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- Burstein, R., et al.
(author)
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Mapping 123 million neonatal, infant and child deaths between 2000 and 2017
- 2019
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In: Nature. - : Nature Publishing Group. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 574:7778, s. 353-358
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Since 2000, many countries have achieved considerable success in improving child survival, but localized progress remains unclear. To inform efforts towards United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 3.2âto end preventable child deaths by 2030âwe need consistently estimated data at the subnational level regarding child mortality rates and trends. Here we quantified, for the period 2000â2017, the subnational variation in mortality rates and number of deaths of neonates, infants and children under 5 years of age within 99 low- and middle-income countries using a geostatistical survival model. We estimated that 32% of children under 5 in these countries lived in districts that had attained rates of 25 or fewer child deaths per 1,000 live births by 2017, and that 58% of child deaths between 2000 and 2017 in these countries could have been averted in the absence of geographical inequality. This study enables the identification of high-mortality clusters, patterns of progress and geographical inequalities to inform appropriate investments and implementations that will help to improve the health of all populations. © 2019, The Author(s).
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3. |
- Kinyoki, DK, et al.
(author)
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Mapping local patterns of childhood overweight and wasting in low- and middle-income countries between 2000 and 2017
- 2020
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In: Nature medicine. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1546-170X .- 1078-8956. ; 26:5, s. 750-759
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- A double burden of malnutrition occurs when individuals, household members or communities experience both undernutrition and overweight. Here, we show geospatial estimates of overweight and wasting prevalence among children under 5 years of age in 105 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) from 2000 to 2017 and aggregate these to policy-relevant administrative units. Wasting decreased overall across LMICs between 2000 and 2017, from 8.4% (62.3 (55.1–70.8) million) to 6.4% (58.3 (47.6–70.7) million), but is predicted to remain above the World Health Organization’s Global Nutrition Target of <5% in over half of LMICs by 2025. Prevalence of overweight increased from 5.2% (30 (22.8–38.5) million) in 2000 to 6.0% (55.5 (44.8–67.9) million) children aged under 5 years in 2017. Areas most affected by double burden of malnutrition were located in Indonesia, Thailand, southeastern China, Botswana, Cameroon and central Nigeria. Our estimates provide a new perspective to researchers, policy makers and public health agencies in their efforts to address this global childhood syndemic.
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5. |
- Sbarra, AN, et al.
(author)
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Mapping routine measles vaccination in low- and middle-income countries
- 2021
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In: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1476-4687 .- 0028-0836. ; 589:7842, s. 415-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The safe, highly effective measles vaccine has been recommended globally since 1974, yet in 2017 there were more than 17 million cases of measles and 83,400 deaths in children under 5 years old, and more than 99% of both occurred in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs)1–4. Globally comparable, annual, local estimates of routine first-dose measles-containing vaccine (MCV1) coverage are critical for understanding geographically precise immunity patterns, progress towards the targets of the Global Vaccine Action Plan (GVAP), and high-risk areas amid disruptions to vaccination programmes caused by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)5–8. Here we generated annual estimates of routine childhood MCV1 coverage at 5 × 5-km2pixel and second administrative levels from 2000 to 2019 in 101 LMICs, quantified geographical inequality and assessed vaccination status by geographical remoteness. After widespread MCV1 gains from 2000 to 2010, coverage regressed in more than half of the districts between 2010 and 2019, leaving many LMICs far from the GVAP goal of 80% coverage in all districts by 2019. MCV1 coverage was lower in rural than in urban locations, although a larger proportion of unvaccinated children overall lived in urban locations; strategies to provide essential vaccination services should address both geographical contexts. These results provide a tool for decision-makers to strengthen routine MCV1 immunization programmes and provide equitable disease protection for all children.
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10. |
- Chang, A. Y., et al.
