A simple prognostic index in acute heart failure

Background Rapid effective triage is integral to emergency care in patients hospitalized for heart failure, to guide the type and intensity of therapy. Several indexes and scores have been proposed to predict outcome; most of the them are complex and unfit to use at the bedside. Methods We propose a new prognostic index for in hospital mortality in acute heart failure. The index was built according to the formula; 220 – age – heart rate + systolic blood pressure – ( creatinine X 10). The index was tested in 1628 patients admitted for acute heart failure and enrolled, from November 2007 to December 2009, in the Italian Registry on Heart Failure Outcome ( IN-HF); a prospective, multicentre, observational study. Results The prognostic index was an independent predictor for in hospital mortality risk ( c statistic= 0.74) (p<0.0001), together with left ventricular ejection fraction (p= 0.001), Glycemia ( p= 0.019) and hemoglobin concentration (p = 0.002). Conclusion A simple prognostic index based on variables easily assessed can be useful to predict mortality in acute heart failure at the first arrival in hospital

Spectral models for 1D blood flow simulations

In this paper we introduce a new theoretical formulation for the description of the blood flow in the circulatory system. Starting from a linearized version of the Navier-Stokes equations, the Green's function of the propagation problem is computed in a rational form. As a consequence, the input-output transfer function relating the upstream and downstream pressure and blood flow is written in a rational form as well, leading to a time-domain state-space model suitable for transient analysis. The proposed theoretical formulation has been validated by pertinent numerical results

Hydrogen production from natural gas and biomethane with carbon capture and storage - A techno-environmental analysis

This study presents an integrated techno-environmental assessment of hydrogen production from natural gas and biomethane, combined with CO2 capture and storage (CCS). We have included steam methane reforming (SMR) and autothermal reforming (ATR) for syngas production. CO2 is captured from the syngas with a novel vacuum pressure swing adsorption (VPSA) process, that combines hydrogen purification and CO2 separation in one cycle. As comparison, we have included cases with conventional amine-based technology. We have extended standard attributional Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) following ISO standards with a detailed carbon balance of the biogas production process (via digestion) and its by-products. The results show that the life-cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) performance of the VPSA and amine-based CO2 capture technologies is very similar as a result of comparable energy consumption. The configuration with the highest plant-wide CO2 capture rate (almost 100% of produced CO2 captured) is autothermal reforming with a two-stage water-gas shift and VPSA CO2 capture – because the latter has an inherently high CO2 capture rate of 98% or more for the investigated syngas. Depending on the configuration, the addition of CCS to natural gas reforming-based hydrogen production reduces its life-cycle Global Warming Potential by 45–85 percent, while the other environmental life-cycle impacts slightly increase. This brings natural gas-based hydrogen on par with renewable electricity-based hydrogen regarding impacts on climate change. When biomethane is used instead of natural gas, our study shows potential for net negative greenhouse gas emissions, i.e. the net removal of CO2 over the life cycle of biowaste-based hydrogen production. In the special case where the biogas digestate is used as agricultural fertiliser, and where a substantial amount of the carbon in the digestate remains in the soil, the biowaste-based hydrogen reaches net-negative life cycle greenhouse gas emissions even without the application of CCS. Addition of CCS to biomethane-based hydrogen production leads to net-negative emissions in all investigated cases.ISSN:2398-490

"COMMUNITY RADIOS IN ARGENTINA”

In a conversation with Pablo Antonini, President of FARCO and member of Radio Estación Sur de La Plata, and Cristina Cabral, Vice President and member of Radio Encuentro de Viedma, we analyze the history of the constitution of the Argentine Forum of Community Radios and its activism for the popular communication.En un conversatorio con Pablo Antonini, Presidente de FARCO y miembro de Radio Estación Sur de La Plata, y Cristina Cabral, Vicepresidenta e integrante de Radio Encuentro de Viedma, analizamos la historia de la constitución del Foro Argentino de Radios Comunitarias y su militancia por la comunicación popular

"Community radios in Argentina”

