High Prevalence of Cardiometabolic Risk Factors in Women Considered Low Risk by Traditional Risk Assessment

Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in women in the United States. The purpose of this study was to characterize the prevalence and awareness of traditional CVD risk factors, obesity, and coronary heart disease (CHD) risk classification using the Framingham Risk Score (FRS) among women attending the 2006 Sister to Sister National Woman’s Heart Day event. Results: A total of 8936 participants (mean age 49 ± 14 years) were evaluated. There was a modest prevalence of traditional risk factors on screening, including non-high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) \u3e 160 mg/dL (27%), HDL-C \u3c40 mg/dL (16%), random glucose level \u3e140 mg/dL (6%), uncontrolled blood pressure ≥140/90 mm Hg (12%), current smoking (6%), and a positive family history of CHD (21%). There was a high prevalence of overweight (39%) or obese individuals (35%) (body mass index [BMI] 25–30 and ≥ 30 kg/m2, respectively), as well as those with high waist circumference (≥35 inches) (55%). Women were classified by FRS as low (85%), intermediate (6%), and high risk (9%). When cardiometabolic risk analyses included waist circumference in addition to the FRS, 59% of low-risk and 50% of intermediate-risk women had 1 or 2 risk factors, and 19% and 41% had ≥ 3 risk factors, respectively. Women were often unaware of risk factors on screening; among women without a previous diagnosis of dyslipidemia or hypertension, 48% and 7%, respectively, were given new diagnoses. Conclusions: Women participating in the 2006 Sister to Sister National Woman’s Heart Day event have a high prevalence of cardiometabolic risk factors, especially dyslipidemia, obesity, and high central adiposity, that place them at higher risk for the development of CVD and other comorbidities. The newly identified multiple risk factors in this population support the value of community health screening in women

Site-specific dataset of mining and metallurgical residues for resource management

This geospatial dataset provides a compilation of findings from an evidence-based review of site-specific resource assessments of mining and metallurgical residues. Information pertaining to location, target material, geological knowledge, extractability, resource classification and stakeholder perspectives was collected from publicly available reports, articles, academic theses, and databases. The dataset includes 44 relevant data attributes from 64 mining and metallurgical sites in 27 countries. Resource classification is available for 38 sites. The dataset can be used by evaluators of recovery projects, authorities that provide permits, as well as by decision makers in support of developing regulatory policies. The dataset facilitates future addition of sites by the research community and can be further used as a starting point to bridge the estimates on recoverable quantities to the United Nations Framework Classification (UNFC). The UNFC is a universally applicable scheme for the sustainable management of all energy, primary and secondary mineral resources. Its use is stimulated by the European Commission and is intended to be adopted by geological surveys to harmonize the data on the availability of primary and secondary raw materials in Europe in future

Exocomets from a Solar System Perspective

Exocomets are small bodies releasing gas and dust which orbit stars other than the Sun. Their existence was first inferred from the detection of variable absorption features in stellar spectra in the late 1980s using spectroscopy. More recently, they have been detected through photometric transits from space, and through far-IR/mm gas emission within debris disks. As (exo)comets are considered to contain the most pristine material accessible in stellar systems, they hold the potential to give us information about early stage formation and evolution conditions of extra Solar Systems. In the Solar System, comets carry the physical and chemical memory of the protoplanetary disk environment where they formed, providing relevant information on processes in the primordial solar nebula. The aim of this paper is to compare essential compositional properties between Solar System comets and exocomets. The paper aims to highlight commonalities and to discuss differences which may aid the communication between the involved research communities and perhaps also avoid misconceptions. Exocomets likely vary in their composition depending on their formation environment like Solar System comets do, and since exocomets are not resolved spatially, they pose a challenge when comparing them to high fidelity observations of Solar System comets. Observations of gas around main sequence stars, spectroscopic observations of "polluted" white dwarf atmospheres and spectroscopic observations of transiting exocomets suggest that exocomets may show compositional similarities with Solar System comets. The recent interstellar visitor 2I/Borisov showed gas, dust and nuclear properties similar to that of Solar System comets. This raises the tantalising prospect that observations of interstellar comets may help bridge the fields of exocomet and Solar System comets.Comment: 25 pages, 3 figures. To be published in PASP. This paper is the product of a workshop at the Lorentz Centre in Leiden, the Netherland

Knowledge base to facilitate anthropogenic resource assessment

The traditional mining sector uses resource assessments to estimate the mineability of natural resources. The results are communicated to investors, authorities and corporate management boards in a standardized manner, at least on a country level. The recycling sector also requires estimates of recoverable anthropogenic resources. Evidence-based resource assessment, including the selection of parameters for characterising resources and methods for assessing their recoverability, is essential to obtain comparable estimates over time and across scales. Within this report, the COST Action MINEA presents a practical and user-friendly knowledge base for facilitating anthropogenic resource assessments. The fouces is on extractives industry residues, residues in landfills, residues from municipal solid waste incineration as well as construction & demolition waste flows. The key objectives are: To relate current knowledge levels, gaps and future needs to assessments of viability of anthropogenic resource recovery. To review case studies that demonstrate anthropogenic resource assessment in combination with resource classification in order to communicate the viability of anthropogenic resource recovery. We encourage academics, businesses and government organisations to use this report for: designing and developing case studies, future planning, developing standards for characterizing resource quantities and evaluating their recoverability, and collecting and harmonizing resource statistics. ************* The “Mining the European Anthroposphere” (MINEA) is a pan-European expert network, which received funding from the COST Association between 2016 and 2020. The network pools knowledge for estimating the future recoverability of raw materials from anthropogenic resources

An analysis of interactions between three structurally diverse anthocyanidins, as well as their glucosides, and model biological membranes, albumin, and plasmid DNA

Abstract The aim of the study is to investigate the differences in the interaction of three structurally diverse anthocyanidins, namely peonidin, petunidin, and delphinidin, as well as their glucosides with model biological membranes, human albumin, and plasmid DNA in order to look into their structure–activity relationships. Fluorimetric studies, as well as ATR-FTIR analyses, were jointly used in order to determine the changes observed in both the hydrophilic and hydrophobic layers of cell-mimic membranes (MM) which reflected the membrane lipid composition of tumour cells and red blood cell membranes (RBCM). Our results showed that anthocyanins and anthocyanidins can cause an increase in the packing order of the polar heads of lipids, as well as interact with their deeper layers by reducing the fluidity of lipid chains. The results presented here indicate that all compounds tested here possessed the ability to bind to human serum albumin (HSA) and the presence of a glucose molecule within the structures formed by anthocyanidin reduces their ability to bind to proteins. Using fluorescence correlation spectroscopy, it was demonstrated that the compounds tested here were capable of forming stable complexes with plasmid DNA and, particularly, strong DNA conformational changes were observed in the presence of petunidin and corresponding glucoside, as well as delphinidin. The results we obtained can be useful in comprehending the anthocyanins therapeutic action as molecular antioxidants and provide a valuable insight into their mechanism of action