University of Patras

About: University of Patras is a education organization based out in Pátrai, Greece. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Catalysis. The organization has 13372 authors who have published 31263 publications receiving 677159 citations. The organization is also known as: Panepistímio Patrón.

Soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR) as an early predictor of severe respiratory failure in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia.

Abstract: As of April 1, 2020, 885,689 cases of infections by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) have been recorded worldwide; 44,217 of them have died (https:// www.worldometers.info/coronavirus). At the beginning of the illness, patients may experience low-degree fever or flu-like symptoms, but suddenly, severe respiratory failure (SRF) emerges [1]. Increased circulating levels of D-dimers [1, 2] suggest endothelial activation. Urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR) that is bound on the endothelium may be cleaved early during the disease course leading to an increase of its soluble counterpart, namely suPAR [3]. If this holds true, then suPAR may be used as an early predictor of the risk of SRF. The Hellenic Sepsis Study Group (HSSG, www.sepsis. gr) is collecting clinical information and serum samples within the first 24 h of admission from patients with infections and at least two signs of the systemic inflammatory response syndrome. Since March 1, 2020, 57 patients with community-acquired pneumonia and molecular documentation of SARS-CoV-2 in respiratory secretions were enrolled. Patients were followed up daily for 14 days; the development of SRF defined as PO2/FiO2 ratio less than 150 requiring mechanical ventilation (MV) or continuous positive airway pressure treatment (CPAP) was recorded. suPAR was measured by an enzyme immunoassay in duplicate (suPARnosticTM, ViroGates, Lyngby, Denmark); the lower detection limit was 1.1 ng/ml. Measurements were performed and reported by one technician who was blinded to clinical information. The study endpoint was the prognostic performance of suPAR admission levels for the development of SRF within 14 days. Measured levels were compared to those collected from 15 patients with COVID-19 from the emergency department (ED) of Rush University Medical Center. Thirty-four (59.6%) patients were male and 23 (40.1%) female; the mean ± SD age was 64.0 ± 10.3 years, and the Charlson’s comorbidity index was 2.70 ± 1.80. The mean ± SD admission total neutrophil count was 4414.1 ± 2526.5/ mm; the total lymphocyte count was 1149.1 ± 1131.4/ mm; the C-reactive protein was 73.1 ± 76.4mg/l. Admission levels of suPAR were significantly greater among patients who eventually developed SRF (Fig. 1a). Circulating levels of suPAR were of the same range as those of the US cohort (Fig. 1b). Receiver operator characteristics curve analysis identified levels ≥ 6 ng/ml as the best predictor for SRF. At that cutoff point, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value for the prediction of SRF was 85.7%, 91.7%, 85.7%, and 91.7%, respectively. The time to SRF was much shorter among patients with suPAR ≥ 6 ng/ml (Fig. 1c). The only admission

A Family of 3D Coordination Polymers Composed of Mn19 Magnetic Units

Abstract: The current intense interest in polynuclear clusters stems not only from their aesthetically pleasing structures, magnetic interactions, and magnetostructural correlations, but also from the discovery that some function as nanoscale magnetic particles, or single-molecule magnets (SMMs). Below their blocking temperature (TB), such molecules behave as magnets and exhibit hysteresis in scans of magnetization versus dc field. This behavior results from the combination of a large ground spin state (S) with a large and negative (easy-axis type) magnetoanisotropy. SMMs have several potential applications, including high-density information storage, in which each bit of information is stored as the magnetization orientation of an individual molecule, and quantum computation, in which the molecules can serve as qubits. Although there are many known species displaying SMM behavior, most of which are manganese–carboxylate complexes, there is a continuing need for new SMMs. One of the most successful synthetic approaches to new polynuclear clusters involves the use of chelating ligands containing alkoxide functions, since these are good bridging groups and, thus, favor the formation of polynuclear products. Recently, we have been investigating the use of 1,3propanediol (H2pd) and 2-methyl-1,3-propanediol (H2mpd) in manganese–carboxylate chemistry. Herein, we report the syntheses, crystal structures, and magnetic properties of two new 3D coordination polymers based on [Mn19Na(m4-O)9(m3-

Equivalent viscous damping for modeling inelastic impacts in earthquake pounding problems

Abstract: In studies of earthquake-induced pounding between adjacent structures, spring-dashpot elements are often used to simulate the impacts. In this brief paper an equation is derived expressing the dashpot constant as a function of the coefficient of restitution, in terms of which inelastic impacts of colliding simple bodies have usually been described.