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OBJECTIVE: Studies elucidating the importance of IL (interleukin)-6 trans-signaling associated with risk of future myocardial infarction (MI) are scarce. Additionally, whether elevation in IL-6 explains part of the association between traditional risk factors and future MI has not been explored. Approach and Results: We conducted a nested case-control study including a total of 584 participants (292 cases and 292 controls) from Västerbotten Intervention Programme and MONICA (Multinational Monitoring of Trends and Determinants in Cardiovascular Disease) cohorts. At baseline, plasma cholesterol levels were measured, and clinical characteristics of participants were collected. In this study, we measured the plasma concentration of IL-6, sIL-6R (soluble IL-6 receptor), and sgp130 (soluble-gp130). To estimate extent of IL-6 trans-signaling, we estimated plasma concentration of a novel biomarker, the IL-6 binary complex. IL-6 binary complex concentration was significantly elevated in participants who experienced MI compared with those who did not. Univariate analyses showed that a 2-fold increase in IL-6 binary complex was associated with 2.45× higher risk of future MI (95% CI relative risk, 1.65-3.66, P<0.001). Receiver operating characteristics analyses revealed that the predictive performance of IL-6 binary complex (area under the curve, 0.614) was equivalent to that of IL-6 (area under the curve, 0.603). Furthermore, using Process mediation analyses tool, we found statistically significant indirect effect of smoking and hypertension on future MI that is mediated through increased IL-6 binary complex or plasma IL-6. CONCLUSIONS: IL-6 and IL-6 binary complex concentration in plasma were significantly associated with future MI. Our data additionally imply that both the elevated plasma IL-6, and the IL-6 binary complex concentration could partly explain, and, thus, might hypothetically be functionally associated with the increased risk of MI in smokers and hypertensive, Funding Agency:Foundation for Old Servants 2019-00851 2018-00654 2017-00579

Computed Tomography (CT) high resolution imaging have been used to investigate if there is a significant change in the crystal-to-window distance, i.e. the air gap thickness, in a small n-type detector cooled to 77 K, and in a medium sized p-type HPGe detector when cooled to 100 K. The findings were compared to detector dimension data made available by the manufacturer. The air gap thickness increased by (0.38 +/- 0.07) mm for the n-type detector and by (0.40 +/- 0.15) mm for the p-type detector when the detectors were cooled to 77 resp. 100 K compared to at room temperature. Monte Carlo calculations indicate that these differences have a significant impact on the efficiency in close geometries (< 5 cm). In the energy range of 40-700 keV with a source placed directly on endcap, the change in detector efficiency with temperature is 1.9-2.9% for the n-type detector and 0.3-2.1% for the p-type detector. The measured air gap thickness when cooling the detector was 1.1 mm thicker than manufacturer data for the n-type detector and 0.2 mm thicker for the p-type detector. In the energy range of 40-700 keV and with a source on endcap, this result in a change in detector efficiency of 5.2-7.1% for the n-type detector and 0.2-1.0% for the p-type detector, Le the detector efficiency is overestimated using data available by the manufacturer. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.