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Objective: Improvement in cancer survival over recent decades has not been accompanied by a narrowing of socioeconomic disparities. This study aimed to quantify the loss of life expectancy (LOLE) resulting from a cancer diagnosis and examine disparities in LOLE based on area-level socioeconomic status (SES). Methods: Data were collected for all people between 50 and 89 years of age who were diagnosed with cancer, registered in the NSW Cancer Registry between 2001 and 2019, and underwent mortality follow-up evaluations until December 2020. Flexible parametric survival models were fitted to estimate the LOLE by gender and area-level SES for 12 common cancers. Results: Of 422,680 people with cancer, 24% and 18% lived in the most and least disadvantaged areas, respectively. Patients from the most disadvantaged areas had a significantly greater average LOLE than patients from the least disadvantaged areas for cancers with high survival rates, including prostate [2.9 years (95% CI: 2.5–3.2 years) vs. 1.6 years (95% CI: 1.3–1.9 years)] and breast cancer [1.6 years (95% CI: 1.4–1.8 years) vs. 1.2 years (95% CI: 1.0–1.4 years)]. The highest average LOLE occurred in males residing in the most disadvantaged areas with pancreatic [16.5 years (95% CI: 16.1–16.8 years) vs. 16.2 years (95% CI: 15.7–16.7 years)] and liver cancer [15.5 years (95% CI: 15.0–16.0 years) vs. 14.7 years (95% CI: 14.0–15.5 years)]. Females residing in the least disadvantaged areas with thyroid cancer [0.9 years (95% CI: 0.4–1.4 years) vs. 0.6 years (95% CI: 0.2–1.0 years)] or melanoma [0.9 years (95% CI: 0.8–1.1 years) vs. 0.7 years (95% CI: 0.5–0.8 years)] had the lowest average LOLE. Conclusions: Patients from the most disadvantaged areas had the highest LOLE with SES-based differences greatest for patients diagnosed with cancer at an early stage or cancers with higher survival rates, suggesting the need to prioritise early detection and reduce treatment-related barriers and survivorship challenges to improve life expectancy.

IntroductionCentralization of ovarian cancer treatment is associated with higher rates of optimal surgery and longer survival. However, preoperative diagnosis of ovarian cancer is challenging and some diagnoses are made incidentally after surgery. This study investigated the surgical and oncological outcomes of patients with incidental findings of borderline ovarian tumors or ovarian cancer who were centralized postoperatively and treated with a two-stage surgical procedure, and compared these with those of patients with adnexal masses of suspected malignancy who were offered a single-stage surgical procedure with intraoperative frozen section in a tertiary hospital.MethodsA database of 390 patients with adnexal masses and surgical treatment at the Bern University Hospital, Switzerland was retrospectively reviewed to identify patients with borderline ovarian tumors or ovarian cancer between 2010 and 2020.ResultsAmong 390 patients with adnexal masses, 223 were diagnosed with a borderline ovarian tumor or ovarian cancer. Compared with patients with suspected malignancy and a centralized single-stage surgical procedure, patients with an incidental postoperative malignancy diagnosis and a two-stage surgical procedure underwent more surgical interventions (1.3 vs. 2.1 p

Owing to the rapid increase in data demand, the need for power saving in mobile communication is of great importance. This study proposes a combination of a zone-based technique, also known as the Zonal Based GrEEn (ZBGrEEn) algorithm, with the Lempel Ziv Welch (LZW) data compression algorithm in order to produce significantly more energy- efficient device-to-device (D2D) communication network. The system is modeled as a device- to-device communication between one primary transmitter (PT) and many primary receivers (PRs) located in various zones around the PT. The ZBGrEEn algorithm ensures that power allocation is optimally performed so that the target rate of each application needed by PRs is met. Both the transmission time and transmission power computed in the ZBGrEEn algorithm are minimized due to the reduced data size achieved by applying the LZW algorithm on the data. Simulation results show an increase in battery lifetime of mobile devices from 46.28% (achieved when ZBGrEEn algorithm is used alone) to 51% when ZBGrEEn is combined with LZW algorithm.

PURPOSELonger time between breast cancer (BC) diagnosis and treatment initiation is associated with poorer survival, and this may be a factor behind disparities in global survival rates. We assessed time to BC treatment in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal, including factors associated with longer waiting times and their impact on survival.METHODSWe conducted a retrospective population-based study of BC cases recorded in the Kathmandu Valley Population-Based Cancer Registry between 2018 and 2019. Fieldwork survey through telephone was undertaken to collect additional sociodemographic and clinical information. Logistic regression was performed to identify factors associated with longer time to treatment, and Kaplan-Meier and Cox proportional hazard regression was used to examine survival time and evaluate the association between longer time to treatment and survival.RESULTSAmong the 385 patients with BC, one third waited >4 weeks from diagnosis to initial treatment. Lower education was associated with longer time to treatment (adjusted odds ratio, 1.63 [95% CI, 1.03 to 2.60]). The overall 3-year survival rate was 88.6% and survival was not associated with time to treatment (P = .50). However, advanced stage at diagnosis was associated with poorer survival (adjusted hazard ratio, 4.09 [95% CI, 1.27 to 13.23]). There was some indication that longer time to treatment was associated with poorer survival for advanced-stage patients, but data quality limited that analysis.CONCLUSIONIn the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal, women with a lower education tend to wait longer from BC diagnosis to treatment. Patients with advanced-stage BC had poorer survival, and longer waiting time may be associated with poorer survival for women diagnosed with advanced-stage disease.

BackgroundThe World Health Organisation’s vision of eliminating cervical cancer as a public health problem is achievable, but elimination must be achieved equitably, including for people with intellectual disability. A better understanding of cervical screening within the context of the lives of people with intellectual disability is needed. This study systematically reviewed research on the rates of cervical screening participation among people with intellectual disability, and facilitators and barriers that affect participation.MethodSix electronic databases were systematically searched: MEDLINE, CINAHL, Scopus, PsycINFO, Embase and Pro-Quest Central Social Sciences Collection. Empirical studies published between 1986 and 2023, in English language peer-reviewed journals were eligible for inclusion. Further articles were identified through forward and backward citation tracking, and hand-searching the index lists of two key journals. Two authors screened the studies, extracted the data and collated study outcomes using a standardised software program. A meta-analysis was performed using the DerSimonian and Laird method to estimate pooled effect sizes in prevalence rates and odds ratios (ORs). The socio-ecological model (SEM) was used as a framework to thematically analyse facilitators and barriers impacting participation in cervical screening.ResultsSixty-three articles met the inclusion criteria. Of these, 42 reported on rates of cervical screening participation and 24 reported on facilitators or barriers to cervical screening for people with intellectual disability. Overall, the studies reported a screening prevalence of 35% (95% CI: 26% to 45%), indicating that just over a third of people with intellectual disability have had cervical screening. The pooled odds ratio of 0.30 (95% CI: 0.23 to 0.41) indicated that people with intellectual disability are significantly less likely to have a cervical screening test compared with people without intellectual disability. Most studies examined individual and interpersonal factors impacting cervical screening. These included: (i) fear and anxiety among people with intellectual disability, (ii) misassumptions preventing screening participation, (iii) the role of support people, (iv) the need for education, (v) accessible information, and time to prepare for screening, (vi) patient-provider communication including challenges obtaining informed consent, and (vii) healthcare provider lack of confidence.ConclusionFuture research, policy and practice efforts must address barriers to cervical screening participation among people with intellectual disability and ensure these efforts are co-produced and community-led. This is critical to ensuring equity in global and local efforts to eliminate cervical cancer.

