Description: Background and Purpose— Faster heart rate predicts higher mortality in coronary heart disease and acute ischemic stroke, but its prognostic significance in intracerebral hemorrhage remains uncertain. We aimed to determine the effect of admission heart rate on clinical and imaging outcomes in patients with intracerebral hemorrhage. Methods— A post hoc pooled analysis of the pilot and main phases of the Intensive Blood Pressure Reduction in Acute Cerebral Hemorrhage Trial (INTERACT 1 and 2). Clinical outcomes were mortality and modified Rankin Scale score at 90 days; and imaging outcome was absolute growth in hematoma volume during the initial 24 hours. Patients were divided into 4 categories according to baseline heart rate (〈65, 65–74, 75–84, and ≥85 bpm) and analyzed using multivariable adjusted models with the lowest heart rate group as the reference. Results— Of 3185 patients with available data, higher admission heart rate was associated with both mortality and worse modified Rankin Scale score: adjusted hazard ratio for heart rate (≥85 versus 〈65 bpm) 1.50 (95% confidence interval, 1.07–2.11) and adjusted odds ratio 1.33 (95% confidence interval, 1.08–1.63), respectively (both P -trend 〈0.05). There was no significant relationship between heart rate and absolute growth in hematoma volume ( P -trend, 0.196). Conclusions— Higher admission heart rate is independently associated with death and poor functional outcome after acute intracerebral hemorrhage. Clinical Trial Registration— URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov . Unique identifier: NCT00226096 and NCT00716079.

Description: Background and Purpose— Controversy exists over the prognostic significance of perihematomal edema (PHE) in intracerebral hemorrhage. We aimed to determine the association of early PHE and clinical outcome among participants of the Intensive Blood Pressure Reduction in Acute Cerebral Hemorrhage Trial (INTERACT) studies. Methods— Pooled analyses of computed tomographic substudies in the pilot phase (INTERACT1) and main phase (INTERACT2), both international, prospective, open, blinded end point, randomized controlled trials, of patients with spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (〈6 hours) and elevated systolic blood pressure, randomly assigned to intensive (target systolic blood pressure, 〈140 mm Hg) or guideline-based (systolic blood pressure, 〈180 mm Hg) blood-pressure management. Substudy participants (n=1310; 346 INTERACT1, 964 INTERACT2) had blinded central analyses of digital images from standardized baseline and 24-hour computed tomography. Predictors of death or dependency (modified Rankin scale scores, ≥3) at 90 days were assessed in logistic regression models and reported with odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals. INTERACT studies are registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT00226096 and NCT00716079). Results— Of 1138 (87%) patients with 2 CTs available for edema analysis and outcome information, time from intracerebral hemorrhage onset to baseline computed tomography, baseline hematoma volume, 24-hour hematoma growth, and intraventricular extension were independent predictors of 24-hour PHE growth. Absolute growth in PHE volume was significantly associated with death or dependency (adjusted odds ratio, 1.17; 95% confidence interval, 1.02–1.33 per 5 mL increase from baseline; P =0.025) at 90 days after adjustment for demographic, clinical, and hematoma parameter prognostic factors. Associations were consistent across various sensitivity analyses. Conclusion— PHE growth is an independent prognostic factor in intracerebral hemorrhage. Clinical Trial Registration— URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov . Unique identifier: NCT00226096 and NCT00716079.

Description: Background and Purpose— Controversy persists over statins and risk of intracerebral hemorrhage. We determined associations of premorbid lipid-lowering therapy and outcomes among participants of the Intensive Blood Pressure Reduction in Acute Cerebral Hemorrhage Trials (INTERACT). Methods— The pooled data of INTERACT 1 and 2 (international, multicenter, prospective, open, blinded end point, randomized controlled trials of patients with intracerebral hemorrhage [〈6 hours] and elevated systolic blood pressure) were analyzed with regard to associations of baseline lipid-lowering treatment and clinical outcomes of 3184 participants in a multivariate model. Associations of lipid-lowering therapy and hematoma growth (baseline to 24 hours) in computed tomographic substudies participants (n=1310) were estimated in ANCOVA. Results— Among 204 patients (6.5%) with baseline lipid-lowering treatment, 90-day clinical outcomes were not significantly different after adjustment for confounding variables including region and age. In the computed tomographic substudy, 24-hour hematoma growth was greater in 124 patients (9%) with, compared with those without, prior lipid-lowering therapy. However, this association was not significant between groups (9.2 versus 6.8 mL; P 〈0.13), after adjustment for prior antithrombotic therapy. Conclusions— No independent associations were found between lipid-lowering medication and adverse outcomes in patients with intracerebral hemorrhage. Clinical Trial Registration— URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov . Unique identifier: NCT00226096 and NCT00716079.

Description: Background and Purpose— We developed and validated a simple algorithm to predict the risk of hematoma growth in acute spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) to better inform clinicians and researchers in their efforts to improve outcomes for patients. Methods— We analyzed data from the computed tomography substudies of the pilot and main phases of the Intensive Blood Pressure Reduction in Acute Cerebral Hemorrhage Trials (INTERACT1 and 2, respectively). The study group was divided into a derivation cohort (INTERACT2, n=964) and a validation cohort (INTERACT1, n=346). Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with clinically significant (≥6 mL) increase in hematoma volume at 24 hours after symptom onset. A parsimonious risk score was developed on the basis of regression coefficients derived from the logistic model. Results— A 24-point BRAIN score was derived from INTERACT2 (C-statistic, 0.73) based on baseline ICH volume (mL per score, ≤10=0, 10–20=5, 〉20=7), recurrent ICH (yes=4), anticoagulation with warfarin at symptom onset (yes=6), intraventricular extension (yes=2), and number of hours to baseline computed tomography from symptom onset (≤1=5, 1–2=4, 2–3=3, 3–4=2, 4–5=1, 〉5=0) predicted the probability of ICH growth (ranging from 3.4% for 0 point to 85.8% for 24 points) with good discrimination (C-statistic, 0.73) and calibration (Hosmer–Lemeshow P =0.82) in INTERACT1. Conclusions— The simple BRAIN score predicts the probability of hematoma growth in ICH. This could be used to improve risk stratification for research and clinical practice. Clinical Trial Registration— URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov . Unique identifier: NCT00226096 and NCT00716079.

