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Objectives: Previous findings suggest a vascular foundation underlying apathy, but transdiagnostic and prospective evidence on vascular apathy is scarce. This study examines the association between vascular disease and the presence and development of apathy symptoms in the very old.Methods: Four cohorts of the Towards Understanding Longitudinal International older People Studies (TULIPS)-consortium were included in a two-staged, individual participant data meta-analysis using generalized linear mixed models, Vascular disease was defined as a history of any clinical atherosclerotic pathology (angina pectoris, myocardial infarction, intermittent claudication, transient ischemic attack, stroke or related surgeries) and was related to apathy symptoms as repeatedly measured by the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-3A >= 2) over a maximum of 5 years.Results: Of all 1868 participants (median age 85 years old), 53.9% had vascular disease and 44.3% experienced apathy symptoms. Participants with vascular disease had a 76% higher risk of apathy symptoms at baseline (odds ratio (OR) 1.76, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.32-2.35), irrespective of depressive symptoms and only partially explained by stroke. Conversely, there was no association of vascular disease with the occurrence of apathy symptoms longitudinally, both in those with apathy at baseline (OR 1.00, 95% CI 0.84-1.20) and without (OR 0.96, 95% CI 0.841.09).Conclusions: Vascular disease in the very old is associated with apathy symptoms cross-sectionally, but not proven longitudinally, independent of depressive symptoms. These findings query a vascular cause underlying apathy symptoms. However, the consistency of our cross-sectional findings in direction and magnitude across the TULIPS-consortium do emphasize international relevance of the interplay of vascular factors and apathy in advanced age, which meaning needs further unravelling.

Objectives: While randomized controlled trials have proven the benefits of blood pressure (BP) lowering in participating octogenarians, population-based observational studies suggest an association between low systolic blood pressure (SBP) and faster overall decline. This study investigates the effects of BP-lowering treatment, a history of cardiovascular diseases (CVD), and cognitive and physical fitness on the associations between SBP and health outcomes in the very old. Methods: Five cohorts from the Towards Understanding Longitudinal International older People Studies (TULIPS) consortium were included in a two-step individual participant data meta-analysis (IPDMA). We pooled hazard ratios (HR) from Cox proportional-hazards models for 5-year mortality and estimates of linear mixed models for change in cognitive and functional decline. Models were stratified by BP-lowering treatment, history of CVD, Mini-Mental State Examination scores, grip strength (GS) and body mass index (BMI). Results: Of all 2480 participants (59.9% females, median 85 years), median baseline SBP was 149 mmHg, 64.3% used BP-lowering drugs and 47.3% had a history of CVD. Overall, higher SBP was associated with lower all-cause mortality (pooled HR 0.91 [95% confidence interval 0.88-0.95] per 10 mmHg). Associations remained irrespective of BP-lowering treatment, history of CVD and BMI, but were absent in octogenarians with above-median MMSE and GS. In pooled cohorts, SBP was not associated with cognitive and functional decline. Conclusion: While in the very old with low cognitive or physical fitness a higher SBP was associated with a lower all-cause mortality, this association was not evident in fit octogenarians. SBP was not consistently associated with cognitive and functional decline.

Much of the early record of spectrally broadband earth radiation budget (ERB) measurements was taken by the ERB instrument launched on the Nimbus-7 spacecraft in October 1978. The wide-field-of-view (WFOV) sensors measured the emitted and reflected radiation from November 1978 through January 1993, and the first nine years have been processed into a stable, long-term dataset. However, heating and cooling of the ERB experiment introduced thermal perturbations in the original measurements that were only significant in the shortwave (SW) channels. These sensors were covered by spherical filter domes to absorb incident longwave (LW) radiation. In this paper, a thermal regression model—the thermal calibration adjustment table (CAT)—is developed to track and remove these thermal signals from the SW data. The model relies on instrument temperatures within and near the surface of the ERB instrument, and the observed nonzero nighttime sensor readings represent the thermal signals. Confidence that the mode...