(author)
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Past, present, and future of global health financing : A review of development assistance, government, out-of-pocket, and other private spending on health for 195 countries, 1995-2050
- 2019
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In: The Lancet. - : Lancet Publishing Group. - 0140-6736 .- 1474-547X. ; 393:10187, s. 2233-2260
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Comprehensive and comparable estimates of health spending in each country are a key input for health policy and planning, and are necessary to support the achievement of national and international health goals. Previous studies have tracked past and projected future health spending until 2040 and shown that, with economic development, countries tend to spend more on health per capita, with a decreasing share of spending from development assistance and out-of-pocket sources. We aimed to characterise the past, present, and predicted future of global health spending, with an emphasis on equity in spending across countries. Methods: We estimated domestic health spending for 195 countries and territories from 1995 to 2016, split into three categories-government, out-of-pocket, and prepaid private health spending-and estimated development assistance for health (DAH) from 1990 to 2018. We estimated future scenarios of health spending using an ensemble of linear mixed-effects models with time series specifications to project domestic health spending from 2017 through 2050 and DAH from 2019 through 2050. Data were extracted from a broad set of sources tracking health spending and revenue, and were standardised and converted to inflation-adjusted 2018 US dollars. Incomplete or low-quality data were modelled and uncertainty was estimated, leading to a complete data series of total, government, prepaid private, and out-of-pocket health spending, and DAH. Estimates are reported in 2018 US dollars, 2018 purchasing-power parity-adjusted dollars, and as a percentage of gross domestic product. We used demographic decomposition methods to assess a set of factors associated with changes in government health spending between 1995 and 2016 and to examine evidence to support the theory of the health financing transition. We projected two alternative future scenarios based on higher government health spending to assess the potential ability of governments to generate more resources for health. Findings: Between 1995 and 2016, health spending grew at a rate of 4.00% (95% uncertainty interval 3.89-4.12) annually, although it grew slower in per capita terms (2.72% [2.61-2.84]) and increased by less than $1 per capita over this period in 22 of 195 countries. The highest annual growth rates in per capita health spending were observed in upper-middle-income countries (5.55% [5.18-5.95]), mainly due to growth in government health spending, and in lower-middle-income countries (3.71% [3.10-4.34]), mainly from DAH. Health spending globally reached $8.0 trillion (7.8-8.1) in 2016 (comprising 8.6% [8.4-8.7] of the global economy and $10.3 trillion [10.1-10.6] in purchasing-power parity-adjusted dollars), with a per capita spending of US$5252 (5184-5319) in high-income countries, $491 (461-524) in upper-middle-income countries, $81 (74-89) in lower-middle-income countries, and $40 (38-43) in low-income countries. In 2016, 0.4% (0.3-0.4) of health spending globally was in low-income countries, despite these countries comprising 10.0% of the global population. In 2018, the largest proportion of DAH targeted HIV/AIDS ($9.5 billion, 24.3% of total DAH), although spending on other infectious diseases (excluding tuberculosis and malaria) grew fastest from 2010 to 2018 (6.27% per year). The leading sources of DAH were the USA and private philanthropy (excluding corporate donations and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation). For the first time, we included estimates of China’s contribution to DAH ($644.7 million in 2018). Globally, health spending is projected to increase to $15.0 trillion (14.0-16.0) by 2050 (reaching 9.4% [7.6-11.3] of the global economy and $21.3 trillion [19.8-23.1] in purchasing-power parity-adjusted dollars), but at a lower growth rate of 1.84% (1.68-2.02) annually, and with continuing disparities in spending between countries. In 2050, we estimate that 0.6% (0.6-0.7) of health spending will occur in currently low-income countries, despite these countries comprising an estimated 15.7% of the global population by 2050. The ratio between per capita health spending in high-income and low-income countries was 130.2 (122.9-136.9) in 2016 and is projected to remain at similar levels in 2050 (125.9 [113.7-138.1]). The decomposition analysis identified governments’ increased prioritisation of the health sector and economic development as the strongest factors associated with increases in government health spending globally. Future government health spending scenarios suggest that, with greater prioritisation of the health sector and increased government spending, health spending per capita could more than double, with greater impacts in countries that currently have the lowest levels of government health spending. Interpretation: Financing for global health has increased steadily over the past two decades and is projected to continue increasing in the future, although at a slower pace of growth and with persistent disparities in per-capita health spending between countries. Out-of-pocket spending is projected to remain substantial outside of high-income countries. Many low-income countries are expected to remain dependent on development assistance, although with greater government spending, larger investments in health are feasible. In the absence of sustained new investments in health, increasing efficiency in health spending is essential to meet global health targets. © 2019 The Author(s).
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11. |
- Al Bataineh, A., et al.
(author)
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An efficient hybrid extreme learning machine and evolutionary framework with applications for medical diagnosis
- 2024
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In: Expert systems (Print). - : Wiley. - 0266-4720 .- 1468-0394. ; 41:4
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Integrating machine learning techniques into medical diagnostic systems holds great promise for enhancing disease identification and treatment. Among the various options for training such systems, the extreme learning machine (ELM) stands out due to its rapid learning capability and computational efficiency. However, the random selection of input weights and hidden neuron biases in the ELM can lead to suboptimal performance. To address this issue, our study introduces a novel approach called modified Harris hawks optimizer (MHHO) to optimize these parameters in ELM for medical classification tasks. By applying the MHHO-based method to seven medical datasets, our experimental results demonstrate its superiority over seven other evolutionary-based ELM trainer models. The findings strongly suggest that the MHHO approach can serve as a valuable tool for enhancing the performance of ELM in medical diagnosis.
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12. |
- Bainbridge, Matthew N, et al.
(author)
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Germline mutations in shelterin complex genes are associated with familial glioma
- 2015
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In: Journal of the National Cancer Institute. - : Oxford University Press. - 0027-8874 .- 1460-2105. ; 107:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Gliomas are the most common brain tumor, with several histological subtypes of various malignancy grade. The genetic contribution to familial glioma is not well understood. Using whole exome sequencing of 90 individuals from 55 families, we identified two families with mutations in POT1 (p.G95C, p.E450X), a member of the telomere shelterin complex, shared by both affected individuals in each family and predicted to impact DNA binding and TPP1 binding, respectively. Validation in a separate cohort of 264 individuals from 246 families identified an additional mutation in POT1 (p.D617Efs), also predicted to disrupt TPP1 binding. All families with POT1 mutations had affected members with oligodendroglioma, a specific subtype of glioma more sensitive to irradiation. These findings are important for understanding the origin of glioma and could have importance for the future diagnostics and treatment of glioma.
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- Ruban, V., et al.
(author)
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Rogue waves - towards a unifying concept?: Discussions and debates
- 2010
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In: The European Physical Journal. Special Topics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1951-6355 .- 1951-6401. ; 185:1, s. 5-15
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This paper contains the discussion inputs by the contributors of the special issue on the subject of rogue waves.
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19. |
- Friedman, James S., et al.
(author)
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Premature truncation of a novel protein, RD3, exhibiting subnuclear localization is associated with retinal degeneration
- 2006
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In: American Journal of Human Genetics. - 0002-9297. ; 79:6, s. 1059-1070
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The rd3 mouse is one of the oldest identified models of early-onset retinal degeneration. Using the positional candidate approach, we have identified a C -> T substitution in a novel gene, Rd3, that encodes an evolutionarily conserved protein of 195 amino acids. The rd3 mutation results in a predicted stop codon after residue 106. This change is observed in four rd3 lines derived from the original collected mice but not in the nine wild-type mouse strains that were examined. Rd3 is preferentially expressed in the retina and exhibits increasing expression through early postnatal development. In transiently transfected COS-1 cells, the RD3-fusion protein shows subnuclear localization adjacent to promyelocytic leukemia-gene-product bodies. The truncated mutant RD3 protein is detectable in COS-1 cells but appears to get degraded rapidly. To explore potential association of the human RD3 gene at chromosome 1q32 with retinopathies, we performed a mutation screen of 881 probands from North America, India, and Europe. In addition to several alterations of uncertain significance, we identified a homozygous alteration in the invariant G nucleotide of the RD3 exon 2 donor splice site in two siblings with Leber congenital amaurosis. This mutation is predicted to result in premature truncation of the RD3 protein, segregates with the disease, and is not detected in 121 ethnically matched control individuals. We suggest that the retinopathy-associated RD3 protein is part of subnuclear protein complexes involved in diverse processes, such as transcription and splicing.
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20. |
- Jalali, Amin, et al.
(author)
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A Hybrid Approach for Aspect-Oriented Business Process Modeling
- 2018
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In: Journal of Software. - : Wiley. - 2047-7473 .- 2047-7481. ; 30:8
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Separation of concerns has long been an important strategy to deal with complexity when developing a system. Some concerns (like security) are scattered through the whole system, and different modules are tangled to such concerns. These concerns are known as cross‐cutting concerns. When the system in question is a business process, cross‐cutting concerns are aimed at being encapsulated by Aspect‐Oriented Business Process Modeling. However, the state‐of‐the‐art techniques in this field lack efficient mechanisms that (1) support composition of cross‐cutting concerns that can be defined in parallel to (a part of) a process model and (2) enable specifying both mandatory and optional cross‐cutting concerns. To address these limitations, this paper proposes a new Aspect‐Oriented Business Process Modeling approach. The approach is hybrid since it is based on declarative rules to relate imperative cross‐cutting concerns and imperative business process models. The approach is explained, formally grounded with precise semantics, and used accordingly to implement the artifacts that support modeling and enactment of business processes in the proposed fashion as a proof of concept. In addition, the approach is evaluated on the basis of the Technology Acceptance Model during a workshop session. The result shows that participants perceived the approach usable and easy to use.
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22. |
- Jalali, Amin, et al.
(author)
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Enhancing Aspect-Oriented Business Process Modeling with Declarative Rules
- 2015
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In: Conceptual Modeling. - Cham : Springer. - 9783319252636 - 9783319252643 ; , s. 108-115
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- When managing a set of inter-related business processes, typically a number of concerns can be distinguished that are applicable to more than one single process, such as security and traceability. The proper enforcement of these cross-cutting concerns may require a specific configuration effort for each of the business processes involved. Aspect-Oriented Business Process Modelling is an approach that aims at encapsulating these concerns in a model-oriented way. However, state-of-the-art techniques lack efficient mechanisms that allow for the specification of concerns in such a way that they can be executed in parallel to other parts of the process. Moreover, existing techniques exclusively focus on the formulation of mandatory concerns. To address these limitations, this paper provides a new approach to encapsulate both optional and mandatory concerns, which can be executed concurrently with other process functionalities. One core element of the new approach is that it extends current Aspect-Oriented Business Process Modelling approaches with declarative rules. The approach is explained, formally grounded with precise semantics, and used accordingly to implement the artefacts that support the enactment of a business process in the proposed fashion. The execution environment is applied to a case from the educational domain to demonstrate the feasibility and usefulness of the underlying concepts.
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23. |
- Jalali, Ali, et al.
(author)
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Targeted sequencing in chromosome 17q linkage region identifies familial glioma candidates in the Gliogene Consortium
- 2015
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In: Scientific Reports. - : Nature Publishing Group. - 2045-2322. ; 5, s. 8278-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Glioma is a rare, but highly fatal, cancer that accounts for the majority of malignant primary brain tumors. Inherited predisposition to glioma has been consistently observed within non-syndromic families. Our previous studies, which involved non-parametric and parametric linkage analyses, both yielded significant linkage peaks on chromosome 17q. Here, we use data from next generation and Sanger sequencing to identify familial glioma candidate genes and variants on chromosome 17q for further investigation. We applied a filtering schema to narrow the original list of 4830 annotated variants down to 21 very rare (<0.1% frequency), non-synonymous variants. Our findings implicate the MYO19 and KIF18B genes and rare variants in SPAG9 and RUNDC1 as candidates worthy of further investigation. Burden testing and functional studies are planned.
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24. |
- Jalali-Roudsar, Amir A., et al.
(author)
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Microwave and magneto-optic properties of pulsed laser deposited bismuth iron garnet films
- 2001
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In: IEEE transactions on magnetics. - : Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). - 0018-9464 .- 1941-0069. ; 37:4, s. 2454-2456
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We report on processing and comparative characterization of epitaxial Bi3Fe5O12 (BIG) films grown by pulsed laser ablation of a precursor oxide target onto (NdGd)(3)(ScGa)(5)O-12 [NGSGG(111)] and Gd-3 (ScGa)(5)O-12 (GSGG(001)] single crystals. Comprehensive X-ray diffraction analyses reveal the epitaxial quality of the BIG films: they are single phase, exclusively (111) and (001) oriented with less than 0.4 degrees and 0.06 degrees of the full width at half maximum of the rocking curve of main texture Bragg reflection [(111) for NGSGG and (001) for GSGG substrate, respectively]. The films are strongly in-plane textured with cube-on-cube film-to-substrate epitaxial relationship. VSM and ferromagnetic resonance measurements revealed in-plane magnetization in BIG/GSGG(001) film, while the BIG/NGSGG(111) film was found to have perpendicular magnetization. For BIG(001) and (111) films the saturation magnetization 4 piM(s) was found to be 1400 and 1200 Gs; the Faraday rotation at 635 nm was -7.8 and -6.7 deg/mum; the constant of uniaxial magnetic anisotropy was K-u* = -8.70 X 10(4) and +1.16 x 10(4) erg/cm(3); the constant of cubic magnetic anisotropy K-1 = -3.6 x 10(3) and -7.14 x 10(3) erg/cm(3). High Faraday rotation and low coercive field (less than or equal to 40 Oe) of BIG/GSGG(001) films show promise for their use in integrated magneto-optic applications.
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25. |
- Jalali Roudsar, Amir A., 1965-
(author)
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On ferromagnetic thin films and two-dimensional magneto-optic photonic crystals
- 2004
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This thesis presents results in two different neighboring areas of research: the magnetic properties of thin ferrite films and the application of the films in two-dimensional photonic crystals.In the first part, we investigate the accuracy of the customary method for determining the magnetic anisotropy constants of ferrite films by ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) experiment. We have improved the method and introduced an experimental procedure to obtain the anisotropy constants with higher precision. The magnetic anisotropy fields are obtained by using FMR on a (111)-oriented yttrium iron garnet (YIG) film made by pulsed laser deposition. Moreover, we found experimentally that the shapes of FMR spectra of laser deposited epitaxial YIG films strongly depend on the orientation of the magnetic bias field with respect to the crystalline axes of the film. Inhomogeneities of the constants of anisotropy throughout the film could be responsible for the complexity of the FMR spectra. We find the special directions of the applied magnetic field in which the contribution of the magnetocrystalline anisotropy has the smallest effect on the ferromagnetic resonance and therefore on the elements of the permeability tensor.In the second part, we study the electromagnetic wave propagation in two-dimensional (2D) dielectric and magneto-optic photonic crystals (PCs). We have proposed a 2D PC which is composed of magneto-optic material for the purpose of the enhancement of Faraday rotation in high transmission. It is assumed that the 2D PC contains a bismuth iron garnet (BIG) film either as the PC background medium or as a defect, embedded in the 2D PC. We have examined theoretically and computationally the increase in the Faraday rotation as well as the transmission of a plane-polarized plane wave incident onto these structures in the optical wavelength regime. Several important phenomena, with potential applications, are observed.
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26. |
- Khodakarami, A, et al.
(author)
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The molecular biology and therapeutic potential of Nrf2 in leukemia
- 2022
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In: Cancer cell international. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1475-2867. ; 22:1, s. 241-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- NF-E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) transcription factor has contradictory roles in cancer, which can act as a tumor suppressor or a proto-oncogene in different cell conditions (depending on the cell type and the conditions of the cell environment). Nrf2 pathway regulates several cellular processes, including signaling, energy metabolism, autophagy, inflammation, redox homeostasis, and antioxidant regulation. As a result, it plays a crucial role in cell survival. Conversely, Nrf2 protects cancerous cells from apoptosis and increases proliferation, angiogenesis, and metastasis. It promotes resistance to chemotherapy and radiotherapy in various solid tumors and hematological malignancies, so we want to elucidate the role of Nrf2 in cancer and the positive point of its targeting. Also, in the past few years, many studies have shown that Nrf2 protects cancer cells, especially leukemic cells, from the effects of chemotherapeutic drugs. The present paper summarizes these studies to scrutinize whether targeting Nrf2 combined with chemotherapy would be a therapeutic approach for leukemia treatment. Also, we discussed how Nrf2 and NF-κB work together to control the cellular redox pathway. The role of these two factors in inflammation (antagonistic) and leukemia (synergistic) is also summarized.
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