gcPathogen: a comprehensive genomic resource of human pathogens for public health.

Here, we present the manually curated Global Catalogue of Pathogens (gcPathogen), an extensive genomic resource designed to facilitate rapid and accurate pathogen analysis, epidemiological exploration and monitoring of antibiotic resistance features and virulence factors. The catalogue seamlessly integrates and analyzes genomic data and associated metadata for human pathogens isolated from infected patients, animal hosts, food and the environment. The pathogen list is supported by evidence from medical or government pathogenic lists and publications. The current version of gcPathogen boasts an impressive collection of 1 164 974 assemblies comprising 986 044 strains from 497 bacterial taxa, 4794 assemblies encompassing 4319 strains from 265 fungal taxa, 89 965 assemblies featuring 13 687 strains from 222 viral taxa, and 646 assemblies including 387 strains from 159 parasitic taxa. Through this database, researchers gain access to a comprehensive 'one-stop shop' that facilitates global, long-term public health surveillance while enabling in-depth analysis of genomes, sequence types, antibiotic resistance genes, virulence factors and mobile genetic elements across different countries, diseases and hosts. To access and explore the data and statistics, an interactive web interface has been developed, which can be accessed at https://nmdc.cn/gcpathogen/. This user-friendly platform allows seamless querying and exploration of the extensive information housed within the gcPathogen database.

Metabolic syndrome, genetic susceptibility, and risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: The UK Biobank Study.

AIM: To investigate the effect of metabolic syndrome (MetS), genetic predisposition, and their interactions, on the risk of developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). METHODS: Cohort analyses included 287 868 participants from the UK Biobank Study. A genetic risk score for COPD was created using 277 single nucleotide polymorphisms. Cox proportional hazard models were used to evaluate the hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for COPD in relation to exposure factors. RESULTS: During 2 658 936 person-years of follow-up, 5877 incident cases of COPD were documented. Compared with participants without MetS, those with MetS had a higher risk of COPD (HR 1.24, 95% CI 1.17-1.32). Compared to participants with low genetic predisposition, those with high genetic predisposition had a 17% increased risk of COPD. In the joint analysis, compared with participants without MetS and low genetic predisposition, the HR for COPD for those with MetS and high genetic predisposition was 1.50 (95% CI 1.36-1.65; P < 0.001). However, no significant interaction between MetS and genetic risk was found. CONCLUSIONS: Metabolic syndrome was found to be associated with an increased risk of COPD, regardless of genetic risk. It is crucial to conduct further randomized control trials to determine whether managing MetS and its individual components can potentially reduce the likelihood of developing COPD.

Pulmonary function, genetic predisposition, and the risk of cirrhosis: A prospective cohort study.

OBJECTIVE: Pulmonary function is associated with the development of chronic liver disease. However, evidence of the association between pulmonary function and cirrhosis risk is still lacking. This study aimed to investigate the longitudinal associations of pulmonary function with the development of cirrhosis, and to explore whether genetic predisposition to cirrhosis could modify these associations. METHODS: Of 294,835 participants free of cirrhosis and had undergone spirometry at baseline from the UK Biobank were included. Cirrhosis diagnoses were ascertained through linked hospital records and death registries. Cox proportional hazard models were employed to investigate the longitudinal associations between pulmonary function, genetic predisposition, and cirrhosis risk. RESULTS: During a median follow-up of 12.0 years, 2598 incident cirrhosis cases were documented. Compared to individuals with normal spirometry findings, those with preserved ratio impaired spirometry (PRISm) findings (hazard ratio [HR] and 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.32 [1.18, 1.48]) and airflow obstruction (HR [95%CI]: 1.19 [1.07, 1.31]) had a higher risk of developing cirrhosis after adjustments. These associations were consistent across all categories of genetic predisposition, with no observed modifying effect of genetic predisposition. In joint exposure analyses, the highest risk was observed in individuals with both a high genetic predisposition for cirrhosis and PRISm findings (HR [95% CI]: 1.74 [1.45, 2.08]). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that worse pulmonary function is a significant risk factor of cirrhosis, irrespective of genetic predisposition. Early identification and appropriate intervention for pulmonary function may lead to more effective healthcare resource utilization and reduce the burden associated with cirrhosis.

