The Lower Carboniferous of the western edge of Gondwana in Peru and Bolivia: distribution of sedimentary basins and associated magmatism

During the Early Carboniferous, the tectono-sedimentary and magmatic configuration of the western edge of Gondwana (Eastern Cordillera of Peru and Cordillera Real of Bolivia, between latitudes 3°S and 24°S) associated a marine and continental sedimentation (Ambo Group), a volcanic arc (Lavasen Formation) and a related plutonism (Pataz-Balsas-Buldibuyo batholith, Higueras pluton, Amparaes and Cadenas granites). The present paper analyses the distribution of the Carboniferous basins and their relationships with Carboniferous magmatism along the western edge of Gondwana

Análisis de los resultados de gestión de las unidades de corta estancia españolas según su dependencia funcional

Objetivo. Comparar los resultados de gestión clínica de las unidades de corta estancia (UCE) según su dependencia funcional. Metodología. Estudio de análisis transversal realizado en 40 hospitales con UCE (1 junio-31 diciembre 2012). Se recogieron datos de actividad y gestión clínica, considerando como variables directamente relacionadas con la eficiencia la estancia media, el índice de rotación por cama y el porcentaje de altas en fin de semana. Resultados. Se analizaron 40 UCE, 25 (62,5%) dependientes del servicio de urgencias (UCEU), 9 (22,5%) de medicina interna (UCEMI), 5 (12,5%) independientes (UCEI) y 1 con dependencia mixta (UCEU + UCEMI). El número total de altas fue de 45.140. Los diagnósticos más frecuentes fueron la exacerbación de la patología crónica cardiaca y respiratoria, la infección urinaria y la respiratoria. En relación a su dependencia funcional no se observaron diferencias en los parámetros analizados intergrupos salvo en la edad media (UCEI 75,6 años vs UCEU 67,2 vs UCEMI 57,8; p = 0,02). Al realizar la comparación intragrupos, la estancia media fue menor en las UCEU que las UCEMI (2,65 días vs 3,73; p = 0,047) y la mortalidad global menor en las UCEMI que las UCEU (0,64% vs 3%; p = 0,033), pero sin diferencias al comparar la mortalidad no esperada una vez excluidos los pacientes paliativos y/o en situación de últimas horas. Conclusión. En la serie analizada no se observan diferencias destacables al comparar las UCE en conjunto según dependencia funcional. Sin embargo, en el análisis intragrupos las UCEU lograron menor estancia media que las UCEMI

Demographic and clinical profile of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis patients in Spain: the SEPAR National Registry

BackgroundLittle is known on the characteristics of patients diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) in Spain. We aimed to characterize the demographic and clinical profile of IPF patients included in the IPF National Registry of the Spanish Respiratory Society (SEPAR).MethodsThis is a prospective, observational, multicentre and nationwide study that involved 608 IPF patients included in the SEPAR IPF Registry up to June 27th, 2017, and who received any treatment for their disease. IPF patients were predominantly males, ex-smokers, and aged in their 70s, similar to other registries.ResultsUpon inclusion, meanSD predicted forced vital capacity was 77.6%+/- 19.4, diffusing capacity for carbon monoxide was 48.5%+/- 17.7, and the 6-min walk distance was 423.5m +/- 110.4. The diagnosis was mainly established on results from the high-resolution computed tomography in the proper clinical context (55.0% of patients), while 21.2% of patients required invasive procedures (surgical lung biopsy) for definitive diagnosis. Anti-fibrotic treatment was prescribed in 69.4% of cases, 51.5% pirfenidone and 17.9% nintedanib, overall with a good safety profile.Conclusions The SEPAR IPF Registry should help to further characterize current characteristics and future trends of IPF patients in Spain and compare/pool them with other registries and cohorts

Treatment with tocilizumab or corticosteroids for COVID-19 patients with hyperinflammatory state: a multicentre cohort study (SAM-COVID-19)

Objectives: The objective of this study was to estimate the association between tocilizumab or corticosteroids and the risk of intubation or death in patients with coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) with a hyperinflammatory state according to clinical and laboratory parameters. Methods: A cohort study was performed in 60 Spanish hospitals including 778 patients with COVID-19 and clinical and laboratory data indicative of a hyperinflammatory state. Treatment was mainly with tocilizumab, an intermediate-high dose of corticosteroids (IHDC), a pulse dose of corticosteroids (PDC), combination therapy, or no treatment. Primary outcome was intubation or death; follow-up was 21 days. Propensity score-adjusted estimations using Cox regression (logistic regression if needed) were calculated. Propensity scores were used as confounders, matching variables and for the inverse probability of treatment weights (IPTWs). Results: In all, 88, 117, 78 and 151 patients treated with tocilizumab, IHDC, PDC, and combination therapy, respectively, were compared with 344 untreated patients. The primary endpoint occurred in 10 (11.4%), 27 (23.1%), 12 (15.4%), 40 (25.6%) and 69 (21.1%), respectively. The IPTW-based hazard ratios (odds ratio for combination therapy) for the primary endpoint were 0.32 (95%CI 0.22-0.47; p < 0.001) for tocilizumab, 0.82 (0.71-1.30; p 0.82) for IHDC, 0.61 (0.43-0.86; p 0.006) for PDC, and 1.17 (0.86-1.58; p 0.30) for combination therapy. Other applications of the propensity score provided similar results, but were not significant for PDC. Tocilizumab was also associated with lower hazard of death alone in IPTW analysis (0.07; 0.02-0.17; p < 0.001). Conclusions: Tocilizumab might be useful in COVID-19 patients with a hyperinflammatory state and should be prioritized for randomized trials in this situatio