In the current era of high-precision radiation therapy, real-time magnetic resonance (MR)-guided tracking of the tumor and organs at risk (OARs) is a novel approach that enables accurate and safe delivery of high-dose radiation. Organ tracking provides a general sense of the need for daily online adaptation but lacks precise information regarding exact dosimetry. To overcome this limitation, we developed the methodology for monitoring intrafraction motion with real-time MR-guided isodose line-based tracking of an OAR in combination with anatomic tumor-based tracking and reported the first case treated with this approach. An isolated para-aortic (PA) nodal recurrence from carcinosarcoma of the endometrium was treated with an ablative dose of 50 Gy in five fractions using MR-guided radiotherapy (MRgRT). This report demonstrates the feasibility, workflow, dosimetric constraints, and treatment paradigm for real-time isodose line-based OAR tracking and gating to enable an isotoxicity delivery approach. This innovative treatment strategy effectively tracked the intrafraction motion of both the target and OAR independently and enhanced the accuracy of structure localization in time and space with a more precise dosimetric evaluation.

Instructional leaders require timely and predictive data to guide post-pandemic systemic changes. We investigated the predictability of an observational instrument, the Rigor Appraisal, and its association with achievement and other school effectiveness measures in a sample of 53 schools in Illinois. We found that increases in the Rigor Appraisal had a small to moderate and statistically significant association with achievement, a positive and moderate statistically significant association with attendance, a negative relationship between referrals and suspensions, and a positive and moderate statistically significant association with the 5Essentials. Additionally, the implementation of academic teaming was associated with greater achievement in schools with more low-income students. We also found that leaders who conducted non-evaluative instructional walks experienced a positive and statistically significant impact on achievement. As such, the Rigor Appraisal merits further study in different contexts, as it shows promise as a leading indicator that can be used for the continuous improvement of instructional systems.

Purpose: Shorter time from symptoms recognition to diagnosis and timely treatment would be expected to improve the survival of patients with breast cancer (BC). This review identifies and summarizes evidence on time to diagnosis and treatment, and associated factors to inform an improved BC care pathways in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs). Methods: A systematic search was conducted in electronic databases including Medline, Embase, PsycINFO and Global Health, covering publications between January 1, 2010, and November 6, 2023. Inclusion criteria encompassed studies published in English from LMICs that reported on time from symptoms recognition to diagnosis and/or from diagnosis to treatment, as well as factors influencing these timelines. Study quality was assessed independently by two reviewers using a standard checklist. Pre-contact, post-contact and treatment intervals and delays in these intervals are presented. Barriers and facilitators for shorter time to diagnosis and treatment found by individual studies after adjusting with covariates are summarized. Results: The review identified 21 studies across 14 countries and found that BC cases took a longer time to diagnosis than to treatment. However, time to treatment also exceeded the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended period for optimal survival. There was inconsistency in terminology and benchmarks for defining delays in time intervals. Low socioeconomic status and place of residence emerged as frequent barriers, while initial contact with a private health facility or specialist was commonly reported as a facilitator for shorter time to diagnosis and treatment. Conclusions: Guidelines or consensus recommendations are essential for defining the optimal time intervals to BC diagnosis and treatment. Our review supported WHO's Global Breast Cancer Initiative recommendations. Increasing public awareness, strengthening of healthcare professional's capacities, partial decentralization of diagnostic services and implementation of effective referral mechanisms are recommended to achieve a shorter time to diagnosis and treatment of BC in LMICs.

Summary: Little is known of the scale of avoidable injuries presenting to medical services on a national level in the UK. This study aimed to assess the type and incidence of preventable wrist and hand injuries (as defined by the core research team) at a national level in the UK. 28 UK hospitals undertook a service evaluation of all hand trauma cases presenting to their units over a 2 week period in early 2021 identifying demographical and aetiological information about injuries sustained. 1909 patients were included (184 children) with a median age of 40 (IQR 25-59) years. The commonest five types of injury were fractures of the wrist; single phalangeal or metacarpal fractures; fingertip injuries; and infection, with the most common mechanisms being mechanical falls and manual labour. This is the first extensive survey of preventable hand injuries in the UK, identifying a need for further work into prevention to reduce healthcare burden and cost. 50% of injuries presenting to hand surgeons are preventable, with the most common injuries being single fractures of the wrist, phalanx and metacarpal. Few preventable injuries were related to alcohol or narcotic intoxication. Further research is needed to identify how to initiate injury prevention measures for hand injuries, particularly focussed towards hand fracture prevention.

IntroductionCervical cancer is one of the most preventable cancers yet remains a disease of inequity for people with intellectual disability, in part due to low screening rates. The ScreenEQUAL project will use an integrated knowledge translation (iKT) model to co-produce and evaluate accessible cervical screening resources with and for this group.MethodsStage 1 will qualitatively explore facilitators and barriers to screening participation for people with intellectual disability, families and support people, healthcare providers and disability sector stakeholders (n ≈ 20 in each group). An accessible multimodal screening resource, accompanying supporting materials for families and support people, and trauma-informed healthcare provider training materials will then be co-produced through a series of workshops. Stage 2 will recruit people with intellectual disability aged 25 to 74 who are due or overdue for screening into a single-arm trial (n = 48). Trained support people will provide them with the co-produced resource in accessible workshops (intervention) and support them in completing pre-post questions to assess informed decision-making. A subset will participate in qualitative post-intervention interviews including optional body-mapping (n ≈ 20). Screening uptake in the 9-months following the intervention will be measured through data linkage. Family members and support people (n = 48) and healthcare providers (n = 433) will be recruited into single-arm sub-studies. Over a 4-month period they will, respectively, receive the accompanying supporting materials, and the trauma-informed training materials. Both groups will complete pre-post online surveys. A subset of each group (n ≈ 20) will be invited to participate in post-intervention semi-structured interviews.Outcomes and analysisOur primary outcome is a change in informed decision-making by people with intellectual disability across the domains of knowledge, attitudes, and screening intention. Secondary outcomes include: (i) uptake of screening in the 9-months following the intervention workshops, (ii) changes in health literacy, attitudes and self-efficacy of family members and support people, and (iii) changes in knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy and preparedness of screening providers. Each participant group will evaluate acceptability, feasibility and usability of the resources.DiscussionIf found to be effective and acceptable, the co-produced cervical screening resources and training materials will be made freely available through the ScreenEQUAL website to support national, and potentially international, scale-up.

Abstract Objective: Adolescents are high consumers of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB), which contribute to overweight and obesity – a significant public health issue. Evidence suggests that replacing SSB with water and school-based interventions can reduce consumption. This study examines the acceptability of a previously trialled intervention (Thirsty? Choose Water!) in regional and remote secondary schools. Design: An open-label randomised controlled trial using a two-by-two factorial design tested the outcomes of a behavioural and/or environmental intervention on SSB and water consumption. Setting: Regional and remote secondary schools (public, catholic and independent) within the boundaries of two regional Local Health Districts within New South Wales. Participants: Twenty-four schools participated in the study. The target group was year 7 students (n 1640) – 72 % of eligible students completed baseline data. The study followed students into year 8 (n 1188) – 52 % of eligible students completed post-intervention data. Forty teachers undertook training to deliver the intervention. Results: Interventions showed high levels of acceptability. Students demonstrated changes in knowledge, attitudes and consumption behaviours. Multivariable ordinal logression analysis demonstrated that all interventions increased the odds of students increasing their water consumption (though not statistically significant). Conversely, the combined (OR: 0·75; 95 % CI: 0·59, 0·97) or environmental intervention (OR: 0·68; 95 % CI: 0·51, 0·90) had greater odds of reducing SSB consumption and was statistically significant. Conclusions: This study builds on recent Australian evidence regarding the impact of school-based interventions on water and SSB consumption. In this study, despite a minor intervention change, and the impacts of fires, floods and COVID-19 on study implementation, the interventions were highly regarded by the school communities with positive outcomes.

Abstract Large genes including several CRISPR-Cas modules like gene activators (CRISPRa) require dual adeno-associated viral (AAV) vectors for an efficient in vivo delivery and expression. Current dual AAV vector approaches have important limitations, e.g., low reconstitution efficiency, production of alien proteins, or low flexibility in split site selection. Here, we present a dual AAV vector technology based on reconstitution via mRNA trans-splicing (REVeRT). REVeRT is flexible in split site selection and can efficiently reconstitute different split genes in numerous in vitro models, in human organoids, and in vivo. Furthermore, REVeRT can functionally reconstitute a CRISPRa module targeting genes in various mouse tissues and organs in single or multiplexed approaches upon different routes of administration. Finally, REVeRT enabled the reconstitution of full-length ABCA4 after intravitreal injection in a mouse model of Stargardt disease. Due to its flexibility and efficiency REVeRT harbors great potential for basic research and clinical applications.

