Arterial Stiffness in CKD: A Review Townsend, Raymond R.
American journal of kidney diseases,
February 2019, 2019-02-00, 20190201, Letnik:
73, Številka:
2
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
This narrative review summarizes a decade of experience examining the cross-sectional and longitudinal relationships of arterial stiffness, as assessed using carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity, with ...outcomes in patients with chronic kidney disease enrolled in the Chronic Renal Insufficiency Cohort. Our goal is to review the importance of the pulse wave contour and pulse wave velocity and present data on the reproducibility of pulse wave velocity measurements, determinants of pulse wave velocity, and the relationship that velocity measurements have with longitudinal kidney and cardiovascular outcomes. Measures of arterial stiffness have contributed substantially to our understanding of mechanisms of cardiovascular disease, kidney disease progression, and all-cause mortality. Given the independent relationship of arterial stiffness to a variety of outcomes, it is our hope that future developments in behavioral, nutritional, and pharmacologic approaches to vascular destiffening will provide interventions that benefit patients with chronic kidney diseases.
A
bstract
We introduce two scalar leptoquarks, the SU(2)
L
isosinglet denoted
ϕ ∼
(
3
,
1
, −
1
/
3) and the isotriplet
φ ∼
(
3
,
3
, −
1
/
3), to explain observed deviations from the standard model ...in semi-leptonic
B
-meson decays. We explore the regions of parameter space in which this model accommodates the persistent tensions in the decay observables
R
D
(
∗
),
R
K
(
∗
) , and angular observables in
b → sμμ
transitions. Additionally, we exploit the role of these exotics in existing models for one-loop neutrino mass generation derived from ∆
L
= 2 effective operators. Introducing the vector-like quark
χ ∼
(
3
,
2
, −
5
/
6) necessary for lepton-number violation, we consider the contribution of both leptoquarks to the generation of radiative neutrino mass. We find that constraints permit simultaneously accommodating the flavour anomalies while also explaining the relative smallness of neutrino mass without the need for cancellation between leptoquark contributions. A characteristic prediction of our model is a rate of muon-electron conversion in nuclei fixed by the anoma- lies in
b → sμμ
and neutrino mass; the COMET and Mu2e experiments will thus test and potentially falsify our scenario. The model also predicts signatures that will be tested at the LHC and Belle II.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had growing environmental consequences related to plastic use and follow-up waste, but more urgent health issues have far overshadowed the potential impacts. This paper ...gives a prospective outlook on how the disruption caused by COVID-19 can act as a catalyst for short-term and long-term changes in plastic waste management practices throughout the world. The impact of the pandemic and epidemic following through the life cycles of various plastic products, particularly those needed for personal protection and healthcare, is assessed. The energy and environmental footprints of these product systems have increased rapidly in response to the surge in the number of COVID-19 cases worldwide, while critical hazardous waste management issues are emerging due to the need to ensure destruction of residual pathogens in household and medical waste. The concept of Plastic Waste Footprint (PWF) is proposed to capture the environmental footprint of a plastic product throughout its entire life cycle. Emerging challenges in waste management during and after the pandemic are discussed from the perspective of novel research and environmental policies. The sudden shift in waste composition and quantity highlights the need for a dynamically reponsive waste management system. Six future research directions are suggested to mitigate the potential impacts of the pandemic on waste management systems.
•Expert insight for dealing with COVID-19 plastic use and waste.•Minimising plastic waste during and after the pandemic.•Introduction and benefits of Plastic Waste Footprint.•Considering and reducing Environmental, including GHG, Footprints.