Multiancestry analysis of the HLA locus in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases uncovers a shared adaptive immune response mediated by HLA-DRB1*04 subtypes

Across multiancestry groups, we analyzed Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) associations in over 176,000 individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) versus controls. We demonstrate that the two diseases share the same protective association at the HLA locus. HLA-specific fine-mapping showed that hierarchical protective effects of HLA-DRB1*04 subtypes best accounted for the association, strongest with HLA-DRB1*04:04 and HLA-DRB1*04:07, and intermediary with HLA-DRB1*04:01 and HLA-DRB1*04:03. The same signal was associated with decreased neurofibrillary tangles in postmortem brains and was associated with reduced tau levels in cerebrospinal fluid and to a lower extent with increased Aβ42. Protective HLA-DRB1*04 subtypes strongly bound the aggregation-prone tau PHF6 sequence, however only when acetylated at a lysine (K311), a common posttranslational modification central to tau aggregation. An HLA-DRB1*04-mediated adaptive immune response decreases PD and AD risks, potentially by acting against tau, offering the possibility of therapeutic avenues

Comparative study of binderless zeolites and carbon molecular sieves as adsorbents for CO2 capture processes

CO2 capture from concentrated sources such as power plants will play an important role in reducing CO2 emissions, contributing to climate change mitigation. Adsorption technology has attracting scientific attention because it offers improved energy efficiency and reduced costs. Two of the most used families of adsorbents in the industry are zeolites and carbon-based adsorbents. This study compares the CO2 separation performance of two promising groups of adsorbents belonging to these families: binderless zeolites and carbon molecular sieves (CMSs). Five adsorption key performance indicators (KPIs), namely adsorption capacity, working capacity, regenerability, selectivity and adsorption selection parameter were obtained from the adsorption isotherms (CO2 and N2; measured at 0-10 bar and 283-323 K) and used to assess the potential of the adsorbents for CO2 capture processes. In general, the KPIs were better for binderless zeolites than for CMSs although CMSs had better regenerability. Zeolites 13XBL and 5ABL were selected as the most promising adsorbents and were tested in a laboratory column set-up for dynamic adsorption of a CO2/N2 mixture (15%/85% v/v), resembling a dry flue gas composition. Simulations of column adsorption experiments were then carried out combining an extended dual-site Langmuir (DSL) model for binary mixtures with Aspen Adsorption™. Binderless zeolite 13XBL showed a higher selectivity with a lower dependence on the pressure and temperature of adsorption, when compared to zeolite 5ABL. These results show that the 13XBL can be considered a good adsorbent for CO2/N2 separations.The authors gratefully acknowledge the funding provided by the company GasN2 and the knowledge and enterprise department of the Catalan government through its Industrial Doctorate program to support this research project (AGAUR, Doctorats Industrials 2014 DI-057). Special thanks to graduates students Carlos Arregui and Guillermo Parladé for their help and support provided with the modeling and master student Albert Melis for the support with column experiments. GESPA group has been recognized as Consolidated Research Group by the Catalan Government with code 2017-SGR-1016. The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support received from the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033, Project PID2020-115334GB-I00) and Principado de Asturias (FICYT)-European Union (FEDER) (Project PCTI-Asturias IDI/2021/000015). Miguel Montes is member of the SusPlast PTI+ platform of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC).Peer reviewe

A fast methodology to rank adsorbents for CO2 capture with temperature swing adsorption

A new methodology for evaluating different commercial adsorbents for CO2 capture using temperature swing adsorption (TSA) has been developed. The screening method is based on thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) combined with differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) to study the cyclic behavior of adsorbents paying attention on CO2 production and desorption energy. CO2 production and desorption energy were determined for commercial zeolites using a simulated flue gas (15% CO2 / 85% N2 v/v). Binderless zeolites had better CO2 production and lower desorption energy on TSA cycles than their analog binder-based zeolites. The zeolite with the highest CO2 production (0.077 kgCO2/kgads٠h) and the lowest desorption energy (0.56 kWh/kgCO2) was the 13XBL binderless zeolite. On the other side, the 5A zeolites (binder and binderless) had the lowest CO2 production (0.046–0.054 kgCO2/kgads٠h) and the highest desorption energy (0.78–0.93 kWh/kgCO2) among zeolites. Results obtained demonstrated that the proposed methodology is a good basis for the fast selection of the best adsorbent and for the selection of the adsorption and desorption cycling temperatures in CO2 capture processes through TSA.The authors gratefully acknowledge the company GasN2 for helping with the experimental part of the work and the Knowledge and Enterprise Department of the Catalan government through its Industrial doctorate program to support this research project (AGAUR, Doctorats Industrials 2014 DI-057). The authors also would like to acknowledge the student Adrià Espiell for helping in the laboratory with the TGA and DSC measurements. GESPA has been recognized as Consolidated Research Group by the Catalan Government with code 2017-SGR-10Peer reviewe