Exposición a la pornografía y su influencia en la asertividad sexual

Treball Final de Grau en Psicologia. Codi: PS1048. Curs: 2019/2020Pornography has been more available since the arrival of the Internet, broadband networks and smartphones. Pornography exposure may lead to negative psychological and behavioral consequences. Besides, sexual assertion plays a role against risky sexual behaviour, sexual abuse and victimization. The aim of this study is to analyze the relation between wanted and unwanted exposure to pornography and sexual assertion.La pornografía se ha vuelto más accesible desde la llegada de internet, la banda ancha y los teléfonos inteligentes. La exposición a la pornografía puede tener consecuencias psicológicas y conductuales negativas. Por otra parte, la asertividad sexual actúa como factor de protección ante conductas sexuales de riesgo, abusos y victimización sexual. El objetivo del presente trabajo es analizar la relación entre la voluntaria e involuntaria exposición a la pornografía y la asertividad sexual

Biotechnological production of the cell penetrating antifungal PAF102 peptide in pichia pastoris

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have potent and durable antimicrobial activity to a wide range of fungi and bacteria. The growing problem of drug-resistant pathogenic microorganisms, together with the lack of new effective compounds, has stimulated interest in developing AMPs as anti-infective molecules. PAF102 is an AMP that was rationally designed for improved antifungal properties. This cell penetrating peptide has potent and specific activity against major fungal pathogens. Cecropin A is a natural AMP with strong and fast lytic activity against bacterial and fungal pathogens, including multidrug resistant pathogens. Both peptides, PAF102 and Cecropin A, are alternative antibiotic compounds. However, their exploitation requires fast, cost-efficient production systems. Here, we developed an innovative system to produce AMPs in Pichia pastoris using the oleosin fusion technology. Oleosins are plant-specific proteins with a structural role in lipid droplet formation and stabilization, which are used as carriers for recombinant proteins to lipid droplets in plant-based production systems. This study reports the efficient production of PAF102 in P. pastoris when fused to the rice plant Oleosin 18, whereas no accumulation of Cecropin A was detected. The Ole18-PAF102 fusion protein targets the lipid droplets of the heterologous system where it accumulates to high levels. Interestingly, the production of this fusion protein induces the formation of lipid droplets in yeast cells, which can be additionally enhanced by the coexpression of a diacylglycerol transferase gene that allows a three-fold increase in the production of the fusion protein. Using this high producer strain, PAF102 reaches commercially relevant yields of up to 180 mg/l of yeast culture. Moreover, the accumulation of PAF102 in the yeast lipid droplets facilitates its downstream extraction and recovery by flotation on density gradients, with the recovered PAF102 being biologically active against pathogenic fungi. Our results demonstrate that plant oleosin fusion technology can be transferred to the well-established P. pastoris cell factory to produce the PAF102 antifungal peptide, and potentially other AMPs, for multiple applications in crop protection, food preservation and animal and human therapies

A low-power IoT device for measuring water table levels and soil moisture to ease increased crop yields

The simultaneous measurement of soil water content and water table levels is of great agronomic and hydrological interest. Not only does soil moisture represent the water available for plant growth but also water table levels can affect crop productivity. Furthermore, monitoring soil saturation and water table levels is essential for an early warning of extreme rainfall situations. However, the measurement of these parameters employing commercial instruments has certain disadvantages, with a high cost of purchase and maintenance. In addition, the handling of commercial devices makes it difficult to adapt them to the specific requirements of farmers or decision-makers. Open-source IoT hardware platforms are emerging as an attractive alternative to developing flexible and low-cost devices. This paper describes the design of a datalogger device based on open-source hardware platforms to register water table levels and soil moisture data for agronomic applications. The paper begins by describing energy-saving and wireless transmission techniques. Then, it summarizes the linear calibration of the phreatimeter sensor obtained with laboratory and field data. Finally, it shows how non-linear machine-learning techniques improve predictions over classical tools for the moisture sensor (SKU: SEN0193).This work is supported by Universidad Nacional del Litoral, research grants CAID 50520190100249LI and CAAT 03012020, and the National Spanish funding PID2019-107910RB-I00, by regional project 2017SGR-990, and with the support of Secretaria d’Universitats i Recerca de la Generalitat de Catalunya i del Fons Social Europeu.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Quantifying the impact of the structural uncertainty on the gross rock volume in the Lubina and Montanazo oil fields (Western Mediterranean)

