...early high adherence levels decrease long-term cardiovascular mortality, supporting the importance of early blood pressure control. ...patients who developed complications of hypertension during ...the follow-up period need a more intensive level of adherence to antihypertensive medication than those without complications. CR is based on electronic pharmacy records and does not use patient data. ...since only medication dispensing records were used, the patient's actual adherence to antihypertensive drugs can be different.
We propose a highly sensitive sensor based on enhancing the transversal magneto-optical Kerr effect (TMOKE) through excitation of surface plasmon resonances in a novel and simple architecture, which ...consists of a metal grating on a metal magneto-optical layer. Detection of the change in the refractive index of the analyte medium is made by monitoring the angular shift of the Fano-like resonances associated with TMOKE. A higher resolution is obtained with this technique than with reflectance curves. The key aspect of the novel architecture is to achieve excitation of surface plasmon resonances mainly localized at the sensing layer, where interaction with the analyte occurs. This led to a high sensitivity, S = 190° RIU–1, and high performance with a figure of merit of the order of 103, which can be exploited in sensors and biosensors.
A
bstract
We study some physical aspects of quantum field theory in a two stage universe starting from the inflationary de Sitter and transiting into the radiation dominated stage. We look into the ...time evolution of the primordial vacuum states, associated with the (i) comoving and (ii) Bunch-Davies modes. We show how the power spectrum for a comoving observer, obtained from the excitation of the aforementioned states defined in the de Sitter stage, changes as the universe transits into the radiation stage. In addition, we also develop a methodology to transfer the well known result of particle creation in the static de Sitter frame, originating from the aforementioned vacuum states, while the universe makes a transition to the next (radiation dominated) stage.
Due largely to anthropogenic activities and extreme climate events, the risk of shallow landslides and erosion has increased enormously over the last decade. Although the planting of vegetation is ...widely acknowledged as improving soil conservation on slopes, how to plant and manage a vegetated slope over time can be problematic. Correct identification of the mass-wasting process and site characterization is necessary before choosing the plant species best suited to a site. To aid the site manager choose the most appropriate species, we have developed a database containing species sorted by their utility for retaining soil on slopes subject to shallow landslides, wind and water erosion. The list of species was compiled from the literature and suitability is based on ecological attributes, shoot and root traits. The database is open to experts who can add new information via a website, whereas the general public can access the data freely: http://publish.plantnet-project.org/project/stability_en.
Convalescent plasma, widely utilized in viral infections that induce neutralizing antibodies, has been proposed for COVID-19, and preliminary evidence shows that it might have beneficial effect. Our ...objective was to determine the risk factors for 28-days mortality in patients who received convalescent plasma for COVID-19 compared to those who did not, who were admitted to hospitals in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, throughout the pandemic.
This is a multicenter, retrospective cohort study of 2-month duration beginning on June 1, 2020, including unselected, consecutive adult patients with diagnosed COVID-19, admitted to 215 hospitals with pneumonia. Epidemiological and clinical variables were registered in the Provincial Hospital Bed Management System. Convalescent plasma was supplied as part of a centralized, expanded access program.
We analyzed 3,529 patients with pneumonia, predominantly male, aged 62±17, with arterial hypertension and diabetes as main comorbidities; 51.4% were admitted to the ward, 27.1% to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), and 21.7% to the ICU with mechanical ventilation requirement (ICU-MV). 28-day mortality was 34.9%; and was 26.3%, 30.1% and 61.4% for ward, ICU and ICU-MV patients. Convalescent plasma was administered to 868 patients (24.6%); their 28-day mortality was significantly lower (25.5% vs. 38.0%, p<0.001). No major adverse effects occurred. Logistic regression analysis identified age, ICU admission with and without MV requirement, diabetes, and preexistent cardiovascular disease as independent predictors of 28-day mortality, whereas convalescent plasma administration acted as a protective factor.
Our study suggests that the administration of convalescent plasma in COVID-19 pneumonia admitted to the hospital might be associated with improved outcomes.
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common malignancies in Western countries. Over the last 20 years, and the last decade in particular, the clinical outcome for patients with metastatic CRC ...(mCRC) has improved greatly due not only to an increase in the number of patients being referred for and undergoing surgical resection of their localised metastatic disease but also to a more strategic approach to the delivery of systemic therapy and an expansion in the use of ablative techniques. This reflects the increase in the number of patients that are being managed within a multidisciplinary team environment and specialist cancer centres, and the emergence over the same time period not only of improved imaging techniques but also prognostic and predictive molecular markers. Treatment decisions for patients with mCRC must be evidence-based. Thus, these ESMO consensus guidelines have been developed based on the current available evidence to provide a series of evidence-based recommendations to assist in the treatment and management of patients with mCRC in this rapidly evolving treatment setting.
