Abstract
Aims
This study aimed to examine the clinical benefits of targeted ablation of all Premature ventricular complex (PVC) morphologies vs. predominant PVC only.
Methods and results
A total of ...171 consecutive patients with reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and ≥2 PVC morphology with high burden (>10%/day) undergoing their first ablation procedure were included in the analysis. At the initial procedure, prevalent PVC alone was ablated in the majority. However, at the redo, all PVC morphologies were targeted for ablation. : At the first procedure, 152 (89%) patients received ablation of the dominant PVC only. In the remaining 19 (11%) patients, all PVC morphologies were ablated. At two years, high PVC burden was detected in 89 (52%) patients. Repeat procedure was performed in 78 of 89, where all PVC morphologies were ablated. At 5 years after the repeat procedure, 71 (91%) had PVC burden of <5% 3.8 ± 1.1% vs. 15.4 ± 4.3% in successful vs. failed subjects (P < 0.001). In patients with low PVC burden after the initial procedure, LVEF improved from 37.5% to 41.6% mean difference (MD): 3.39 ± 2.9%, P < 0.001, whereas a reduction in LVEF from 39.8% to 34.5% (MD: 6.45 ± 4.7%, P < 0.001) was recorded in patients with high PVC burden. One year after the repeat procedure, LVEF improved from 36.2% to 41.7% (MD: 5.5 ± 4.3%, P < 0.001) in patients with successful ablation.
Conclusion
In this observational series, ablation of all PVC morphologies was associated with significantly lower PVC burden and improvement of LVEF at long-term follow-up, compared with ablation of the dominant morphology only.
Graphical Abstract
Graphical Abstract
In this study, the electrical and dielectric characteristics of the Au/(RuO2:PVC)/n-Si structures were analyzed using the impedance spectroscopy method, including capacitance/conductance (C - G/ω) ...measurements in wide voltage and frequency ranges (±4 V, 5 kHz – 5 MHz) at room temperature. The main electrical parameters such as concentration of donor atoms (ND), diffusion potential (VD), depletion layer thickness (WD), Fermi energy level (EF), barrier height (ΦB), and maximum electric field (Em) were extracted for each measured frequency. The ΦB, WD, and EF values are increasing with increased frequency, while ND and Em exponentially decrease. The surface-states (NSS) were evaluated using the low–high-frequency capacitance technique. Furthermore, the basic dielectric parameters such as tangent-loss (tan δ), electrical conductivity (σac), real and imaginary parts of ε*, electric-modulus (M*), and complex impedance (Z*) were investigated. The obtained results indicate that the NSS, and RuO2:PVC organic interlayer are more effective on C and G/ω measurements.
•In order to improve the electric and dielectric behavior of Ag/n-Si (MS) structure (RuO2-doped PVC) interlayer was grown by electrospinning technique between Ag and n-Si.•To illustrate the electric/dielectric behavior of the “RuO2-PVC” interface layer, the frequency-dependent Capacitance-Voltage (C-V) and frequency-dependent Conductance-Voltage (G/ω-V) characteristics of Ag/ RuO2-doped PVC /n-Si (MPS) structures were done.•The main electric/dielectric parameters of the fabricated Au/(PVC:RuO2)/n-Si structures such as concentration of donor atoms (ND), diffusion potential (VD), depletion layer thickness (WD), Fermi energy level (EF), barrier height (ΦB), maximum electric field (Em), surface-states (NSS), tangent-loss (tan δ), electrical conductivity (σac), real and imaginary parts of the dielectric constant (ε*), electric-modulus (M*), and complex impedance (Z*) were investigated using both C-V-f and G/ω-V-f characteristics.
Investigating microplastics (MPs) in groundwater suffers from problems already faced by surface water research, such as the absence of common protocols for sampling and analysis. While the use of ...plastic instruments during the collection, processing, and analysis of water samples is usually avoided in order to minimize unintentional contamination, groundwater research encompassing MPs faces unique challenges. Groundwater sampling typically relies on pre-existing monitoring wells (MWs) and water wells (WWs) that are often constructed with polyvinyl chloride (PVC) casings or pipes due to their favorable price-performance ratio. Despite the convenience, however, the suitability of PVC casings for MP research is questionable. Unfortunately, the specifics of these wells are often not detailed in published studies. Current literature does not indicate significant pollution risks from PVC casings, suggesting these wells might still be viable for MP studies. Our preliminary analysis of the existing literature indicates that if PVC exceeds 6 % of the total MP concentration, it is likely that casings and pipes made of PVC are a source of pollution. Above this threshold, additional investigations in MWs and WWs with PVC casings and pipes are suggested.