Structural uncertainty is a key parameter affecting the accuracy of the information contained in static and dynamicreservoirmodels.However,quantifyingandassessingitsrealimpactonreservoirpropertydistribution,in-place volume estimates and dynamic simulation has always been a challenge. Due to the limitation of the existing workflows and time constraints, the exploration of all potential geological configurations matching the interpreted data has been limited to a small number of scenarios, making the future field development decisions uncertain. WepresentacasestudyintheLubinaandMontanazomature oil fields (Western Mediterranean) in which the structural uncertainty in the seismic interpretation of faults and horizons has been captured using modern reservoir modeling workflows. We model the fault and horizon uncertainty by means of two workflows: the manually interpreted and the constant uncertainty cases. In the manually interpreted case, the zones of ambiguity in the position of horizons and faults are defined as locally varying envelopes around the bestinterpretation,whosedimensionsmainlyvaryaccording to the frequency content of the seismic data, lateral variations of amplitudes along reflectors, and how the reflectors terminatearoundfaultswhenfaultreflectionsarenotpresent in the seismic image. In the constant case, the envelope dimensions are kept constant for each horizon and each fault. Bothfaultsandhorizonsaresimulatedwithintheirrespective uncertainty envelopes as provided to the user. In all simulations,conditioningtoavailablewelldataisensured.Stochastic simulation was used to obtain 200 realizations for each uncertainty modeling workflow. The realizations were compared in terms of gross rock volumes above the oil-water contact considering three scenarios at the depths of the contact. The results show that capturing the structural uncertainty inthepickingofhorizonsandfaultsinseismicdatahasarelevant impact on the volume estimation. The models predict percentage differences in the mean gross rock volume with respect to best-estimate interpretation up to 7% higher and 12% lower (P10 and P90). The manually interpreted uncertainty workflow reports narrower gross rock volume predictions and more consistent results from the simulated structural models than the constant case. This work has also revealed that, for the Lubina and Montanazo fields, the fault uncertainty associated with the major faults that bound the reservoirlaterallystronglyaffectsthegrossrockvolumepredicted. The multiple realizations obtained are geologically consistentwiththeavailabledata,andtheirdifferencesingeometry and dimensions of the reservoir allow us to improve the understanding of the reservoir structure. The uncertainty modeling workflows applied are easy to design and allow us to update the models when required. This work demonstrates that knowledge of the data and the sources of uncertainty is important to set up the workflows correctly. Further studies can combine other sources of uncertainty in the modeling process to improve the risk assessment

Exploring the limits of anaerobic biodegradability of urban wastewater by AnMBR technology

