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Environmental toxic pollutants and pathogens that enter the ecosystem are major global issues. Detection of these toxic chemicals/pollutants and the diagnosis of a disease is a first step in efficiently controlling their contamination and spread, respectively. Various analytical techniques are available to detect and determine toxic chemicals/pathogens, including liquid chromatography, HPLC, mass spectroscopy, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. However, these sensing strategies have some drawbacks such as tedious sample pretreatment and preparation, the requirement for skilled technicians, and dependence on large laboratory-based instruments. Alternatively, biosensors, especially paper-based sensors, could be used extensively and are a cost-effective alternative to conventional laboratory testing. They can improve accessibility to testing to identify chemicals and pollutants, especially in developing countries. Due to its low cost, abundance, easy disposal (by incineration, for example) and biocompatible nature, paper is considered a versatile material for the development of environmentally friendly electrochemical/optical (bio) sensor devices. This review presents an overview of sensing platforms constructed from paper, pointing out the main merits and demerits of paper-based sensing systems, their fabrication techniques, and the different optical/electrochemical detection techniques that they exploit.

Many countries are facing an aging population. As people live longer, surgeons face the prospect of operating on increasingly older patients. Traditional teaching is that with older age, these patients face an increased risk of mortality and morbidity, even to a level deemed too prohibitive for surgery. However, this is not always true. An active 90-year-old patient can be much fitter than an overweight, sedentary 65-year-old patient with comorbidities. Recent literature shows that frailty-an age-related cumulative decline in multiple physiological systems, is therefore a better predictor of mortality and morbidity than chronological age alone. Despite recognition of frailty as an important tool in identifying vulnerable surgical patients, many surgeons still shun objective tools. The aim of this position paper was to perform a review of the existing literature and to provide recommendations on emergency laparotomy and in frail patients. This position paper was reviewed by an international expert panel composed of 37 experts who were asked to critically revise the manuscript and position statements. The position paper was conducted according to the WSES methodology. We shall present the derived statements upon which a consensus was reached, specifying the quality of the supporting evidence and suggesting future research directions.

The INDDEX24 Dietary Assessment Platform (INDDEX24) was developed to facilitate the collection of 24-h dietary recall (24HR) data. Alongside validation studies in Viet Nam and Burkina Faso in 2019-2020, we conducted activity-based costing studies to estimate the cost of conducting a 24HR among women of reproductive age using INDDEX24 compared with the pen-and-paper interview (PAPI) approach. We also modelled alternative scenarios in which: (1) 25-75 % of dietary reference data were borrowed from the INDDEX24 Global Food Matters Database (FMDB); (2) all study personnel were locally based and (3) national-scale surveys. In the primary analysis, in Viet Nam, the 24HR cost US $111 004 ($755/respondent, n 147) using INDDEX24 and $120 483 ($820/respondent, n 147) using PAPI. In Burkina Faso, the 24HR cost $78 105 ($539/respondent, n 145) using INDDEX24 and $79 465 ($544/respondent, n 146) using PAPI. In modelled scenarios, borrowing dietary reference data from the FMDB decreased the cost of INDDEX24 by 17-34 % (Viet Nam) and 5-15 % (Burkina Faso). With all locally based personnel, INDDEX24 cost more than PAPI ($498 v. $448 per respondent in Viet Nam and $456 v. $410 in Burkina Faso). However, at national scales (n 4376, Viet Nam; n 6500, Burkina Faso) using all locally based personnel, INDDEX24 was more cost-efficient ($109 v. $137 per respondent in Viet Nam and $123 v. $148 in Burkina Faso). In two countries and under most circumstances, INDDEX24 was less expensive than PAPI. Higher INDDEX24 survey preparation costs (including purchasing equipment) were more than offset by higher PAPI data entry, cleaning and processing costs. INDDEX24 may facilitate cost-efficient dietary data collection.