Contributions of neighborhood physical and social environments to racial and ethnic disparities in birth outcomes in California: A mediation analysis.

BACKGROUND: Racially minoritized populations experience higher rates of adverse birth outcomes than White populations in the U.S. We estimated the mediating effect of neighborhood social and physical environments on disparities in adverse birth outcomes in California. METHOD: We used birthing parent's residential address for California live birth records from 2019 to estimate census block group Area Deprivation Index and census tract level measures of ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5), drinking water contamination, tree canopy coverage, as a measure of greenspace, potential heat vulnerability, and noise. We performed mediation analysis to assess whether neighborhood factors explain racial/ethnic disparities in preterm birth (PTB) and term-birth low birth weight (TLBW) comparing Black, Latinx, and Asian with White births after controlling for individual-level factors. RESULTS: Black, Latinx, and Asian parents had PTB rates that were 67%, 36%, and 11% higher, and TLBW rates that were 150%, 38%, and 81% higher than Whites. Neighborhood deprivation contributed 7% (95% CI: 3%, 11%) to the Black-White and 9% (95% CI: 6%, 12%) to the Latinx-White disparity in PTB, and 8% (95% CI: 3%, 12%) of the Black-White and 9% (95% CI: 5%, 15%) of the Latinx-White disparity in TLBW. Drinking water contamination contributed 2% (95% CI: 1%, 4%) to the Latinx-White disparity in PTB. Lack of greenspace accounted for 7% (95% CI: 2%, 10%) of the Latinx-White PTB disparity and 7% (95% CI: 3%, 12%) of the Asian-White PTB disparity. PM2.5 contributed 11% (95% CI: 5%, 18%), drinking water contamination contributed 3% (95% CI: 1%, 7%), and potential heat vulnerability contributed 2% (95% CI: 1%, 3%) to the Latinx-White TLBW disparity. Lack of green space contributed 3% (95% CI: 1%, 6%) to the Asian-White TLBW disparity. CONCLUSIONS: Our study suggests social environments explain portions of Black/Latinx-White disparities while physical environments explain Latinx/Asian-White disparities in PTB and TLBW.

Association of dietary inflammatory index and the SARS-CoV-2 infection incidence, severity and mortality of COVID-19: a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Several studies have reported the association between dietary inflammatory index (DII) and the SARS-CoV-2 infection risk, severity or mortality of COVID-19, however, the outcomes remain controversial. OBJECTIVE: We sought to examine whether a dose-response association of DII and SARS-CoV-2 infection exists. DESIGN: A dose-response meta-analysis was performed to investigate the association of DII and SARS-CoV-2 infection. We conducted a systematic search of PubMed, Embase and Web of Science up to March 15th, 2023. The odds ratios (OR) of DII and COVID-19 risk and severity were computed. RESULTS: Totally, 5 studies were included (1 from UK and 4 from Iran), consisting of 197,929 participants with 12,081 COVID-19 cases. Although there was heterogeneity among studies, the results indicated that higher DII was independently related to higher SARS-CoV-2 infection incidence (OR = 1.57, 95% CI: 1.14, 2.17) and COVID-19 severity (OR = 1.11, 95% CI: 1.07, 1.15) but not COVID-19 mortality (risk ratio = 1.13, 95% CI: 1.00, 1.27). The incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection increased by 31% for each 1-point increase in the E-DII (OR = 1.31, 95% CI: 1.20, 1.43). CONCLUSIONS: This meta-analysis suggests that an elevated DII score is associated with increased SARS-CoV-2 infectious risk and severity of COVID-19. There were not enough studies on COVID-19 mortality. Further large prospective studies in different countries are warranted to validate our results.

Unbalanced bidirectional causal association between thyroid cancer and ER-positive breast cancer: should we recommend screening for thyroid cancer in breast cancer patients?

