A Practical Guide for Cardiologists to the Pharmacological Treatment of Patients with Type 2 Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease

Patients with type 2 diabetes are at increased cardiovascular risk. Until recently, reductions in HbA1c and the use of specific glucose-lowering agents have not had a clear, reproducible benefit in reducing the incidence of cardiovascular disease. However, over the past 5 years, members of two categories of diabetes medications, sodium–glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors and glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists, have been associated with improved rates of major adverse cardiovascular events when used in high-risk type 2 diabetes patients. Importantly, these effects are not necessarily linked to these agents’ effects on HbA1c. Sodium–glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors have also been associated with reductions in heart failure hospitalization, a benefit that appears to extend to individuals without diabetes with established heart failure. Cardiovascular specialists should become familiar with these emerging data and be prepared to implement corresponding strategies in their practice to improve the cardiovascular outcomes of their patients. Recent clinical trial data and the changing landscape of corresponding professional guidelines are reviewed. Practical recommendations for safe prescribing of these anti-diabetes drugs are provided

Design and implementation of the AMIGA embedded system for data acquisition

International audienceThe Auger Muon Infill Ground Array (AMIGA) is part of the AugerPrime upgrade of the Pierre Auger Observatory. It consists of particle counters buried 2.3 m underground next to the water-Cherenkov stations that form the 23.5 km2 large infilled array. The reduced distance between detectors in this denser area allows the lowering of the energy threshold for primary cosmic ray reconstruction down to about 1017 eV. At the depth of 2.3 m the electromagnetic component of cosmic ray showers is almost entirely absorbed so that the buried scintillators provide an independent and direct measurement of the air showers muon content. This work describes the design and implementation of the AMIGA embedded system, which provides centralized control, data acquisition and environment monitoring to its detectors. The presented system was firstly tested in the engineering array phase ended in 2017, and lately selected as the final design to be installed in all new detectors of the production phase. The system was proven to be robust and reliable and has worked in a stable manner since its first deployment