Impact of Direct Oral Anticoagulants Versus Vitamin K Antagonists on Quality of Life: A Cross-Sectional Study Using PACT-Q2 and EQ-5D-3L Questionnaires in Algerian Patients

Background. Vitamin K antagonists (VKAs) and direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) are both effective in preventing thromboembolic events; however, they differ in terms of treatment burden, which may influence patients’ quality of life (QoL). This study aimed to assess and compare treatment satisfaction and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among Algerian patients treated with DOACs versus VKAs. Methods. A cross-sectional study was conducted in Algiers between February and May 2024, including 63 adult patients receiving either VKAs or DOACs. Patient-reported outcomes were assessed using two validated instruments: the Perception of Anticoagulant Treatment Questionnaire (PACT-Q2) to evaluate treatment satisfaction and the EQ-5D3L to measure HRQoL. An additional exploratory question assessing the perceived overall impact of treatment on QoL was analyzed and crosstabulated with EQ-5D outcomes. Results. Patients treated with DOACs reported significantly higher treatment satisfaction and utility scores compared to those on VKAs. The mean PACT-Q2 score was 1.3 in the DOAC group versus 4.52 in the VKA group, indicating a lower perceived treatment burden with DOACs. The average EQ-5D-3L utility score was 0.57 in the DOAC group and 0.50 in the VKA group. Patients who transitioned from VKAs to DOACs demonstrated improved HRQoL (utility score increased from 0.44 to 0.53), whereas those who switched from DOACs to VKAs experienced a decline (from 0.47 to 0.43). Lower HRQoL was associated with greater anxiety, discomfort, and limitations in usual activities. Conclusion. In realworld Algerian settings, DOACs are associated with higher treatment satisfaction and better HRQoL compared to VKAs. These findings support the integration of patient-centered criteria into anticoagulant selection, particularly in resource-constrained environments

Energetic Valorization of Biomethane Produced from Cow-Dung

AbstractThe anaerobic digestion offers an advantageous alternative to landfilling, incineration and composting since it is considered as the most appropriate treatment solution. Indeed, the biogas naturally produced by the fermentation of organic waste into anaerobic digesters, contains between 40 and 60% of methane, which gives it fuel character and its valorisation allows energy conservation while protecting the environment by reducing the greenhouse gases emission. This process corresponds perfectly to the policy of sustainable development. The objective of this paper is to popularize the technique of organic waste biomethanisation or anaerobic digestion in order to produce renewable energy and cleaner environment through the exploitation of research results. In this work, we used as support the experimental results obtained in the laboratory. The mesophilic anaerobic digestion of cowdung, into an experimental digester of 800 liters capacity, has produced 26.478 m3 of biogas for 77 days with an average optimal composition of 61% in methane and energy equivalent to 592.8MJ (164.5 kWh). These results are hopeful for the use of cattle wastes mass available in Algeria, or even household wastes

Experimental study and artificial neural network modeling of tartrazine removal by photocatalytic process under solar light

This research focuses on the application of an artificial neural network (ANN) to predict the removal efficiency of tartrazine from simulated wastewater using a photocatalytic process under solar illumination. A program is developed in Matlab software to optimize the neural network architecture and select the suitable combination of training algorithm, activation function and hidden neurons number. The experimental results of a batch reactor operated under different conditions of pH, TiO2 concentration, initial organic pollutant concentration and solar radiation intensity are used to train, validate and test the networks. While negligible mineralization is demonstrated, the experimental results show that under sunlight irradiation, 85% of tartrazine is removed after 300 min using only 0.3 g/L of TiO2 powder. Therefore, irradiation time is prolonged and almost 66% of total organic carbon is reduced after 15 hours. ANN 5-8-1 with Bayesian regulation back-propagation algorithm and hyperbolic tangent sigmoid transfer function is found to be able to predict the response with high accuracy. In addition, the connection weights approach is used to assess the importance contribution of each input variable on the ANN model response. Among the five experimental parameters, the irradiation time has the greatest effect on the removal efficiency of tartrazine.</jats:p

Solar Energy for the Benefit of Water Treatment: Solar Photoreactor

AbstractIn the field of the purification of wastewater the solar photocatalysis offers an interesting alternative. A process that uses luminous solar radiations to initiate chemical reactions which resists the attack and the destruction of the organic pollutants and the pathogenic agents. These characteristics allow the solar photocatalysis to be indispensable like an alternative technology for cleaning up as well as the disinfection of wastewater and integrates it in the concept of the durable development. Preliminary test results showed that the solar photocatalytic treatment of linuron gave a removal rate of 70% for more than 300minutes