Design and baseline characteristics of the finerenone in reducing cardiovascular mortality and morbidity in diabetic kidney disease trial

Background: Among people with diabetes, those with kidney disease have exceptionally high rates of cardiovascular (CV) morbidity and mortality and progression of their underlying kidney disease. Finerenone is a novel, nonsteroidal, selective mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist that has shown to reduce albuminuria in type 2 diabetes (T2D) patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) while revealing only a low risk of hyperkalemia. However, the effect of finerenone on CV and renal outcomes has not yet been investigated in long-term trials. Patients and Methods: The Finerenone in Reducing CV Mortality and Morbidity in Diabetic Kidney Disease (FIGARO-DKD) trial aims to assess the efficacy and safety of finerenone compared to placebo at reducing clinically important CV and renal outcomes in T2D patients with CKD. FIGARO-DKD is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group, event-driven trial running in 47 countries with an expected duration of approximately 6 years. FIGARO-DKD randomized 7,437 patients with an estimated glomerular filtration rate >= 25 mL/min/1.73 m(2) and albuminuria (urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio >= 30 to <= 5,000 mg/g). The study has at least 90% power to detect a 20% reduction in the risk of the primary outcome (overall two-sided significance level alpha = 0.05), the composite of time to first occurrence of CV death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal stroke, or hospitalization for heart failure. Conclusions: FIGARO-DKD will determine whether an optimally treated cohort of T2D patients with CKD at high risk of CV and renal events will experience cardiorenal benefits with the addition of finerenone to their treatment regimen. Trial Registration: EudraCT number: 2015-000950-39; ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02545049

Hydrogen desorption behavior of aluminium materials used for extremely high vacuum chamber

Hydrogen desorption properties of pure Al metal (1050H24 and 1001 Al) and Al alloy (6063T6) were investigated by using a technique of thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS). In the TDS spectrum of hydrogen, two peaks in the temperature, which may correspond to the desorptions due to second-order surface reaction and diffusion process, were observed. The activation energy of the desorption, due to the surface reaction for the 1050H24 Al, was obtained as 38 kJ/mol. For the 1001 Al, by using a simple diffusion model, the activation energy and diffusion constant of hydrogen due to the diffusion process were calculated as 50 kJ/mol and (0.5–3.5)×10–3 cm2/s, respectively. The hydrogen desorption amount of the Al alloy was estimated as 3×1015 mol/cm2 (0.159 cc/100g Al), which was twice compared with that of the 1050H24 Al. Secondary-ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) analysis was applied to examine the change of the surface atomic composition after baking. It was found that magnesium was considerably segregated by heating. However, the correlation between the concentrations of hydrogen and magnesium was not clearly observed

TDS Measurement of Hydrogen Released from Stainless Steel Oxidized in H2O-Containing Atmospheres

Hydrogen dissolved in the Cr2O3 scale formed on the stainless steel in the H2O-containing atmospheres is observed by TDS (thermal desorption spectroscopy) measurements. The amount of dissolved hydrogen in the Cr2O3 scale reaches a maximum about 0.32 mol% when the H2O concentration in the gas reaches 20%. It was found from GDS (glow discharge spectroscopy) measurements that hydrogen may exist at the oxide scale / substrate interface or in Cr2O3 scale bounded that interface. However, results from the Vickers hardness and the observation of scale morphology by SEM (scanning electron microscopy), hydrogen dissolved in the Cr2O3 scale would have little effect on a decrease in the mechanical property of the Cr2O3 scale. Therefore, hydrogen dissolved in the Cr2O3 scale may not be main factor of the deterioration of the Cr2O3 scale

Deuterium and helium retentions of V-4Cr-4Ti alloy used as first wall of breeding blanket in a fusion reactor

The deuterium and helium retention properties of V-4Cr-4Ti alloy were investigated by thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS). Ion energies of deuterium and helium were taken at 1.7 keV and 5 keV, respectively. The retained amount of deuterium in the sample irradiated at 380 K increased with the ion fluence and was not saturated to fluence of up to 1×1023 D/m2. For the irradiation at 773 K, 0.1% of implanted deuterium was retained at the highest fluence. For the helium ion irradiation at room temperature, three groups of desorption peaks appeared at around 500, 850, and 1200 K in the TDS spectrum. In the lower fluence region (<1×1021 He/m2), the retained helium desorbed mainly at around 1200 K. With increasing fluence, the amount desorbed at 500 K increased. Total amount of retained helium in the samples saturated at fluence up to 5×1021 He/m2 and saturation level was 2.7×1021 He/m2