Why do lifespan variability trends for the young and old diverge? A perturbation analysis

Background: Variation in lifespan has followed strikingly different trends for the young and old: while overall lifespan variability has decreased as life expectancy at birth has risen, the variability conditional on survival to older ages has increased. These diverging trends reflect changes in the underlying demographic parameters determining age-specific mortality. Objective: We ask why the variation in the adult ages at death has followed a different trend than the variation at younger ages, and aim to explain the diverging patterns in terms of historical changes in the age schedule of mortality. Methods: Using simulations, we show that the empirical trends in lifespan variation are well characterized using the Siler model, which describes the mortality hazard across the full lifespan using functions representing early-life, later-life, and background mortality. We then obtain maximum likelihood estimates of the Siler parameters over time. Finally, we express lifespan variation in terms of a Markov chain model, and apply matrix calculus perturbation analysis to compute the sensitivity of age-specific lifespan variance trends to the changing Siler model parameters. Results: Our analysis produces a detailed quantification of the impact of changing demographic parameters on the pattern of lifespan variability at all ages, highlighting the impact of declining childhood mortality on the reduction of lifespan variability and the impact of improved survival in adulthood on the rising variability of lifespans at older ages. Conclusions: These findings provide insight into the dynamic relationship between the age pattern of survival improvements and time trends in lifespan variability

Relationship between treatment delay and final infarct size in STEMI patients treated with abciximab and primary PCI

Background Studies on the impact of time to treatment on myocardial infarct size have yielded   conflicting results. In this study of ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction (STEMI) treated   with primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), we set out to investigate the   relationship between the time from First Medical Contact (FMC) to the demonstration   of an open infarct related artery (IRA) and final scar size. Between February 2006 and September 2007, 89 STEMI patients treated with primary PCI   were studied with contrast enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (ceMRI) 4 to 8 weeks   after the infarction. Spearman correlation was computed for health care delay time   (defined as time from FMC to PCI) and myocardial injury. Multiple linear regression   was used to determine covariates independently associated with infarct size. Results An occluded artery (Thrombolysis In Myocardial Infarction, TIMI flow 0-1 at initial   angiogram) was seen in 56 patients (63%). The median FMC-to-patent artery was 89 minutes.   There was a weak correlation between time from FMC-to-patent IRA and infarct size,   r = 0.27, p = 0.01. In multiple regression analyses, LAD as the IRA, smoking and an occluded vessel   at the first angiogram, but not delay time, correlated with infarct size. Conclusions In patients with STEMI treated with primary PCI we found a weak correlation between   health care delay time and infarct size. Other factors like anterior infarction, a   patent artery pre-PCI and effects of reperfusion injury may have had greater influence   on infarct size than time-to-treatment per se

ECMO for COVID-19 patients in Europe and Israel

Since March 15th, 2020, 177 centres from Europe and Israel have joined the study, routinely reporting on the ECMO support they provide to COVID-19 patients. The mean annual number of cases treated with ECMO in the participating centres before the pandemic (2019) was 55. The number of COVID-19 patients has increased rapidly each week reaching 1531 treated patients as of September 14th. The greatest number of cases has been reported from France (n = 385), UK (n = 193), Germany (n = 176), Spain (n = 166), and Italy (n = 136) .The mean age of treated patients was 52.6 years (range 16–80), 79% were male. The ECMO configuration used was VV in 91% of cases, VA in 5% and other in 4%. The mean PaO2 before ECMO implantation was 65 mmHg. The mean duration of ECMO support thus far has been 18 days and the mean ICU length of stay of these patients was 33 days. As of the 14th September, overall 841 patients have been weaned from ECMO support, 601 died during ECMO support, 71 died after withdrawal of ECMO, 79 are still receiving ECMO support and for 10 patients status n.a. . Our preliminary data suggest that patients placed on ECMO with severe refractory respiratory or cardiac failure secondary to COVID-19 have a reasonable (55%) chance of survival. Further extensive data analysis is expected to provide invaluable information on the demographics, severity of illness, indications and different ECMO management strategies in these patients