Background: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a critical public health problem worldwide, constituting a major cause of mortality and morbidity for people of all ages, but especially in the younger population. Decompressive craniectomy (DC) and cisternostomy are surgical procedures commonly used in the management of severe TBI, but their effectiveness in improving outcomes remains controversial. Methods: We conducted a prospective longitudinal study on patients who underwent surgical treatment for severe TBI between 2021 and 2022. The extended Glasgow outcome scale (GOS-E) was used to assess clinical outcome at 2 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months after surgery. Results: The study included 30 patients (21 men and 9 women) who met the inclusion criteria. Among them, 24 patients (80%) underwent DC combined with cisternostomy, while 6 patients (20%) underwent cisternostomy alone. The initial Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score at admission ranged from 4 to 8 points, with an average score of 5.9. The overall mortality and overall morbidity was 13.3% and 20%, respectively. The mortality rate was 12.5% and 16.7% in the DC + cisternostomy group and in the cisternostomy alone group, respectively. No statistically significant difference was seen between the two groups in terms of mortality, morbidity and favorable outcome at 2 weeks, 3 months and 6 months. Conclusions: Our preliminary multi-center study shows a good clinical outcome in patients who underwent DC + cisternostomy or cisternostomy alone in both early and long-term follow-up. Larger multi-center randomized trials are needed to establish the effectiveness of cisternostomy in the management of TBI.

This essay reviews the following works:

This study explored the attitudes of Steiner Waldorf alumni and graduates from Australia-New Zealand, regarding their study, work choices and personal attributes. Steiner Waldorf data were compared with Australian study and employment records, and the findings of Steiner Waldorf graduate outcomes research studies in Germany and North America. The international comparison highlighted differences in the implementation of the Steiner Waldorf pedagogy and students’ perceptions of their school experiences. Despite regional variations, there was a commonality in graduates choosing care-oriented and human-centred higher education and careers. Graduates indicated that their schooling significantly shaped their abilities, values, and beliefs, influencing their personal, professional, and social lives. They valued the creative, imaginative aspects of their education and the community spirit fostered by school events, nature activities, and ethical values. Graduates expressed concern about maintaining the core pedagogical vision of freedom amidst digital and pandemic challenges, emphasizing the need to discard outdated practices while retaining the best elements.

The ability of ticks to adapt to different ecological zones, coupled with the spread of infectious pathogens negatively affects livestock production and thus, there is a need for better control strategies. However, control measures within a geographical region can only be effective if there is available information on tick population dynamics and ecology. This study focused on ticks infesting livestock in the Kassena-Nankana Districts of the Upper East Region of Ghana. The ticks were morphologically identified, variables such as season, animal host, and predilection sites were recorded, and the data were analyzed using STATA version 13. Out of 448 livestock examined, tick infestation in cattle was (78.60%), followed by sheep (25%) and goats (5.88%). A total of 1,550 ticks including nymphs (303) and adults (1,247) were collected. Adult ticks were found to be significantly associated with season (p

Based on the data from the Visible Minority Librarians of Canada 2021 Redux Survey, this study examines experiences of racial microaggressions among visible minority librarians in Canada. This research fills the gap in the library and information science (LIS) literature regarding racial microaggressions in librarianship in the Canadian context. Of the 148 respondents, 69% (n=102) experienced at least one stated racial microaggression. The result of a Kruskal-Wallis H test revealed a significant association between years of experience as a librarian and a librarian’s overall experiences with microaggressions. A post hoc test based on Bonferroni correction was run, which indicated that librarians with less than five years of work experience encountered microaggressions less frequently compared to those with 11–15 years of experience. For the ten stated types of racial microaggressions, the most frequently reported type was “I was told that people of all racial groups face the same barriers in employment or promotion,” and the least frequently reported type was “A colleague claimed that he/she felt threatened because of my race.” Fisher's exact tests were further performed to examine how the respondents differed in their experiences of each microaggression. The test results revealed that the librarians with different personal attributes (ethnicity, disability status, gender identity, language used) and employment attributes (librarian experience, management position, library type) had significantly different encounters with eight forms of microaggression. Professional library associations and libraries must strengthen education about racial microaggressions and offer support to visible minority librarians when they are confronted with microaggressive behaviours.

Introduction Food allergy is a major public health challenge in Australia. Despite widespread uptake of infant feeding and allergy prevention guidelines the incidence of peanut allergy in infants has not fallen, and prevalence of peanut allergy in school-aged children continues to rise. Therefore, effective and accessible treatments for peanut allergy are required. There is high-quality evidence for efficacy of oral immunotherapy in children aged 4–17 years old; however, few randomised trials have investigated peanut oral immunotherapy (OIT) in young children. Furthermore, the use of food products for OIT with doses prepared and administered by parents without requiring pharmacy compounding has the potential to reduce costs associated with the OIT product.Methods and Analysis Early Peanut Immunotherapy in Children is an open-label randomised controlled trial of peanut OIT compared with standard care (avoidance) to induce desensitisation in children aged 1–4 years old with peanut allergy. n=50 participants will be randomised 1:1 to intervention (daily peanut OIT for 12 months) or control (peanut avoidance). The primary outcome is the proportion of children in each group with a peanut eliciting dose >600 mg peanut protein as assessed by open peanut challenge after 12 months, analysed by intention to treat. Secondary outcomes include safety as assessed by frequency and severity of treatment-related adverse events, quality of life measured using age-appropriate food allergy-specific questionnaires and immunological changes during OIT.Ethics The trial is approved by the Child and Adolescent Health Service Human Research Ethics Committee and prospectively registered with the Australia and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry.Dissemination Trial outcomes will be published in a peer-review journal and presented and local and national scientific meetings.Trial registration number ACTRN12621001001886.

Purpose Germinal matrix haemorrhage/intraventricular haemorrhage (GMH-IVH) is a multifactorial injury with both anatomic and haemodynamic involvement. Normal variants in preterm deep cerebral venous anatomy associated with GMH-IVH have been previously described using MRI susceptibility weighted imaging (SWI). The aims of this study were to use SWI to compare the deep venous systems of a cohort of preterm neonates with various grades of GMH-IVH to a group of age-matched controls without GMH-IVH and to present novel retrospective SWI imaging findings.Methods A neuroradiologist retrospectively evaluated 3T MRI SWI and phase imaging of 56 preterm neonates with GMH-IVH (14 of each grade) and 27 controls without GMH-IVH, scoring the venous irregularities according to three variables: decreased venous patency, increased lumen susceptibility and the presence of collaterals. Eight different venous locations, including indicated bilateral components, were evaluated: straight sinus, vein of galen, internal cerebral, direct lateral, thalamostriate, atrial and the anterior septal veins. Variables were analysed for statistical significance. Inter-rater reliability was determined via subset evaluation by a second paediatric radiologist.Results Deep venous abnormalities were significantly more common in patients with GMH-IVH, with Wilcoxon Rank Sum Test demonstrating significant increase with GMH-IVH for total decreased venous patency (W=0, p

The current increase in Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions has the potential to exacerbate the climate impact. As a result, technologies that reduce CO2 emissions, such as Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), must be developed, such as ionic liquids (ILs)-based technology. Due to their outstanding properties and capability to capture CO2, ILs have been considered a green solvent to replace volatile organic solvents currently used in the separation and purification of natural gas. Among them, amine-functionalized ILs have enhanced capability to capture CO2. Nevertheless, the interaction between amine-functionalized with CO2 still is lagging. Therefore, this research aimed to provide an understanding of the interaction between amine-functionalized ILs and CO2 by examining the bonding energy of the IL, its cation and anion, and the complexation energy with CO2 using the Density Functional Theory (DFT) method on the molecular simulation software Gaussian 09W and GaussView 5.0. Gaussian 09W is used to optimize the bond and determine the complexation energy, while GaussView 5.0 is used for the geometry visualization. The bonding energies of [2-aemim]+, [BF4]-, [PF6]-, [DCA]-, [TfO]-, [Tf2N]-, CO2, and each of the five IL combinations were calculated using DFT. The complexation energy of each of the IL-CO2 combinations can then be calculated using the bonding energy data obtained from the simulation. The obtained complexation energy for IL-CO2 containing anion [BF4]-, [PF6]-, [DCA]-, [TfO]-, [Tf2N]-, are -499.32, -277.95, -750.25, -305.97, and -174.48 MJ/mole respectively. The DFT calculation revealed that the CO2 interaction with amine-functionalized ILs could be increased by weakening the cation-anion interaction strength. Interestingly, the rank of anion interaction strength with the cation follows a similar trend with the anion molecular size. From this findings, further researchers are able to initially and easily predict novel IL before doing further lab experiments, and following the identification of ILs with high CO2 solubility, the suitability of amine-functionalized ILs can be further investigated, leading to the development of compatible and highly functional solvents to improve CO2 separation performance.

