Current status of Melcor 2.2 for fusion safety analyses

MELCOR is an integral code developed by Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) for the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC) to perform severe accident analyses of Light Water Reactors (LWR). More recently, MELCOR capabilities are being extended also to analyze non-LWR fission technologies. Within the European MELCOR User Group (EMUG), organized in the framework of the USNRC Cooperative Severe Accident Research Program (CSARP), an activity on the evaluation of the applicability of MELCOR 2.2 for fusion safety analyses has been launched and it has been coordinated by ENEA. The aim of the activity was to identify the physical models to be possibly implemented in MELCOR 2.2 necessary for fusion safety analyses, and to check if those models are already available in MELCOR 1.8.6 fusion version, developed by Idaho National Laboratory (INL). From this activity, a list of modeling needs that emerged from the safety analyses of fusion-related installations has been identified and described. Then, the importance of the various needs, intended as the priority for model implementation in the MELCOR 2.2 code, has been evaluated according to the technical expert judgment of the authors. In the present paper, the identified modeling needs are discussed. The ultimate goal would be to propose to have a single integrated MELCOR 2.2 code release capable to cover both fission and fusion applications

Normothermic Ex Vivo Lung Perfusion (Novel) as an Assessment of Extended Criteria Donor Lungs: A Prospective Multi-Center Clinical Trial

Purpose: Ex vivo lung perfusion (EVLP) allows re-evaluation of extended criteria/marginal donor lungs. This can increase the number of lung transplants. However, the long-term outcomes of transplanting EVLP-screened lungs in a multicenter setting are unknown. We proposed to evaluate the short- and long-term outcomes of EVLP performed at multiple centers. Methods: This is a prospective, nonrandomized clinical trial. Seventeen lung transplant centers in the United States. Adult patients with end-stage pulmonary disease requiring lung transplant from May 2011 to December 2017 were eligible. Lung allografts initially deemed extended criteria/marginal (n=216) were placed on EVLP and re-evaluated prior to transplant. Patients received either standard donors (n=116) or lungs screened with EVLP (n=110). Results: Half of the lung grafts (110/216, 50.9%) placed on EVLP were transplanted. The incidence of primary graft dysfunction 24 hours post-transplant was higher in the EVLP group (25.5% vs 10.3%, p=0.003), but was not significantly different 48 hours (EVLP: 15.5%, control: 9.5%, p=0.49) and 72 hours (13.6% vs 6.9%, p=0.34) post-transplant. Survival was not significantly different between the 2 groups 1 year (n=226, EVLP: 86%, control: 94%, p=0.06), 3 years (n=226, EVLP: 68%, control: 76%, p=0.16, Figure), or 5 years (n=159, EVLP: 59%, control: 65%, p=0.68) post-transplant. There were also no differences in pulmonary function, the incidence of chronic lung allograft dysfunction or quality of life measures post-transplant. Conclusion: In this multicenter study, recipients of lungs that were re-evaluated on EVLP and deemed suitable for transplant had similar outcomes as a recipients of a standard lung transplants. EVLP offers the opportunity to screen donated lungs initially considered high risk and can safely increase the availability of transplantable lungs without compromising outcomes

PIT telemetry as a method to study the habitat requirements of fish populations: application to native and stocked trout movements

Passive integrated transponder (PIT) technology was used to study the behaviour of fishes during the summer season in two headwater streams of northeastern Portugal. A total of 71 PIT tags (12 mm long x 2.1 mm diameter) were surgically implanted in 1+ stocked (39) and native (32) brown trout of two size classes (< 20.0 and ≥ 20.0 cm). Eight independent antennae, connected to a multi-point decoder (MPD reader) unit, were placed in different microhabitats, selected randomly every three days during the observation period (29 August to 9 September in Baceiro stream and 19 September to 4 October in Sabor stream). The results confirmed this method as a suitable labour efficient tool to assess the movement and habitat use of sympatric stocked and native trout populations. About 76.9% of stocked and 59.4% of native PIT tagged trouts were detected. Multivariate techniques (CCA, DFA and classification tree) showed a separation in habitat use between the two sympatric populations. Stocked trout mainly used the microhabitats located in the middle of the channel with higher depths and without cover. Furthermore, these fishes displayed a greater mobility and a diel activity pattern different to native trout populations

Enhanced plasmonic behavior of bimetallic (Ag-Au) multilayered spheres

In this article we study the plasmonic behavior of some stable, highly biocompatible bimetallic metal-dielectric-metal (MDM) and double concentric nanoshell (DCN) structures. By simply switching the material of the inner structure from Au to Ag, the intensity of their surface plasmon resonance could be increased in the optical transparency region of the human tissues up to 20 and 60 percent for the MDM and DCN, respectively, while the biocompatibility is retained. The obtained results indicate that these novel structures could be highly suitable for surface enhanced Raman scattering and photothermal cancer therapy

Age- and sex-based heterogeneity in coronary artery plaque presence and burden in familial hypercholesterolemia:A multi-national study

