7 research outputs found

    Mineral fibres and environmental monitoring: A comparison of different analytical strategies in New Caledonia

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    International audienceCovered by ultrabasic units for more than a third of its surface, the New Caledonia (South West Pacific) is one of the largest world producers of Ni-ore from lateritic deposits. Almost all outcrops of geological units and open mines contain serpentine and amphibole, also as asbestos varieties. In this geological context, in which weathering processes had a great contribution in the production and dispersion of mineral fibres into the environment, the development of a routinely analytical strategy, able to discriminate an asbestiform fibre from a non-harmful particle, is a pivotal requisite. However, the acquisition of all these parameters is necessary for determining the risk associated to fibres exposition. A multidisciplinary routinely approach, based on the use of complementary simply-to-use but reliable analytical methods is the only possible strategy. In addition, the instrumental apparatus must be easily transportable on the field, directly on the mining site. The employment of specialized tools such as Polarized Light Microscopy associated to Dispersion Staining method (PLM/DS) and portable Raman spectroscopy for identification of environmental asbestos, are proved extremely effective in the improvement of the performance and rapidity of data acquisition and interpretation. Both PLM/DS and handheld Raman devices confirmed to be discriminant in the detection and characterization of asbestos fibres for both serpentine and amphibole. Furthermore, these techniques proved extremely effective even in the presence of strongly fibrous and altered samples

    Mineral fibres and environmental monitoring: A comparison of different analytical strategies in New Caledonia

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    Covered by ultrabasic units for more than a third of its surface, the New Caledonia (South West Pacific) is one of the largest world producers of Ni-ore from lateritic deposits. Almost all outcrops of geological units and open mines contain serpentine and amphibole, also as asbestos varieties. In this geological context, in which weathering processes had a great contribution in the production and dispersion of mineral fibres into the environment, the development of a routinely analytical strategy, able to discriminate an asbestiform fibre from a non-harmful particle, is a pivotal requisite. However, the acquisition of all these parameters is necessary for determining the risk associated to fibres exposition. A multidisciplinary routinely approach, based on the use of complementary simply-to-use but reliable analytical methods is the only possible strategy. In addition, the instrumental apparatus must be easily transportable on the field, directly on the mining site. The employment of specialized tools such as Polarized Light Microscopy associated to Dispersion Staining method (PLM/DS) and portable Raman spectroscopy for identification of environmental asbestos, are proved extremely effective in the improvement of the performance and rapidity of data acquisition and interpretation. Both PLM/DS and handheld Raman devices confirmed to be discriminant in the detection and characterization of asbestos fibres for both serpentine and amphibole. Furthermore, these techniques proved extremely effective even in the presence of strongly fibrous and altered samples

    Tixagevimab-cilgavimab (AZD7442) for the treatment of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 (DisCoVeRy): A phase 3, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial

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    Tixagevimab-cilgavimab (AZD7442) for the treatment of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 (DisCoVeRy): A phase 3, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.

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    Dear Editor, We read with great interest the recent article by Kamboj et al., in which they described the risk of developing moderate to severe Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in patients with hematological malignancies receiving tixagevimab-cilgavimab (T-C) during a period in which the dominant circulating variants of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) were resistant to T-C.1 The authors highlight the ongoing need to urgently address the mAb treatment gap, particularly for immunocompromised patients. The unmet need is further highlighted by the DisCoVeRy Phase 3, adaptive, multicentre European, randomized, double-blind, superiority trial that evaluated the efficacy and safety of intravenous T-C in SARS-CoV-2 antigenic positive patients (i.e those with a high SARS-CoV-2 viral load) hospitalized with COVID-19 and followed-up to day 90. [...
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