Factors Affecting Health Related Quality of Life in Hospitalized Patients with Heart Failure

This study identified factors affecting health related quality of life (HRQOL) in 300 hospitalized patients with heart failure (HF). Data were collected by the completion of a questionnaire which included patients’ characteristics and the Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire (MLHFQ). Analysis of data showed that the median of the total score of MLHFQ was 46 and the median of the physical and mental state was 22 and 6, respectively. Also, participants who were householders or had “other” professions had lower score of 17 points and therefore better quality of life compared to patients who were civil/private employees (p<0.001 and p<0.001, resp.). Patients not receiving anxiolytics and antidepressants had lower quality of life scores of 6 and 15.5 points, respectively, compared to patients who received (p=0.003 and p<0.001, resp.). Patients with no prior hospitalization had lower score of 7 points compared to those with prior hospitalization (p=0.002), whereas patients not retired due to the disease had higher score of 7 points (p=0.034). Similar results were observed for the physical and mental state. Improvement of HF patients’ quality of life should come to the forefront of clinical practice

Fotofyzikální a protonační time-resolved studie donor-akceptorového rozvětveného systému s pyridinovými akceptory

A comparative study of the photophysical properties of octupolar pyridyl-terminated triphenylamine molecule, with its quadrupolar and dipolar analogues, by means of ambient and low temperature steady state spectroscopy and femtosecond to nanosecond time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy is reported. The push-pull molecules bear triphenylamine electron donating core, pyridine peripheral electron acceptors, and acetylene pi-bridge. The samples were studied in solvents of varying polarity and also upon addition of small amounts of acetic acid to induce protonation of the pyridine group. All samples exhibit significant positive fluorescence solvatochromism as well as a relaxation of their excited state to a solvent relaxed intramolecular charge transfer state on the picosecond time scale. For the octupolar compound, excited state relaxation occurs simultaneously with excitation energy hopping among the branches. The hopping time is solvent polarity controlled since it becomes slower as the polarity increases. The experimental hopping times are compared to those predicted by Forster and Fermi formulations. The samples are capable of emitting broadband light covering almost the whole visible spectrum by careful control of protonation. Energy transfer from the neutral toward the protonated species on the 1 ps time scale is revealed.Porovnávací studie fotofyzikálních vlastností oktupolárních pyridin-trifenylaminů s jejich kvadrupolárními a dipodálními analogy pomocí steady-state spektroskopie a femtosekundové až nanosekundové time-resolved fluorescenční spektroskopie při běžné a nízké teplotě. Látky byly studovány v rozpouštědlech s různou polaritou, byl studován také vliv přídavků kyseliny octové vedoucí k protonaci pyridinových skupin. Díky kontrolované protonaci vzorky vykazovaly širokopásovou emisi pokrývající téměř celé viditelné spektrum

Microseismicity and faulting geometry in the Gulf of Corinth (Greece)

International audienceDuring the summer of 1993, a network of seismological stations was installed over a period of 7 weeks around the eastern Gulf of Corinth where a sequence of strong earthquakes occurred during 1981. Seismicity lies between the Alepohori fault dipping north and the Kaparelli fault dipping south and is related to both of these antithetic faults. Focal mechanisms show normal faulting with the active fault plane dipping at about 45° for both faults. The aftershocks of the 1981 earthquake sequence recorded by King et al. (1985) were processed again and show similar results. In contrast, the observations collected near the western end of the Gulf of Corinth during an experiment conducted in 1991 (Rigo et al. 1996), and during the aftershock studies of the 1992 Galaxidi and the 1995 Aigion earthquakes (Hatzfeld et al. 1996; Bernard et al. 1997) show seismicity dipping at a very low angle (about 15°) northwards and normal faulting mechanisms with the active fault plane dipping northwards at about 30°. We suggest that the 8-12km deep seismicity in the west is probably related to the seismic-aseismic transition and not to a possible almost horizontal active fault dipping north as previously proposed. The difference in the seismicity and focal mechanisms between east and west of the Gulf could be related to the difference in the recent extension rate between the western Gulf of Corinth and the eastern Gulf of Corinth, which rotated the faults dipping originally at 45° (as in the east of the Gulf) to 30° (as in the west of the Gulf)

Dynamics of Intramolecular Energy Hopping in Multi-Bodipy Self-Assembled Metallocyclic Species: A Tool for Probing Subtle Structural Distortions in Solution

The intramolecular excitation energy transfer (EET) processes in a series of fluorescent-unquenched, self-assembled metallocycles consisting of spatially fixed-separated and parallel-aligned Bodipy chromophores, are investigated here by steady-state and femtosecond-fluorescence upconversion measurements in the solution phase. These multi-Bodipy macrocycles, namely, the rhomboid (<b>A1</b>), the tetragon (<b>A2</b>) and the hexagon (<b>A3</b>), are formed via temperature-regulated Pt­(II)–pyridyl coordination and consist, respectively, of two, four, and six Bodipy subunits, which are locked at the corners and aligned with their long molecular axes perpendicular to the rigid polygonal frame formed by the alternating B···Pt­(II) connectivities. Extensive simulations and fits to the experimental fluorescence anisotropy decays <i>r</i>(<i>t</i>) show that EET within the cyclic scaffolds is quite <i>uniform</i> and much <i>faster</i> than the intrinsic decay rate of the Bodipy’s. The equalization of the excitation survival probabilities over time of all chromophores is found to be dependent upon the size of the macrocycle. From the observed dynamics supported by geometry optimization calculations, it is concluded that, in contrast to the model compound <b>A1</b>, in the large macrocycles the perfect parallel orientation of the Bodipy dipoles is lifted through limited out-of-plane distortions of the metallocyclic framework from a planar conformation. Additionally, we show that, as opposed to analogous covalent macrocycles, the survival probability of excitons as well as the degree of symmetry distortion and homogeneity in dipole spacing remains nearly intact as the size of the macrocycle increases from tetragon to hexagon

IoT European Security and Privacy Projects: Integration, Architectures and Interoperability

| openaire: EC/H2020/779984/EU//SOFIEThe chapter presents an overview of the eight that are part of the European IoT Security and Privacy Projects initiative (IoT-ESP) addressing advanced concepts for end-to-end security in highly distributed, heterogeneous and dynamic IoT environments. The approaches presented are holistic and include identification and authentication, data protection and prevention against cyber-attacks at the device and system levels. The projects present architectures, concepts, methods and tools for open IoT platforms integrating evolving sensing, actuating, energy harvesting, networking and Interface technologies. Platforms should provide connectivity and intelligence, actuation and control features, linkage to modular and ad-hoc cloud services, The IoT platforms used are compatible with existing international Developments addressing object identity management, discovery services, virtualisation of objects, devices and infrastructures and trusted IoT approaches.Peer reviewe