[EN] Anaerobic membrane bioreactors (AnMBRs) can achieve maximum energy recovery from urban wastewater (UWW) by converting influent COD into methane. The aim of this study was to assess the anaerobic biodegradability limits of urban wastewater with AnMBR technology by studying the possible degradation of the organic matter considered as non-biodegradable as observed in aerobic membrane bioreactors operated at very high sludge retention times. For this, the results obtained in an AnMBR pilot plant operated at very high SRT (140 days) treating sulfate-rich urban wastewater were compared with those previously obtained with the system operating at lower SRT (29 to 70 days). At 140 days SRT the organic matter biodegraded by the AnMBR system accounted for 64.4% of the influent COD (45.9% was removed by sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB), and only 18.5% was converted into methane, highlighting the strong competition between SRB and methanogenic archaea (MA) when treating sulfate-rich wastewater). Almost half of the methane produced (46%) was dissolved in the permeate and most of it was recovered by a degassing membrane. The organic matter biodegraded by the AnMBR system was similar to the influent anaerobic biodegradability determined by wastewater characterization assays (68.5% of the influent COD), indicating that nearly all the influent's biodegradable organic matter had been removed. This percentage of degraded COD was similar to that obtained in previous studies working at 70 days SRT, showing that the limit of anaerobic biodegradability was already reached in this SRT. The organic matter considered as non-biodegradable according to wastewater characterization assays therefore was not seen to degrade in the AnMBR pilot plant, even at very high SRT. Once the biodegraded COD is close to the influent's anaerobic biodegradability, increasing the SRT is not justified as it only leads to higher operational costs for the same biogas production. These findings support the use of mathematical models for AnMBR design since they accurately represent the behaviour of these systems in a wide range of operating conditions.This research project was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO, Project CTM2014-54980-C2-2-R). The authors are also grateful for the support received from the Generalitat Valenciana via CPI-16-155 fellowships.Seco Torrecillas, A.; Mateo-Llosa, O.; Zamorano-López, N.; Sanchis-Perucho, P.; Serralta Sevilla, J.; Martí Ortega, N.; Borrás Falomir, L.... (2018). Exploring the limits of anaerobic biodegradability of urban wastewater by AnMBR technology. Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology. 4(11):1877-1887. https://doi.org/10.1039/c8ew00313kS18771887411Li, W.-W., & Yu, H.-Q. (2011). From wastewater to bioenergy and biochemicals via two-stage bioconversion processes: A future paradigm. Biotechnology Advances, 29(6), 972-982. doi:10.1016/j.biotechadv.2011.08.012Shin, C., & Bae, J. (2018). Current status of the pilot-scale anaerobic membrane bioreactor treatments of domestic wastewaters: A critical review. Bioresource Technology, 247, 1038-1046. doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2017.09.002EEA , Performance of water utilities beyond compliance (Technical report No. 5/2014) , Luxemburg , 2014Martin, I., Pidou, M., Soares, A., Judd, S., & Jefferson, B. (2011). Modelling the energy demands of aerobic and anaerobic membrane bioreactors for wastewater treatment. Environmental Technology, 32(9), 921-932. doi:10.1080/09593330.2011.565806JEISON, D., & VANLIER, J. (2007). Cake formation and consolidation: Main factors governing the applicable flux in anaerobic submerged membrane bioreactors (AnSMBR) treating acidified wastewaters. Separation and Purification Technology, 56(1), 71-78. doi:10.1016/j.seppur.2007.01.022Pretel, R., Robles, A., Ruano, M. V., Seco, A., & Ferrer, J. (2014). The operating cost of an anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) treating sulphate-rich urban wastewater. Separation and Purification Technology, 126, 30-38. doi:10.1016/j.seppur.2014.02.013Cashman, S., Ma, X., Mosley, J., Garland, J., Crone, B., & Xue, X. (2018). Energy and greenhouse gas life cycle assessment and cost analysis of aerobic and anaerobic membrane bioreactor systems: Influence of scale, population density, climate, and methane recovery. Bioresource Technology, 254, 56-66. doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2018.01.060Ozgun, H., Dereli, R. K., Ersahin, M. E., Kinaci, C., Spanjers, H., & van Lier, J. B. (2013). A review of anaerobic membrane bioreactors for municipal wastewater treatment: Integration options, limitations and expectations. Separation and Purification Technology, 118, 89-104. doi:10.1016/j.seppur.2013.06.036Lin, H., Peng, W., Zhang, M., Chen, J., Hong, H., & Zhang, Y. (2013). A review on anaerobic membrane bioreactors: Applications, membrane fouling and future perspectives. Desalination, 314, 169-188. doi:10.1016/j.desal.2013.01.019Giménez, J. B., Martí, N., Ferrer, J., & Seco, A. (2012). Methane recovery efficiency in a submerged anaerobic membrane bioreactor (SAnMBR) treating sulphate-rich urban wastewater: Evaluation of methane losses with the effluent. Bioresource Technology, 118, 67-72. doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2012.05.019Glória, R. M., Motta, T. M., Silva, P. V. O., Costa, P. da, Brandt, E. M. F., Souza, C. L., & Chernicharo, C. A. L. (2016). STRIPPING AND DISSIPATION TECHNIQUES FOR THE REMOVAL OF DISSOLVED GASES FROM ANAEROBIC EFFLUENTS. Brazilian Journal of Chemical Engineering, 33(4), 713-721. doi:10.1590/0104-6632.20160334s20150291Scherer, E., & Wichmann, K. (2000). Treatment of Groundwater Containing Methane - Combination of the Processing Stages Desorption and Filtration. Acta hydrochimica et hydrobiologica, 28(3), 145-154. doi:10.1002/1521-401x(200003)28:33.0.co;2-vD. Schippers and R.Schotsman , Recovery and beneficial use of water-based methane, Water21 , 2010 , pp. 34–35Crone, B. C., Garland, J. L., Sorial, G. A., & Vane, L. M. (2016). Significance of dissolved methane in effluents of anaerobically treated low strength wastewater and potential for recovery as an energy product: A review. Water Research, 104, 520-531. doi:10.1016/j.watres.2016.08.019Cookney, J., Mcleod, A., Mathioudakis, V., Ncube, P., Soares, A., Jefferson, B., & McAdam, E. J. (2016). Dissolved methane recovery from anaerobic effluents using hollow fibre membrane contactors. Journal of Membrane Science, 502, 141-150. doi:10.1016/j.memsci.2015.12.037Hatamoto, M., Yamamoto, H., Kindaichi, T., Ozaki, N., & Ohashi, A. (2010). Biological oxidation of dissolved methane in effluents from anaerobic reactors using a down-flow hanging sponge reactor. Water Research, 44(5), 1409-1418. doi:10.1016/j.watres.2009.11.021Pretel, R., Robles, A., Ruano, M. V., Seco, A., & Ferrer, J. (2013). Environmental impact of submerged anaerobic MBR (SAnMBR) technology used to treat urban wastewater at different temperatures. Bioresource Technology, 149, 532-540. doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2013.09.060Lubello, C., Caffaz, S., Gori, R., & Munz, G. (2009). A modified Activated Sludge Model to estimate solids production at low and high solids retention time. Water Research, 43(18), 4539-4548. doi:10.1016/j.watres.2009.08.001L. Cabrera , F.García-Usach , J.Ribes , A.Seco , J. J.Morenilla , F.Llavador and J.Ferrer , Estudio de la producción de fangos en bioreactores de membranas aerobios con elevados valores de tiempo de retención celular, Fangos y lodos , 2009 , vol. 7 , pp. 1–3Giménez, J. B., Robles, A., Carretero, L., Durán, F., Ruano, M. V., Gatti, M. N., … Seco, A. (2011). Experimental study of the anaerobic urban wastewater treatment in a submerged hollow-fibre membrane bioreactor at pilot scale. Bioresource Technology, 102(19), 8799-8806. doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2011.07.014Robles, Á., Durán, F., Ruano, M. V., Ribes, J., Rosado, A., Seco, A., & Ferrer, J. (2015). Instrumentation, control, and automation for submerged anaerobic membrane bioreactors. Environmental Technology, 36(14), 1795-1806. doi:10.1080/09593330.2015.1012180R. E. Moosbrugger , M. C.Wentzel , G. A.Ekama and G. R.Marais , Simple Titration Procedures to Determine H2CO3 * Alkalinity And Short-chain Fatty Acids In Aqueous Solutions Containing Known Concentrations Of Ammonium, Phosphate And Sulphide Weak Acid/Bases. WRC Report No. TT 57/92, UCT Research Report W 74 , 1992Metcalf & Eddy, Inc. , G.Tchobanoglous , F.Burton and H.David Stensel , Wastewater Engineering: Treatment and Reuse , McGraw-Hill Education , 2002D. A. Stahl and R.Amann , in Nucleic Acid Techniques in Bacterial Systematics, Sequencing and Hybridization Techniques in Bacterial Systematics , 1991 , pp. 205–248Crocetti, G., Murto, M., & Björnsson, L. (2006). An update and optimisation of oligonucleotide probes targeting methanogenic Archaea for use in fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH). Journal of Microbiological Methods, 65(1), 194-201. doi:10.1016/j.mimet.2005.07.007Daims, H., Brühl, A., Amann, R., Schleifer, K.-H., & Wagner, M. (1999). The Domain-specific Probe EUB338 is Insufficient for the Detection of all Bacteria: Development and Evaluation of a more Comprehensive Probe Set. Systematic and Applied Microbiology, 22(3), 434-444. doi:10.1016/s0723-2020(99)80053-8C. W. Gellings and K. E.Parmenter , Energy efficiency in fertilizer production and use. In Knowledge for Sustainable Development , Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), Eolss Publisher , Oxford , 2004 , vol. II , pp. 419–450J. B. Giménez , Estudio del tratamiento anaerobio de aguas residuales urbanas en biorreactores de membrana (Doctoral Thesis) , Universitat de València , Valencia , 2014Giménez, J. B., Martí, N., Robles, A., Ferrer, J., & Seco, A. (2014). Anaerobic treatment of urban wastewater in membrane bioreactors: evaluation of seasonal temperature variations. Water Science and Technology, 69(7), 1581-1588. doi:10.2166/wst.2014.069Robles, A., Ruano, M. V., Ribes, J., & Ferrer, J. (2012). Sub-critical long-term operation of industrial scale hollow-fibre membranes in a submerged anaerobic MBR (HF-SAnMBR) system. Separation and Purification Technology, 100, 88-96. doi:10.1016/j.seppur.2012.09.010Robles, A., Ruano, M. V., Ribes, J., & Ferrer, J. (2013). Factors that affect the permeability of commercial hollow-fibre membranes in a submerged anaerobic MBR (HF-SAnMBR) system. Water Research, 47(3), 1277-1288. doi:10.1016/j.watres.2012.11.055Ferrer, J., Pretel, R., Durán, F., Giménez, J. B., Robles, A., Ruano, M. V., … Seco, A. (2015). Design methodology for submerged anaerobic membrane bioreactors (AnMBR): A case study. Separation and Purification Technology, 141, 378-386. doi:10.1016/j.seppur.2014.12.018Regueiro, L., Veiga, P., Figueroa, M., Alonso-Gutierrez, J., Stams, A. J. M., Lema, J. M., & Carballa, M. (2012). Relationship between microbial activity and microbial community structure in six full-scale anaerobic digesters. Microbiological Research, 167(10), 581-589. doi:10.1016/j.micres.2012.06.002Khan, M. A., Patel, P. G., Ganesh, A. G., Rais, N., Faheem, S. M., & Khan, S. T. (2018). Assessing Methanogenic Archaeal Community in Full Scale Anaerobic Sludge Digester Systems in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The Open Microbiology Journal, 12(1), 123-134. doi:10.2174/1874285801812010123Reyes, M., Borrás, L., Seco, A., & Ferrer, J. (2014). Identification and quantification of microbial populations in activated sludge and anaerobic digestion processes. Environmental Technology, 36(1), 45-53. doi:10.1080/09593330.2014.934745Shin, C., McCarty, P. L., Kim, J., & Bae, J. (2014). Pilot-scale temperate-climate treatment of domestic wastewater with a staged anaerobic fluidized membrane bioreactor (SAF-MBR). Bioresource Technology, 159, 95-103. doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2014.02.06