Degradation of haloaromatic compounds

An ever increasing number of halogenated organic compounds has been produced by industry in the last few decades. These compounds are employed as biocides, for synthetic polymers, as solvents, and as synthetic intermediates. Production figures are often incomplete, and total production has frequently to be extrapolated from estimates for individual countries. Compounds of this type as a rule are highly persistent against biodegradation and belong, as "recalcitrant" chemicals, to the class of so-called xenobiotics. This term is used to characterise chemical substances which have no or limited structural analogy to natural compounds for which degradation pathways have evolved over billions of years. Xenobiotics frequently have some common features. e.g. high octanol/water partitioning coefficients and low water solubility which makes for a high accumulation ratio in the biosphere (bioaccumulation potential). Recalcitrant compounds therefore are found accumulated in mammals, especially in fat tissue, animal milk supplies and also in human milk. Highly sophisticated analytical techniques have been developed for the detection of organochlorines at the trace and ultratrace level

Vergleichende Untersuchung von Nachbearbeitungsverfahren an mittels pulverbettbasiertem Laser-Strahlschmelzen gefertigten zellularen TPMS-Strukturen

In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurde die Nachbearbeitung von Oberflächen additiv gefertigter Bauteile betrachtet sowie der Einfluss auf die mechanischen Eigenschaften untersucht. Dabei stellten TPMS-Strukturen hoch komplexe Bauteile dar. Diese wurden mittels PBF-LB aus dem Metallpulver 1.4404 hergestellt, an denen Untersuchungen von Nachbearbeitungsverfahren durchgeführt wurden. Die Verfahren umfassten das Strahlspanen, das elektrochemische sowie gepulst elektrochemische Polieren und die Nachbehandlung mittels Wärmebehandlung. Die Probenoberflächen wurden anschließend analysiert und die mechanischen Eigenschaften der Proben ermittelt und untereinander verglichen. Die Oberflächenqualität unterschieden sich in Abhängigkeit des verwendeten Verfahrens. Die mechanischen Eigenschaften wurden ebenfalls unterschiedlich beeinflusst. Somit kann zum einen die Oberflächenqualität abgeschätzt, als auch die Anpassung der mechanischen Eigenschaften eines Bauteils vorgenommen werden

Stable Alkali-Metal Complexes of Hybrid Disila-Crown Ethers

The complexation ability of hybrid disilane and ethylene containing crown ether ring systems was analyzed using 1,2-disila[12]­crown-4 (<b>1</b>), 1,2-disila­[15]­crown-5 (<b>2</b>), 1,2-disila[18]­crown-6 (<b>3</b>), and 1,2,7,8-tetrasila[12]­crown-4 (<b>7</b>). Alkali-metal complexes (Li⁺, Na⁺, K⁺) were obtained and analyzed via X-ray diffraction. The complex stability of [Li­(1,2-disila[12]­crown-4)]⁺ and [Li­(1,2,7,8-tetrasila[12]­crown-4)]⁺ was determined, in relation to the lithium complex of [12]­crown-4, by density functional theory (DFT) calculations employing the BP86/def2-TZVP level of theory. In solution, the exchange of lithium cations between pure [12]­crown-4 and hybrid [12]­crown-4 is on even terms, as has been shown from the relative binding affinity of compounds <b>1</b> and <b>7</b> by means of dynamic proton nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy

Improved particle location and isotopic screening measurements of sub-micron sized particles by Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry

There are a number of applications within cosmochemistry, environmental studies, nuclear safeguards and nuclear forensic analyses that require capabilities for the location and isotopic measurement of sub-micron to micron-sized particles. This task can be divided into two sub tasks; the first problem is to find the particle of interest in a matrix of other materials, the second is to perform accurate and precise isotopic measurements of the individual particles. This paper describes results obtained on real and standard samples using a newly developed Automated Particle Measurement (APM) software, for both Small Geometry (SG) and Large Geometry (LG) Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS) instruments. The speed and quality of screening measurements, in particular on the LG-SIMS is far better than previously available. The paper is mainly focused on the analyses of uranium particles for safeguards verification purposes, but the described method can also be used for other applications.JRC.E.7-Nuclear Safeguards and Forensic