Coronary age, based on coronary calcium measurement, is increased in patients with morbid obesity

Purpose: Obesity is a well-known of risk factor for atherosclerosis. However, recently an "obesity paradox" has been discussed, which is considered as a protective effect of obesity on the development coronary artery disease (CAD). An aim of the study was to investigate the risk of CAD in morbidly obese patients using coronary artery calcium measurement. Material and methods: Fifty-one patients with morbid obesity (BMI ≥ 40 kg/m2) and thirty controls were scanned to determine the amount of coronary artery calcification (CAC), which was expressed as calcium score (CS) and coronary age (CA). The control group consisted of patients scanned for the clinical suspicion of CAD, who did not fulfil the criteria of obesity. Results: Mean BMI of obese patients and controls was 47.3 and 26.5, respectively (p < 0.0001). Arterial hypertension, dyslipidaemia, and smoking were more frequent in the control group than in the obesity group (p < 0.02). The prevalence of CAC was higher in the obesity group (53% vs. 23%, p < 0.01). The groups did not differ regarding CS and CA. However, the difference between coronary age and metrical age was higher in obese patients than in controls (+5.6 vs. -4.8 years, respectively, p < 0.005). Conclusions: Patients with morbid obesity present an increased risk of CAD that is reflected by the difference between their coronary age and metrical age

Construction Prototyping, Flight Dynamics Modeling, and Aerodynamic Analysis of Hybrid VTOL Unmanned Aircraft

A challenging issue associated with fixed-wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) is that these vehicles are often not appropriate for operating effectively in limited airspace. This problem emerges especially in urban environment where the usage of a runway is not possible, and UAVs usually have to fly at a relatively low speed and altitude. The development of a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) fixed-wing plane is a promising trend which hopefully will solve this issue. This paper presents the design process of an unmanned vertical take-off and landing aircraft including prototyping of the airframe construction and mathematical modeling as well as computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. The designed system is to be a hybrid platform, for which different operating modes correspond to the vertical flight, transition, and spatial flight in the airframe system. The paper discusses an iterative design process of the platform with emphasis on CAD design and aerodynamic analysis for particular flight modes. The operating prototype is presented and future plans for platform improvement are discussed. Document type: Articl

Chest adipose tissue distribution in patients with morbid obesity

Purpose: Obesity is a well-known of risk factor for atherosclerosis and the amount of visceral adipose tissue is considered as an independent predictor of coronary artery disease (CAD). An aim of the study was to investigate the distribution of intrathoracic adipose tissue in morbidly obese patients. Material and methods: Fifty-one patients with morbid obesity (BMI ≥ 40 kg/m2) and thirty controls were scanned in a coronary calcium scoring protocol. Control group consisted of patients scanned due to a clinical suspicion of CAD, who did not fulfill obesity criteria. The amount of adipose tissue was measured as epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) thickness, pericoronary fat (PCF) thickness, total intra-pericardial fat (IPF) volume, and total intrathoracic fat (ITF) volume. Results: Mean BMI of obese patients and controls was 47.3 and 26.5, respectively (p 60 mm was the parameter that presented the strongest association with morbid obesity (AUC 0.95; p < 0.0001). Conlcusions: Increased chest soft tissue thickness but not the increased intrathoracic adipose tissue volume was associated with morbid obesity. Since the quantity of the pericardiac fat is not directly related to the obesity, its accumulation may be related to a mechanism different than that of subcutaneous adipose tissue growth

Application of Polymers as a Tool in Crystallization—A Review

The application of polymers as a tool in the crystallization process is gaining more and more interest among the scientific community. According to Web of Science statistics the number of papers dealing with “Polymer induced crystallization” increased from 2 in 1990 to 436 in 2020, and for “Polymer controlled crystallization”—from 4 in 1990 to 344 in 2020. This is clear evidence that both topics are vivid, attractive and intensively investigated nowadays. Efficient control of crystallization and crystal properties still represents a bottleneck in the manufacturing of crystalline materials ranging from pigments, antiscalants, nanoporous materials and pharmaceuticals to semiconductor particles. However, a rapid development in precise and reliable measuring methods and techniques would enable one to better describe phenomena involved, to formulate theoretical models, and probably most importantly, to develop practical indications for how to appropriately lead many important processes in the industry. It is clearly visible at the first glance through a number of representative papers in the area, that many of them are preoccupied with the testing and production of pharmaceuticals, while the rest are addressed to new crystalline materials, renewable energy, water and wastewater technology and other branches of industry where the crystallization process takes place. In this work, authors gathered and briefly discuss over 100 papers, published in leading scientific periodicals, devoted to the influence of polymers on crystallizing solutions