A coarse-grained approach to model the dynamics of the actomyosin cortex

Background: The dynamics of the actomyosin machinery is at the core of many important biological processes. Several relevant cellular responses such as the rhythmic compression of the cell cortex are governed, at a mesoscopic level, by the nonlinear interaction between actin monomers, actin crosslinkers, and myosin motors. Coarse-grained models are an optimal tool to study actomyosin systems, since they can include processes that occur at long time and space scales, while maintaining the most relevant features of the molecular interactions. Results: Here, we present a coarse-grained model of a two-dimensional actomyosin cortex, adjacent to a three-dimensional cytoplasm. Our simplified model incorporates only well-characterized interactions between actin monomers, actin crosslinkers and myosin, and it is able to reproduce many of the most important aspects of actin filament and actomyosin network formation, such as dynamics of polymerization and depolymerization, treadmilling, network formation, and the autonomous oscillatory dynamics of actomyosin. Conclusions: We believe that the present model can be used to study the in vivo response of actomyosin networks to changes in key parameters of the system, such as alterations in the attachment of actin filaments to the cell corte

Long-term LVEF trajectories in patients with type 2 diabetes and heart failure : diabetic cardiomyopathy may underlie functional decline

Left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) trajectories and functional recovery with current heart failure (HF) management is increasingly recognized. Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D) leads to a worse prognosis in HF patients. However, it is unknown whether T2D interferes with LVEF trajectories. The aim of this study was to prospectively assess very long-term (up to 15 years) LVEF trajectories in patients with and without T2D and underlying HF. Ambulatory patients admitted to a multidisciplinary HF clinic were prospectively evaluated by scheduled two-dimensional echocardiography at baseline, 1 year, and then every 2 years afterwards, up to 15 years. Statistical analyses of LVEF change with time were performed using the linear mixed effects (LME) models, and locally weighted error sum of squares (Loess) curves were plotted. Of the 1921 patients, 461 diabetic and 699 non-diabetic patients with LVEF < 50% were included in the study. The mean number of echocardiography measurements performed in diabetic patients was 3.3 ± 1.6. Early LVEF recovery was similar in diabetic and non-diabetic patients, but Loess curves showed a more pronounced inverted U shape in diabetics with a more pronounced decline after 9 years. LME analysis showed a statistical interaction between T2D and LVEF trajectory over time (p = 0.009), which was statistically significant in patients with ischemic etiologies (p < 0.001). Other variables that showed an interaction between LVEF trajectories and T2D were male sex (p = 0.04) and HF duration (p = 0.008). LVEF trajectories in T2D patients with depressed systolic function showed a pronounced inverted U shape with a marked decline after 9 years. Diabetic cardiomyopathy may underlie the functional decline observed

