Risk profiles and one-year outcomes of patients with newly diagnosed atrial fibrillation in India: Insights from the GARFIELD-AF Registry.

BACKGROUND: The Global Anticoagulant Registry in the FIELD-Atrial Fibrillation (GARFIELD-AF) is an ongoing prospective noninterventional registry, which is providing important information on the baseline characteristics, treatment patterns, and 1-year outcomes in patients with newly diagnosed non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF). This report describes data from Indian patients recruited in this registry. METHODS AND RESULTS: A total of 52,014 patients with newly diagnosed AF were enrolled globally; of these, 1388 patients were recruited from 26 sites within India (2012-2016). In India, the mean age was 65.8 years at diagnosis of NVAF. Hypertension was the most prevalent risk factor for AF, present in 68.5% of patients from India and in 76.3% of patients globally (P < 0.001). Diabetes and coronary artery disease (CAD) were prevalent in 36.2% and 28.1% of patients as compared with global prevalence of 22.2% and 21.6%, respectively (P < 0.001 for both). Antiplatelet therapy was the most common antithrombotic treatment in India. With increasing stroke risk, however, patients were more likely to receive oral anticoagulant therapy [mainly vitamin K antagonist (VKA)], but average international normalized ratio (INR) was lower among Indian patients [median INR value 1.6 (interquartile range {IQR}: 1.3-2.3) versus 2.3 (IQR 1.8-2.8) (P < 0.001)]. Compared with other countries, patients from India had markedly higher rates of all-cause mortality [7.68 per 100 person-years (95% confidence interval 6.32-9.35) vs 4.34 (4.16-4.53), P < 0.0001], while rates of stroke/systemic embolism and major bleeding were lower after 1 year of follow-up. CONCLUSION: Compared to previously published registries from India, the GARFIELD-AF registry describes clinical profiles and outcomes in Indian patients with AF of a different etiology. The registry data show that compared to the rest of the world, Indian AF patients are younger in age and have more diabetes and CAD. Patients with a higher stroke risk are more likely to receive anticoagulation therapy with VKA but are underdosed compared with the global average in the GARFIELD-AF. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION-URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT01090362

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time, and attempts to address it require a clear understanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space. While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes, vast areas of the tropics remain understudied. In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world's most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity, but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepresented in biodiversity databases. To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications may eliminate pieces of the Amazon's biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological communities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge, it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple organism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region's vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most neglected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lost

Avaliação da silagem de sete genótipos de sorgo {(Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench)}. II. Padrão de fermentação.

Foram utilizados quatro genótipos de sorgo de porte alto, colmo suculento e com açúcar e três de porte baixo, colmo seco e sem açúcar com o objetivo de determinar as percentagens de matéria seca (MS), proteína bruta (PB), nitrogênio amoniacal em relação ao nitrogênio total (N-NH3/NT), pH e carboidratos solúveis em álcool (CHOS). O sorgo CMSXS156, de porte baixo, apresentou, o maior teor de MS (33,6%) aos 28 dias de ensilagem. Os genótipos de porte baixo tiveram em média 8,8% de PB e os de porte alto 5<X diferença provavelmente devida à maior proporção de folhas e panícula nos de porte baixo. O pH médio d silagens aos 56 dias de fermentação foi de 3,6 e variou de 3,5 a 3,8, e o teor médio de N-NH/NT nesse mesmo período foi de 5,3%, mostrando que as silagens apresentaram um adequado processo fermentativo O teor médio de CHOS no material original foi de 9,7% e a variação de 13,2 a 16,5% e de 2,2 a 4,0% nos genótipos de porte alto e baixo, respectivamente.200

Avaliação da silagem de sete genótipos de sorgo [(Sorghum bicolor (L) Moench)]. I. Características agronômicas.

Foram utilizados quatro genótipos de sorgo de porte alto, colmo suculento e com açúcar, BR601, CMSXS156 x CMSXS607, BR506 e CMSXS156 x CMSXS506, e três de porte baixo, colmo seco e sem açúcar, CMSXS 156 x CMSXS227, CMSXS 156 e CMSXS227, colhidos no estádio de grão leitoso/pastoso, com o objetivo de avaliar o número de plantas por hectare (NP/ha), as produções de matéria verde (MV) e de matéria seca (MS) em t/ha, as percentagens de colmo (%COL), de folha (%FOL), de panícula (%PAN) e de folhas mortas (%FM) em relação à planta inteira, à altura e à percentagem de acamamento das plantas (% ACM). Houve grande variação no NP/ha nos diferentes genótipos avaliados. As produções de MS foram de 8,6 t/ha para os genótipos de porte alto e de 4,4 t/ha para os de porte baixo. Observaram-se correlações positiva entre altura e %COL e negativas entre altura e %FOL e %PAN. Com relação à %ACM das plantas apenas o genótipo CMSXS 156 x CMSXS607 apresentou esse problema.200

Reactivity and leaching potential of municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) bottom ash as supplementary cementitious material and precursor for alkali-activated materials

This work evaluated the reactivity and leaching potential of municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) bottom ash as supplementary cementitious material (SCM) and precursor for alkali-activated materials (AAM). The chemical composition of the amorphous phase in MSWI bottom ash was found to be in the same range as that of Class F coal fly ash. The reactivity of MSWI bottom ash as SCM and AAM precursor was tested to be much lower than that of blast furnace slag, but similar to that of Class F coal fly ash. The method of thermodynamic modeling was found useful in providing references for the mix design of MSWI bottom ash-based AAM. Grinding MSWI bottom ash into powder for the application of SCM and AAM precursor increased its leaching potential. Based on the findings of this study, recommendations were provided on how to use MSWI bottom ash to prepare blended cement pastes and AAM.Materials and EnvironmentDC systems, Energy conversion & Storag

Feather and blood meal in pre-starter and starter diets for broilers

Two experiments were carried out (pre-starter and starter phases) to evaluate the effect of feather and blood meal on performance, organ development and digestibility and retention of nutrients in broilers. In the first experiment, it was used 280 birds and in experiment 2, it was used 240 birds. The experimental diets were formulated with four levels of feather and blood meal (0%, 2%, 4% and 6%) all of them isonutritive and isoenergetic. A metabolic assay was developed on the 4th and 7th days of age in experiment 1 and on the 14th and 17th days of age in experiment 2. In these periods, one bird per experimental unit was sacrificed for determination of morphometry of the digestive organs. In experiment 1, in which it was evaluated the pre-starter phase, there was a negative linear effect of the levels of feather and blood meal on weight gain and intake in 1-21 day of age period. By using feather and blood meal in the diet, it was observed a linear effect on digestibility coefficient of dry matter, nitrogen and ether extract; there was a quadratic effect on retention of dry matter and nitrogen and linear effect on the retention of ether extract. However, performance of birds in the starter phase (experiment 2) was not affected by levels of feather and blood meal used in the diet. Coefficient of digestibility of dry matter and ether extract and retention of ether extract were affected. In both phases, mortality and morphometric data of digestive organs were not influenced by the levels of meal in the diet. Formulation of diets with up to 6% feather and blood meal for chickens in the pre-starter phase (from 1 to 7 days) is not a good alternative because it worsens performance of birds. However, from the initial phase (from 8 to 21 days), the use of feather and blood meal in the diet is viable. Feather and blood meal can be used at levels 3.0 or 4.0% for broilers in the pre-starter and starter phase