Sex- and age-related differences in the management and outcomes of chronic heart failure: an analysis of patients from the ESC HFA EORP Heart Failure Long-Term Registry

Aims: This study aimed to assess age- and sex-related differences in management and 1-year risk for all-cause mortality and hospitalization in chronic heart failure (HF) patients. Methods and results: Of 16 354 patients included in the European Society of Cardiology Heart Failure Long-Term Registry, 9428 chronic HF patients were analysed [median age: 66 years; 28.5% women; mean left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) 37%]. Rates of use of guideline-directed medical therapy (GDMT) were high (angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors/angiotensin receptor blockers, beta-blockers and mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists: 85.7%, 88.7% and 58.8%, respectively). Crude GDMT utilization rates were lower in women than in men (all differences: P\ua0 64 0.001), and GDMT use became lower with ageing in both sexes, at baseline and at 1-year follow-up. Sex was not an independent predictor of GDMT prescription; however, age >75 years was a significant predictor of GDMT underutilization. Rates of all-cause mortality were lower in women than in men (7.1% vs. 8.7%; P\ua0=\ua00.015), as were rates of all-cause hospitalization (21.9% vs. 27.3%; P\ua075 years. Conclusions: There was a decline in GDMT use with advanced age in both sexes. Sex was not an independent predictor of GDMT or adverse outcomes. However, age >75 years independently predicted lower GDMT use and higher all-cause mortality in patients with LVEF 6445%

Modificação self-assembly de membrana de poliamida pela deposição de nanopartículas de dióxido titânio para aplicações no tratamento de água

This study modified the surface of a commercial polyamide membrane with the deposition of TiO2 nanoparticles by the self-assembly method under pressure with high permeability and photocatalytic activity. Changes in membrane characteristics and its performance for photocatalytic properties were evaluated. The results indicated that both membrane hydrophilicity and photocatalytic performance were significantly improved by the presence of TiO2 nanoparticles applied under a pressure of 1 bar. The deposition of the TiO2 particles under pressure was able to maintain the particles on the surface of the membranes and their photocatalytic capacity for three cycles of use. The prepared TiO2 photocatalytic membrane presented a great potential for wastewater treatment and for reuse wastewater systems due its ability to remove methylene blue (MB) dye solution by photocatalytic decomposition and physical separationO principal objetivo do presente estudo foi modificar a superfície de uma membrana de poliamida comercial com a deposição de nanopartículas de TiO2 pelo método self-assembly sob pressão com alta permeabilidade e atividade fotocatalítica. Mudanças nas características da membrana e seu desempenho nas propriedades fotocatalíticas foram avaliados. Os resultados experimentais indicaram que tanto a hidrofilia da membrana quanto o desempenho fotocatalítico foram significativamente melhorados pela presença de nanopartículas de TiO2 aplicadas sob uma pressão de 1 bar. A deposição das partículas de TiO2 sob pressão foi capaz de manter as partículas na superfície das membranas e sua capacidade fotocatalítica por três ciclos de uso. A membrana fotocatalítica de TiO2 preparada apresentou um grande potencial no tratamento de efluentes e sistemas de reuso devido à sua capacidade de remover o corante azul de metileno por decomposição fotocatalítica e separação física.e Portuguese National Fund, through the FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, under the project UID/CTM/00264/2013 and CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento Pessoal de Nível Superior - Agreement CAPES/FCT2014- 2017. The authors thank the support of the researchers of surfaces laboratory of the Centre of Physics of the University of Minho, Portugal by the support analyzes

Escalonamento cooperativo interorganizacional Cooperative inter-organizational scheduling

Este trabalho tem como objetivo essencial apresentar uma abordagem para uma ágil coordenação e supervisão das ordens de produção da empresa, dando uma nova dimensão à atividade de "escalonamento" (scheduling), não apenas numa perspectiva intra-organizacional, mas também interorganizacional, contemplando toda a cadeia produtiva. Apresenta os fundamentos de um protótipo sendo desenvolvido, baseado nos paradigmas de negociação multiagente e de sistemas de suporte à decisão. Aspectos relacionados com a modelagem e integração da informação requerida nos vários níveis do CIM são abordados. Ao final, uma série de considerações são feitas, quer em relação aos resultados atingidos com o protótipo atual, quer para com as várias dificuldades - e desafios - existentes para a realização de um escalonamento cooperativo interorganizacional.<br>This work aims at presenting an approach for agile scheduling coordination and supervision of distributed production orders, giving rise to a new dimension of the scheduling activity, not only under the intra-organizational perspective, but also the inter-organizational, comprising the whole productive chain. It generally presents a prototype being developed, based on the paradigms of multi-agent negotiation and decision support systems. Aspects related with the information modeling and integration in the several levels of CIM are tackled. At the end, a series of considerations is made, pointing out the results reached with the current prototype, and the several difficulties - and challenges - existent for the accomplishment of cooperative inter-organizational scheduling