•Property lifetime variations that can impact a damaged energy harvester are investigated.•Importance of operating frequency range and load resistance is described during the ...degradation.•Combinations of cracking and piezoelectric degradation cause a wide shift in the system.•It is found that energy harvesters are very sensitive to changes in optimal load resistance.•This investigation gives further understanding of fatigue and push this technology forward.
The development of cantilever-based piezoelectric vibrational energy harvesters (VEHs) is reaching a critical transition into commercial applications but is being held back because of the lack of understanding regarding the fatigue of these systems. Identifying possible fatigue phenomena for piezoelectric VEH gives a good basis of knowledge for the creation of numerical fatigue models. The development of an electromechanical model is carried out to capture the property variations that can impact a damaged cantilever VEH. The influence of damage from crack and decreased piezoelectric performance that can occur during the lifetime of VEH is investigated. The importance of the operating frequency range and optimum load resistance is described for a wide range of stiffness reduction due to cracking and piezoelectric property degradation. Cracks are the most general form of fatigue and impact the natural frequency of the system the most. Piezoelectric property degradation affects the electrical properties and performance of the patch. Combinations of cracking and piezoelectric property degradation cause a wide variety of shift in the system. It is found that these energy harvesters are very sensitive to changes in load resistance as they degrade which can influence the coupled frequency response. The identification of how these systems degrade gives future researchers the knowledge they need to pursue further understanding of fatigue and push this technology forward.
This work deals with the remediation of a soil that has been enriched with Quinclorac (QNC), one of the herbicides most used in Chile for weed control in rice fields. Quinclorac damages the ...microflora and macrofauna of soils and is toxic to some susceptible crops, which results in economic loses during crop rotation. Furthermore, Quinclorac a potential contaminant of water resources and soils, given its high mobility and persistence. This has created the need to lower its concentrations in soils intensively cultivated. In this study, an electro-kinetic soil washing system (EKSW) for mobilizing this pesticide in the soil was explored. The performance of this technology was compared by assessing the effect of direct (DP) and reverse (RP) polarity during 15 days under potentiostatic conditions and applying an electric field of 1 V cm−1 between electrodes. Among the main results, the highest removal of QNC was obtained through the EKSW-RP process, which also contributed to the prevention of acidity and alkaline fronts in the soil, compared to the EKSW-DP system. In both cases, the highest accumulation of QNC occurred in the cathodic well by mobilizing the non-ionized contaminant through the electroosmotic flow (EOF) from anode to cathode. After the treatment with EKSW, the wash water accumulated in the anodic and cathodic wells, which contained an important concentration of pesticide, was subjected to electro-oxidation (EO) by applying different current densities (j). The high generation of •OH on the surface of a boron-doped diamond electrode (BDD) allowed for the complete degradation and mineralization of QNC and its major intermediate compounds to CO2. The results of this study show that the application of both coupled stages in this type of remediation technologies would enable the removal of QNC from the soil without altering its chemical and physical properties, constituting an environmentally friendly process.
Display omitted
•Quinclorac is a persistent contaminant commonly found in soils and water resources.•Electro-kinetic soil washing was successful for its removal from the soil.•Reverse polarity system did not alter chemical and physical properties of the soil.•Electro-oxidation allowed total mineralization in the resulting wash water.•Both coupled treatments constitute an environmentally friendly remediation tool.
In the Old World tropics, several hundred species of leafflowers (Phyllanthus sensu lato; Phyllanthaceae) are engaged in obligate mutualisms with species-specific leafflower moths (Epicephala; ...Gracillariidae) whose adults actively pollinate flowers and larvae consume the resulting seeds. Considerable diversity of Phyllanthus also exists in the New World, but whether any New World Phyllanthus is pollinated by Epicephala is unknown. We studied the pollination biology of four woody Phyllanthus species occurring in Peru over a period of four years, and found that each species is associated with a species-specific, seed-eating Epicephala moth, here described as new species. Another Epicephala species found associated with herbaceous Phyllanthus is also described. This is the first description of Epicephala from the New World. Field-collected female moths of the four Epicephala species associated with woody Phyllanthus all carried pollen on the proboscises, and active pollination behavior was observed in at least two species. Thus, Epicephala moths also pollinate New World Phyllanthus. However, not all of these Epicephala species may be mutualistic with their hosts, because we occasionally observed females laying eggs in developing fruits without pollinating. Also, the flowers of some Phyllanthus species were visited by pollen-bearing thrips or gall midges, which potentially acted as co-pollinators or primary pollinators. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the New World Epicephala associated with woody Phyllanthus are nested within lineages of Old World active pollinators. Thus, actively-pollinating Epicephala moths, which originated in the Old World, successfully colonized the New World probably across the Pacific and established mutualisms with resident Phyllanthus species, although whether any of the relationships are obligate requires further study. There is likely a major radiation of Epicephala still to be found in the New World.
PDF
