21 research outputs found
Re-use of construction and demolition residues and industrial wastes for the elaboration or recycled eco-efficient concretes
[EN] Production of residues from industries and construction and demolition sectors has increased during last years. The
total amount of debris produced according to different estimations reaches values close to 42 million tonnes yr
â1
. Much
of this waste has been thrown to landfill, without considering its potential for reuse, recycling or valuation. The aim
of this research is to describe some of the physical and mechanical properties of different laboratory-mixed concretes,
using various proportions of additional materials recovered from industrial waste and demolition rubble. The added
materials are included either as admixtures (forestry residues, cork dust, steel fibre) or in partial substitution of natural
aggregates (wire from electrical residues, tyre rubber, white ceramic, sanitary porcelain or shale). The laboratory tests
have followed the standard EN protocols. Assay results were variable according to the nature of the material added to
the mix: organic materials and shale, despite the steel fibre reinforcement, reduce the compression strength, but are
suitable for the manufacture of lightweight concrete for agricultural pavements, with certain flexion resistance and a
relatively good behaviour to impact. The substitution of natural aggregates with ceramic and porcelain wastes produces
a significant increase in compression resistance, making them suitable for the manufacture of concrete with
characteristic resistances above 40 MPa, which can be used both for structures or other agricultural elements: separators,
feeders, slat floors. As a conclusion can be stated the possibility of reuse these wastes for the production of structural
or non-structural concrete, with different applications in agricultural engineerin
The Changing Landscape for Stroke\ua0Prevention in AF: Findings From the GLORIA-AF Registry Phase 2
Background GLORIA-AF (Global Registry on Long-Term Oral Antithrombotic Treatment in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation) is a prospective, global registry program describing antithrombotic treatment patterns in patients with newly diagnosed nonvalvular atrial fibrillation at risk of stroke. Phase 2 began when dabigatran, the first non\u2013vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulant (NOAC), became available. Objectives This study sought to describe phase 2 baseline data and compare these with the pre-NOAC era collected during phase 1. Methods During phase 2, 15,641 consenting patients were enrolled (November 2011 to December 2014); 15,092 were eligible. This pre-specified cross-sectional analysis describes eligible patients\u2019 baseline characteristics. Atrial fibrillation disease characteristics, medical outcomes, and concomitant diseases and medications were collected. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results Of the total patients, 45.5% were female; median age was 71 (interquartile range: 64, 78) years. Patients were from Europe (47.1%), North America (22.5%), Asia (20.3%), Latin America (6.0%), and the Middle East/Africa (4.0%). Most had high stroke risk (CHA2DS2-VASc [Congestive heart failure, Hypertension, Age 6575 years, Diabetes mellitus, previous Stroke, Vascular disease, Age 65 to 74 years, Sex category] score 652; 86.1%); 13.9% had moderate risk (CHA2DS2-VASc = 1). Overall, 79.9% received oral anticoagulants, of whom 47.6% received NOAC and 32.3% vitamin K antagonists (VKA); 12.1% received antiplatelet agents; 7.8% received no antithrombotic treatment. For comparison, the proportion of phase 1 patients (of N = 1,063 all eligible) prescribed VKA was 32.8%, acetylsalicylic acid 41.7%, and no therapy 20.2%. In Europe in phase 2, treatment with NOAC was more common than VKA (52.3% and 37.8%, respectively); 6.0% of patients received antiplatelet treatment; and 3.8% received no antithrombotic treatment. In North America, 52.1%, 26.2%, and 14.0% of patients received NOAC, VKA, and antiplatelet drugs, respectively; 7.5% received no antithrombotic treatment. NOAC use was less common in Asia (27.7%), where 27.5% of patients received VKA, 25.0% antiplatelet drugs, and 19.8% no antithrombotic treatment. Conclusions The baseline data from GLORIA-AF phase 2 demonstrate that in newly diagnosed nonvalvular atrial fibrillation patients, NOAC have been highly adopted into practice, becoming more frequently prescribed than VKA in Europe and North America. Worldwide, however, a large proportion of patients remain undertreated, particularly in Asia and North America. (Global Registry on Long-Term Oral Antithrombotic Treatment in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation [GLORIA-AF]; NCT01468701
Multi-ancestry genome-wide association meta-analysis of Parkinson?s disease
Although over 90 independent risk variants have been identified for Parkinsonâs disease using genome-wide association studies, most studies have been performed in just one population at a time. Here we performed a large-scale multi-ancestry meta-analysis of Parkinsonâs disease with 49,049 cases, 18,785 proxy cases and 2,458,063 controls including individuals of European, East Asian, Latin American and African ancestry. In a meta-analysis, we identified 78 independent genome-wide significant loci, including 12 potentially novel loci (MTF2, PIK3CA, ADD1, SYBU, IRS2, USP8, PIGL, FASN, MYLK2, USP25, EP300 and PPP6R2) and fine-mapped 6 putative causal variants at 6 known PD loci. By combining our results with publicly available eQTL data, we identified 25 putative risk genes in these novel loci whose expression is associated with PD risk. This work lays the groundwork for future efforts aimed at identifying PD loci in non-European populations
Hierarchical Composite Polyanilineâ(Electrospun Polystyrene) Fibers Applied to Heavy Metal Remediation
We describe the in situ preparation
of a multipurpose hierarchical polyanilineâpolystyrene (PANIâPS)
composite based in the chemical polymerization of PANI on nonwoven
(NW) electrospun PS mats. We performed a detailed study of the properties
of these materials to select the best strategies to incorporate PANI
chains into pristine NW PS mats without compromising the original
porosity and mechanical flexibility of the matrices. The resulting
composites presented nanostructured PANI chains highly dispersed in
the interior of the NW PS mat and showed good electrical properties
and surface-wetting characteristics that could be easily controlled.