Illegal: the Theater of the Angel Island Immigration Station’s Paper Sons | Skyler Chin, Jeffrey Lo, and Sita Sunil (Fall 2022 Speaker Series)Lecture, 73 minutes; Part of the Fall 2022 Speaker Series (Landscapes of Migration, Incarceration and Resistance)Click the title and scroll to the gray box below to access the video.Recording of presentation at @BAMPFA Osher Theater; free and open to the public Friday, October 21, 2022Speakers: Skyler Chin and Sita Sunil, Playwrights of Illegal; Jeffrey Lo, Director of The Paper Dreams of Harry Chin, PlaywrightOne island, two plays: Skyler Chin and Sita Sunil will discuss their new musical Illegal with Filipino-American playwright Jeffrey Lo, who recently directed The Paper Dreams of Harry Chin, which like Illegal dramatizes the family traumas created by racially exclusionary policies carried out at Angel Island. Skyler Chin was inspired to co-write Illegal by his own ancestors’ experiences at Angel Island, and Sita Sunil’s work as an artist is also shaped by her family’s history of immigration. In addition to his directing work, Jeffrey Lo’s playwriting often deals with issues of Asian American identity. This will be a stimulating conversation across generations and genres.UC @Berkeley Arts + Design Fridays: Landscapes of Migration, Incarceration, and Resistance is a lively series of talks by artists, performers, scholars, and activists exploring themes of global and US migration, exclusion, and belonging. It is also a UC Berkeley course offered as Humanities 20: Explorations of Art + Design. Organized by Susan Moffat, Creative Director of Future Histories Lab and Executive Director of the Global Urban Humanities Initiative and by Lisa Wymore, Professor of Theater, Dance and Performance Studies and Faculty Advisor of Berkeley Arts + Design. Hosted by Susan Moffat.--This speaker series is part of a program of music and dance performances, exhibitions, public conversations, and courses called A Year on Angel

Enhanced perioperative care protocols become the standard of care in elective surgery with a significant improvement in patients outcome. The key element of the enhanced perioperative care protocol is the multimodal and interdisciplinary approach targeted to the patient, focused on a holistic approach to reduce surgical stress and improve perioperative recovery. Enhanced perioperative care in emergency general surgery is still a debated topic with little evidence available. The present position paper illustrates the existing evidence about perioperative care in emergency surgery patients with a focus on each perioperative intervention in the preoperative, intraoperative and postoperative phase. For each item was proposed and approved a statement by the WSES collaborative group.

Women's health care has evolved significantly since it was first acknowledged as an integral part of internal medicine training more than two decades ago. To update and clarify core competencies in sex- and gender-based women's health for general internists, the Society of General Internal Medicine (SGIM) Women and Medicine Commission prepared the following Position Paper, approved by the SGIM council in 2023. Competencies were developed using several sources, including the 2021 Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education Program Requirements for Internal Medicine and the 2023 American Board of Internal Medicine Certification Examination Blueprint. These competencies are relevant to the care of patients who identify as women, as well as gender-diverse individuals to whom these principles apply. They align with pivotal advances in women's health and acknowledge the changing context of patients' lives, reaffirming the role of general internal medicine physicians in providing comprehensive care to women.

One-pot syntheses and in situ ultrasonication have been optimized to generate tunable and highly hydrophobic 2,7-octadienyl-ether (ODE) cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs). Using only butadiene sulfone to serve as dual reaction medium and precursor to 1,3-butadiene (1,3-BD) for telomerization with cellulose hydroxyls, the OH-to-ODE conversion significantly improved from ca. 0.7 to 1.2, 1.8, 3.1, and 4.1 mmol of ODE/g-cellulose at 103-110 °C for 1-2 h. Ultrasonication was highly effective and versatile in the direct disintegration of ODE-cellulose (ODE-cell) in nonpolar organic solvents and plant oils into ODE-CNFs as well as pretreating cellulose for improved functionalization. Mixing 2 wt % in situ ultrasonicated 1.2 mmol of ODE/g-cell improved the modulus of polybutadiene six times and the strength of poly(styrene-b-isoprene-b-styrene) three times, whereas in situ ultrasonication of 1.8 mmol/g-cell directly with linseed oil at merely 0.07 wt % created holistic biobased hydrophobic cellulose paper to resist water penetration while also significantly improving the tensile strength. This optimized telomerization and streamlined in situ ultrasonication approach has presented a sustainable synthesis and processing strategy to generate highly hydrocarbon-compatible nanocelluloses previously unattainable.

