Sleep disordered breathing in patients with heart failure

Sleep disordered breathing (SDB) is a common co-morbidity in patients with heart failure(HF). Both its forms — central and obstructive sleep apnea — are highly prevalent in thispopulation. SDB fragments sleep, impairs life quality, worsens exercise tolerance, worsens HFand is an independent predictor of poor prognosis. Still, SDB remains largely undiagnosed.Therefore, early detection of SDB seems to be of primary importance, especially in the presenceof new diagnostic and therapeutic methods. Treatment with continuous positive airwaypressure (CPAP) increases left ventricular ejection fraction and stroke volume in virtually allHF patients with obstructive and in 50% with central sleep apnea. For those in whom centralsleep apnea is not suppressed by CPAP, a trial of adaptive servoventilation is recommended.Although no randomized, controlled trials have shown improvement in mortality, several observationalstudies have shown that effective treatment of both forms of sleep apnea with variouspositive airway pressure devices improves survival of HF patients. Currently, 2 large trials withnewer masked based therapies with adaptive servoventilation are in progress. This article isa brief overview of present knowledge, the pathophysiology, diagnostic approach and therapy ofSDB

The Influence of Available Cu and Au Nanoparticles (NPs) on the Survival of Water Fleas (Daphnia pulex)

Applications of nanotechnologies in different sectors and everyday items are very promising and their popularity continues to grow. The number of products containing nanoparticles makes environmental exposure to nanoparticles inevitable. The current understanding of the relationships between nanoparticles and the environment is inadequate despite the fast growth of nanotechnologies. The aim of the study was to investigate the influence of copper and gold nanoparticles on Daphnia pulex survival. Our study included 48-h acute toxicity tests and determination of median lethal concentration values (LC50s) for Cu-NPs and Au-NPs. For nano-copper, 24 h LC50 was assumed > 1 mg/L, and 48 h LC50 = 0.5117 mg/L. For nano-gold the LC50 value after 24 h was 0.4027 mg/L, and after 48 h 0.1007 mg/L. The toxicity of nano -gold solutions was thus found to be higher than that of nano-copper. The addition of Cu-NPs at 0.0625 mg/L and 0.125 mg/L caused an increased multiplication of daphnia, while Au-NPs at 1 mg/L was an inhibitor of reproduction