Life Cycle Assessment of solar-driven oxidation as a polishing step of secondary-treated urban effluents

BACKGROUND: In this work, the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology is utilized to estimate the environmental footprint of solar Fenton oxidation at pilot scale used as a polishing step of secondary-treated urban effluents. All inputs (e.g. natural resources, raw materials, etc.) and outputs (e.g. emissions, etc.) of the process were quantitatively defined and/or estimated. The system under study includes raw materials, energy, land use, chemicals, local transportation needs, and air-/waterborne emissions. RESULTS: The main environmental hotspots of this system were identified (i.e. energy consumption and use of chemicals). The environmental sustainability of this technology was found to be high, since its environmental footprint for the treatment of 1 m3 of wastewater was found to be only 8.7 kg CO2 m−3 , which is approx. 1.6% of the total CO2 emissions of the treatment of the daily effluents of a Cypriot resident. Nevertheless, alternative scenarios were investigated, in order to further enhance its overall environmental performance. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that the majority of the environmental impacts of this process could be attributed to indirect emissions, tracing back to electricity generation, followed by emissions from the chemicals used. The most critical improvement identified herein, is the use of a renewable energy source.This work was funded by Nireas, International Water Research Center of the University of Cyprus (NEA YΠOΔOMH ΣTPATH/0308/09), which was co-funded by the European Regional Development 15 Fund and the Republic of Cyprus through the Research Promotion Foundation. The authors are grateful to the manufacturer company of the solar pilot plant, S.K. Euromarket Ltd, for providing technical support

Cardiovascular risk in patients with and without diabetes presenting with chronic coronary syndrome in 2004-2016

BACKGROUND: It was recently shown that new-onset diabetes patients without previous cardiovascular disease have experienced a markedly reduced risk of adverse cardiovascular events from 1996 to 2011. However, it remains unknown if similar improvements are present following the diagnosis of chronic coronary syndrome. The purpose of this study was to examine the change in cardiovascular risk among diabetes patients with chronic coronary syndrome from 2004 to 2016. METHODS: We included patients with documentation of coronary artery disease by coronary angiography between 2004 and 2016 in Western Denmark. Patients were stratified by year of index coronary angiography (2004–2006, 2007–2009, 2010–2012, and 2013–2016) and followed for two years. The main outcome was major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) defined as myocardial infarction, ischemic stroke, or death. Analyses were performed separately in patients with and without diabetes. We estimated two-year risk of each outcome and adjusted incidence rate ratios (aIRR) using patients examined in 2004-2006 as reference. RESULTS: Among 5931 patients with diabetes, two-year MACE risks were 8.4% in 2004–2006, 8.5% in 2007–2009, and then decreased to 6.2% in 2010–2012 and 6.7% in 2013–2016 (2013–2016 vs 2004–2006: aIRR 0.70, 95% CI 0.53–0.93). In comparison, 23,540 patients without diabetes had event rates of 6.3%, 5.2%, 4.2%, and 3.9% for the study intervals (2013–2016 vs 2004–2006: aIRR 0.57, 95% CI 0.48–0.68). CONCLUSIONS: Between 2004 and 2016, the two-year relative risk of MACE decreased by 30% in patients with diabetes and chronic coronary syndrome, but slightly larger absolute and relative reductions were observed in patients without diabetes. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12872-021-02312-y