BACKGROUND: The association between breast cancer (BC) and thyroid cancer (TC) has been studied in several epidemiological studies. However, the underlying causal relationship between them is not yet clear. METHODS: The data from the latest large-sample genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of BC and TC were searched in the public GWAS database. The BC GWAS data included estrogen receptor (ER)-positive and negative subgroups. Two-way two-sample Mendelian Randomization (MR) was used to explore the potential causal relationship between BC and TC. Inverse variance weighting (IVW) and the MR-Egger method were used to combine the estimation of each single nucleotide variation (previous single nucleotide polymorphism). BC was taken as the result, and the effect of TC exposure was analyzed. Then, the effect of BC exposure on the result of TC was analyzed. RESULTS: Both IVW and MR-Egger results indicated that gene-driven thyroid cancer does not cause estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer and is a protective factor (ß = -1.203, SE = 4.663*10-4, P = 0.010). However, gene-driven estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer can lead to the development of thyroid cancer (ß = 0.516, SE = 0.220, P = 0.019). CONCLUSION: From the perspective of gene drive, people with TC are less likely to have ER-positive BC. In contrast, people with ER-positive BC are more likely to have TC. Therefore, it is recommended that patients with BC be screened regularly for TC.

MXene-based chemical gas sensors: Recent developments and challenges.

The long-running Covid-19 pandemic has forced researchers across the globe to develop novel sensors and sensor materials for detecting minute quantities of biogenic viruses with high accuracy in a short period. In this context, MXene galleries comprising carbon/nitride two-dimensional nanolayered materials have emerged as excellent host materials in chemical gas sensors owing to their multiple advantages, including high surface area, high electrical conductivity, good thermal/chemical conductivity and chemical stability, composition diversity, and layer-spacing tunability; furthermore, they are popular in clinical, medical, food production, and chemical industries. This review summarizes recent advances in the synthesis, structure, and gas-sensing properties of MXene materials. Current opportunities and future challenges for obtaining MXene-based chemical gas sensors with high sensitivity, selectivity, response/recovery time, and chemical durability are addressed. This review provides a rational and in-depth understanding of the relationship between the gas-sensing properties of MXenes and structure/components, which will promote the further development of two-dimensional MXene-based gas sensors for technical device fabrication and industrial processing applications.

A Mantle Plume Beneath South China Revealed by Electrical Conductivity Obtained from Three-Dimensional Inversion of Geomagnetic Data.

A three-dimensional electrical conductivity model of the mantle beneath South China is presented using the geomagnetic depth sounding method in this paper. The data misfit term in the inversion function is measured by the L1-norm to suppress the instability caused by large noises contained in the observed data. To properly correct the ocean effect in responses at coastal observatories, a high-resolution (1° × 1°) heterogeneous and fixed shell is included in inversion. The most striking feature of the obtained model is a continuous high-conductivity anomaly that is centered on ~(112° E, 27° N) in the mantle. The average conductivity of the anomaly appears to be two to four times higher than that of the global average models at the most sensitive depths (410-900 km) of geomagnetic depth sounding. Further analysis combining laboratory-measured conductivity models with the observed conductivity model shows that the anomaly implies excess temperature in the mantle. This suggests the existence of a mantle plume, corresponding to the Hainan plume, that originates in the lower mantle, passes through the mantle transition zone, and enters the upper mantle. Our electrical conductivity model provides convincing evidence for the mantle plume beneath South China.

Deciphering the effects of electrolyte concentration on the performance of lithium batteries by correlative surface characterization.

The formation of solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) and lithium ion intercalation are two crucial processes in lithium ion batteries. Given the complexity and challenges involved in investigating real batteries, a combination of model batteries comprising well-defined ultrathin graphite electrodes with surface-sensitive techniques can provide valuable information on these processes. Here, a comparative study of the performance of batteries using regular- and high-concentration electrolytes (RCE and HCE) is presented, aided by a myriad of correlative surface science techniques. It is found that the SEI formed in HCE possesses a thinner organic layer and more inorganic substances. Such an effective SEI protects the graphite electrode and facilitates the processes of Li+ intercalation/deintercalation, thereby improving the reversibility and cycling stability of the battery, superior to those with RCE. Moreover, the battery performance can be readily tuned by switching the electrolytes. The good cycling stability of the battery can still be maintained in RCE after the preformation of a robust SEI on the ultrathin graphite electrode in HCE. This work highlights the importance of electrolyte-modulated SEI formation to battery performance and provides powerful platforms to comprehensively study the SEI formation and ion intercalation processes.

Dehazing and deblurring of underwater images with heavy-tailed priors.