A
bstract
We reconsider a model introducing a scalar leptoquark
ϕ
∼ (
3
,
1
,
−1
/
3) to explain recent deviations from the standard model in semileptonic
B
decays. The leptoquark can accommodate the ...persistent tension in the decays
B
¯
→
D
∗
τ
ν
¯
as long as its mass is lower than approximately 10 TeV, and we show that a sizeable Yukawa coupling to the right-chiral tau lepton is necessary for an acceptable explanation. A characteristic prediction of this scenario is a value of
R
D
*
slightly smaller than the current world average. Agreement with the measured
B
¯
→
D
∗
τ
ν
¯
rates is mildly compromised for parameter choices addressing the tensions in
b
→
sμμ
, where the model can significantly reduce the discrepancies in angular observables, branching ratios and the lepton-flavor-universality observables
R
K
and
R
K
*
. The leptoquark can also reconcile the predicted and measured value of the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon and appears naturally in models of radiative neutrino mass derived from lepton-number violating effective operators. As a representative example, we incorporate the particle into an existing two-loop neutrino mass scenario derived from a dimension-nine operator. In this specific model, the structure of the neutrino mass matrix provides enough freedom to explain the small masses of the neutrinos in the region of parameter space dictated by agreement with the anomalies in
B
¯
→
D
∗
τ
ν
¯
, but not the
b
→
s
transition. This is achieved without excessive fine-tuning in the parameters important for neutrino mass.
In the absence of effective vaccine(s), control of African swine fever caused by African swine fever virus (ASFV) must be based on early, efficient, cost-effective detection and strict control and ...elimination strategies. For this purpose, we developed an indirect ELISA capable of detecting ASFV antibodies in either serum or oral fluid specimens. The recombinant protein used in the ELISA was selected by comparing the early serum antibody response of ASFV-infected pigs (NHV-p68 isolate) to three major recombinant polypeptides (p30, p54, p72) using a multiplex fluorescent microbead-based immunoassay (FMIA). Non-hazardous (non-infectious) antibody-positive serum for use as plate positive controls and for the calculation of sample-to-positive (S:P) ratios was produced by inoculating pigs with a replicon particle (RP) vaccine expressing the ASFV p30 gene. The optimized ELISA detected anti-p30 antibodies in serum and/or oral fluid samples from pigs inoculated with ASFV under experimental conditions beginning 8 to 12 days post inoculation. Tests on serum (n = 200) and oral fluid (n = 200) field samples from an ASFV-free population demonstrated that the assay was highly diagnostically specific. The convenience and diagnostic utility of oral fluid sampling combined with the flexibility to test either serum or oral fluid on the same platform suggests that this assay will be highly useful under the conditions for which OIE recommends ASFV antibody surveillance, i.e., in ASFV-endemic areas and for the detection of infections with ASFV isolates of low virulence.
A
bstract
Building UV completions of lepton-number-violating effective operators has proved to be a useful way of studying and classifying models of Majorana neutrino mass. In this paper we describe ...and implement an algorithm that systematises this model-building procedure. We use the algorithm to generate computational representations of all of the tree-level completions of the operators up to and including mass-dimension 11. Almost all of these correspond to models of radiative neutrino mass. Our work includes operators involving derivatives, updated estimates for the bounds on the new-physics scale associated with each operator, an analysis of various features of the models, and a look at some examples. We find that a number of operators do not admit any completions not also generating lower-dimensional operators or larger contributions to the neutrino mass, ruling them out as playing a dominant role in the neutrino-mass generation. Additionally, we show that there are at most five models containing three or fewer exotic multiplets that predict new physics that must lie below 100 TeV. Accompanying this work we also make available a searchable database containing all of our results and the code used to find the completions. We emphasise that our methods extend beyond the study of neutrino-mass models, and may be useful for generating completions of high-dimensional operators in other effective field theories. Example code: ref.
37
.
Biochar-based carbon management networks (CMNs) offer a means of achieving negative net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Such systems rely on relatively mature technologies for biochar production, ...distribution and application by tillage; thus, the prospects for near-term scale-up, especially in developing countries with agriculture-intensive economies, are promising. The main technological gap lies in the capability to predict, optimize and monitor the actual climate change mitigation benefits. Computer-aided planning of biochar-based CMNs will be needed to maximize GHG reductions while minimizing any potential adverse environmental impacts. Such models can help decision-makers to understand and optimize the cost/benefit aspects of such systems to accelerate their commercial deployment. This paper gives a brief review of the available scientific literature, and discusses prospective areas for further research to facilitate the large-scale use of biochar as a negative emissions technology (NET).
•Biochar application to soil is a potentially scalable negative emissions technology.•Biochar-based carbon management networks can be operated based on this concept.•Computer-aided planning, optimization and monitoring are required.•An integrated modelling framework should be developed for effective decision support.
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