Objectives: Individuals with familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) are at an increased risk for coronary artery disease (CAD). While prior research has shown variability in coronary artery calcification (CAC) among those with FH, studies with small sample sizes and single-center recruitment have been limited in their ability to characterize CAC and plaque burden in subgroups based on age and sex. Understanding the spectrum of atherosclerosis may result in personalized risk assessment and tailored allocation of costly add-on, non-statin lipid-lowering therapies. We aimed to characterize the presence and burden of CAC and coronary plaque on computed tomography angiography (CTA) across age- and sex-stratified subgroups of individuals with FH who were without CAD at baseline. Methods: We pooled 1,011 patients from six cohorts across Brazil, France, the Netherlands, Spain, and Australia. Our main measures of subclinical atherosclerosis included CAC ranges (i.e., 0, 1–100, 101–400, &gt;400) and CTA-derived plaque burden (i.e., no plaque, non-obstructive CAD, obstructive CAD). Results: Ninety-five percent of individuals with FH (mean age: 48 years; 54% female; treated LDL-C: 154 mg/dL) had a molecular diagnosis and 899 (89%) were on statin therapy. Overall, 423 (42%) had CAC=0, 329 (33%) had CAC 1–100, 160 (16%) had CAC 101–400, and 99 (10%) had CAC &gt;400. Compared to males, female patients were more likely to have CAC=0 (48% [n = 262] vs 35% [n = 161]) and no plaque on CTA (39% [n = 215] vs 26% [n = 120]). Among patients with CAC=0, 85 (20%) had non-obstructive CAD. Females also had a lower prevalence of obstructive CAD in CAC 1–100 (8% [n = 15] vs 18% [n = 26]), CAC 101–400 (32% [n = 22] vs 40% [n = 36]), and CAC &gt;400 (52% [n = 16] vs 65% [n = 44]). Female patients aged 50–59 years were less likely to have obstructive CAD in CAC &gt;400 (55% [n = 6] vs 70% [n = 19]). Conclusion: In this large, multi-national study, we found substantial age- and sex-based heterogeneity in CAC and plaque burden in a cohort of predominantly statin-treated individuals with FH, with evidence for a less pronounced increase in atherosclerosis among female patients. Future studies should examine the predictors of resilience to and long-term implications of the differential burden of subclinical coronary atherosclerosis in this higher risk population.</p

Persistent homology to analyse 3D faces and assess body weight gain

In this paper, we analyse patterns in face shape variation due to weight gain. We propose the use of persistent homology descriptors to get geometric and topological information about the configuration of anthropometric 3D face landmarks. In this way, evaluating face changes boils down to comparing the descriptors computed on 3D face scans taken at different times. By applying dimensionality reduction techniques to the dissimilarity matrix of descriptors, we get a space in which each face is a point and face shape variations are encoded as trajectories in that space. Our results show that persistent homology is able to identify features which are well related to overweight and may help assessing individual weight trends. The research was carried out in the context of the European project SEMEOTICONS, which developed a multisensory platform which detects and monitors over time facial signs of cardio-metabolic risk

Familial hypercholesterolaemia in children and adolescents from 48 countries: a cross-sectional study

Background: Approximately 450 000 children are born with familial hypercholesterolaemia worldwide every year, yet only 2·1% of adults with familial hypercholesterolaemia were diagnosed before age 18 years via current diagnostic approaches, which are derived from observations in adults. We aimed to characterise children and adolescents with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolaemia (HeFH) and understand current approaches to the identification and management of familial hypercholesterolaemia to inform future public health strategies. Methods: For this cross-sectional study, we assessed children and adolescents younger than 18 years with a clinical or genetic diagnosis of HeFH at the time of entry into the Familial Hypercholesterolaemia Studies Collaboration (FHSC) registry between Oct 1, 2015, and Jan 31, 2021. Data in the registry were collected from 55 regional or national registries in 48 countries. Diagnoses relying on self-reported history of familial hypercholesterolaemia and suspected secondary hypercholesterolaemia were excluded from the registry; people with untreated LDL cholesterol (LDL-C) of at least 13·0 mmol/L were excluded from this study. Data were assessed overall and by WHO region, World Bank country income status, age, diagnostic criteria, and index-case status. The main outcome of this study was to assess current identification and management of children and adolescents with familial hypercholesterolaemia. Findings: Of 63 093 individuals in the FHSC registry, 11 848 (18·8%) were children or adolescents younger than 18 years with HeFH and were included in this study; 5756 (50·2%) of 11 476 included individuals were female and 5720 (49·8%) were male. Sex data were missing for 372 (3·1%) of 11 848 individuals. Median age at registry entry was 9·6 years (IQR 5·8-13·2). 10 099 (89·9%) of 11 235 included individuals had a final genetically confirmed diagnosis of familial hypercholesterolaemia and 1136 (10·1%) had a clinical diagnosis. Genetically confirmed diagnosis data or clinical diagnosis data were missing for 613 (5·2%) of 11 848 individuals. Genetic diagnosis was more common in children and adolescents from high-income countries (9427 [92·4%] of 10 202) than in children and adolescents from non-high-income countries (199 [48·0%] of 415). 3414 (31·6%) of 10 804 children or adolescents were index cases. Familial-hypercholesterolaemia-related physical signs, cardiovascular risk factors, and cardiovascular disease were uncommon, but were more common in non-high-income countries. 7557 (72·4%) of 10 428 included children or adolescents were not taking lipid-lowering medication (LLM) and had a median LDL-C of 5·00 mmol/L (IQR 4·05-6·08). Compared with genetic diagnosis, the use of unadapted clinical criteria intended for use in adults and reliant on more extreme phenotypes could result in 50-75% of children and adolescents with familial hypercholesterolaemia not being identified. Interpretation: Clinical characteristics observed in adults with familial hypercholesterolaemia are uncommon in children and adolescents with familial hypercholesterolaemia, hence detection in this age group relies on measurement of LDL-C and genetic confirmation. Where genetic testing is unavailable, increased availability and use of LDL-C measurements in the first few years of life could help reduce the current gap between prevalence and detection, enabling increased use of combination LLM to reach recommended LDL-C targets early in life