Stability of green tea nanoscale zero-valent iron

Colloidal suspension of nano zero-valent iron (nZVI), obtained as a result of mixing green tea (GT) solution with iron solutions (FeCl2 and FeSO4 separately to form two suspensions: GT-nZVIFeCl2 and GT-nZVIFeSO4) was assessed in terms of stability. The particles of suspensions had a tendency rapidly aggregation to form larger aggregates, and then settled. The absolute value of zeta potential (ζ) of suspensions did not exceed 17 mV. To prevent the aggregation of nZVI particles, the pHs were changed by the addition of Na2CO3 to obtain higher values of ζ. For both suspensions, the zeta potential at a satisfactory level was obtained at pH values higher than 7.5. Then, the potential was lower than −40 mV for GT-nZVIFeCl2 and lower than −25mV for GT-nZVIFeSO4. This means that the first suspension had a better stability than second. The isoelectric point (IEP) of GT-nZVIFeCl2 was in the range from 4.5 to 5, while in the case of GT-nZVIFeSO4 all measured ζ were negative. To investigate the effect of increased ionic strength (IS) on the stability of suspensions at different pH values, NaCl and MgSO4 were added to the irons solutions. The final IS in the GT-nZVI was 12 mM. In both of the suspensions the absolute values of ζ were lower than previous and were about 25 and 20 mV, for GT-nZVIFeCl2 and GT-nZVIFeSO4, respectively

Stability of green tea nanoscale zero-valent iron

Colloidal suspension of nano zero-valent iron (nZVI), obtained as a result of mixing green tea (GT) solution with iron solutions (FeCl2 and FeSO4 separately to form two suspensions: GT-nZVIFeCl2 and GT-nZVIFeSO4) was assessed in terms of stability. The particles of suspensions had a tendency rapidly aggregation to form larger aggregates, and then settled. The absolute value of zeta potential (ζ) of suspensions did not exceed 17 mV. To prevent the aggregation of nZVI particles, the pHs were changed by the addition of Na2CO3 to obtain higher values of ζ. For both suspensions, the zeta potential at a satisfactory level was obtained at pH values higher than 7.5. Then, the potential was lower than −40 mV for GT-nZVIFeCl2 and lower than −25mV for GT-nZVIFeSO4. This means that the first suspension had a better stability than second. The isoelectric point (IEP) of GT-nZVIFeCl2 was in the range from 4.5 to 5, while in the case of GT-nZVIFeSO4 all measured ζ were negative. To investigate the effect of increased ionic strength (IS) on the stability of suspensions at different pH values, NaCl and MgSO4 were added to the irons solutions. The final IS in the GT-nZVI was 12 mM. In both of the suspensions the absolute values of ζ were lower than previous and were about 25 and 20 mV, for GT-nZVIFeCl2 and GT-nZVIFeSO4, respectively

Influence of Hydrodynamic Conditions on Precipitation Kinetics of Barium Sulfate in a Multifunctional Reactor

In this paper, the influence of hydrodynamic conditions in Kenics static mixer, which acts as a multifunctional reactor, on precipitation kinetics of barium sulfate is investigated. The investigated range of the Reynolds number varied between 500 and 5000, which covered both laminar and turbulent flow regimes. In all experiments, the relative supersaturation was maintained at the constant level (&sigma; = 205). The obtained precipitate was collected and used for crystal size distribution (CSD) determination. On that basis, the kinetic parameters of the process were calculated using the mixed suspension mixed product removal (MSMPR) mathematical model of the process. It was found that for the whole investigated range of Reynolds number, the mixing conditions were satisfactory. CSD analysis showed that in the laminar regime, a clear tendency in crystal behavior could not be noticed. However, during the analysis of the turbulent regime, the presence of a critical Reynolds number was noticed. Above this value, there is a change in the flow pattern, which results in a change of kinetic parameters (B, G), as well as manifests in a form of a decrease in the value of mean diameters of crystals. The flow pattern change is caused by the geometry of the reactor&rsquo;s inserts