Industrial process heat decarbonization through electrification could contribute significantly to climate change mitigation efforts. In the US industry, thermal processes accounted for more than two-thirds of the total final energy demand in 2021. Cross-cutting electrification technologies like industrial heat pumps are suitable for the process heat supply to several industrial unit operations in a sustainable way while also improving overall energy efficiency. This study employs a bottom-up approach to investigate the techno-enviro-economic potentials of deploying high-temperature and steam-generating heat pumps in US textile, pulp and paper, and automotive sectors in different timeframes. The results show that the annual technical potential energy and CO2 savings by electrifying heat supply are 310 PJ (or 36% of the projected energy demand) and 28 MtCO2 (or 71% of the projected CO2 emissions) in 2050 respectively, however, these incur additional costs in each sector (ranging between 5 and 18 $/GJ). The required heating capacity of industrial heat pumps is estimated at 15 GW, which translates roughly into a market of over 6000 heat pump units and an investment volume of $7 billion in the studied processes. Although there may be individual cost-effective opportunities for electrifying heat supply in specific industrial sites, the overall costs are estimated to be high in the three industrial sectors due to the large disparity between electricity and natural gas prices and low heat source temperatures. To overcome the identified techno-economic barriers, comprehensive action plans for different stakeholders are also given. This study provides novel insights that should inform policymakers’ and executives’ decisions about the electrification of the current and future US industrial heat supply in relevant industrial sectors.

BACKGROUND: Diaphragmatic hernia (DH) presenting acutely can be a potentially life-threatening condition. Its management continues to be debatable. METHODS: A bibliographic search using major databases was performed using the terms emergency surgery diaphragmatic hernia, traumatic diaphragmatic rupture and congenital diaphragmatic hernia. GRADE methodology was used to evaluate the evidence and give recommendations. RESULTS: CT scan of the chest and abdomen is the diagnostic gold standard to evaluate complicated DH. Appropriate preoperative assessment and prompt surgical intervention are important for a clinical success. Complicated DH repair is best performed via the use of biological and bioabsorbable meshes which have proven to reduce recurrence. The laparoscopic approach is the preferred technique in hemodynamically stable patients without significant comorbidities because it facilitates early diagnosis of small diaphragmatic injuries from traumatic wounds in the thoraco-abdominal area and reduces postoperative complications. Open surgery should be reserved for situations when skills and equipment for laparoscopy are not available, where exploratory laparotomy is needed, or if the patient is hemodynamically unstable. Damage Control Surgery is an option in the management of critical and unstable patients. CONCLUSIONS: Complicated diaphragmatic hernia is a rare life-threatening condition. CT scan of the chest and abdomen is the gold standard for diagnosing the diaphragmatic hernia. Laparoscopic repair is the best treatment option for stable patients with complicated diaphragmatic hernias. Open repair is considered necessary in majority of unstable patients in whom Damage Control Surgery can be life-saving.

Legal Literacies for Text Data Mining - Cross-Border (“LLTDM-X”) is a National Endowment for the Humanities Level 1 Advancement Grant project addressing legal and ethical issues faced by U.S. digital humanities (DH) practitioners whose text data mining (TDM) research and practice intersects with foreign-held or - licensed content, or involves international cooperations.LLTDM-X ​​is a collaboration between the University of California Berkeley Library and Internet Archive, and builds upon the previous NEH-sponsored institute, Building Legal Literacies for Text Data Mining (Building LLTDM). That institute provided guidance and strategies to DH TDM researchers on navigating legal literacies for text data mining (including copyright, contracts, privacy, and ethics) within a U.S. context.A common challenge highlighted during Building LLTDM was the fact that TDM practitioners encounter numerous and complex legal problems in cross-border TDM research. These occur when: (i) the materials practitioners want to mine are housed in a foreign jurisdiction, or are otherwise subject to foreign database licensing or laws; (ii) the human subjects they are studying or who created the underlying content reside in another country; or, (iii) the colleagues with whom they are collaborating reside abroad, yielding uncertainty about which country’s laws, agreements, and policies apply.We designed LLTDM-X to identify and better understand the cross-border issues that DH TDM practitioners face, with the aim of using these issues to inform prospective research and education. We also hoped that LLTDM-X would yield preliminary guidance to benefit researchers in the meantime, as instructional materials are being developed. In early 2023, we hosted a series of three online round tables with U.S.-based cross-border TDM practitioners (“Practitioners”), and law and ethics experts (“Experts”) practicing in six countries. The round table conversations were structured to illustrate the empirical issues