Search results for "hazard"

Green biocides, a promising technology: current and future applications to industry and industrial processes

2013

The study of biofilms has skyrocketed in recent years due to increased awareness of the pervasiveness and impact of biofilms. It costs the USA literally billions of dollars every year in energy losses, equipment damage, product contamination and medical infections. But biofilms also offer huge potential for cleaning up hazardous waste sites, filtering municipal and industrial water and wastewater, and forming biobarriers to protect soil and groundwater from contamination. The complexity of biofilm activity and behavior requires research contributions from many disciplines such as biochemistry, engineering, mathematics and microbiology. The aim of this review is to provide a comprehensive an…

Sustainable Management Of Natural Resources And Natural Hazards Related Problems

2013

Effects of a Mediterranean Eating Plan on the Need for Glucose-Lowering Medications in Participants With Type 2 Diabetes: A Subgroup Analysis of the …

2019

OBJECTIVE: To examine the effects of two Mediterranean eating plans (Med-EatPlans) versus a low-fat eating plan on the need for glucose-lowering medications. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: From the Prevención con Dieta Mediterránea (PREDIMED) trial, we selected 3,230 participants with type 2 diabetes at baseline. These participants were randomly assigned to one of three eating plans: Med-EatPlan supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO), Med-EatPlan supplemented with mixed nuts, or a low-fat eating plan (control). In a subgroup (15%), the allocation was done in small clusters instead of using individual randomization, and the clustering effect was taken into account in the statistical a…

Diabetes known or newly detected, but not impaired glucose regulation, has a negative influence on 1-year outcome in patients with coronary artery di…

2006

Aims: Although diabetes is known to be a major contributor to cardiovascular diseases, as well as an independent predictor for adverse outcomes in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD), information on the prognosis of patients with CAD and newly diagnosed diabetes or impaired glucose regulation (IGR) is scarce. The objective of this study was to explore 1-year outcome in relation to different glucometabolic states of patients participating in the Euro Heart Survey on diabetes and the heart. Methods and results: In 4676 out of 4961 patients, information on the relation between 1-year outcome and glucometabolic state, which was based on oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) or fasting gluc…

Insulin resistance and atrial fibrillation (from the Framingham Heart Study)

2011

Diabetes mellitus and obesity are increasing in prevalence and are associated with an elevated risk of atrial fibrillation (AF). Given the aging of the United States population, AF is projected to concomitantly increase in prevalence in the upcoming decades. Both diabetes and obesity are associated with insulin resistance. Whether insulin resistance is an intermediate step for the development of AF is uncertain. We hypothesized that insulin resistance is associated with an increased risk of incident AF. We examined the association of insulin resistance with incident AF using multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression analysis adjusting for the established AF risk factors (i.e., age, g…

Tsunami Vulnerability Evaluation for a Small Ancient Village on Eastern Sicily Coast

2022

The Ionian sea is prone to tsunamis due to its proximity to the Calabrian subduction zone, which is one of the major tsunamigenic areas of the Mediterranean. The tsunami disaster risk is, nowadays, significantly higher due to the increased exposure of buildings as a result of the economic and touristic growth of the Mediterranean coastal areas. This study focuses on Marzamemi, a small village in the western coast of Sicily, since its morphology and human presence amplify the need to assess its buildings’ vulnerability. The main objective of this research is to quantify the building vulnerability to tsunami hazards using a physical and realistic tsunami scenario. For this purpose, the relati…

Sinkholes risk analysis: case history of Marsala (Sicily, Italy)

2006

Given the increasing phenomenon of Sinkholes all over Italy, the Gruppo Nazionale per la Difesa dalle Catastrofi Idrogeologiche (G.N.D.C.I) and the Dipartimento della Protezione Civile (D.P.C.), during 2004, started a plan called Sinkholes dedicated to the phenomena in Italy. The plan provides the publication of the database realized by the D.P.C. by means of the census of beyond 1000 cases scattered across the nation. The city of Marsala is strongly characterized by the presence of a great number of Calcarenite cavities. The material object of extraction is the Calcarenite di Marsala of the Pleistocene, frequently used in the construction of buildings. The presence of the underground cavit…

Procalcitonin and long-term prognosis after an admission for acute heart failure

2014

Abstract Background Traditionally, procalcitonin (PCT) is considered a diagnostic marker of bacterial infections. However, slightly elevated levels of PCT have also been found in patients with heart failure. In this context, it has been suggested that PCT may serve as a proxy for underrecognized infection, endotoxemia, or heightened proinflammatory activity. Nevertheless, the clinical utility of PCT in this setting is scarce. We aimed to evaluate the association between PCT and the risk of long-term outcomes. Methods and results We measured at admission PCT of 261 consecutive patients admitted for acute heart failure (AHF) after excluding active infection. Cox and negative binomial regressi…

Assessing the carcinogenic potential of low-dose exposures to chemical mixtures in the environment: the challenge ahead

2015

Goodson, William H. et al.

The impact of oophorectomy on survival from breast cancer in patients with CHEK2 mutations

2022

BACKGROUND: To estimate the impact of oophorectomy and other treatments on the survival of breast cancer patients with a CHEK2 mutation. METHODS: Women with Stage I–III breast cancer who were treated at 17 hospitals in Poland were tested for four founder mutations in the CHEK2 gene. 974 women (10%) were positive for a CHEK2 mutation. Control patients without a CHEK2 mutation were selected from a database of patients treated over the same time period. Information on treatments received and distant recurrences were retrieved from medical records. Treatments included chemotherapy, hormonal therapy (tamoxifen) and radiation therapy. Oophorectomies were performed for the treatment of breast canc…