Abstract Latency is a major barrier towards virus elimination in HIV-1-infected individuals. Yet, the mechanisms that contribute to the maintenance of HIV-1 latency are incompletely understood. Here we describe the Schlafen 12 protein (SLFN12) as an HIV-1 restriction factor that establishes a post-transcriptional block in HIV-1-infected cells and thereby inhibits HIV-1 replication and virus reactivation from latently infected cells. The inhibitory activity is dependent on the HIV-1 codon usage and on the SLFN12 RNase active sites. Within HIV-1-infected individuals, SLFN12 expression in PBMCs correlated with HIV-1 plasma viral loads and proviral loads suggesting a link with the general activation of the immune system. Using an RNA FISH-Flow HIV-1 reactivation assay, we demonstrate that SLFN12 expression is enriched in infected cells positive for HIV-1 transcripts but negative for HIV-1 proteins. Thus, codon-usage dependent translation inhibition of HIV-1 proteins participates in HIV-1 latency and can restrict the amount of virus release after latency reversal.

Purpose/objectivesAn artificial intelligence-based pseudo-CT from low-field MR images is proposed and clinically evaluated to unlock the full potential of MRI-guided adaptive radiotherapy for pelvic cancer care.Materials and methodIn collaboration with TheraPanacea (TheraPanacea, Paris, France) a pseudo-CT AI-model was generated using end-to-end ensembled self-supervised GANs endowed with cycle consistency using data from 350 pairs of weakly aligned data of pelvis planning CTs and TrueFisp-(0.35T)MRIs. The image accuracy of the generated pCT were evaluated using a retrospective cohort involving 20 test cases coming from eight different institutions (US: 2, EU: 5, AS: 1) and different CT vendors. Reconstruction performance was assessed using the organs at risk used for treatment. Concerning the dosimetric evaluation, twenty-nine prostate cancer patients treated on the low field MR-Linac (ViewRay) at Montpellier Cancer Institute were selected. Planning CTs were non-rigidly registered to the MRIs for each patient. Treatment plans were optimized on the planning CT with a clinical TPS fulfilling all clinical criteria and recalculated on the warped CT (wCT) and the pCT. Three different algorithms were used: AAA, AcurosXB and MonteCarlo. Dose distributions were compared using the global gamma passing rates and dose metrics.ResultsThe observed average scaled (between maximum and minimum HU values of the CT) difference between the pCT and the planning CT was 33.20 with significant discrepancies across organs. Femoral heads were the most reliably reconstructed (4.51 and 4.77) while anal canal and rectum were the less precise ones (63.08 and 53.13). Mean gamma passing rates for 1%1mm, 2%/2mm, and 3%/3mm tolerance criteria and 10% threshold were greater than 96%, 99% and 99%, respectively, regardless the algorithm used. Dose metrics analysis showed a good agreement between the pCT and the wCT. The mean relative difference were within 1% for the target volumes (CTV and PTV) and 2% for the OARs.ConclusionThis study demonstrated the feasibility of generating clinically acceptable an artificial intelligence-based pseudo CT for low field MR in pelvis with consistent image accuracy and dosimetric results.

Trash capture devices (TCDs) are a rapidly evolving tool for municipal governments, non-governmental organizations, and industries to divert litter from our waterways. Here, we introduce protocols to initiate trash trapping projects to quantify and characterize captured anthropogenic litter based on a case study using Seabins. In addition, we have introduced a network for global data collection via TCDs. Our first protocol is a visual audit of the potential site to inform the type and location for TCD deployment. Our next two protocols quantify and characterize the litter captured by TCDs: (1) a simple protocol intended for daily monitoring and (2) a detailed protocol to characterize and quantify all large debris (>3 cm) and a subset of the small debris (2 mm–3 cm) caught in the devices. Using Seabins in the Toronto Harbour to test our methodology, we found that our subsampling methodology has a 6.9% error rate. Over a 19-week period, the Seabins captured ∼85 000 pieces of small debris. Our study highlights the utility of TCDs and proposes methods to realize this utility globally. TCDs should become more widespread and utilized as a triple threat: a cleanup tool, a data collection tool, and a platform for outreach and education.

Internationally, there is an under-supply of intellectual capital to provide for STEM-related employment. One contributing factor is the low number of female students selecting STEM school subjects and careers. Despite the literature recommending students engage in STEM activities earlier, many initiatives are not implemented until high school. This paper reports on an Australian project named MindSET-do which provided students with early positive STEM experiences prior to high school to raise awareness of, interest in, and aspirations for STEM-related subjects and careers. The case study surveyed n = 107 Year 6 boys’ and girls’ interests, ability beliefs and expectations in STEM school subjects and careers. Students’ awareness and interest in STEM-related subjects and careers increased significantly following experiences with inquiry-based STEM activities, χ2(1, n = 107) = 4.57 to 63.67, p < .05. Expectancy for success in mathematics was significantly higher for males than for females (U = 1125, p = .044, r = .2). Expectancy for success in science was slightly lower for the female group, but p > .05. Logistic regression found females were 24 percent less likely to have a positive view of mathematics than males (p = .003). Gender differences in STEM ability versus ability beliefs and expectancies for success are discussed, with recommendations for earlier positive experiences with STEM tasks.

Abstract The risk of pathogen transmission continues to increase significantly in the presence of tick vectors due to the trade of livestock across countries. In Ghana, there is a lack of data on the incidence of tick-borne pathogens that are of zoonotic and veterinary importance. This study, therefore, aimed to determine the prevalence of such pathogens in livestock using molecular approaches. A total of 276 dry blood spots were collected from cattle (100), sheep (95) and goats (81) in the Kassena-Nankana Districts. The samples were analyzed using Polymerase Chain Reaction (qPCR) and conventional assays and Sanger sequencing that targeted pathogens including Rickettsia, Coxiella, Babesia, Theileria, Ehrlichia and Anaplasma. An overall prevalence of 36.96% was recorded from the livestock DBS, with mixed infections seen in 7.97% samples. Furthermore, the prevalence of infections in livestock was recorded to be 19.21% in sheep, 14.13% in cattle, and 3.62% in goats. The pathogens identified were Rickettsia spp. (3.26%), Babesia sp. Lintan (8.70%), Theileria orientalis (2.17%), Theileria parva (0.36%), Anaplasma capra (18.48%), Anaplasma phagocytophilum (1.81%), Anaplasma marginale (3.26%) and Anaplasma ovis (7.25%). This study reports the first molecular identification of the above-mentioned pathogens in livestock in Ghana and highlights the use of dry blood spots in resource-limited settings. In addition, this research provides an update on tick-borne pathogens in Ghana, suggesting risks to livestock production and human health. Further studies will be essential to establish the distribution and epidemiology of these pathogens in Ghana.

