| 11. |
- Fabritz, Larissa, et al.
(författare)
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Dynamic risk assessment to improve quality of care in patients with atrial fibrillation : the 7th AFNET/EHRA Consensus Conference
- 2021
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Ingår i: Europace. - : Oxford University Press. - 1099-5129 .- 1532-2092. ; 23:3, s. 329-344
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- AimsThe risk of developing atrial fibrillation (AF) and its complications continues to increase, despite good progress in preventing AF-related strokes.Methods and resultsThis article summarizes the outcomes of the 7th Consensus Conference of the Atrial Fibrillation NETwork (AFNET) and the European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA) held in Lisbon in March 2019. Sixty-five international AF specialists met to present new data and find consensus on pressing issues in AF prevention, management and future research to improve care for patients with AF and prevent AF-related complications. This article is the main outcome of an interactive, iterative discussion between breakout specialist groups and the meeting plenary. AF patients have dynamic risk profiles requiring repeated assessment and risk-based therapy stratification to optimize quality of care. Interrogation of deeply phenotyped datasets with outcomes will lead to a better understanding of the cardiac and systemic effects of AF, interacting with comorbidities and predisposing factors, enabling stratified therapy. New proposals include an algorithm for the acute management of patients with AF and heart failure, a call for a refined, data-driven assessment of stroke risk, suggestions for anticoagulation use in special populations, and a call for rhythm control therapy selection based on risk of AF recurrence.ConclusionThe remaining morbidity and mortality in patients with AF needs better characterization. Likely drivers of the remaining AF-related problems are AF burden, potentially treatable by rhythm control therapy, and concomitant conditions, potentially treatable by treating these conditions. Identifying the drivers of AF-related complications holds promise for stratified therapy.
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| 12. |
- Freak-Poli, Rosanne, et al.
(författare)
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Loneliness, Not Social Support, Is Associated with Cognitive Decline and Dementia Across Two Longitudinal Population-Based Cohorts
- 2022
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Ingår i: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease. - 1387-2877 .- 1875-8908. ; 85:1, s. 295-308
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Poor social health is likely associated with cognitive decline and risk of dementia; however, studies show inconsistent results. Additionally, few studies separate social health components or control for mental health.Objective: To investigate whether loneliness and social support are independently associated with cognitive decline and risk of dementia, and whether depressive symptoms confound the association.Methods: We included 4,514 participants from the population-based Rotterdam Study (RS; aged 71 +/- 7SD years) followed up to 14 years (median 10.8, interquartile range 7.4-11.6), and 2,112 participants from the Swedish National Study on Aging and Care in Kungsholmen (SNAC-K; aged 72 +/- 10SD years) followed up to 10 years (mean 5.9 +/- 1.6SD). At baseline, participants were free of major depression and scored on the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) >= 26 for RS and >= 25 for SNAC-K. We investigated loneliness, perceived social support, and structural social support (specifically marital status and number of children). In both cohorts, dementia was diagnosed and cognitive function was repeatedly assessed with MMSE and a global cognitive factor (g-factor).Results: Loneliness was prospectively associated with a decline in the MMSE in both cohorts. Consistently, persons who were lonely had an increased risk of developing dementia (RS: HR 1.34, 95% CI 1.08-1.67; SNAC-K: HR 2.16, 95% CI 1.12-4.17). Adjustment for depressive symptoms and exclusion of the first 5 years of follow-up did not alter results. Neither perceived or structural social support was associated with cognitive decline or dementia risk.Conclusion: Loneliness, not social support, predicted cognitive decline and incident dementia independently of depressive symptoms.
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| 13. |
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| 14. |
- Lenart-Bugla, Marta, et al.
(författare)
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What Do We Know about Social and Non-Social Factors Influencing the Pathway from Cognitive Health to Dementia? A Systematic Review of Reviews
- 2022
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Ingår i: Brain Sciences. - : MDPI AG. - 2076-3425. ; 12:9
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- The heterogeneous and multi-factorial nature of dementia requires the consideration of all health aspects when predicting the risk of its development and planning strategies for its prevention. This systematic review of reviews provides a comprehensive synthesis of those factors associated with cognition in the context of dementia, identifying the role of social aspects and evidencing knowledge gaps in this area of research. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses from 2009–2021 were searched for within Medline, PsycINFO, CINAHL Complete, Cochrane, and Epistemonikos. Reviewers independently screened, reviewed, and assessed the records, following the PRISMA-2020 guidelines. From 314 included studies, 624 cognitive-related factors were identified, most of them risk factors (61.2%), mainly belonging to the group of ‘somatic comorbidities’ (cardiovascular disease and diabetes) and ‘genetic predispositions’. The protective factors (20%) were mainly related to lifestyle, pointing to the Mediterranean diet, regular physical activity, and cognitively stimulating activities. Social factors constituted 9.6% of all identified factors. Research on biological and medical factors dominates the reviewed literature. Greater social support and frequent contact may confer some protection against cognitive decline and dementia by delaying its onset or reducing the overall risk; however, overall, our findings are inconsistent. Further research is needed in the fields of lifestyle, psychology, social health, and the protective factors against cognitive decline and dementia.
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| 15. |
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| 16. |
- Pham, Tuan A., et al.
