Baseline characteristics of patients in the reduction of events with darbepoetin alfa in heart failure trial (RED-HF)

<p>Aims: This report describes the baseline characteristics of patients in the Reduction of Events with Darbepoetin alfa in Heart Failure trial (RED-HF) which is testing the hypothesis that anaemia correction with darbepoetin alfa will reduce the composite endpoint of death from any cause or hospital admission for worsening heart failure, and improve other outcomes.</p> <p>Methods and results: Key demographic, clinical, and laboratory findings, along with baseline treatment, are reported and compared with those of patients in other recent clinical trials in heart failure. Compared with other recent trials, RED-HF enrolled more elderly [mean age 70 (SD 11.4) years], female (41%), and black (9%) patients. RED-HF patients more often had diabetes (46%) and renal impairment (72% had an estimated glomerular filtration rate <60 mL/min/1.73 m2). Patients in RED-HF had heart failure of longer duration [5.3 (5.4) years], worse NYHA class (35% II, 63% III, and 2% IV), and more signs of congestion. Mean EF was 30% (6.8%). RED-HF patients were well treated at randomization, and pharmacological therapy at baseline was broadly similar to that of other recent trials, taking account of study-specific inclusion/exclusion criteria. Median (interquartile range) haemoglobin at baseline was 112 (106–117) g/L.</p> <p>Conclusion: The anaemic patients enrolled in RED-HF were older, moderately to markedly symptomatic, and had extensive co-morbidity.</p&gt

Sputtering soft materials with molecular projectiles: A microscopic view

The sputtering of bulk organic samples by molecular projectiles is modeled using molecular dynamics simulations. A coarsegrained representation of entangled polyethylene oligomers (1.4 kDa) is used as a model of an amorphous soft material. In this study, a variety of projectiles are compared, includingC60, coronene anda series ofpolystyrene molecular cluster (0.6–110 kDa). The polystyrene clusters bridge the gap between the polyatomic ions (SF5, C60) used in secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) and the large organic microdroplets generated, e.g. in desorption electrospray ionization. In addition, they allow us to explore a wide range of energies/nucleon (0.1–18 eV/nucleon) with projectiles of similar nature and the same total kinetic energy (10 keV). Two regions of sputtering can be distinguished. Above 1 eV/nucleon (smaller projectiles), the sputtering yield depends only on the total projectile energy and not on the projectile nuclearity. Below 1 eV/nucleon (larger projectiles), yields are influenced by both the projectile energy and their nuclearity. Larger projectiles also eject fewer fragments and induce significantly less damage in the sample. A region of intact molecular emission, without induced fragmentation, exists in the <1 eV/nucleon range. For large clusters, an energy of <1 eV/nucleon still provides a sputtered mass from the target that is larger than 10 kDa. This region ofmolecular emission with minimal fragmentation, also attainable with large gas clusters, offers new analytical perspectives

Computer Simulations of the Sputtering of Metallic, Organic, and Metal−Organic Surfaces with Bin and C60 Projectiles

peer reviewedThis study focuses on the microscopic modeling of 0–25 keV Bi1–3–5 and C60 cluster impacts on three different targets (Au crystal, adsorbed Au nanoparticle, and organic solid), using molecular dynamics simulations, and on the comparison of the calculated quantities with recent experimental results, reported in the literature or obtained in our laboratory. The sputtering statistics are reported, showing nonlinearity of the sputtering yields with the number of cluster atoms at the same incident velocity for Bi1–5 bombardment. They are compared to experiments (especially for the organic target), and the microscopic explanation of the observations is analyzed. The results show that the respective behaviors and performances of the different projectiles are strongly dependent on the target, with clusters of heavy Bi atoms being more efficient at sputtering gold and, conversely, fullerene clusters inducing the largest sputtering yields of the organic material (mass matching). For organic targets, some important and novel conclusions of this work are the following: (i) The increase of the sputtering yield when going from Bi atoms to Bi clusters is insufficient to explain the much larger increase of characteristic ion yields, suggesting a projectile-dependent ionization probability. (ii) The extent of molecular fragmentation follows the order of Bi > Bi3 > Bi5 > C60, that is, softer emission with larger clusters. (iii) Even 5–10 keV Bi atoms create collective molecular motions and craters in the polymeric solid, though the collision cascades are rather dilute. Finally, a second series of simulations performed at low energies predict that 0.1–1 keV Bin clusters should not provide better results for sputtering and depth profiling than isoenergetic single atoms