Principles of Entrainment: Diagnostic Utility for Supraventricular Tachycardia

Entrainment is an important pacing maneuver that can be used to identify reentry as a tachycardia mechanism and define components of the circuit. This review examines how principles of entrainment can be used to arrive at a firm supraventricular tachycardia diagnosis using a simple algorithm and builds a foundation for the application of entrainment to more complex or unknown circuits

Observational cross sectional pilot study of adherence with antipsychotic medication in people with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorders in prisons

This pilot project has aimed to: • Estimate the point prevalence of non-adherence to (typical/atypical) antipsychotic medication in population of people with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder in prison. • Determine prisoners’ satisfaction with and beliefs and attitudes towards antipsychotic medication. • Determine predictors of adherence in prisoners with schizophrenia or schizo-affective disorder. • Compare the prevalence of adherence with a community sample of individuals with schizophrenia. • Explore patients’ current and previous subjective experiences of medication (embedded qualitative element of project

Microbial Pb(II) precipitation: the role of biosorption as a Pb(II) removal mechanism

The role of a metabolically independent lead removal mechanism in an industrially obtained lead-precipitating consortium was investigated. Cultures were prepared under anaerobic conditions for 24 hours in batch reactors starting with 20 g L-1 tryptone, 10 g L-1 yeast extract, 1.0 g L-1 NaCl and 0.43 g L-1 NaNO3. Bacteria were suspended in 50 mM of sodium azide (NaN3) solution for 3 h to successfully inhibit the microbial respiratory chain, thereby preventing bacteria growth and activity. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) was used to inspect whether NaN3 deformed the structure of bacteria cell walls and changed material characteristics. Reactors containing 100 mL of 80 mg L-1 Pb(II) and 1.0 g/L NaCl were spiked with 1 mL of NaN3-sterilized bacteria culture and sampled over a 3 h period. Bulk Pb(II) concentration and metabolic activity were measured. Results showed that NaN3 was an effective means to cease metabolic activity of the consortium without altering the surface properties. Pb(II) is still removed from solution (61.7 %) by dead bacteria after NaN3 sterilization, indicating that the initial removal of Pb(II) from solution by the lead-precipitating consortium is an abiotic process. FTIR analysis revealed functional groups such as carboxyl, amine, and phosphate playing a role in Pb(II) biosorption. Conclusions drawn from this study allow for future experimentation, modelling, and optimization of the biosorption mechanism in an industrially obtained lead-precipitating consortium.https://www.cetjournal.it/index.php/cetpm2021Chemical Engineerin

Microbial Pb(II) removal by precipitation and adsorption mechanisms with Klebsiella pneumoniae isolated from an industrially obtained consortium

The study was focused on investigating the contribution of a single bacterial strain to lead removal from wastewater through microbial precipitation and adsorption. Previous studies on lead bioremediation have been conducted using a microbial consortium obtained from wastewater at a lead battery recycling plant in Gauteng, South Africa. The successful isolation of an active strain in the consortium was achieved and the strain was identified as a pure culture of Klebsiella pneumoniae. The rate of lead removal and the metabolic activity of the culture was determined over a period of 4 d. The results indicated that microbial precipitation of Pb(II) by K. pneumoniae is possible with significant Pb(II) removal occurring in under 20 h. The amount of lead in solution was decreased to a value undetectable by the analysis equipment in approximately 63 h. No lead removal by adsorption was observed. It is suspected that a metabolically dependent mechanism was responsible for the precipitation of lead as the metabolic activity increased with increasing lead precipitation, but further studies would be required to confirm this.The National Research Foundation of South Africa.http://www.aidic.it/cetam2023Chemical Engineerin

Oral Relugolix for Androgen-Deprivation Therapy in Advanced Prostate Cancer

BACKGROUNDInjectable luteinizing hormone–releasing hormone agonists (e.g., leuprolide) are the standard agents for achieving androgen deprivation for prostate cancer despite the initial testosterone surge and delay in therapeutic effect. The efficacy and safety of relugolix, an oral gonadotropin-releasing hormone antagonist, as compared with those of leuprolide are not known.METHODSIn this phase 3 trial, we randomly assigned patients with advanced prostate cancer, in a 2:1 ratio, to receive relugolix (120 mg orally once daily) or leuprolide (injections every 3 months) for 48 weeks. The primary end point was sustained testosterone suppression to castrate levels (RESULTSA total of 622 patients received relugolix and 308 received leuprolide. Of men who received relugolix, 96.7% (95% confidence interval [CI], 94.9 to 97.9) maintained castration through 48 weeks, as compared with 88.8% (95% CI, 84.6 to 91.8) of men receiving leuprolide. The difference of 7.9 percentage points (95% CI, 4.1 to 11.8) showed noninferiority and superiority of relugolix (PCONCLUSIONSIn this trial involving men with advanced prostate cancer, relugolix achieved rapid, sustained suppression of testosterone levels that was superior to that with leuprolide, with a 54% lower risk of major adverse cardiovascular events.</p