Introducción: Las tasas actuales de cobertura de vacunación en América Latina y el Caribe (ALC) son más bajas que las tasas regionales establecidas por la Organización Panamericana de la Salud; lo cual se ve acentuado mucho más con el advenimiento de la pandemia de COVID-19 durante los años 2020 y 2021 en la Región de las Américas. Objetivo: El presente tiene como objetivo el informar a la comunidad médica la brecha que existe con respecto a la cobertura de inmunizaciones de enfermedades inmunoprevalentes en la edad pediátrica en América Latina y el Caribe. Metodología: Se utilizaron diferentes fuentes bibliográficas obtenidas de motores de búsqueda como PubMed®, Scopus y Google Scholar, a través de las siguientes palabras clave y términos MeSH: “vaccine-preventable disease, south america, children, vaccine rates”, se formularon preguntas PICO en la búsqueda de los estudios relacionados a terapéutica utilizando el motor de búsqueda Trip®;posteriormente a los resultados se los discriminó de acuerdo a la pertinencia y relevancia del título de los artículos. Se descartaron 206 trabajos en su totalidad y 18 fueron seleccionados que junto con 3 documentos de la se han seleccionado para la realización de este artículo de revisión. Resultados y conclusiones: La pandemia puso en peligro el cumplimiento de los indicadores de vigilancia integrada de sarampión/rubéola y parálisis fláccida aguda (PFA). A pesar de muchos éxitos en la región, las políticas de vacunación de América Latina tienen importantes deficiencias y se necesita más trabajo para mantener el progreso y prepararse para la introducción de vacunas recientemente disponibles. Se necesita un marco regulatorio común para la aprobación de vacunas para acelerar la entrega y aunar recursos humanos, tecnológicos y científicos en la región. Estas reformas ahora son cruciales, particularmente a medida que las vacunas para enfermedades del mundo en desarrollo previamente desatendidas están disponibles. Palabras clave: enfermedad prevenible por vacunación, sudamérica, niños, tasas de vacunación.

Background: Since October 2020, the Infection Prevention Resource and Assessment Team (IPRAT) has provided infection prevention guidance and support to congregate-care settings throughout Michigan. Specifically, outreach to skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) in response to reported positive COVID-19 resident and staff cases. Case rates provide limited data and do not factor in additional variables, such as staffing shortages, geographical location, or access to supplies, which can increase the vulnerability of staff and residents to outbreaks. To facilitate equitable outreach, a risk assessment was developed using variables related to infection prevention and poor COVID-19 outcomes utilizing local, state, and federal data reporting websites. Methods: A retrospective data review of IPRAT’s electronic data repository was performed, and 2 distinct periods were identified between November 6, 2020, and December 5, 2022. Outreach method 1 involved only using case counts from November 6, 2020, to September 24, 2021. Outreach method 2 (new risk-assessment–based outreach) involved additional data points from April 12, 2021, to December 5, 2022. Data included 17 self-reported items from the NHSN, 3 characteristics regarding facilities’ COVID-19 units, and 7 community-level variables derived from county vaccine rates, social vulnerability index (SVI), and COVID-19 community transmission level. The scoring of each data point ranged from 0–10, and outreach was prioritized to facilities with the highest overall scores. Successful referrals (resulting in a site visit) were compared to the SVI and healthcare emergency regional maps to determine whether the new outreach method reached more facilities in vulnerable communities. Results: Of 358 outreach attempts, IPRAT had a higher success rate with method 2 (6.9%) compared to method 1 (5.3%) and improved outreach in rural Michigan regions 7 and 8 (15% vs 3%). Site visits in counties with a high SVI rating with method 2 were 14.5% versus 10.6% using method 1. COVID-19 prevention referral success rates were higher (4.4% vs 3.1%) using method 2. Conclusions: The risk-assessment–based outreach method showed improvement in overall referral success rates among facilities in rural and higher-SVI counties. These communities tend to experience higher health disparities and poorer health outcomes. Incorporating the more nuanced data variables correlated with at-risk congregate-care settings receiving timelier outreach. The limitations of the study include sample size, period of data collected (2 years), and the complexity of objectively measuring equity.

Disagreement has garnered attention in a variety of academic disciplines, but its counterpart agreement is deserving of much more attention than it has received. This paper begins by reviewing some of the existing literature directly discussing agreement. Inspired by these conversations, I then provide a typology of basic types of agreement followed by a more general discussion of its nature. The aim of the paper is to provide conceptual clarifications and a framework for discussing and analyzing agreement wherever it may be found.

3D printing supply chain network. The objective is to analyze regional facility configurations in order to lower investment risks for an organization that aims to provide additive manufacturing The growing 3D printing market can be an attraction for investment in new businesses, which may entail strategic planning for new ventures. This paper presents a case study of designing a services for orthopedic and dental prostheses production. To this end, the competitive environment, the aggregating factor and logistic costs, tariffs and tax incentives, regional demand, political factors, the value of currency, and the demand uncertainty are analyzed. The results indicate that the adopted framework for network design decisions effectively allows the analysis of regional facility configuration. It also suggests that there are no hindering factors to the implementation of a 3D printing service company. In the region studied, there are fiscal incentives of more than 60% for taxes on the movement of goods between municipalities, which can be an advantage when locating facilities outside the capital. Competitors are well qualified, but there is room for new companies focused on quality and price, which may be a case for specialized products such as protheses. The estimated demand ranges from 146 to 509 units per month, which may be an opportunity for a new entrant given the few additive manufacturing ventures identified in the region.

Introduction The prevalence of traumatic brain injury (TBI) among older adults is increasing exponentially. The sequelae can be severe in older adults and interact with age-related conditions such as multimorbidity. Despite this, TBI research in older adults is sparse. Minder, an in-home monitoring system developed by the UK Dementia Research Institute Centre for Care Research and Technology, uses infrared sensors and a bed mat to passively collect sleep and activity data. Similar systems have been used to monitor the health of older adults living with dementia. We will assess the feasibility of using this system to study changes in the health status of older adults in the early period post-TBI.Methods and analysis The study will recruit 15 inpatients (>60 years) with a moderate-severe TBI, who will have their daily activity and sleep patterns monitored using passive and wearable sensors over 6 months. Participants will report on their health during weekly calls, which will be used to validate sensor data. Physical, functional and cognitive assessments will be conducted across the duration of the study. Activity levels and sleep patterns derived from sensor data will be calculated and visualised using activity maps. Within-participant analysis will be performed to determine if participants are deviating from their own routines. We will apply machine learning approaches to activity and sleep data to assess whether the changes in these data can predict clinical events. Qualitative analysis of interviews conducted with participants, carers and clinical staff will assess acceptability and utility of the system.Ethics and dissemination Ethical approval for this study has been granted by the London-Camberwell St Giles Research Ethics Committee (REC) (REC number: 17/LO/2066). Results will be submitted for publication in peer-reviewed journals, presented at conferences and inform the design of a larger trial assessing recovery after TBI.

Introduction Historic disruption in health infrastructure combined with data from a recent vaccine coverage survey suggests there are likely significant immunity gaps to vaccine preventable diseases and high risk of outbreaks in Timor-Leste. Community-based serological surveillance is an important tool to augment understanding of population-level immunity achieved through vaccine coverage and/or derived from prior infection.Methods and analysis This national population-representative serosurvey will take a three-stage cluster sample and aims to include 5600 individuals above 1 year of age. Serum samples will be collected by phlebotomy and analysed for measles IgG, rubella IgG, SARS-CoV-2 antispike protein IgG, hepatitis B surface antibody and hepatitis B core antigen using commercially available chemiluminescent immunoassays or ELISA. In addition to crude prevalence estimates and to account for differences in Timor-Leste’s age structure, stratified age-standardised prevalence estimates will be calculated, using Asia in 2013 as the standard population. Additionally, this survey will derive a national asset of serum and dried blood spot samples which can be used for further investigation of infectious disease seroepidemiology and/or validation of existing and novel serological assays for infectious diseases.Ethics and dissemination Ethical approval has been obtained from the Research Ethics and Technical Committee of the Instituto Nacional da Saúde, Timor-Leste and the Human Research Ethics Committee of the Northern Territory Department of Health and Menzies School of Health Research, Australia. Co-designing this study with Timor-Leste’s Ministry-of-Health and other relevant partner organisations will allow immediate translation of findings into public health policy, which may include changes to routine immunisation service delivery and/or plans for supplementary immunisation activities.

