The Ryanodine Receptor Leak: Its Role in the Development of Heart Failure

The cardiac ryanodine receptor-Ca2+ release channel (RyR2) is an essential sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) transmembrane protein that plays a central role in excitation-contraction coupling in cardiomyocytes. Aberrant spontaneous, diastolic Ca2+ leak from the SR due to dysfunctional RyR2 is the mechanism underlying contractile and relaxation dysfunctions in heart failure. Several potential mechanisms have been proposed to explain the dysfunctional RyR2 in heart failure including overphosphorylation status of RyR2, altered RyR2 regulation and perturbed RyR2 intra/intermolecular interactions. Novel therapeutic strategies that enhance myocyte Ca2+ homeostasis could prevent and reverse adverse cardiac remodeling and improve clinical outcomes in patients with heart failure

Diabetic Patients are often Sub-Optimally Aware about their Disease and its Treatment

Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) represents a continuously growing worldwide threat with major financial impact on the healthcare systems. The importance of tight glycaemic control in patients with DM type II is well established and is most effectively accomplished with the proper cooperation of both the treating physicians aswell as the treated subjects.Aims: The aim of our study was to evaluate the level of awareness of patients with DM type II about the various aspects of DM, including the nature of the disease, its precipitating factors and complications, as well as its treatment.Methodology: The patients were asked to complete anonymously a questionnaire concerning their knowledge about diabetes, its basic pathophysiology and complications, the treatment options and possible side-effects. Data were analyzed using STATA statistical software (Version 9.0).Results: Eighty patients were on oral hypoglycaemic agents (OHA), 34 on insulin while 4 were under a hybrid treatment. Among patients on OHA, 40 patients (50%) were taking a combination of them. 13.4% of the sample was aware of what DM stands for, 84.9% did not know the type of DM they were suffering from, while (85.7%) considered that obesity plays a major role in the pathogenesis of DM. Concerning the therapy of DM, only 54.83% of the patients were aware of the brand names of their antidiabetic medication, 88.2% did not know theirway of action, while 60.5% did not know the possible side effects. The majority of the sample, 60.5%, assumed that blood glucose should be measured only before meals.Conclusions: The knowledge of the subjects visiting the center for the first time was found to be inadequate. This is probably due to inadequate information, non-availability of educational material and improper guidance

Best practices for developing a human centered monitoring system for CO2 storage projects through a collaborative and interdisciplinary research approach

This deliverable was created in the context of the European ACT II project DigiMon and is part of work package 3 (designing a human-centered monitoring system), task 3.3 (evaluation of the research process and writing best practices report)

Report on the outcomes of the Societal Embeddedness Level Assessment for CCS in four countries: Norway, the Netherlands, Greece and Germany

This document (DigiMon deliverable D3.2) describes the assessment of societal embeddedness level (SEL) of CCS in Norway, the Netherlands, Greece and Germany. It also provides recommendations for improving the societal embeddedness of CCS technology per country

Thermodynamic Analysis for the Selection of low GWP Refrigerants in Ground Source Heat Pumps

One of the main objectives of the European Commission in the buildings sector, responsible for approximately 40% of total energy consumption and 36% of greenhouse gas emissions, is to identify technological solutions capable of reducing energy consumption and at the same time greenhouse gas emissions. For this purpose, ground source heat pump system (GSHPs) is a technology of particular interest that promises to considerably reduce greenhouse gas emissions of HVAC systems (up to 44% compared to air source heat pumps). In order to develop and test innovative GSHPs to be used for heating and cooling in the various European climatic zones, EU has funded the GEO4CIVHIC project, which will have a duration of 4 years and will end in 2022. As part of the project, the problem of identifying new generation low environmental impact refrigerants to be used in innovative GSHPs is tackled. In this article, we report the results of an energetic and exergetic analysis of the performance of heat pumps based on simulations carried out both on simple reverse cycles and on more complex cycles. Low pressure alternative fluids have been considered as an alternative to R134a and high pressure fluids as an alternative to R410A. The simulations were conducted at various heat sink and heat source temperature conditions, in order to evaluate the GSHPs performance in the whole range of real conditions that can be found in Europe. Particular attention was paid to the compression phase, with the aim to simulate the compressor performance in a more realistic way than simply assuming constant isentropic efficiency

An updated ground thermal properties database for GSHP applications

Abstract When a new ground source heat exchanger field is planned, underground thermal properties input data are necessary for the correct sizing of the geo-exchange system. To support the design, the EU founded Cheap-GSHPs project developed a Decision Support System, that comprises a new database of thermal properties for both rocks and unconsolidated sediments. The thermal properties database has been developed by integrating and comparing data (1) provided by the most important international guidelines, (2) acquired from a wide literature review and (3) obtained from more than 400 direct measurements. The data are mainly thermal conductivity data, hence the convective contribution provided by groundwater flow to heat transfer is not included. This paper presents and analyses the collected database

Project report on WP1 outcomes relevant to other WPs

This report summaries some of the key technologies that have been studied and developed through WP1 with the purpose of transferring these finding to other WPs in the DigiMon project. The objective of the DigiMon project is to develop an early-warning system for Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) which utilises a broad range of sensor technologies including Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS). While the system is primarily focused on the CCS projects located in the shallow offshore environment of the North Sea, it is also intended to be adaptable to onshore settings. Some of the key areas that the systems will monitor include the movement of the plume within the reservoir, well integrity and CO2 leakage into the overburden. A combination of different methods will be adopted to monitor these key areas, which include active and passive seismics, gravimetry, temperature and chemical sensing. This report focuses on technology and methods which have been developed by the DigiMon project and is not intended as a technology review, which is instead the focus of the DigiMon deliverable 2.3 Technology Readiness Assessment

Critical technology elements (WP1)

The overall objective of the DigiMon project is to “accelerate the implementation of CCS by developing and demonstrating an affordable, flexible, societally embedded and smart Digital Monitoring early warning system”, for monitoring any CO2 storage reservoir and subsurface barrier system. Within the project the objective of WP1 was to develop individual technologies, data acquisition, analysis techniques and workflows in preparation for inclusion in the DigiMon system. The technologies and data processing techniques developed as part of WP1 include distributed fibre-optic sensing (DFOS) for seismic surveys and chemical sensing, 4D gravity and seafloor deformation measurements, a new seismic source and seismic monitoring survey design. For these technologies the key targets for WP1 were • Develop individual components of the system to raise individual technology readiness levels (TRLs), • Validate and optimise processing software for individual system components, • Develop an effective Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) data interpretation workflow. This work was performed with the expected outcomes of • Raising the DAS TRL for passive seismic monitoring, • An assessment the feasibility of using Distributed Chemical Sensing (DCS) for CO2 detection, • Reducing the cost of 4D gravity and seafloor deformation measurements

WP2 final report

This document summarises the significant results in work package 2 of the DigiMon project. Detailed descriptions and results from each task can be found in the referenced deliverables and publications