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•A strict correlation between PVC fragments and PVC well casings is not observed.•Specific information on groundwater well construction is essential for MP research.•Water wells with PVC casings can be included in MP analyses.•Pollution sources should be investigated if PVC exceeds 6 % of the total MPs.
This study investigates the eco-friendly extraction of metal oxides from LCO and NMC batteries using supercritical water. Experiments were conducted at 450 °C with a feed rate of 5 mL min−1 and ...varying battery/PVC ratios (0.0, 2.0, and 3.0). The products were analyzed by X-ray diffractometry (XRD), atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Results show the presence of cobalt chloride (CoCl2) and lithium (Li) in the liquid products, achieving 100% cobalt recovery under all conditions. The gaseous products obtained hydrogen with molar compositions up to 78.3% and 82.7% for LCO:PVC and NMC:PVC batteries, respectively, after 60 min of reaction. These findings highlight the potential of this methodology for lithium-ion battery recycling.
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•Batteries treated with supercritical water yield solid, liquid and gaseous products.•Cobalt chloride (CoCl2) and Lithium (Li) identified in the liquid products.•100% recovery rate for cobalt in LCO-type batteries with and without the use of PVC.•Concentrations lower than 10 ppm for phenol and o-cresol in the reaction effluent.
Investigations of the pyrolysis of poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) in the presence of copper metal (Cu), copper(II) oxide (CuO) and copper(II) chloride (CuCl
2) are of potential importance because of the ...likelihood of the formation of these copper compounds during the thermal degradation of PVC-coated copper wires, a step in the recovery of copper from waste. The presence of Cu, CuO and CuCl
2 (i) retards the thermal degradation of PVC in air and in nitrogen and (ii) decreases the percentages of volatile products produced at both stages of the decomposition. These effects are greatest for PVC–CuO. The presence of copper, CuO or CuCl
2 in PVC has a major effect on the nature of the gaseous emissions of the thermal decomposition in air and in nitrogen. The concentrations of total chlorine, aliphatic hydrocarbons, aromatic hydrocarbons, chlorinated hydrocarbons and soot particulates are all affected relative to an equivalent amount of PVC. These changes are greatest for the PVC–CuO system for which total chlorine emissions in air and nitrogen are reduced by 40% in air and 20% in nitrogen, benzene emissions are reduced by greater than 90% in air and nitrogen, other aromatic and chloroaromatic emissions are reduced, and soot particulate emissions are reduced by more than 50% as the concentrations of aliphatic compounds are increased. These changes are consistent with the presence of copper or its compounds permitting more efficient combustion of the carbon content of the PVC and particularly in the case of PVC–CuO with the removal of chlorine during pyrolysis in the inorganic phase.
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•Pyrolysis pretreatment of PVC/tire was proposed before co-combustion with coal.•Pyrolysis pretreatment improved the fuel properties of PVC/tire.•Pyrolysis pretreatment enhanced the ...co-combustion performance of coal and PVC/tire.•Synergistic effects between coal and PVC/tire char occurred during co-combustion.
Co-combustion of coal and municipal solid waste (MSW) is an effective method to utilize MSW and reduce CO2 emission from coal-fired power plant. However, several undesired properties of MSW (such as poor homogeneity, poor grindability, high moisture content, high chlorine content) limits the extensive application of co-combustion technology. In this study, the low-temperature pyrolysis pretreatment of typical MSW (PVC/tire) was innovatively proposed before co-combustion with coal. The H/C atomic ratio of PVC char and tire char was similar to common sub-bituminous coal and bituminous coal. After pyrolysis, large amounts of chlorine and sulfur were eliminated from PVC and tire. The graphitized structure of PVC was formed whereas the graphitized structure of tire was weakened. The ignitability, burnout characteristics and combustion reactivity of coal were improved after the addition of PVC, tire, PVC char and tire char. The comprehensive combustion characteristic index of various mixtures was also increased after pyrolysis. The highest comprehensive combustion characteristic indexes of PVC char and tire char were obtained at 325 °C and 350 °C, respectively. Obvious synergistic effects among the individual components were observed during co-combustion. The activation energy of coal was greatly decreased after the addition of PVC, tire, PVC char and tire char.
The Front Cover illustrates a concept to switch the raw material basis for plasticizer production from fossil to bio‐based feedstocks. The bicyclic plasticizers, which were synthesized as target ...molecules, are accessible from bio‐based 2‐methylfuran, maleic anhydride and 2‐ethylhexanol. Evaluating the performance of this new bio‐based plasticizer generation revealed promising plasticizing properties. More information can be found in the Full Paper by R. Otter, A. Liese, H. Gröger et al.