In particular, we show that these NW PANIâPS mats exhibit interesting
properties in their interaction with heavy metal ions. For instance,
their high adsorption capacities toward dispersed HgÂ(II), CdÂ(II),
PbÂ(II), CrÂ(VI), and CuÂ(II) ions make them promising materials for
water remediation, by providing a simple manner of collecting and
removing these metals from aqueous systems. In fact, the NW electrospun
mats here presented do not suffer from the usual limitations found
in materials commonly employed as adsorbents, such as a tendency to
agglomerate or accumulate in the environment because of difficulties
of properly recovering them after use. To better understand the nature
of each pairwise metalâPANI interaction, we performed a thorough
investigation of the optical and electrical changes induced by the
metal adsorption in the NW PANIâPS mats. As a consequence of
their interaction with the metal ions, the visual aspect of the mats
change, a fact more evident in the case of CrÂ(VI) removal, when the
matrices vary their color from green to purple. These changes are
related to the variation of the oxidation state of the PANI chains:
as the ion metals are progressively adsorbed into the mat, they promote
the conversion in varying degrees of the PANI chains from salt emeraldine
to the pernigraniline form, and the mats become more resistive. We
implemented an electrical impedance investigation of the charge transport
characteristics of NW PANIâPS mat, and the results indicate
that they are sensitive to the type of metal ion adsorbed and that
the amount of ions adsorbed in each case is mostly related to the
standard electrode potential of the metal considered
Angiotensin receptor neprilysin inhibition compared with enalapril on the risk of clinical progression in surviving patients with heart failure
BACKGROUND:
Clinical trials in heart failure have focused on the improvement in symptoms or decreases in the risk of death and other cardiovascular events. Little is known about the effect of drugs on the risk of clinical deterioration in surviving patients.
METHODS AND RESULTS:
We compared the angiotensin-neprilysin inhibitor LCZ696 (400 mg daily) with the angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor enalapril (20 mg daily) in 8399 patients with heart failure and reduced ejection fraction in a double-blind trial. The analyses focused on prespecified measures of nonfatal clinical deterioration. In comparison with the enalapril group, fewer LCZ696-treated patients required intensification of medical treatment for heart failure (520 versus 604; hazard ratio, 0.84; 95% confidence interval, 0.74-0.94; P=0.003) or an emergency department visit for worsening heart failure (hazard ratio, 0.66; 95% confidence interval, 0.52-0.85; P=0.001). The patients in the LCZ696 group had 23% fewer hospitalizations for worsening heart failure (851 versus 1079; P<0.001) and were less likely to require intensive care (768 versus 879; 18% rate reduction, P=0.005), to receive intravenous positive inotropic agents (31% risk reduction, P<0.001), and to have implantation of a heart failure device or cardiac transplantation (22% risk reduction, P=0.07). The reduction in heart failure hospitalization with LCZ696 was evident within the first 30 days after randomization. Worsening of symptom scores in surviving patients was consistently more common in the enalapril group. LCZ696 led to an early and sustained reduction in biomarkers of myocardial wall stress and injury (N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide and troponin) versus enalapril.
CONCLUSIONS:
Angiotensin-neprilysin inhibition prevents the clinical progression of surviving patients with heart failure more effectively than angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibition.
CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION URL:
http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT01035255
Angiotensin receptor neprilysin inhibition compared with enalapril on the risk of clinical progression in surviving patients with heart failure.
BACKGROUND: Clinical trials in heart failure have focused on the improvement in symptoms or decreases in the risk of death and other cardiovascular events. Little is known about the effect of drugs on the risk of clinical deterioration in surviving patients. METHODS AND RESULTS: We compared the angiotensin-neprilysin inhibitor LCZ696 (400 mg daily) with the angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor enalapril (20 mg daily) in 8399 patients with heart failure and reduced ejection fraction in a double-blind trial. The analyses focused on prespecified measures of nonfatal clinical deterioration. In comparison with the enalapril group, fewer LCZ696-treated patients required intensification of medical treatment for heart failure (520 versus 604; hazard ratio, 0.84; 95% confidence interval, 0.74-0.94; P=0.003) or an emergency department visit for worsening heart failure (hazard ratio, 0.66; 95% confidence interval, 0.52-0.85; P=0.001). The patients in the LCZ696 group had 23% fewer hospitalizations for worsening heart failure (851 versus 1079; P<0.001) and were less likely to require intensive care (768 versus 879; 18% rate reduction, P=0.005), to receive intravenous positive inotropic agents (31% risk reduction, P<0.001), and to have implantation of a heart failure device or cardiac transplantation (22% risk reduction, P=0.07). The reduction in heart failure hospitalization with LCZ696 was evident within the first 30 days after randomization. Worsening of symptom scores in surviving patients was consistently more common in the enalapril group. LCZ696 led to an early and sustained reduction in biomarkers of myocardial wall stress and injury (N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide and troponin) versus enalapril. CONCLUSIONS: Angiotensin-neprilysin inhibition prevents the clinical progression of surviving patients with heart failure more effectively than angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibition. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT01035255