En un conversatorio con Pablo Antonini, Presidente de FARCO y miembro de Radio Estación Sur de La Plata, y Cristina Cabral, Vicepresidenta e integrante de Radio Encuentro de Viedma, analizamos la historia de la constitución del Foro Argentino de Radios Comunitarias y su militancia por la comunicación popular.In a conversation with Pablo Antonini, President of FARCO and member of Radio Estación Sur de La Plata, and Cristina Cabral, Vice President and member of Radio Encuentro de Viedma, we analyze the history of the constitution of the Argentine Forum of Community Radios and its activism for the popular communication.Facultad de Periodismo y Comunicación Socia

Contribution of individual behavioural change on household carbon footprint

Many actions have been undertaken worldwide to cope with climate change and to effectively reach the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Top-down approaches, based on both policies for the development of enabling technologies and incentives to promote their wide applications, have been largely adopted in most of the cases. However, the potential contribution of changes in individual behaviours still represents an underestimated field of improvement, despite many scholars have already evidenced their considerable expected impacts. This paper presents the first outcomes of a study on the role of citizens’ behavioural change in reducing GHG emissions, focussing on the functions and performed activities at household level. Starting from a review of the emerging body of literature on the topic, a map is drafted linking the people’s actions and choices and their most relevant effects on each of the environmental categories they can interact with. The mapping provides a list of suitable practices and lifestyles shifts to be adopted, organized by categories and weighted by their emission potential reduction on the whole households’ carbon footprint. This results in a sort of easy-to-read console allowing citizens to operate according to more informed decisions within their homes, thus accelerating the sustainable transition by bottom-up initiatives

ASSOCIATION BETWEEN ORAL HABITS, MOUTH BREATHING AND MALOCCLUSION.

The ratio of bad habits, mouth breathing and malocclusion is an important issue in view of prevention and early treatment of disorders of the craniofacial growth. While the bad habits can interfere with the position of the teeth and the normal pattern of skeletal growth, on the other hand obstruction of the upper airway, resulting in mouth breathing, changes the pattern of craniofacial growth causing malocclusion. Our cross-sectional study, carried out on 3017 children using the ROMA index, was developed to verify if there was really a significant correlation between bad habits/mouth breathing and malocclusion. The results showed that with the increase of the degree of the index also increases the prevalence of bad habits and mouth breathing, meaning that these factors are associated with more severe malocclusions. Moreover we found a significant association of bad habits with increased overjet and openbite, while no association was found with crossbite. Additionally we found that mouth breathing is closely related to increased overjet, reduced overjet, cross bite, openbite and displacement. Therefore it is necessary to intervene early on these etiological factors of malocclusion to prevent the its development or worsening and, if it has already developed, correct it by early orthodontic treatment to promote eugnatic skeletal growth

Beyond the Concepts of Elder and Marginal in DCD Liver Transplantation: A Prospective Observational Matched-Cohort Study in the Italian Clinical Setting

Donation after circulatory determination of death (DCD) is a valuable strategy to increase the availability of grafts for liver transplantation (LT). As the average age of populations rises, the donor pool is likely to be affected by a potential increase in DCD donor age in the near future. We conducted a prospective cohort study to evaluate post-transplantation outcomes in recipients of grafts from elderly DCD donors compared with younger DCD donors, and elderly donors after brainstem determination of death (DBD). From August 2020 to May 2022, consecutive recipients of deceased donor liver-only transplants were enrolled in the study. DCD recipients were propensity score matched 1:3 to DBD recipients. One-hundred fifty-seven patients were included, 26 of whom (16.6%) were transplanted with a DCD liver graft. After propensity score matching and stratification, three groups were obtained: 15 recipients of DCD donors &amp; GE;75 years, 11 recipients of DCD donors &lt;75 years, and 28 recipients of DBD donors &amp; GE;75 years. Short-term outcomes, as well as 12 months graft survival rates (93.3%, 100%, and 89.3% respectively), were comparable among the groups. LT involving grafts retrieved from very elderly DCD donors was feasible and safe in an experienced high-volume center, with outcomes comparable to LTs from younger DCD donors and age-matched DBD donors