Description: INTERACT (International Network for Terrestrial Research and Monitoring in the Arctic): The INTERACT network is a one-stop shop for access to research infrastructures in the Arctic and mountain areas of the Northern Hemisphere. The main objective of the INTERACT network is to build capacity for identifying, understanding, predicting and responding to changes throughout the wide environmental and land-use envelopes of the Arctic and mountain areas of the Northern Hemisphere. The INTERACT network of field stations provides a unique platform for terrestrial sciences and the network hosts and operates top level research and monitoring projects and programmes within a wide range of scientific disciplines. In this catalogue you will find details of all the INTERACT stations that can be used for selecting research infrastructures that suit your specific scientific needs. It is our hope that you will find this catalogue useful in the planning of your scientific activities or simply enjoy an interesting tour of a variety of terrestrial field basis in the INTERACT network.

Description: INTERACT stations are located in all major environmental envelopes of the Arctic providing an ideal platform for studying climate change and its impact on the environment and local communities. Since alpine environments face similar changes and challenges as the Arctic, the INTERACT network also includes some alpine stations located outside the Arctic. The INTERACT research stations provide a platform for arctic research and monitoring. Activities span from small short term research projects to larger long term monitoring programmes. The stations are thus visited by many researchers and research groups. Therefore, INTERACT has produced a catalogue of research stations including descriptions of the physical setting, facilities and services offered at the stations. It is our hope that this catalogue will help researchers identify research stations that suit their specific needs. The catalogue includes original partner stations and observer stations as of April 2012(Observer Stations are stations that have joined the network after project start). The network is still growing and you can visit our field site section to explore all the new ones along with all the others (Field sites).

Description: What you have in front of you here is the Station Catalogue of INTERACT Terrestrial Research Infrastructures in arctic and mountain areas of the Northern Hemisphere. The catalogue is the vehicle for providing a one-stop shop for scientists and stakeholders looking for suitable terrestrial fi eld bases for their activities. The INTERACT Station Catalogue was developed within the INTERACT Station Managers’ Forum, a group of station managers representing 45 arctic and mountain research stations. The Station Mangers’ Forum provides a platform for exchange of information between stations in the network and between managers and other partners of INTERACT. This group of people decided on the information to be included in the INTERACT Station Catalogue (Box page 9), and they determined how the catalogue should be structured. Afterwards, each station manager has provided the information (incl. pictures) relevant for their specifi c site to the catalogue. The INTERACT Station Catalogue demonstrates the unique characteristics of each station as well as the large diversity of stations in the entire network. We hope that the standardised data of station characteristics provides a helpful opportunity for researchers, institutions, organisations and other stakeholders to identify stations that suit their specifi c needs in terms of environmental conditions, facilities or services off ered.

Description: This book is about management of arctic and northern alpine research stations. It has been produced by a group of station managers participating in the EU 7th Framework Programme Infrastructure project called INTERACT. With this book we want to share the knowledge and experiences we have gained from managing very different research stations in very different environmental and climatic settings. The target audience for the book is mainly managers of research stations in arctic and alpine areas, but we hope that it will also be useful for others involved in science coordination and logistics, e.g. research institutions, chief scientists and expedition planners. The book has been produced mainly based on input from practising station managers being part of ‘INTERACT Station Managers’ Forum (SMF), a forum established to provide a platform for exchange of information between station managers and other participants within INTERACT, and to collect and disseminate knowledge embedded within the network. The scope of this book is to identify and describe best practices and key considerations of relevance to station management under arctic and alpine conditions. As research stations operate under very different legal regimes, financial conditions, environmental and climatic conditions, as well as remoteness, it is not possible to identify specific best practices that fit all stations. Instead, we have described key issues that should be considered and addressed by station management, and supplemented this with examples of good practices from stations operating under different conditions (e.g. different climate, remoteness or size).

Description: INTERACT stations are located in all major environmental envelopes of the Arctic providing an ideal platform for studying climate change and its impact on the environment and local communities. Since alpine environments face similar changes and challenges as the Arctic, the INTERACT network also includes some alpine stations located outside the Arctic. The INTERACT research stations provide a platform for arctic research and monitoring. Activities span from small short term research projects to larger long term monitoring programmes. The stations are thus visited by many researchers and research groups. Therefore, INTERACT has produced a catalogue of research stations including descriptions of the physical setting, facilities and services offered at the stations. It is our hope that this catalogue will help researchers identify research stations that suit their specific needs. The catalogue includes original partner stations and observer stations as of April 2012(Observer Stations are stations that have joined the network after project start). The network is still growing and you can visit our field site section to explore all the new ones along with all the others (Field sites).

Description: The book contains stories of cutting-edge Arctic research supported by INTERACT Transnational Access, as told by 138 scientists from 17 countries. The book consists of seven sections focusing on landscape-forming processes, glaciers and permafrost environments, ground processes that store and release greenhouse gases, the ecology of land and freshwater, and the Peoples of the Arctic. The book has been edited by INTERACT Coordinator Terry V. Callaghan and Transnational Access Coordinator Hannele Savela.The preface has been written by Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden.