| 1. |
- Ademuyiwa, Adesoji O., et al.
(author)
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Determinants of morbidity and mortality following emergency abdominal surgery in children in low-income and middle-income countries
- 2016
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In: BMJ Global Health. - : BMJ Publishing Group Ltd. - 2059-7908. ; 1:4
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Child health is a key priority on the global health agenda, yet the provision of essential and emergency surgery in children is patchy in resource-poor regions. This study was aimed to determine the mortality risk for emergency abdominal paediatric surgery in low-income countries globally.Methods: Multicentre, international, prospective, cohort study. Self-selected surgical units performing emergency abdominal surgery submitted prespecified data for consecutive children aged <16 years during a 2-week period between July and December 2014. The United Nation's Human Development Index (HDI) was used to stratify countries. The main outcome measure was 30-day postoperative mortality, analysed by multilevel logistic regression.Results: This study included 1409 patients from 253 centres in 43 countries; 282 children were under 2 years of age. Among them, 265 (18.8%) were from low-HDI, 450 (31.9%) from middle-HDI and 694 (49.3%) from high-HDI countries. The most common operations performed were appendectomy, small bowel resection, pyloromyotomy and correction of intussusception. After adjustment for patient and hospital risk factors, child mortality at 30 days was significantly higher in low-HDI (adjusted OR 7.14 (95% CI 2.52 to 20.23), p<0.001) and middle-HDI (4.42 (1.44 to 13.56), p=0.009) countries compared with high-HDI countries, translating to 40 excess deaths per 1000 procedures performed.Conclusions: Adjusted mortality in children following emergency abdominal surgery may be as high as 7 times greater in low-HDI and middle-HDI countries compared with high-HDI countries. Effective provision of emergency essential surgery should be a key priority for global child health agendas.
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| 2. |
- Abbafati, Cristiana, et al.
(author)
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- 2020
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)
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| 3. |
- Batool, Javaria, et al.
(author)
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Oxygen-vacancy-induced magnetism in anti-perovskite topological Dirac semimetal Ba3SnO
- 2021
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In: Physical Chemistry, Chemical Physics - PCCP. - : Royal Society of Chemistry. - 1463-9076 .- 1463-9084. ; 23:43, s. 24878-24891
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The thermodynamic, structural, magnetic and electronic properties of the pristine and intrinsic vacancy-defect-containing topological Dirac semimetal Ba3SnO are studied using first-principles density functional theory calculations. The thermodynamic stability of Ba3SnO has been evaluated with reference to its competing binary phases Ba2Sn, BaSn and BaO. Subsequently, valid limits of the atomic chemical potentials derived from the thermodynamic stability were used for assessing the formation of Ba, Sn and O vacancy defects in Ba3SnO under different synthesis environments. Based on the calculated defect-formation energies, we find that the charge-neutral oxygen vacancies are the most favourable type of vacancy defect under most chemical environments. The calculated electronic properties of pristine Ba3SnO show that inclusion of spin–orbit coupling in exchange–correlation potentials computed using generalized gradient approximation yields a semimetallic band structure exhibiting twin Dirac cones along the Γ–X path of the Brillouin zone. The effect of spin–polarization and spin–orbit coupling on the physical properties of intrinsic vacancy defects containing Ba3SnO has been examined in detail. Using Bader charges, electron localization function (ELF), electronic density of states (DOS) and spin density, we show that the isolated oxygen vacancy is a magnetic defect in anti-perovskite Ba3SnO. Our results show that the origin of magnetism in Ba3SnO is the accumulation of unpaired charges at the oxygen vacancy sites, which couple strongly with the 5d states of the Ba atom. Owing to the metastability observed in earlier theoretically predicted magnetic topological semimetals, the present study reveals the important role of intrinsic vacancy defects in giving rise to magnetism and also provides opportunities for engineering the electronic structure of a Dirac semimetal.
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| 4. |
- Micah, Angela E., et al.