Abstract There is clear, early noradrenergic dysfunction in Alzheimer's disease. This is likely secondary to pathological tau deposition in the locus coeruleus, the pontine nucleus that produces and releases noradrenaline, prior to involvement of cortical brain regions. Disruption of noradrenergic pathways affects cognition, especially attention, impacting memory and broader functioning. Additionally, it leads to autonomic and neuropsychiatric symptoms. Despite the strong evidence of noradrenergic involvement in Alzheimer's, there are no clear trial data supporting the clinical use of any noradrenergic treatments. Several approaches have been tried, including proof‐of‐principle studies and (mostly small scale) randomised controlled trials. Treatments have included pharmacotherapies as well as stimulation. The lack of clear positive findings is likely secondary to limitations in gauging locus coeruleus integrity and dysfunction at an individual level. However, the recent development of several novel biomarkers holds potential and should allow quantification of dysfunction. This may then inform inclusion criteria and stratification for future trials. Imaging approaches have improved greatly following the development of neuromelanin‐sensitive sequences, enabling the use of structural MRI to estimate locus coeruleus integrity. Additionally, functional MRI scanning has the potential to quantify network dysfunction. As well as neuroimaging, EEG, fluid biomarkers and pupillometry techniques may prove useful in assessing noradrenergic tone. Here, we review the development of these biomarkers and how they might augment clinical studies, particularly randomised trials, through identification of patients most likely to benefit from treatment. We outline the biomarkers with most potential, and how they may transform symptomatic therapy for people living with Alzheimer's disease.

Abstract Background There is significant variability in clinical pathways available in the diagnostic assessment of ASD, including the order and timing of allied health assessments in relation to paediatrician consultations. Allied health professionals in first-contact models are increasingly used to improve the timeliness of healthcare access, whilst complementing medical specialty workforce shortages. Anecdotally, the implementation of allied health first-contact models in paediatrics has improved waitlists and timely access to healthcare. However, no rigorous studies have been conducted to evaluate the outcomes of these models. This study aims to determine the impacts of an allied health first-contact model on health service use and costs and patient quality of life and satisfaction. Methods An open, semi-blinded, multi-centre randomised controlled trial in paediatric outpatient clinics at two Australian metropolitan public hospitals. 56 children (0–16 years) fulfilling the inclusion criteria will be randomised to one of two clinical pathways for assessment of ASD: (1) allied health first-contact or (2) medical first-contact model. Cost outcomes will be collected from both health service and family perspectives. Caregiver-reported outcome measures include: Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL), the EuroQOL Five Dimension Youth Version (EQ-5D-Y), the Autism Family Experience Questionnaire (AFEQ) and Measure of Processes of Care. Discussion Evidence of improvements in service and consumer centric outcomes will help inform the development and implementation of high-value, evidenced based models of care for the assessment of ASD in children. The findings from this study are expected to contribute to the evidence base around the costs and consequences of allied health first contact models for the assessment of children with ASD in the Australian setting. Findings of this study may help to inform the allocation of health care resources while maintaining, or potentially improving, patient and family quality of life and experience of care. These findings may be useful in informing the wider adoption of these models in Australia and internationally, particularly in healthcare settings where medical specialist shortages exist. Trial registration Australia and New Zealand Clinical Trials Register (ANZCTR) ACTRN12621001433897 . Registered: 25th October, 2021.

Objective – As a follow-up to the first 2013 survey, the Visible Minority Librarians of Canada (ViMLoC) network conducted its second comprehensive survey in 2021. The 2021 survey gathered detailed information about the demography, education, and employment of visible minority librarians (VMLs) working in Canadian institutions. Data from the 2021 survey and the analysis presented in this paper help us better understand the current library landscape, presented alongside findings from the 2013 survey. The research results will be helpful for professional associations and library administrators to develop initiatives to support VMLs. Methods – Researchers created online survey questionnaires using Qualtrics XM in English and translated them into French. We distributed the survey invitation through relevant library association electronic mail lists and posted on ViMLoC’s website, social networking platforms, and through their electronic mail list. The survey asked if the participant was a visible minority librarian. If the response was “No,” the survey closed. Respondents indicating "Yes" were asked 36 personal and professional questions of three types: multiple-choice, yes/no, and open-ended questions. Results – One hundred and sixty-two VMLs completed the 2021 survey. Chinese remained the largest ethnic identity, but their proportion in the survey decreased from 36% in 2013 to 24% in 2021. 65% were aged between 26 and 45 years old. More than half received their library degree during the 2010s. 89% completed their library degree in Canada, a 5% increase from 2013. The majority of librarians had graduated from University of Toronto (25%), followed closely by University of British Columbia (23%), and Western University (22%). Only 3% received their library degree from a library school outside North America. 34% of librarians earned a second master’s degree and 5% had a PhD. 60% of librarians had less than 11 years of experience. Nearly half worked in academic libraries. Most were located in Ontario and British Columbia. 69% of librarians were in non-management positions with 5% being senior administrators. 25% reported a salary above $100,000. In terms of job categories, the largest group worked in Reference/Information Services (45%), followed by Instruction Services (32%), and as Liaison Librarians (31%). Those working in Acquisitions/Collection Development saw the biggest jump from 1% in 2013 to 28% in 2021. 58% of librarians sought mentoring support, of whom 54% participated in formal mentorship programs, and 48% had a visible minority mentor. Conclusion – 35% more VMLs responded to the 2021 survey compared to the 2013 survey. Changes occurred in ethnic identity, generation, where VMLs earned a Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) or equivalent degree, library type, geographic location, and job responsibilities. The 2021 survey also explored other aspects of the VMLs not covered in the 2013 survey, such as librarian experience, salary, management positions, and mentorship experience. The findings suggested that the professional associations and library administrators would need collaborative efforts to support VMLs.

IntroductionEducators in public schools are required to serve students in their least restrictive environment. While many evidence-based practices (EBPs), defined as practices and strategies shown by research to have meaningful effectson outcomes for autistic students are documented in the literature, less is known about EBP use among educators in public schools.MethodsEighty-six general and special education teachers and para educators completed a survey about familiarity, training, and EBP use for included autistic children.ResultsAcross roles, educators reported familiarity (98.8%), use (97.7%), and training (83.7%) in reinforcement. They reported the least familiarity with behavioral momentum (29.1%), training in both video modeling and peer-mediated instruction and intervention (18.6%), and use of video modeling (14.0%). Follow-up interviews (n = 80) highlighted mixed understanding of EBP definitions and use.DiscussionImplications for inclusive education are discussed including autism-specific EBP training within pre-service teacher preparation programs.

IntroductionOn January 12, 2010, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck the Republic of Haiti. The human cost was enormous—an estimated 316,000 people were killed, and a further 300,000 were injured. The scope of the disaster was matched by the scope of the response, which remains the largest multinational humanitarian response to date. An extensive scoping review of the relevant literature was undertaken, to identify studies that discussed the civilian and military disaster relief efforts. The aim was to highlight the key-lessons learned, that can be applied to future disaster response practise.MethodsPreferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews guidance was followed. Seven scientific databases were searched, using consistent search terms—followed by an analysis of the existent Haitian literature. This process was supplemented by reviewing available grey literature. A total of 2,671 articles were reviewed, 106 of which were included in the study. In-depth analysis was structured, by aligning data to 12 key-domains, whilst also considering cross-sector interaction (Civilian-Civilian, Military-Military, and Civilian-Military). Dominant themes and lessons learned were identified and recorded in an online spreadsheet by an international research team. This study focuses on explicitly analysing the medical aspects of the humanitarian response.ResultsAn unpreceded collaborative effort between non-governmental organisations, international militaries, and local stakeholders, led to a substantial number of disaster victims receiving life and limb-saving care. However, the response was not faultless. Relief efforts were complicated by large influxes of inexperienced actors, inadequate preliminary needs assessments, a lack of pre-existing policy regarding conduct and inter-agency collaboration, and limited consideration of post-disaster redevelopment during initial planning. Furthermore, one critical theme that bridged all aspects of the disaster response, was the failure of the international community to ensure Haitian involvement.ConclusionsNo modern disaster has yet been as devastating as the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Given the ongoing climate crisis, as well as the risks posed by armed conflict—this will not remain the case indefinitely. This systematic analysis of the combined civilian and military disaster response, offers vital evidence for informing future medical relief efforts—and provides considerable opportunity to advance knowledge pertaining to disaster response.

