Aim
Diminished diuretic response is common in patients with acute heart failure, although a clinically useful definition is lacking. Our aim was to investigate a practical, workable metric for ...diuretic response, examine associated patient characteristics and relationships with outcome.
Methods and results
We examined diuretic response (defined as Δ weight kg/40 mg furosemide) in 1745 hospitalized acute heart failure patients from the PROTECT trial. Day 4 response was used to allow maximum differentiation in responsiveness and tailoring of diuretic doses to clinical response, following sensitivity analyses. We investigated predictors of diuretic response and relationships with outcome. The median diuretic response was −0.38 (−0.80 to −0.13) kg/40 mg furosemide. Poor diuretic response was independently associated with low systolic blood pressure, high blood urea nitrogen, diabetes, and atherosclerotic disease (all P < 0.05). Worse diuretic response independently predicted 180-day mortality (HR: 1.42; 95% CI: 1.11–1.81, P = 0.005), 60-day death or renal or cardiovascular rehospitalization (HR: 1.34; 95% CI: 1.14–1.59, P < 0.001) and 60-day HF rehospitalization (HR: 1.57; 95% CI: 1.24–2.01, P < 0.001) in multivariable models. The proposed metric—weight loss indexed to diuretic dose—better captures a dose–response relationship. Model diagnostics showed diuretic response provided essentially the same or slightly better prognostic information compared with its individual components (weight loss and diuretic dose) in this population, while providing a less biased, more easily interpreted signal.
Conclusions
Worse diuretic response was associated with more advanced heart failure, renal impairment, diabetes, atherosclerotic disease and in-hospital worsening heart failure, and predicts mortality and heart failure rehospitalization in this post hoc, hypothesis-generating study.
The effects of using plant ingredients in Senegalese sole (
Solea senegalensis
) diet on immune competence and intestine morphology and microbial ecology are still controversial. Probiotics or ...immunostimulants can potentially alter the intestinal microbiota in a way that protects fish against pathogens. The current study aimed to examine the intestine histology and microbiota and humoral innate immune response in juvenile sole fed diets with low (35 %) or high (72 %) content of plant protein (PP) ingredients supplemented with a multispecies probiotic bacteria or autolysed yeast. Fish fed the probiotic diet had lower growth performance. Lysozyme and complement activities were significantly higher in fish fed PP72 diets than in their counterparts fed PP35 diets after 17 and 38 days of feeding. At 2 days of feeding, fish fed unsupplemented PP72 showed larger intestine section area and longer villus than fish fed unsupplemented PP35. At 17 days of feeding, fish fed unsupplemented PP72 showed more goblet cells than the other dietary groups, except the group fed yeast supplemented PP35 diet. High dietary PP level, acutely stimulate fish innate immune defence of the fish after 2 and 17 days of feeding. However, this effect does not occur after 73 days of feeding, suggesting a habituation to dietary treatments and/or immunosuppression, with a reduction in the number of the goblet cells. Fish fed for 38 days with diets supplemented with autolysed yeast showed longer intestinal villus. The predominant bacteria found in sole intestine were
Vibrio
sp. and dietary probiotic supplementation caused a reduction in
Vibrio
content, regardless of the PP level.
Medically approved sterility methods should be a major concern when developing a polymeric scaffold, mainly when commercialization is envisaged. In the present work, poly(lactic acid) (PLA) fiber ...membranes were processed by electrospinning with random and aligned fiber alignment and sterilized under UV, ethylene oxide (EO), and γ-radiation, the most common ones for clinical applications. It was observed that UV light and γ-radiation do not influence fiber morphology or alignment, while electrospun samples treated with EO lead to fiber orientation loss and morphology changing from cylindrical fibers to ribbon-like structures, accompanied to an increase of polymer crystallinity up to 28%. UV light and γ-radiation sterilization methods showed to be less harmful to polymer morphology, without significant changes in polymer thermal and mechanical properties, but a slight increase of polymer wettability was detected, especially for the samples treated with UV radiation. In vitro results indicate that both UV and γ-radiation treatments of PLA membranes allow the adhesion and proliferation of MG 63 osteoblastic cells in a close interaction with the fiber meshes and with a growth pattern highly sensitive to the underlying random or aligned fiber orientation. These results are suggestive of the potential of both γ-radiation sterilized PLA membranes for clinical applications in regenerative medicine, especially those where customized membrane morphology and fiber alignment is an important issue.
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•Magnetic MnFe2O4 was supported onto graphene sand composite and chitosan.•The photocatalysts were magnetically separated from reaction solution.•Photocatalytic activity of ...photocatalyst was tested for antibiotic removal.•Simultaneous adsorption and photocatalysis had synergistic effect on process.•Power law was applied to understand mineralization kinetics.
Herein, we report synthesis of graphitic carbon sand composite (GSC) and bentonite (BT) supported superparamagnetic MnFe2O4 nanoparticles to obtain MnFe2O4/GSC and MnFe2O4/BT nanocomposites. Graphitic carbon sand composite (GSC) was prepared by graphitization of sugar over river sand. The particle size of MnFe2O4/GSC and MnFe2O4/BT was found to be 50 and 60nm respectively. BET adsorption experiments confirmed mesoporous nature of prepared photocatalysts. Magnetic studies revealed superparamagnetic behavior of MnFe2O4/GSC and MnFe2O4/BT. The band gaps of MnFe2O4/GSC and MnFe2O4/BT were 2.38 and 2.42eV respectively. Both MnFe2O4/GSC and MnFe2O4/BT exhibited significant photocatalytic activity for the mineralization of ampicillin (AMP) and oxytetracycline (OTC) antibiotics under solar light. Simultaneous adsorption and degradation process (A+P) resulted in higher photodegradation of OTC and AMP. The applicability of power law model indicated intricacies of mineralization process. MnFe2O4/GSC and MnFe2O4/BT displayed significant recycle efficiency and easier recovery of photocatalyst for 10 consecutive catalytic cycles.
The present study evaluated the effects of the inclusion of three seaweeds,
Gracilaria vermiculophylla
(GRA),
Porphyra dioica
(POR), and
Ulva
spp. (ULV), as dietary ingredients for Nile tilapia (
...Oreochromis niloticus
) juveniles, on the growth performance, body composition, and gut histology. Three experimental diets (GRA, POR, and ULV) were formulated to replace 10 % of whole diet by each of the three seaweeds. A control diet (CTRL) was used, without inclusion of any seaweed. Diets were fed to triplicate groups of 25 Nile tilapia juveniles, with an average body weight (ABW) of 12.1 g, in an 84-day trial. At the end of the trial, growth performance was significantly reduced (
P
< 0.05) in fish fed the GRA diet, whereas the feed conversion ratio increased significantly in those fish. None of the treatments caused adverse effects on body composition. The inclusion of the three seaweeds in the diet led to evident changes in the fish digestive system morphology with significant reduction of
villi
length on GRA diet. The results obtained in this study suggest the usefulness of
P. dioica
and
Ulva
spp. to partially replace fishmeal in practical diets for tilapia juveniles up to 10 %, as no negative consequences on growth performance or body composition were observed. However, the inclusion of 10 %
G. vermiculophylla
seems to have a negative effect in diet palatability, reducing fish feed intake and growth performance.
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•Novel high-performance p-CuO@CuS/n-Si photodetectors have been facilely fabricated.•Structural and vibrational studied confirm the synthesis of fabrication of CuO@CuS nanocomposite ...system.•Core-shell structure like morphology was approved by FESEM & HRTEM analyses.•High Ps of ∼ 7.76 104 % & R ∼ 798.61mA/W was observed for the fabricated photodetector.•High detectivity (D*) of 8.19 ×1011 J & of ∼ 309.66%, was observed for the fabricated photodetector.
Development of photo detectors based on different semiconducting materials with high performance has been in progress in recent past, however, there is a lot of difficulties in developing the more effective photo detectors-based devices with high responsivity, detectivity and quantum efficiency. Hence, we have synthesized pure CuS and CuO@CuS core-shell heterostructure based photo detectors with high performance by simple and cost-effective two-step chemical co-precipitation method. The phase purity of CuS and CuO@CuS composite was observed by XRD analysis and the result were verified with Raman spectroscopy studies. Sphere like morphology of pure CuS and core-shell structure formation of CuO@CuS are observed with scanning and transmission electron microscopes. The presence of expected elements has been confirmed with EDX elemental mapping. Light harvesting photodiodes were fabricated by using n-type silicon substrate through drop cost method. Photo sensitive parameters of fabricated diodes were analyzed by I–V characteristics. The p-CuO@CuS (1:1)/n-Si diode owned a maximum photosensitivity (Ps) ∼ 7.76 × 104 %, photoresponsivity (R) ∼ 798.61 mA/W, external quantum efficiency (EQE)∼309.66 % and specific detectivity (D*) ∼ 8.19 × 1011 Jones when compared to p-CuS/n-Si diode. The obtained results revealed that the core/shell heterostructure of CuO@CuS is the most appropriate for photo detection.
