Association between aortic sclerosis and coronary artery disease

Background: Although there is a recognized link between cardiovascular hazards and coronary artery disease (CAD), it is still unknown whether aortic sclerosis and CAD are linked.Objective: This study aimed to check whether if there is a link between aortic sclerosis and the existence and severity of coronary artery disease .Patients and methods: 204 individuals were enrolled in the study, transthoracic echocardiographic, and coronary angiography were done. Aortic leaflets were tested for the amount of thickness in the short axis view. The involvement of coronary arteries represented by the gensini score and the association between aortic valve sclerosis score and the degree and severity of coronary affection was investigated using the Gensini score.Results: The individuals were divided into 2 groups grounded on the severity of aortic valve sclerosis. Group A (GP A) included patients with aortic valve sclerosis (AVS) ≥ 2 and group B (GP B) included patients with AVS < 2. In GP A, the right coronary cusp was the most afflicted one, whereas the LAD was the most affected in coronaries. The degree and severity of CAD were more significant in GP A, as evidenced by a higher Gensini score value of 39.27 versus 28.84 in GP B.Conclusion: AVS has been found to be correlated with the presence and severity of CAD and could be used as a potential surrogate marker for the illness

Shear strength of reinforced mortar beams containing polyvinyl alcohol fibre (PVA)

The current study aims to assess the shear behaviour of reinforced mortar beams including Polyvinyl Alcohol Fibre (PVA) ranges from 0 to 2.25%, fly ash (55%) and silica fume (15%). Fourteen beams were experimentally tested under two concentrated loads. In addition, a finite element model was developed to predict the crack pattern, load–deflection, energy absorption, and shear strength results of the test beams. The studied variables were different percentages of PVA fibres, shear span to depth ratio (a/d), and transverse reinforcement (stirrups) ratio. The fly ash and silica fume were kept constant in all the studied mixes to achieve a compressive strength above 55 MPa at the time of testing (90 days) and to improve PVA-mortar properties. It was found that the inclusion of PVA improves the shear behavior of the tested beams in terms of crack pattern and ductility. It was observed also that reducing a/d led to enhancing the shear capacity without changing the mode of failure. In addition, PVA played the same role as the stirrups and their effect on the ultimate shear capacity was increased with reducing the volume of stirrups. Moreover, the PVA fibres were more effective in lower shear span to depth ratio (a/d = 1.5) giving an enhancement of shear resistance of 221%. The non-linear finite element model showed excellent agreement with the experimental results and the ratio of the predicted to experimental ultimate strength ranged between 0.91 and 1.09. The authors recommend a combination of fly ash, silica fume and at least 1.5% PVA in the presence of minimum stirrups reinforcement (5U6/m) or adding 2.25% PVA without stirrups to achieve adequate shear behaviour and to improve the ductility of PVA-mortar beams