BackgroundMultiple testing procedures (MTP) are gaining increasing popularity in various fields of biostatistics, especially in statistical genetics. However, in injury surveillance research utilizing the growing amount and complexity of health-administrative data encoded in the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems 10th Revision (ICD-10), few studies involve MTP and discuss their applications and challenges.ObjectiveWe aimed to apply MTP in the population-wide context of comorbidity preceding traumatic brain injury (TBI), one of the most disabling injuries, to find a subset of comorbidity that can be targeted in primary injury prevention.MethodsIn total, 2,600 ICD-10 codes were used to assess the associations between TBI and comorbidity, with 235,003 TBI patients, on a matched data set of patients without TBI. McNemar tests were conducted on each 2,600 ICD-10 code, and appropriate multiple testing adjustments were applied using the Benjamini-Yekutieli procedure. To study the magnitude and direction of associations, odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals were constructed.ResultsBenjamini-Yekutieli procedure captured 684 ICD-10 codes, out of 2,600, as codes positively associated with a TBI event, reducing the effective number of codes for subsequent analysis and comprehension.ConclusionOur results illustrate the utility of MTP for data mining and dimension reduction in TBI research utilizing big health-administrative data to support injury surveillance research and generate ideas for injury prevention.

Incorporations of ionic liquid (IL) to increase the compatibility and defect-free interface between metal-organic framework (MOF) and polymeric membrane have brought membrane-based gas separation technology to another level. The addition of tailormade MOF/IL composite increases the affinity of a membrane towards the selected gas as well as generates free pores that improve the gas diffusion. This review records various possible types of membranes with various combinations of MOF/IL pair composites for CO2 gas separation technology including their gas solubilities, interactions, synthesis methods, characteristics, and separation performances. Separation performances data are presented on upper bound plots. The role of MOF and IL coping with the trade-off between permeability and selectivity of CO2 through gas separation membranes has been analyzed.

The deep-level mining industry is experiencing narrowing profit margins due to increasing operating costs and decreasing production. The industry is known for its lack of dynamic control across complex integrated systems running deep underground, making IoT technologies difficult to implement. An important integrated system in a typical underground mine is the refrigeration-ventilation system. In practice, the two systems are still controlled independently, often due to a lack of continuous measurements. However, their integrated effects ultimately affect energy usage and production. This study develops and compares various machine learning prediction techniques to predict the integrated behavior of a key component operating on the boundary of the refrigeration-ventilation system, while also addressing the lack of continuous measurements. The component lacks sensors and the developed industrial machine learning models negate the effect thereof using integrated control. The predictive models are compared based on accuracy, prediction time, as well as the amount of data required to obtain the required level of accuracy. The “Support Vector Machines” method achieved the lowest average error (1.97%), but the “Artificial Neural Network” method is more robust (with a maximum percentage error of 12.90%). A potential energy saving of 215 kW or 2.9% of the ventilation and refrigeration system, equivalent to R1.33-million per annum ($82 9001) is achievable using the “Support Vector Machines” method.

In many languages, future time reference can be conveyed in more than one grammaticized way. An example is English, which uses will and be going to. These two forms make different semantic and pragmatic contributions, and the source of the contrast is a matter of debate. For example, Copley (2009) argues that both will and be going to have a modal component, but be going to also contains progressive aspect. Klecha et al. (2008) and Klecha (2011) also posit modality for both forms, but argue that will introduces obligatory modal subordination; crucially for them, be going to does not contain the progressive. In this paper, we address the following three questions: (a) Do any other languages show a contrast between will-like and be going to-like futures? (b) Is there cross-linguistic support for the proposal that some futures contain progressive aspect? (c) Can cross-linguistic data shed light on the debate about English?Our answer to all three questions is ‘yes’. We show that (a) Gitksan (Tsimshianic) displays a contrast between will-like and be going to-like futures; (b) their distribution provides support for progressive aspect in the latter type of futures; and (c) Gitksan contributes cross-linguistic evidence to the debate about the nature of futures in English. We provide an analysis that combines elements of both Copley’s (2009) and Klecha’s (2011) accounts. More generally, we argue that different future constructions across languages are derived by combining at least the following three building blocks: prospective aspect, a modal, and the progressive.

Abstract Background The mechanism of small-molecule stabilised protein-protein interactions is of growing interest in the pharmacological discovery process. A plethora of different substances including the aromatic sulphonamide E7820 have been identified to act by such a mechanism. The process of E7820 induced CAPERα degradation and the resultant transcriptional down regulation of integrin α2 expression has previously been described for a variety of different cell lines and been made responsible for E7820’s antiangiogenic activity. Currently the application of E7820 in the treatment of various malignancies including pancreas carcinoma and breast cancer is being investigated in pre-clinical and clinical trials. It has been shown, that integrin α2 deficiency has beneficial effects on bone homeostasis in mice. To transfer E7820 treatment to bone-related pathologies, as non-healing fractures, osteoporosis and bone cancer might therefore be beneficial. However, at present no data is available on the effect of E7820 on osseous cells or skeletal malignancies. Methods Pre-osteoblastic (MC3T3 and Saos-2) cells and endothelial (eEnd2 cells and HUVECs) cells, each of human and murine origin respectively, were investigated. Vitality assay with different concentrations of E7820 were performed. All consecutive experiments were done at a final concentration of 50 ng/ml E7820. The expression and production of integrin α2 and CAPERα were investigated by quantitative real-time PCR and western blotting. Expression of CAPERα splice forms was differentiated by semi-quantitiative reverse transcriptase PCR. Results Here we present the first data showing that E7820 can increase integrin α2 expression in the pre-osteoblast MC3T3 cell line whilst also reproducing canonical E7820 activity in HUVECs. We show that the aberrant activity of E7820 in MC3T3 cells is likely due to differential activity of CAPERα at the integrin α2 promoter, rather than due to differential CAPERα degradation or differential expression of CAPERα spliceforms. Conclusion The results presented here indicate that E7820 may not be suitable to treat certain malignancies of musculoskeletal origin, due to the increase in integrin α2 expression it may induce. Further investigation of the differential functioning of CAPERα and the integrin α2 promoter in cells of various origin would however be necessary to more clearly differentiate between cell lines that will positively respond to E7820 from those that will not.

