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The base isolation method is increasingly used to the seismic protection of buildings due to its advantages over the conventional design. The paper presents a comparative study between two seismic isolation systems. The first system is composed of high damping rubber bearings and of linear fluid viscous dampers (HDRB+LFVD) and the second system is composed of triple-pendulum friction bearings (TPFB). The study shows that the displacements and base shear forces of the isolated structure, with the two isolation systems, have close values. With the isolation system composed of high damping rubber bearings and of linear fluid viscous dampers are recorded the minimum accelerations, both at the level of the isolation plane and at each level of the building. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The primary objective of the present study was to assess the feasibility and the safety of the Seaquence stent (CathNet-Science) deployment for the treatment of coronary artery disease and the event-free survival of patients treated with this coronary stent. The study was conducted as a multicenter, prospective, observational registry. Patients with stable or unstable angina pectoris who were candidates for percutaneous coronary intervention with elective stenting of one single de novo lesion in a native coronary artery > or =3 mm in diameter were included in the study. Clinical follow-up was performed at 1 month and 9 months. Major adverse coronary events (MACE), that is, cardiac death, myocardial infarction, and target vessel revascularization (re-PTCA or CABG), were recorded over a period of 9 months. Using this stent, a 99% in-hospital success rate was achieved. A total of 17 patients presented MACE (8.7%) during the whole follow-up period and target lesion revascularization was needed for 14 (7.1%) patients. Using multivariate analysis only some clinical parameters (patients treated for unstable angina, with a history of CABG or of female gender) were found as independent predictors of MACE after coronary stenting. Procedural related factors, angiographic characteristics, or reference diameter were not found to influence clinical outcome. Because the study was performed in patients with a high proportion of complex lesions (relative high-risk nonselected population with nearly one third calcified lesions, many long and type B2 and C lesions) we can conclude that the coronary Seaquence stent can be considered as a stent of reference in routine practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]