(author)
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Tracking development assistance for health and for COVID-19 : a review of development assistance, government, out-of-pocket, and other private spending on health for 204 countries and territories, 1990-2050
- 2021
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In: The Lancet. - : Elsevier. - 0140-6736 .- 1474-547X. ; 398:10308, s. 1317-1343
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Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background The rapid spread of COVID-19 renewed the focus on how health systems across the globe are financed, especially during public health emergencies. Development assistance is an important source of health financing in many low-income countries, yet little is known about how much of this funding was disbursed for COVID-19. We aimed to put development assistance for health for COVID-19 in the context of broader trends in global health financing, and to estimate total health spending from 1995 to 2050 and development assistance for COVID-19 in 2020. Methods We estimated domestic health spending and development assistance for health to generate total health-sector spending estimates for 204 countries and territories. We leveraged data from the WHO Global Health Expenditure Database to produce estimates of domestic health spending. To generate estimates for development assistance for health, we relied on project-level disbursement data from the major international development agencies' online databases and annual financial statements and reports for information on income sources. To adjust our estimates for 2020 to include disbursements related to COVID-19, we extracted project data on commitments and disbursements from a broader set of databases (because not all of the data sources used to estimate the historical series extend to 2020), including the UN Office of Humanitarian Assistance Financial Tracking Service and the International Aid Transparency Initiative. We reported all the historic and future spending estimates in inflation-adjusted 2020 US$, 2020 US$ per capita, purchasing-power parity-adjusted US$ per capita, and as a proportion of gross domestic product. We used various models to generate future health spending to 2050. Findings In 2019, health spending globally reached $8. 8 trillion (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 8.7-8.8) or $1132 (1119-1143) per person. Spending on health varied within and across income groups and geographical regions. Of this total, $40.4 billion (0.5%, 95% UI 0.5-0.5) was development assistance for health provided to low-income and middle-income countries, which made up 24.6% (UI 24.0-25.1) of total spending in low-income countries. We estimate that $54.8 billion in development assistance for health was disbursed in 2020. Of this, $13.7 billion was targeted toward the COVID-19 health response. $12.3 billion was newly committed and $1.4 billion was repurposed from existing health projects. $3.1 billion (22.4%) of the funds focused on country-level coordination and $2.4 billion (17.9%) was for supply chain and logistics. Only $714.4 million (7.7%) of COVID-19 development assistance for health went to Latin America, despite this region reporting 34.3% of total recorded COVID-19 deaths in low-income or middle-income countries in 2020. Spending on health is expected to rise to $1519 (1448-1591) per person in 2050, although spending across countries is expected to remain varied. Interpretation Global health spending is expected to continue to grow, but remain unequally distributed between countries. We estimate that development organisations substantially increased the amount of development assistance for health provided in 2020. Continued efforts are needed to raise sufficient resources to mitigate the pandemic for the most vulnerable, and to help curtail the pandemic for all. Copyright (C) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.
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| 5. |
- Bilal, Muhammad, et al.
(author)
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DFT insights into surface properties of anti-perovskite 3D topological crystalline insulators : A case study of (001) surfaces of Ca3SnO
- 2021
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In: Physics Letters A. - : Elsevier. - 0375-9601 .- 1873-2429. ; 408
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this letter density functional theory calculations are used for investigating the structural, energetic and electronic properties of CaSn- and Ca2O-terminated (001) surfaces of anti-perovskite Ca3SnO. Our calculations indicate larger structural changes in case of the CaSn-terminated (001) surface of Ca3SnO, however, both CaSn- and Ca2O-terminated surfaces of Ca3SnO are found to be energetically stable. The electronic properties of (001) surfaces of Ca3SnO are examined by taking spin-orbit coupling into account. Comparison of the simulated results of electronic properties for the two (001) surfaces of Ca3SnO with experimentally reported hole carrier densities observed in p-type polycrystalline samples show good agreement.
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| 6. |
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| 7. |
- Khan, Syed Ishtiaq, et al.