The common problems of underwater images include color cast, haze effect, and the motion blur effect caused by turbulence and camera shake. To address these problems, research on color cast and haze and blur effects is carried out in this paper. Because red light has significant attenuation underwater, which could cause color cast of images, this paper proposes a red channel compensation method to solve this problem. This approach adaptively compensates for the red channel according to the pixel value of the red channel, successfully preventing excessive compensation. To address the haze effect of underwater images, combined with the physical model of underwater images, a variational method is introduced in the paper. This method can not only recover clear underwater images, but also refine the transmission map at the same time. Furthermore, the blind deconvolution method is adopted to deblur underwater images. First, the blur kernel of an underwater image is estimated, and then a clear underwater image is recovered based on the obtained blur kernel. Finally, qualitative and quantitative comparisons of the underwater images recovered by different methods are also carried out. From the qualitative perspective, the images recovered by our method have higher image sharpness and more outstanding details. The quantitative comparison results show that the images recovered using our method have higher scores according to various criteria. Therefore, on the whole, our method presents great advantages in comparison with others.

A finite element analysis on different bone cement forms and injection volumes injected into lumbar vertebral body in percutaneous kyphoplasty.

BACKGROUND: To investigate the stress changes between different bone cement forms and injection volumes in adjacent vertebrae after percutaneous kyphoplasty (PKP) by establishing a three-dimensional finite element model of osteoporosis. METHODS: A male healthy volunteer was selected. CT of scans L1 to L3 vertebrae were imported into Mimics 21.0 software.The vertebral model of osteoporosiswas established based on previous literature reference. The models were divided into three groups: unilateral, bilateral integration and bilateral separation groups, with each group injecting 2 ml, 4,ml and 6 ml of bone cement, respectively. In all models, a vertical compressive load of 500 N, anterior flexion/posterior extension, left/right bending, and left/right rotation were applied with a moment of 7.5 N/m, of which 85% was applied to the anterior mid-column and 15% to the posterior column. The stress changes between adjacent vertebrae under different conditions were calculated. RESULTS: After percutaneous kyphoplasty was applied to the L2 vertebral body, some differences can be found between the effects of different cement injection volumes and cement morphology on adjacent structures. There was no major difference between the groups when the bone cement injection volume was 2 ml. When the amount of bone cement injected was 4 ml, the bone cement morphology of the bilateral integration group (BIG) produced less stress between adjacent vertebral bodies. The minimum stress was 14.95 MPa in the L3 vertebral body in posterior extension. Whereas the stress levels on adjacent intervertebral structures, BIG shaped bone cement shows some superiority. In addition, the adjacent vertebrae and intervertebral structures are subjected to less stress during left and right rotation. CONCLUSIONS: The present finite element study suggested that bilateral integration bone cement is a suitable form of cement injection, and when the injection volume is 4 ml, reduces stress on adjacent segments by approximately 15% while maintaining the stability of the injected vertebral body.

In Situ Visualization of Atmosphere-Dependent Relaxation and Failure in Energy Storage Electrodes.

Ambient atmosphere is critical for the surface/interface chemistry of electrodes that governs the operation and failure in energy storage devices (ESDs). Here, taking an Al/graphite battery as an example, both the relaxation and failure processes in the working graphite electrodes have been dynamically monitored by multiple in situ surface and interface characterization methods within various well-controlled atmospheres. Relaxation effects are manifested by recoverable stage-structure change and electronic relaxation occurring in anhydrous inert atmospheres and O2, which are induced by the anion/cation redistribution within the neighboring graphene layers and have slight influence on the long-term cycling. In contrast, rapid and unrecoverable failure behaviors happen in hydrous atmospheres as shown by the stage-structure degradation and electronic decoupling between guest ions and host graphite, which are caused by the hydrolysis between newly intercalated H2O molecules and intercalants. Consistent with the characterization results, exposure to H2O can cause nearly 100% capacity loss. The methodology and concept adopted in this work to unravel the battery mechanism under ambient conditions are universal and significant to investigate many ESDs.

Ladder Phenylenes Synthesized on Au(111) Surface via Selective [2+2] Cycloaddition.