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•A novel soft planar PVC gel actuator (PPGA) using PVC gel and flexible electrodes is proposed.•The proposed PPGA demonstrated performances at low voltage (<120V) that are comparable ...to those ofbiological muscle.•The strain and stress are increased by more than 3 times and 6 times respectively, with respect to the traditional stainless electrodes-based multilayered PVC gel actuator.•The PPGA is compared with the typical planar dielectric elastomer actuator (DEA) both in experiment and theory.•The operating voltage and response time are reduced by one order of magnitude with respect to the typical DEA.
In this work, a novel planar actuator based on plasticized poly (vinyl chloride) gel and flexible silicone grease electrodes is proposed to realize a new soft actuator with high performance under low driving voltages. The proposed planar PVC gel actuator (PPGA) can demonstrate a strain of 21%, an output stress of over 0.6 MPa and a respond time of about 90 ms, only at a low driving voltage of 120 V. These performances are comparable to those of the biological muscle and are much better as compared to 10–12% strain and 0.09 MPa stress at 400 V for the traditional stainless electrodes-based multilayered PVC gel actuator (MPGA). In addition, compared to the typical planar dielectric elastomer actuator (DEA) (3 M VHB4905), the operating voltage and response time for the PPGA are reduced by one order of magnitude. A theoretical model is used to discuss the difference between the two types of actuators, finding a good agreement with the experimental results. Furthermore, the PPGA can be continuously actuated for more than 1 million times which shows a good durability. These results demonstrate the feasibility of PPGA as a soft actuator, so a wide application is expected.
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•The different UV irradiations played a crucial role in aging of PVC.•The physicochemical properties of PVC were characterized after photo-aging.•The efficiency of photo-aging under ...UVC irradiation was greater than UVA and UVB.•The intensity of ROS increased with the aging time, accelerating the photo-aging of PVC.•The toxicity from leaching under UVC irradiation was the largest.
Microplastics (MPs) pollution is becoming a global environmental problem due to the ubiquity. Knowledge about transformation process of MPs under ultraviolet (UV) irradiation was critical to understanding the environmental fate of these particles. In this study, the photo-aging characteristics and mechanisms of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) under different UV irradiations in the air or water condition were comprehensively investigated. When the PVC was exposed to the UVA, UVB and UVC irradiation, the surface morphology, functional group, crystal structure, and elemental composition of PVC were systematically characterized. With the increasing of aging time, the PVC was identified as more oxygen-containing functional groups, higher carbonyl index, and higher crystallinity, especially under the UVC irradiation. Based on the Two-dimensional correlation Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (2D-FTIR-COS), the active sites and aging sequence of functional groups were confirmed under UVA, UVB and UVC irradiation. The reactive oxygen species (ROS) were produced and increased with the aging time as the whole. Corresponding to the aging results, the intensity of ROS and toxicity from leaching under UVC irradiation was greater than that under UVA or UVB. These findings provide direct evidences of photo-aging processes of MPs and the potential ecological risks resulting from aging in the aquatic environments.
Industrially-viable nonmigratory internal plasticization of poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) is achieved by synthesis of the block copolymer poly(vinyl chloride)-b-poly(n-butyl acrylate)-b-poly(vinyl ...chloride) (PVC-b-PBA-b-PVC) by aqueous single electron transfer degenerative chain transfer living radical polymerization (SET-DTLRP). The introduction of a temperature step (42 °C to 80 °C) in the synthesis of PVC-b-PBA-b-PVC block copolymers from PBA macroinitiators resulted in materials with better overall performance than the commercial flexible PVC. The resulting copolymers were fully characterized by 1H NMR, SEC, SEM, TGA, DSC and DMTA to determine the composition, molecular weight, dispersity, morphology, thermal and mechanical properties, and compared with those of commercial formulations prepared with PVC and dioctyladipate (DOA). Most importantly, the plasticizing moieties of the PVC-b-PBA-b-PVC block copolymers are covalently bonded to the polymer, resulting in no migration upon extraction under conditions where DOA is readily extractable. Unlike commercial materials, the PVC-b-PBA-b-PVC block copolymers showed that the properties remain intact after extraction with n-hexane.
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•The industrially-viable new strategy is proposed in the synthesis of PVC-b-PBA-b-PVC block copolymers by aqueous SET-DTLRP.•PVC-b-PBA-b-PVC block copolymers result in better overall performance materials than the commercial flexible PVC.•Nonmigratory internal plasticization PVC is achieved and proved without loss of PVC-b-PBA-b-PVC properties with migration resistance.
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