Abstract Background Advance Care Planning (ACP) enables healthcare professionals to embrace the important process where patients think about their values in life and goals for health care, and discuss their future health care preferences with family members for a time when they are not able to make health care decisions. Despite the promotion of ACP last two decades, and well-known benefits of ACP and a written Advance Care Directive (ACD), they are still underutilised in Australia and across the world. Previous studies have provided some insights, however, an uptake of ACP and prevalence of ACDs in community settings is rarely reported. Methods The aim of this study was to determine the uptake of ACP and prevalence of ACDs among people with chronic diseases in hospital and community settings. A retrospective medical record audit of eligible patients looking for evidence of ACP was conducted in 16 research sites in eight hospital and eight community care settings. Participants included those who were admitted to one of the research sites, and who were aged 18 years and over with at least one of nine nominated chronic diseases. The primary outcome measures included the number of patients with evidence of ACP through the following practices: completion of an ACD, appointment of an Enduring Guardian (EG), or completion of a resuscitation plan. Results The overall prevalence of ACD was 2.8% (n = 28) out of 1006 audited records, and only 10 (1%) of them were legally binding. The number of EGs appointed was 39 (3.9%) across the sites. A total of 151 (15.4%) resuscitation plans were found across the eight hospital sites. 95% (n = 144) of the resuscitation plans indicated ‘Not-for-resuscitation’. Conclusions The uptake of ACP is very low. Current medical recording system reveals the challenges in ACP lie in the process of storage, access and execution of the ACDs. Given that having an ACD or Enduring Guardian in place is only useful if the treating physician knows how and where to access the information, it has implications for policy, information system, and healthcare professionals’ education. Trial registration The study was retrospectively registered with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (Trial ID: ACTRN12618001627246 ). The URL of the trial registry record http://www.anzctr.org.au/trial/MyTrial.aspx

Nearly half of the human genome is occupied by repetitive sequences of ancient virus-like genetic elements. The largest class, comprising 17% of the genome, belong to the type 1 Long INterspersed Elements (LINE-1) and are the only class capable of autonomous propagation in the genome. When epigenetic silencing mechanisms of LINE-1 fail, the proteins encoded by LINE-1 engage in reverse transcription to make new copies of their own or other DNAs that are pasted back into the genome. To elucidate how LINE-1 is dysregulated as a result of carcinogen exposure, we developed a computational model of key elements in the LINE-1 lifecycle, namely, the role of cytosolic ribonuclease (RNase), RNA interference (RNAi) by the antisense ORF0 RNA, and sequestration of LINE-1 products into stress granules and multivesicular structures.The model showed that when carcinogen exposure is represented as either a sudden increase in LINE-1 mRNA count, or as an increase in mRNA transcription rate, the retrotransposon copy number exhibits a distinct threshold behavior above which LINE-1 enters a positive feedback loop that allows the cDNA copy number to grow exponentially. We also found that most of the LINE-1 RNA was degraded via the RNAase pathway and that neither ORF0 RNAi, nor the sequestration of LINE-1 products into granules and multivesicular structures, played a significant role in regulating the retrotransposon’s life cycle. Several aspects of the prediction agree with experimental results and indicate that the model has significant potential to inform future experiments related to LINE-1 activation.

Clinical epidemiology and patient-oriented health care research that incorporates neighborhood-level data is becoming increasingly common. A key step in conducting this research is converting patient address data to longitude and latitude data, a process known as geocoding. Several commonly used approaches to geocoding (eg, ggmap or the tidygeocoder R package) send patient addresses over the internet to web-based third-party geocoding services. Here, we describe how these approaches to geocoding disclose patients’ personally identifiable information (PII) and how the subsequent publication of the research findings discloses the same patients’ protected health information (PHI). We explain how these disclosures can occur and recommend strategies to maintain patient privacy when studying neighborhood effects on patient outcomes.

BackgroundMany children attend Emergency Departments (ED) and Out of Hours (OoH) frequently for acute asthma. Follow up care is often suboptimal leaving these children at risk of a future attacks. We report on the development, implementation and evaluation of a safe asthma discharge care pathway (SADCP).MethodsThis is a retrospective report on the development, implementation and evaluation of outcomes of a SADCP. The pathway was based on the Teach-to-goal educational methodology that supported the mastery correct inhaler technique and ability to action the personalized asthma action plan (PAAP). Children with frequent asthma attacks were entered as they were discharged from the Emergency Department or ward. The first training session occurred within 1–3 weeks of the index asthma attack with 2 further sessions in the following 8 weeks. Children exiting the pathway were discharged either back to primary care or to a hospital clinic.Results81 children entered the pathway (median age 5 years) with 72 discharged from the ED and 9 from the medical wards of the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children. At pathway entry 13% had correct inhaler technique, 10% had a Personalized Asthma Action Plan (PAAP), and 5% had >80% (45% >50%) repeat refill evidence of adherence to inhaled corticosteroid over the previous 12 months. On pathway exit all children demonstrated correct inhaler technique and were able to action their PAAP. One year later 51% and 95% had refill evidence of >80% and >50% adherence. Comparisons of the 12 months before and 12 months after exit from the pathway the median number of emergency ED or OoH asthma attendances and courses of oral corticosteroids reduced to zero with >75% having no attacks requiring this level of attention. Similar findings resulted when the SADCP was implemented in a district general hospital pediatric unit.ConclusionImplementing an asthma care pathway, using Teach-to-Goal skill training methods and frequent early reviews after an index asthma attack can reduce the future risk of asthma attacks in the next 6 to 12 months.

BackgroundInformation and communication technology solutions have the potential to support active and healthy aging and improve monitoring and treatment outcomes. To make such solutions acceptable, all stakeholders must be involved in the requirements elicitation process. Due to the COVID-19 situation, alternative approaches to commonly used face-to-face methods must often be used. One aim of the current article is to share a unique experience from the Pharaon project where due to the COVID-19 outbreak alternative elicitation methods were used. In addition, an overview of common functional, quality, and emotional goals identified by six pilot sites is presented to complement the knowledge about the needs of older adults.MethodsOriginally planned face-to-face co-creation seminars were impossible to carry out, and all pilot sites chose alternative requirements elicitation methods that were most suitable in their situation. The elicited requirements were presented in the form of goal models. In one summary goal model, we provide an overview of common functional, quality, and emotional goals.ResultsDifferent elicitation methods were combined based on the digital literacy of the target group and their access to digital tools. Methods applied without digital technologies were phone interviews, reviews of literature and previous projects, while by means of digital technologies online interviews, online questionnaires, and (semi-)virtual co-creation seminars were conducted. The combination of the methods allowed to involve all planned stakeholders. Virtual and semi-virtual co-creation seminars created collaborative environment comparable to face-to-face situations, while online participation helped to save the time of the participants. The most prevalent functional goals elicited were “Monitor health,” “Receive advice,” “Receive information.” “Easy to use/comfortable,” “personalized/tailored,” “automatic/smart” were identified as most prevalent quality goals. Most frequently occurring emotional goals were “involved,” “empowered,” and “informed.”ConclusionThere are alternative methods to face-to-face co-creation seminars, which effectively involve older adults and other stakeholders in the requirements elicitation process. Despite the used elicitation method, the requirements can be easily transformed into goal models to present the results in a uniform way. The common requirements across different pilots provided a strong foundation for representing detailed requirements and input for further software development processes.

In this article, Egan and Pinchbeck combine Postdramatic Theatre (Lehmann, 2006), Composed Theatre (Rebstock and Roesner, 2012) and Score Theatre (Spagnolo, 2017) to address the representation of classical music in two separate contemporary performances they were involved in making. Egan addresses the question of ‘adapting scores’ in relation to Plane Performance’s Traviata (2010), where Verdi’s operatic score became the main ‘text’ from which the company were able to deconstruct and re-imagine the opera as a piece of contemporary theatre; one that celebrated the complexities and subtle nuances of the classical composition and brought a ‘sense’ of the opera to a contemporary theatre audience. The research focusses on the feedback loop between performance score and music score as an additive process of ‘musicalising’ the performance and ‘theatricalising’ the composition. Taking Etchells’ understanding of the interplay between ‘re-enacting and reactivating’ the score (2015) alongside Roesner’s sense of sampling as ‘the transformation of a citation into composable material’ (2016) the research examines the useful exchanges that emerge between the disparate texts of the performance world and the many ‘texts’ present in the music score. Pinchbeck addresses how to ‘stage scores’ by reflecting on Concerto (2016). The research is framed by Ravel’s instruction to conductors to ‘follow the score’ and biographises a piece of music (Concerto for the Left Hand). Using verbatim text, autobiographical and postdramatic devising techniques and archival research, the work advances Rebstock and Roesner’s definition of ‘composed theatre’ (2013) and Adrian Curtin’s ‘orchestral theatre’ (2019) by using music to structure theatre in both form and content. Concerto ‘stages scores’ by creating post-dramatic, post-traumatic performance and de-constructing/de-orchestrating post-conflict narratives around its original composition to reconfigure the relationship between audience and performer into an immersive and embodied ‘theatricalised concert’ (Bonshek, 2006).