Ladder phenylenes (LPs) composed of alternating fused benzene and cyclobutadiene rings have been synthesized in solution with a maximum length no longer than five units. Longer polymeric LPs have not been obtained so far because of their poor stability and insolubility. Here, we report the synthesis of linear LP chains on the Au(111) surface via dehalogenative [2+2] cycloaddition, in which the steric hindrance of the methyl groups in the 1,2,4,5-tetrabromo-3,6-dimethylbenzene precursor improves the chemoselectivity as well as the orientation orderliness. By combining scanning tunneling microscopy and noncontact atomic force microscopy, we determined the atomic structure and the electronic properties of the LP chains on the metallic substrate and NaCl/Au(111). The tunneling spectroscopy measurements revealed the charged state of chains on the NaCl layer, and this finding is supported by density functional theory calculations, which predict an indirect bandgap and antiferromagnetism in the polymeric LP chains.

Gene expression pattern of trophoblast-specific transcription factors in trophectoderm by analysis of single-cell RNA-seq data of human blastocyst.

The dysfunction of placenta development is correlated to the defects of pregnancy and fetal growth. The detailed molecular mechanism of placenta development is not identified in humans due to the lack of material in vivo. Trophoblast (TB) lineage derived from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) induced by bone morphogenetic protein 4 (BMP4) has been applied as a model for studying TB lineage specification in vitro. With the development of single-cell sequencing technology, it became possible to detect the transcriptome of the post-implantation embryo at unprecedented precision. In this study, we reanalyzed single-cell RNA-seq of post-implantation embryos derived from two separate groups and identified different subtypes of trophoblast cells and their marker, respectively. At the same time, we focused on the gene expression patterns of trophoblast-specific transcription factors in different models. Our analysis sheds new light on the transcription regulation mechanism of trophoblast differentiation at the early stage of pregnancy establishment in human.

Post-Functionalization of Supramolecular Polymers on Surface and the Chiral Assembly-Induced Enantioselective Reaction.

Although post-functionalization is extensively used to introduce diverse functional groups into supramolecular polymers (SPs) in solution, post-functionalization of SPs on surfaces still remains unexplored. Here we achieved the on-surface post-functionalization of two SPs derived from 5,10,15-tri-(4-pyridyl)-20-bromophenyl porphyrin (Br-TPyP) via cross-coupling reactions on Au(111). The ladder-shaped, Cu-coordinated SPs preformed from Br-TPyP were functionalized through Heck reaction with 4-vinyl-1,1'-biphenyl. In the absence of Cu, Br-TPyP formed chiral SPs as two enantiomers via self-assembly, which were functionalized via divergent cross-coupling reaction with 4-isocyano-1,1'-biphenyl (ICBP). Surprisingly, this reaction was discovered as an enantioselective on-surface reaction induced by the chirality of SPs. Mechanistic analysis and DFT calculations indicated that after debromination of Br-TPyP and the first addition of ICBP, only one attack direction of ICBP to the chiral SP intermediate is permissive in the second addition step due to the steric hindrance, which guaranteed the high enantioselectivity of the reaction.

Tracing the origin of the placental trophoblast cells in mouse embryo development†.

The placenta, which originates from the trophectoderm (TE), is the first organ to form during mammalian embryogenesis. Recent studies based on bioinformatics analysis have revealed that heterogeneous gene expression initiates cell-fate decisions and directs two distinct cell fates by modulating the balance of pluripotency and differentiation as early as the four-cell stage. However, direct developmental evidence to support this is still lacking. To address at which stage the cell fate of the TE and inner cell mass (ICM) is determined, in this study, we administered a microinjection of Cre mRNA into a single blastomere of the mTmG mouse at different cleavage stages before implantation to examine the distributions of the descendants of the single-labeled cell in the mouse fetus and the placenta at E12.5. We found that the descendants of the labeled cells at the two-cell stage contributed to both the placenta and the fetus. Notably, the derivatives of the labeled cells at the four-cell stage fell into three categories: (1) distributed in both embryonic and extraembryonic lineages, (2) distributed only in mouse placental trophoblast layers, or (3) distributed only in the lineage derived from the ICM. In addition, these results fell in line with single-cell studies focusing on gene expression patterns that characterize particular lineages within the blastocyst. In conclusion, this study shows that the four-cell blastomeres differ in their individual developmental properties insofar as they contribute to either or both the ICM and trophoblast fate.