Particle size and cholesterol content of circulating HDL correlate with cardiovascular death in chronic heart failure

Evidence regarding any association of HDL-particle (HDL-P) derangements and HDL-cholesterol content with cardiovascular (CV) death in chronic heart failure (HF) is lacking. To investigate the prognostic value of HDL-P size (HDL-Sz) and the number of cholesterol molecules per HDL-P for CV death in HF patients. Outpatient chronic HF patients were enrolled. Baseline HDL-P number, subfractions and HDL-Sz were measured using 1H-NMR spectroscopy. The HDL-C/P ratio was calculated as HDL-cholesterol over HDL-P. Endpoint was CV death, with non-CV death as the competing event. 422 patients were included and followed-up during a median of 4.1 (0–8) years. CV death occurred in 120 (30.5%) patients. Mean HDL-Sz was higher in CV dead as compared with survivors (8.39 nm vs. 8.31 nm, p < 0.001). This change in size was due to a reduction in the percentage of small HDL-P (54.6% vs. 60% for CV-death vs. alive; p < 0.001). HDL-C/P ratio was higher in the CV-death group (51.0 vs. 48.3, p < 0.001). HDL-Sz and HDL-C/P ratio were significantly associated with CV death after multivariable regression analysis (HR 1.22 [95% CI 1.01–1.47], p = 0.041 and HR 1.04 [95% CI 1.01–1.07], p = 0.008 respectively). HDL-Sz and HDL-C/P ratio are independent predictors of CV death in chronic HF patients.Tis work was supported by Grants from Fundació La MARATÓ de TV3 (201502 and 201516 to AB-G, 201602- 30-31 to NA and JJ), Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia (SAF2014-59892 to AB-G), AdvanceCat (2014-2020 to AB-G), Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO)—Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) (PI17- 00232 to JJ, PI17-01362 to NA, PI15-00625 to DM, and RED2018-102799-T to JJ), and by CIBER on Cardiovascular Diseases (CIBERCV, CB16/11/00403) and CIBER for Diabetes and Associated Metabolic Diseases (CIBERDEM, CB15/00071 and CB07/08/0016) are an initiative from ISCIII, Spain with co-funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). JJ is supported by funds provided by ISCIII (Grant CPII18/00004, Miguel Servet II program)

Particle size and cholesterol content of circulating HDL correlate with cardiovascular death in chronic heart failure

Altres ajuts: Fundació la Marató de TV3: 201602-30-31; 201502Evidence regarding any association of HDL-particle (HDL-P) derangements and HDL-cholesterol content with cardiovascular (CV) death in chronic heart failure (HF) is lacking. To investigate the prognostic value of HDL-P size (HDL-Sz) and the number of cholesterol molecules per HDL-P for CV death in HF patients. Outpatient chronic HF patients were enrolled. Baseline HDL-P number, subfractions and HDL-Sz were measured using 1H-NMR spectroscopy. The HDL-C/P ratio was calculated as HDL-cholesterol over HDL-P. Endpoint was CV death, with non-CV death as the competing event. 422 patients were included and followed-up during a median of 4.1 (0-8) years. CV death occurred in 120 (30.5%) patients. Mean HDL-Sz was higher in CV dead as compared with survivors (8.39 nm vs. 8.31 nm, p < 0.001). This change in size was due to a reduction in the percentage of small HDL-P (54.6% vs. 60% for CV-death vs. alive; p < 0.001). HDL-C/P ratio was higher in the CV-death group (51.0 vs. 48.3, p < 0.001). HDL-Sz and HDL-C/P ratio were significantly associated with CV death after multivariable regression analysis (HR 1.22 [95% CI 1.01-1.47], p = 0.041 and HR 1.04 [95% CI 1.01-1.07], p = 0.008 respectively). HDL-Sz and HDL-C/P ratio are independent predictors of CV death in chronic HF patients