This paper describes the production calibration adjustment algorithms used to remove thermal perturbation and stray light noise signals from the Nimbus-7 earth radiation budget (ERB) measurements. Sunlight, both direct and scattered from the sensor baffles, contaminated the ERB measurements at satellite sunrise and sunset. The problem covered subsatellite solar zenith angles from 90° to 120° and reduced the usefulness of the longwave spectral radiation measurements. Scattered light corrections are made from 90° to 99° while orbit-by-orbit interpolation is used frown 99° to 121°. Tests indicate that in the mean the midpoint interpolation error is less than 1 W m−2 with a standard deviation of about 5 W m−2. Thermal perturbations on the total channel 12 (0.2–50 μm) appeared to be always less than 0.3%. However, the Suprasil-W domes on the otherwise similar shortwave channels 13 and 14 in some way helped produce thermal perturbations of up to 6% or more in channel 13 (0.2–3.8 μm and up to 3% or more...

The authors conducted a quantitative investigation of the relationship between meteorological parameters (chiefly cloud cover) and the principal components of the earth's radiation budget. The area of study is the tropical central Pacific, where considerable variation in cloudiness and flux was observed from 1985 to 1989. The observed variations were in response to the El Nino-Southern Oscillation event of 1987. International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) C2 parameters were used as independent variables in the development of multiple linear models to predict Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) and shortwave (SW) fluxes. Net radiation estimates were obtained from OLR and SW predicted fluxes. The technique of all-subsets regression was used to determine which combination of ISCCP C2 parameters could best predict OLR and SW fluxes. The models were developed for the years 1985 and 1989 (non-ENSO years) and tested by both month and year on the years 1986 through 1988. Predicted fluxes were obtained for three 15° latitude zones, north (7.5° to 22.5°N), central (7.5°S to 7.5°N), and south (7.5°S to 22.5°S). Over the 60 months of data, explained variances (R 2 ) of over 90% for the development and test periods were typical. An increase in the accuracy of the OLR models was observed when noncloud variables were included. This accuracy improvement was most apparent when cloud amounts were either very low or very high and homogeneous. Biases (predicted-observed) were all less than 4 Wm −2 and rms estimates were within the range of uncertainty for ERBE monthly mean flux estimates. Flux estimates based on linear models could serve as a means of extending long-term radiation balance datasets during intervals of time with limited satellite coverage

Cancer treatments in early life have in previous studies been associated in with high risks of developing a second malignant neoplasm. This study reports on the relative and attributable risks of second malignant neoplasms among 30,880 people under the age of 20, who had been identified in the files of any of the five Nordic cancer registers, 1943-1987. Overall, 247 cases of second malignant neoplasms were observed in 238 patients, yielding a relative risk for cancer of 3.6 (95% confidence interval 3.1-4.1). The risk changed significantly from 2.6 in people first diagnosed during the 1940s and 1950s to 6.9 among cohort members included in the late 1970s and 1980s. Highest levels of the relative risk were seen during the ten years immediately after first malignant diagnosis. The incidence of second malignant neoplasms attributable to the first cancer and associated treatments, however, showed a consistent rise throughout the 45 years of follow up. It was concluded that the estimated risks for second malignant neoplasms were significantly lower than those found in most large hospital based studies but compatible with the results from a similar population based study in the United Kingdom. Extent of risk and cancer pattern were similar among the Nordic countries and are believed to be representative for a large part of the European population.

PURPOSE: To evaluate treatment-related changes in pituitary gland morphology after childhood cancer and to compare these findings with growth data. METHODS: Forty-three survivors of childhood cancer were evaluated by cranial MR imaging. Twenty-nine of the patients had received radiation therapy to the hypothalamic-pituitary axis with doses of 10 to 46 Gy. The height of the pituitary gland was measured from midline sagittal images and compared with age- and sex-matched controls. Pituitary gland heights were compared with body height standard deviation scores in patients. RESULTS: The patients who had received radiation therapy to the hypothalamic-pituitary axis had significantly smaller pituitary glands than patients in the nonirradiated group or their age- and sex-matched controls (mean, 3.5 mm versus 5.9 and 5.8 mm, respectively). They were also significantly shorter than patients in the nonirradiated group. CONCLUSION: Radiation therapy to the hypothalamic-pituitary area may lead to poor growth of the pituitary gland and short stature.