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This study investigates spatial characteristics of annual and decadal precipitation in the Huaihe River basin. Daily precipitation data, obtained from meteorological gauges, are analyzed for a 51-year period, from 1961 to 2011. Precipitation is analyzed in grids (5 km2) with respect to temporal variability. The spatial distribution and intensity of annual rainfall (mm/10 year), determined by the linear regression method, reveals a slight increase of 3 mm/10 year over the basin. However, the trend did not present a significant change at 95% significance level in the most of basin. Precipitation is mostly increasing for each ten-year periods during the total 51 years. The annual precipitation randomicity was calculated from the non-uniform coefficient Cv (coefficient of variation) test and showed a significant non-uniform spatial distribution, indicating that randomicity of annual rainfall was the moderate variability. The Pettitt test determined that the abrupt change points occurred mainly in 1965, 1975 and 2002. Wavelet analysis showed that cyclic variations appeared almost every 5 to 10 years, accounting for 36% of the basin area. Meanwhile, these cycles tended to be delimited by the abrupt change points. This study aims to provide insights for water resources management, mitigation of climate change effects and water supply in the Huaihe River basin and surrounding watersheds.

Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and obesity often coexist and together contribute to left atrial (LA) functional abnormalities. However, little is known about the impact of body mass index (BMI) on LA strains measured using cardiac magnetic resonance feature tracking (MR‐FT). Purpose: To investigate the additive effect of BMI on LA functional remodeling using MR‐FT as well as to explore abnormal atrioventricular interaction in T2DM patients. Study Type: Retrospective. Population: One hundred and fifty‐nine T2DM patients (53, 34, and 72 normal‐weight, overweight, and obese individuals) and 105 non‐diabetic controls (46, 32, and 27 normal‐weight, overweight, and obese individuals). Field Strength/Sequence: 3.0 T/balanced steady‐state free precession. Assessment: LA reservoir strain (εs), conduit strain (εe), and active strain (εa) and their corresponding strain rates (SRs, SRe, SRa) were measured together with left ventricular (LV) radial, circumferential, and longitudinal peak strain, peak systolic strain rate, and peak diastolic strain rate. Statistical Tests: Student's t‐test or Mann–Whitney U test, one‐way ANOVA, univariate and multivariate linear regression. A P value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Compared to controls in the same BMI category, T2DM patients had significantly decreased reservoir and conduit function, while pump function was not significantly different (εa and SRa: P = 0.757 and 0.583 for normal‐weight, P = 0.171 and 0.426 for overweight, P = 0.067 and 0.330 for obese). LA strains were significantly correlated with BMI (r = −0.346 for εs, −0.345 for εe) in T2DM patients. Multivariable linear regression analysis indicated that BMI was independently associated with LA εs and εe, LV global longitudinal strain was independently associated with LA εs and εa, and LV circumferential peak diastolic strain rate was independently associated with LA εe. Data Conclusion: These findings suggest that the coexistence of increased body weight and T2DM patients can exacerbate the impairment of LA strains and indicate abnormal atrioventricular interactions. Level of Evidence: 3 Technical Efficacy: Stage 3 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]