Network Structures and the Properties of Na-Ca-Sr-Borophosphate Glasses

Borophosphate glasses were prepared with the nominal molar compositions 16Na2O-(24-y)CaO-ySrO-xB2O3-(60-x)P2O5 (mol%), where 0≤x≤60 and y=0, 12, and 24. Information about the compositional dependence of borate and phosphate site speciation and next nearest neighbor linkages was obtained by 11B and 31P MAS NMR and Raman spectroscopies, and by high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC). With the initial replacement of P2O5 by B2O3, tetrahedral borate sites linked to four phosphate anions, B(ØP)4, are created in the glass structure, and the average phosphate anion becomes smaller as bridging PØP bonds are replaced by bridging PØB bonds. With further increases in the B2O3 content, borate units, including B-triangles, replace phosphate units linked to the B-tetrahedra. Compositional trends for the glass transition temperature (Tg) and molar volume are explained by considering the number and types of bridging oxygens per glass former, consistent with topological models reported elsewhere

Influence of socioeconomic factors on pregnancy outcome in women with structural heart disease

OBJECTIVE: Cardiac disease is the leading cause of indirect maternal mortality. The aim of this study was to analyse to what extent socioeconomic factors influence the outcome of pregnancy in women with heart disease.  METHODS: The Registry of Pregnancy and Cardiac disease is a global prospective registry. For this analysis, countries that enrolled ≥10 patients were included. A combined cardiac endpoint included maternal cardiac death, arrhythmia requiring treatment, heart failure, thromboembolic event, aortic dissection, endocarditis, acute coronary syndrome, hospitalisation for cardiac reason or intervention. Associations between patient characteristics, country characteristics (income inequality expressed as Gini coefficient, health expenditure, schooling, gross domestic product, birth rate and hospital beds) and cardiac endpoints were checked in a three-level model (patient-centre-country).  RESULTS: A total of 30 countries enrolled 2924 patients from 89 centres. At least one endpoint occurred in 645 women (22.1%). Maternal age, New York Heart Association classification and modified WHO risk classification were associated with the combined endpoint and explained 37% of variance in outcome. Gini coefficient and country-specific birth rate explained an additional 4%. There were large differences between the individual countries, but the need for multilevel modelling to account for these differences disappeared after adjustment for patient characteristics, Gini and country-specific birth rate.  CONCLUSION: While there are definite interregional differences in pregnancy outcome in women with cardiac disease, these differences seem to be mainly driven by individual patient characteristics. Adjustment for country characteristics refined the results to a limited extent, but maternal condition seems to be the main determinant of outcome

Dissolution rates of borophosphate glasses in deionized water and in simulated body fluid

Particles of borophosphate glasses with the nominal molar compositions 16Na2O-(24-y)CaO-ySrO-xB2O3-(60-x)P2O5 (mol%), where 0 ≤ x ≤ 60 and y = 0, 12, and 24, were reacted in deionized water and in simulated body fluid (SBF) at 37 °C. For the dissolution experiments in water, the pH of the solution at the conclusion of the experiments increased systematically, from 2.1 to 9.5, for y = 0 glasses when ‘x’ increased from 0 to 60. The reaction rates over the first 8–24 h of dissolution in both SBF and deionized water followed linear kinetics, with reaction rates dependent on glass composition. For glass particles in SBF, replacing P2O5 with up to 20 mol% B2O3 decreased the dissolution rate (fraction dissolved) by two orders of magnitude, from 7.0 × 10−3 h−1 for x = 0 to 2.0 × 10−5 h−1 for x = 20. Further replacement of P2O5 by B2O3 increased dissolution rates by three orders of magnitude, to 2.3 × 10−2 h−1 at x = 60. The compositional dependence of the dissolution rates is explained by changes in the glass structure, with the most durable glasses possessing the greatest fraction of tetrahedral borophosphate sites in the glass network. Crystalline brushite was detected on Ca-glasses with 35 and 40 mol% B2O3, but the dominant precipitation phase on both the Ca- and Sr-glasses is an x-ray amorphous material constituted from orthophosphate and pyrophosphate anions