max for participants with lower ω-6/ω-3 or higher ω-3 EPA levels. Collectively, these data suggest that the anti-inflammatory effect of physical fitness is enhanced with higher plasma levels of ω-3 fatty acids. Disclosure G. Farley: None. D.W. Riggs: None. A. Bhatnagar: None. J. Hellmann: None. Funding National Institutes of Health (GM127495, GM127607) </jats:sec

Association Between Residential Greenness and Risk of Stroke by Ecoregions: The REGARDS Study

Background Living in areas with more greenness has been associated with beneficial health outcomes. However, few studies have examined associations of greenness with incidence of stroke, and it is unclear how these associations may vary with the type of vegetation and surrounding ecology. This study evaluated associations between greenness and incidence of stroke by the major ecological regions in the United States. Methods and Results We assessed the incidence of stroke in 27 369 participants from the REGARDS (Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke) study, a prospective cohort recruited across the contiguous United States. Greenness was estimated by the normalized difference vegetation index and enhanced vegetation index (EVI) at multiple buffers around home addresses. Participants were assigned to ecoregions using their baseline residence. We estimated the association between residential greenness and incidence of stroke using covariate‐adjusted Cox proportional hazards models. Models were stratified by ecoregions to assess how associations varied by areas with unique vegetation and ecology. We observed 1581 incident cases of stroke during the study period. In the full study population, there was suggestive evidence of a protective association between greenness and stroke incidence (hazard ratio [HR], 0.989 [95% CI, 0.946–1.033]) for a 0.1 increase in normalized difference vegetation index within 250 m. Similar results were obtained using enhanced vegetation index and larger radii. In our analysis by ecoregions, we found greenness was associated with lower stroke risk in the Eastern Temperate Forests region (HR, 0.946 [95% CI, 0.898–0.997]), but higher risk in the Great Plains (HR, 1.442 [95% CI, 1.124–1.849]) and Mediterranean California regions (HR, 1.327 [95% CI, 1.058–1.664]). Conclusions Vegetation may lower the risk of stroke; however, benefits may be limited to certain contexts of the natural environment