Spontaneously hierarchical self-assembly of nanofibres into fluorescent spherical particles: a leap from organogels to macroscopic solid spheres.

The spontaneous hierarchical self-assembly of organic small molecules into macroscopic architectures with excellent photophysical properties and highly-ordered structures has rarely been reported to date. In this work, we find that the organogel of SY1 formed in ethyl acetate could spontaneously assemble into macroscopic spherical particles with a unique morphology and photophysical properties. Upon increasing the aging time, the gel gradually collapsed and then transformed into many macroscopic spheres (SY1-balls) with an average diameter of ca. 500 µm and strong yellow emission. In view of the emission properties and the porous structure of the SY1-balls, they were successfully applied in the adsorption and detection of heavy metal ions. More interestingly, SY1 shows different assembly behaviours in toluene solution when mixed with a triphenylamine derivative (TPA1). Macroscopic particles (ST-balls) with a core-shell structure were obtained, which were quite different from the SY1-balls in morphology and emission colour. So far as we know, many studies have focused on the change of the micromorphology of a gel, while the spontaneous self-assembly of organogels into macroscopic particles has been reported in this work for the first time. This work enriches the present study on organogels and plays an important role in further understanding the hierarchical self-assembly of organogels.

NSTI Organisms and Regions: A Multicenter Study From the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma.

BACKGROUND: Conflicting data on the microbiology and epidemiology of necrotizing soft tissue infections (NSTIs) appear to stem from the heterogeneity in microbiology observed in regions across the United States. Our goal was to determine current differences in organism prevalence and outcomes for NSTI and non-necrotizing severe soft tissue infections across the United States. We hypothesized that there were geographical differences in organism prevalence that would lead to differences in outcomes. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study was a retrospective multi-institutional trial from centers across the United States and Canada. Demographic, clinical, and outcomes data were collected. Bivariate and multivariable analyses were performed to determine the effects of region and microbiology on outcomes. RESULTS: A total of 622 patients were included in this study. Polymicrobial infections (45%) were the most prevalent infections in all regions. On bivariate analysis, Clostridium and polymicrobial infections had higher mean Laboratory Risk Indicator for Necrotizing Fasciitis scores and American Association for the Surgery of Trauma grades (P < 0.001 for both) than other organisms. Patients in the South were more likely to be uninsured and had worse unadjusted outcomes. In a risk-adjusted model, increasing American Association for the Surgery of Trauma grade was predictive of mortality (OR, 2.3; 95% CI, 1.6-3.1; P < 0.001), as was age ≥ 55 y (OR 2.7, 95% CI 1.3-5.3, P = 0.006), but region and organism type were not associated with mortality. CONCLUSIONS: We found important regional differences with respect to organism type and demographics. However, on risk-adjusted models, neither region nor organism type predicted mortality.

A Body Shape Index and Body Roundness Index: Two New Body Indices to Identify left Ventricular Hypertrophy among Rural Populations in Northeast China.

BACKGROUND: Recently, two new anthropometric indices, the A Body Shape Index (ABSI) and Body Roundness Index (BRI) have been developed as possible improved alternatives to body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC). The main research aim is to assess the capacity of the ABSI and BRI to identify subjects with left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) and the secondary aim is to determine whether ABSI and / or BRI is superior to BMI, WC, and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR). METHODS AND RESULTS: This cross-sectional study was conducted among the rural population in northeast China and finally included 10,907 participants. Pearson rank test showed that BRI showed the highest correlation coefficient for LVH. Body Roundness Index had the highest AUCs for eccentric and concentric LVH (AUC: 0.74, 95% CI: 0.72-0.75; AUC: 0.67, 95% CI: 0.64-0.70, respectively). A multivariate logistic regression analysis also showed that BRI was the best predictor of eccentric and concentric LVH (OR: 5.11, 95% CI: 3.62-7.22; OR: 2.48, 95% CI: 1.40-4.40, respectively). In the five anthropometric indices, only BRI had predictive ability for concentric LVH. CONCLUSIONS: We have shown that BRI, not ABSI was superior measure compared to BMI, WC and WHtR for determining the presence of LVH, especially for eccentric LVH.