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Pravastatin may be effective in reducing cholesterol levels, major transplant rejection, blood vessel disease, and mortality in recipients of heart transplants. Forty-seven heart transplant recipients received the anti-cholesterol drug pravastatin at a final dose of 20 milligrams/day and 50 transplant recipients did not receive the drug. Researchers followed the patients for one year with regular blood tests, and blood vessel imaging exams. The average cholesterol level was 193 milligrams/deciliter in the pravastatin group and 248 mg/dl in the control group. The one-year survival rate was 94% in the pravastatin group and 78% in the control group. The rate of moderate transplant rejection was similar in both groups, though rejection along with blood flow problems were higher in the control group. Disorders in blood vessels feeding the heart and thickening of vessel walls were also less common in the pravastatin group.

Based on hourly geostationary satellite temperature‐of‐black‐body data, 9,754 mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) are found to form over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) during 16 warm seasons. In the whole study period, neither the occurrence numbers of these MCSs nor their other key characteristics are found to have a significant trend of increasing/decreasing. The MCSs can form anywhere over the TP, and ~6.6% of them can move eastward and vacate the TP (defined as the eastward‐moving type [EMT]). The EMTs' mean occurrence frequency and lifespan are ~0.3 per day and ~12.0 hr, respectively. Compared to the MCSs that do not vacate the TP, the EMTs usually have stronger intensity, longer lifespan, and develop more rapidly but generate in a drier environment. The vacating stage of an EMT usually begins in the latter half of its lifespan, and an EMT tends to reach its maximum cloud area when it is about to vacate the TP. After vacating the TP, an EMT usually weakens at first and then enhances again. Vorticity budget indicates that the convergence‐related horizontal shrinking and the convection‐related vertical vorticity transport govern the cyclonic‐vorticity increase/maintenance associated with the longer‐lived EMTs. Of all the EMTs, only ~8% are associated with southwest vortices (SWVs), and the precipitation related to these EMTs contributes ~20% to the local hourly heavy precipitation. Compared to the EMTs that are not related to SWVs, those that are generally vacate the TP sooner, last longer having vacated the TP, and have longer whole lifespans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]