Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed

Mountain Biker Taken Out by Antelope
Landscapes: Volume Two
Baseline prehypertension and risk of stroke
Twitter Digest: 2011-10-09

Posted: 10 Oct 2011 04:25 PM PDT

Mountain biker in Africa gets taken out by red hartebeest (read: antelope). Absolutely nuts. Makes SoCal snakes seem tame.

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Landscapes: Volume Two

Posted: 10 Oct 2011 12:00 PM PDT

Take it full screen and HD. Gorgeous. / via Barry

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Baseline prehypertension and risk of stroke

Posted: 10 Oct 2011 11:58 AM PDT

New paper:

Presence of baseline prehypertension and risk of incident stroke: A meta-analysis

ABSTRACT

Objective: To qualitatively and quantitatively assess the association of prehypertension with incident stroke through a meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies.

Methods: We searched Medline, Embase, the Cochrane Library, and bibliographies of retrieved articles. Prospective cohort studies were included if they reported multivariate-adjusted relative risks RRs and corresponding 95%confidence intervals CI of stroke with respect to baseline prehypertension.

Results: Twelve studies with 518,520 participants were included. Prehypertension was associated with risk of stroke RR 1.55, 95% CI 1.35–1.79; p < 0.001. Seven studies further distinguished a low prehypertensive population systolic blood pressure [SBP] 120–129 mm Hg or diastolic blood pressure [DBP] 80–84 mm Hg and a high prehypertensive population SBP 130–139 mm Hg or DBP 85–89 mm Hg. Among persons with lower-range prehypertension, stroke risk was not significantly increased RR 1.22, 0.95–1.57. However, for persons with higher values within the prehypertensive range, stroke risk was substantially increased RR 1.79, 95% CI 1.49–2.16.

Conclusions: Prehypertension is associated with a higher risk of incident stroke. This risk is largely driven by higher values within the prehypertensive range and is especially relevant in nonelderly persons. Randomized trials to evaluate the efficacy of blood pressure reduction in persons with this designation are warranted.

via Presence of baseline prehypertension and risk of incident stroke.

Twitter Digest: 2011-10-09

Posted: 10 Oct 2011 04:00 AM PDT

Hurricane Jova upgraded to Cat 2 status. http://t.co/2rgVxcDw ->
I'm hugely fond of contemplating complex itineraries, and then not doing them. All the satisfaction, none of the bad air. ->
This is all over the geology blogs: Cliff failure in Cornwall caught on camera – http://t.co/NAdMcmd8 ->
Wacky research result: In some circumstances exit times in evacuations improve if there is counterflow. http://t.co/y0YyWvV9 ->
voxEU: The rise of the renminbi as international currency: Historical precedents – http://t.co/PC4X90mO ->
Cute ZH headline — European Mission Accomplished: Everyone Is Now Thoroughly Baffled With Bullshit http://j.mp/oK1GHy ->
<public service message>Sweet fuck but some VCs have zero self-awareness.</public service message> ->