(författare)
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Density-Dependent Model of Soil–Water Characteristic Curves and Application in Predicting Unsaturated Soil–Structure Bearing Resistance
- 2023
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Ingår i: International Journal of Geomechanics. - : American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). - 1532-3641 .- 1943-5622. ; 23:4
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The effect of soil density on the soil–water characteristic curve (SWCC) is becoming a topic of universal interest due to the heterogeneity of soils and environmental variables. In this study, a simple and effective model based on the idea of translating the particle-size distribution curve to the SWCC is proposed for predicting SWCC change with initial density. There is only one new parameter introduced, and it is easily calibrated using two SWCCs obtained from test data. The SWCCs for the same soil at different initial void ratios can be estimated using the developed model. Several existing models are also thoroughly examined, with an emphasis on the advantages and disadvantages of each model. The validity of the proposed model was then verified by comparing it to three other models and experimental data for eight different types of soils. The proposed model also outperforms other existing models in this extensive study, providing good and consistent prediction performance across various soils. The proposed model is then applied to different engineering challenges involving the estimation of bearing resistance of unsaturated soils. Three typical examples chosen for illustration in this paper are the effect of soil density variation on unsaturated shear strength, bearing capacity of a shallow foundation, and ultimate bearing resistance of an energy pile. The findings of the investigation reveal that the proposed model can be utilized to solve a variety of problems involving soil–structure interaction in unsaturated soils.
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| 17. |
- Pham, Tuan A., et al.
(författare)
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Effect of temperature on the soil–water retention characteristics in unsaturated soils: Analytical and experimental approaches
- 2023
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Ingår i: Soils and Foundations. - : Elsevier BV. - 0038-0806 .- 2524-1788. ; 63:3, s. 101301-101301
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In unsaturated soil mechanics, the soil–water retention curve (SWRC) continues to play an important role, since it provides the necessary links between the properties and behaviour of unsaturated soils with a variety of engineering challenges. The temperature has been identified as the main factor influencing SWRC as compared to a variety of other parameters. The goal of this research is to describe theoretical and experimental aspects of the temperature effect on unsaturated soil water retention phenomena. Theoretically, a brief review of the constitutive laws governing the thermal-hydro-mechanical (THM) behaviour of unsaturated soils is presented, along with links between variations in suction with water content, temperature, and void ratio. It also provides a broad framework that would to be well adapted to describing many specific circumstances. Through a closed-form predictive relationship that is developed in this framework, the effect of temperature is examined. By using this relationship, the soil–water retention curve at arbitrary temperature could be determined from one at a reference temperature, therefore significantly decreasing the number of tests necessary to describe the thermo-hydro-mechanical behaviour of a soil. Besides, the SWRC of kaolinite clay was also measured at three different temperatures in an experimental program. The test findings reveal that when the temperature rises, the SWRC decreases significantly. The experimental results were then integrated with sixteen other available data sets covering a wide range of soil types, densities, and suction to create a complete verification program for analytical models. The proposed model has a good performance and reliability in forecasting the fluctuation of non-isothermal SWRC than any existing model, according to statistical assessment results. The analytical model can be used to examine the thermo-hydro-mechanical characteristics of unsaturated soils in numerical simulations.
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| 18. |
- Pham, Tuan A., et al.
(författare)
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Thermo-hydro-mechanical coupling model of elastic modulus characteristic curve for unsaturated soils
- 2023
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Ingår i: Computers and geotechnics. - : Elsevier BV. - 0266-352X .- 1873-7633. ; 162, s. 105704-105704
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The settlement has been reported to regularly be a fundamental factor in controlling the stability of geotechnical structures. Because the theory of elasto-plasticity is widely employed to predict the settlement, the elastic modulus is a vital parameter that is regularly utilized for theoretical calculation. Moreover, thermomechanical behaviour of unsaturated soils has recently received considerable attention because its importance in various energy geostructures applications, as well as in relation to climate change. This paper presents a coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical model of the elastic modulus characteristic curve (EMCC) that was developed based on the effective stress theories of unsaturated soils. The proposed model uses the soil–water characteristic curve (SWCC) and the modulus of elasticity under saturated conditions to predict the variation of modulus of elasticity with matric suction for unsaturated soils. The successful prediction performance of the proposed model is demonstrated by the comparison of measured and predicted outcomes for various published data sets in the literature related to different soil types. The proposed method was then used to present a parametric study considering the coupled impact of some important parameters on SWCC and EMCC. The analysis results indicated that the normalized elastic modulus rate increases with increasing matric suction, hydraulic conductivity, soil density, and with decreasing flow rates, temperatures, and normal stresses.
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| 19. |
- Pham, Tuan A., et al.
(författare)
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Validation, Reliability, and Performance of Shear Strength Models for Unsaturated Soils
- 2023
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Ingår i: Geotechnical and Geological Engineering. - : Springer Nature. - 0960-3182 .- 1573-1529. ; 41:7, s. 4271-4309
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Soil shear strength is the most fundamental property when designing structures in the ground and should be carefully assessed and understood. Several empirical models were introduced to predict the shear strength of unsaturated soils. However, there is uncertainty regarding the applicability and sensitivity of these prediction models. This paper presents a comprehensive verification study to assess the reliability and validity of the existing theoretical models. The results obtained from the prediction models are compared to measured data using thirty experimental data sets. A performance classification program is also conducted to assess the suitability of the analytical models for different soil types as well as over a wide range of matric suctions, saturation degrees, soil densities, soil plasticity, and clay activity. The impact of each single parameter is clarified by the microstructure studies, which also provides insight into the mechanics of unsaturated soils. The results indicated that the applicability of models is more appropriate for sandy soils rather than for clayey ones. The performance of shear strength models tends to decrease with an increase in matric suction, initial density, plasticity index, and clay activity. It is, therefore, recommended that the shear strength estimation models should be carefully selected depending on the soil type and properties. Besides, the analysed results pointed out that the choice to assume the factor ? in the equation of Bishop equals the saturation degree is only suitable for medium-dense soils with low matric suction. This assumption is particularly not effective for clayey soils, or dense soils with high matric suction.
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| 20. |
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