•Evaluation of presence and exposure of processing contaminants to oil consumers.•Seven 3-MCPD diesters determined in one hundred EVOO and other edible oils samples.•High content of 3-MCPD diesters ...was detected in pomace and refined olive oils.•Potato chips daily intake should be limited to reduce the health risk.
During the industrial refining process of edible oils and the manufacture of oil-based foodstuff, contaminants such as 3-monochloropropanediol (3-MCPD) fatty acid diesters can be produced. One hundred samples of different edible oils and related fatty food purchased from local Spanish markets were analyzed to evaluate the occurrence of these contaminants. Data of seven 3-MCPD diesters together with corresponding total 3-MCPD equivalents are presented. The procedure is based on a modified QuEChERS protocol followed by LC-MS/MS analysis. Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) and unrefined oils did not contain detectable levels of the target analytes. The highest levels of 3-MCPD diesters were found in palm oils, for 1,2-Dilinoleoyl-3-chloropropanediol (LILI) and 1–2-Bispalmitoyl-3-chloropropanediol (PAPA) with concentrations close to 10 mg kg−1 and in the lipid fraction of margarines (8.09, 3.77 and 3.72 mg kg−1 for LILI, PAPA and 1-Oleoyl-2-linoleoyl-3-chloropropanediol (OLLI), respectively).
► Pechini route, using niobium chloride has raw material, is suitable for the preparation of nanosize Nb2O5 powders. ► The thermal temperature promotes the formation of Nb2O5 in amorphous, ...orthorhombic and monoclinic phases. ► The sample treated at 900°C, presenting both the Nb2O5 crystal structures, shows the biggest dielectric constant.
The niobium oxide is currently used in the manufacture of relevant technological components, due to its physical characteristics such as the high dielectric constant, the reduced ignition and the high stability of electrical parameters. Their wide availability in nature and low extraction costs are also significant advantages. However, and as it is known, the properties of the niobium oxide powders are strongly dependent on the raw material and on the synthesis route used. Thus, in the present work, Nb2O5 amorphous powders prepared by the sol–gel technique and their crystalline structures, through a controlled heat-treatment process, were analysedThe sentence ‘Thus...analysed’ has been slightly modified for clarity. Please check that the meaning is still correct, and amend if necessary... The XRD patterns of the powders, heat-treated at temperatures between 400 and 1200°C revealed the formation of niobium oxide in different crystalline structures. In the powders heat-treated at temperatures below 900°C, Nb2O5 with orthorhombic phase was observed while for the heat-treatments above 1000°C the crystalline structure detected was monoclinic. For heat-treatments at intermediate temperatures, those two crystalline phases exist. The Raman and FTIR spectroscopy results sustain the XRD results and analysis.
The electrical measurements showed that the sample with monoclinic structure, heat-treated at 1200°C, shows the lowest dc activation energy (Ea(dc)=39.56kJ/mol) and the highest dc conductivity (1.49×10−4S/m at 300K). The highest dielectric constant was observed in the sample heat-treated at 900°C, which presents Nb2O5 with both orthorhombic and monoclinic phases. Dielectric relaxation phenomenon, observed in the 900°C sample, was related to the presence of the monoclinic structure.
The hexaferrite Ba1−xSrxFe12O19 compounds with x = 0, 0.5 and 1 were synthesized by the autocombustion method. X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) ...were used for structural and morphological studies.
► Modification of cellulose with cyclodextrins. ► Physico-chemical characterization by means of FTIR, CP-MAS NMR and TGA. ► Cyclodextrins chemically attached (esterification) to the cellulose. ► ...CD-grafted cellulose forms a strong tridimensional network and becomes less soluble in water based solvents.
Cyclodextrins (CDs) can form inclusion complexes with a wide variety of molecules making them very attractive in different areas, such as pharmaceutics, biochemistry, food chemistry and textile. In this communication we will report on the physico-chemical characterization of cellulose modified with CDs by means of infra-red spectroscopy (FTIR), cross polarization magic angle spinning solid state nuclear magnetic resonance (CP-MAS NMR), polarized optical microscopy (POM) and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA). Both CP-MAS NMR and FTIR indicate that CDs are chemically attached to cellulose backbone through the formation of ester bonds. Furthermore, the CD-grafted cellulose was dissolved in a “superphosphoric” acid solution but, despite the increase of hydrophilicity due to the modification, POM revealed that grafted cellulose was less soluble when compared to the unmodified polymer. The formation of a complex CD–cellulose network is suggested.
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