(author)
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Mononuclear copper(i) complexes of triphenylphosphine and N,N′-disubstituted thioureas as potential DNA binding chemotherapeutics
- 2021
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In: New Journal of Chemistry. - : Royal Society of Chemistry. - 1144-0546 .- 1369-9261. ; 45:20, s. 8925-8935
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this work, nine new mixed-ligand complexes with the general formula [CuBr(TPP)2Tu1–9] were synthesized. The copper(I) complexes of triphenylphosphine (TPP) and different N,N′-disubstituted thioureas (Tu) were characterized via spectroscopic techniques including Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H, 13C, and 31P NMR), and single-crystal X-ray diffraction (SC-XRD). The complexes were synthesized via the direct reaction of bromo(tris(triphenylphosphine)copper(I)) [BrCu(PPh3)3] precursor and thiourea ligand solution under ambient conditions. Complexes 1, 2 and 3 crystallized in a triclinic system with the P space group. Each complex is mononuclear, and the copper atom is tetrahedrally attached to two TPP groups through the phosphorous atom, one thiourea molecule through the sulfur atom and one bromine atom. The synthesized compounds were docked with a DNA macromolecule to predict their binding site and it was found that all molecules showed favorable binding to the DNA minor grooves. The DNA interaction studies of the representative complexes demonstrated their efficient DNA binding affinities. Based on the docking and DNA interaction results, complex 7 was found to be the best binder with a docking affinity of 382.2 kJ mol−1 and binding constant of 3.96 × 104 M−1. This compound tends to interact with the minor groove through the bromine atom positioning the side triphenylphosphine rings along the X-axis of the groove while keeping the 1-(2-chlorobenzyl)-3-(3-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl)thiourea ring on the outside.
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| 8. |
- Abuhussain, Mohammed Awad, et al.
(author)
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Data-driven approaches for strength prediction of alkali-activated composites
- 2024
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In: Case Studies in Construction Materials. - : Elsevier. - 2214-5095. ; 20
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Alkali-activated composites (AACs) have attracted considerable interest as a promising alternative to reduce CO2 emissions from Portland cement production and advance the decarbonisation of concrete construction. This study describes the data-driven predictive modelling to anticipate the compressive strength (CS) of AACs. Four different modelling techniques have been chosen to forecast the CS of AACs using the selected data set. The decision tree (DT), multi-layer perceptron (MLP), bagging regressor (BR), and AdaBoost regressor (AR) were employed to investigate the precision level of each model. When it comes to predicting the CS of AACs, the results show that the AR model performs better than the BR model, the MLP model, and the DT model by providing a higher value for the coefficient of determination, which is equal to 0.91, and a lower MAPE value, which is equal to 13.35%. However, the accuracy level of the BR model was very near to that of the AR model, with the R2 value suggesting a value of 0.90 and the MAPE value indicating a value of 14.43%. Moreover, the graphical user interface has also been developed for the strength prediction of alkali-activated composites, making it easy to get the required output from the selected inputs.
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| 9. |
- Wang, Dong, et al.
(author)
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Comparing the efficacy of GEP and MEP algorithms in predicting concrete strength incorporating waste eggshell and waste glass powder
- 2024
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In: Developments in the Built Environment. - : Elsevier Ltd. - 2666-1659. ; 17
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The present study used the techniques of gene expression programming (GEP) and multi-expression programming (MEP) to assess the compressive strength (CS) and flexural strength (FS) and develop predictive models of sustainable mortar modified with waste eggshell powder (WEP) and waste glass powder (WGP) as a replacement of cement. In order to get more insights into the impact and relation of raw components on the CS and FS of a developed sustainable mortar, a comprehensive study using the SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) methodology was performed. When comparing the efficiency of both employed models, it was seen that the MEP model exhibited superior performance with an R2 value of 0.871 and 0.894 for CS and FS, as compared to the GEP model, which had an R2 value of 0.842 and 0.845 for CS and FS respectively.
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