Moving forward after the COVID-19 pandemic : lessons learned in primary care from the multi-country PRICOV-19 study

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has accentuated the indispensable role of primary care. Objectives: Recognising this, the PRICOV-19 study investigated how 5,489 GP practices across 38 countries (Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kosovo*, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Republic of Moldova, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, and United Kingdom) adapted their care delivery during the pandemic. Methods: Based on a series of discussions on the results of the PRICOV-19 study group, eight recommendations to enhance primary care’s preparedness for future crises were formulated and endorsed by EQuiP and WONCA Europe. Results: The recommendations underscore the importance of recognising and sustaining the substantial strides made in patient safety within GP practices during the pandemic in current daily practices; acknowledging and supporting the pivotal role of GP practices in addressing health inequalities during crises; adopting interprofessional care models to enhance practices’ resilience and adaptability to change; supporting training practices; creating healthy working environments; investing in infrastructure that supports adequate and safe care; and increasing funding for research on patient safety and primary care quality to inform evidence-based health policies and fostering international knowledge exchange among healthcare professionals and policymakers. Conclusion: Policymakers, primary care associations, and the broader healthcare system are urged to collaboratively take responsibility and increase support for GP practices to enhance their resilience, adaptability, and capacity to deliver safe and equitable healthcare during future crises

OBO Foundry food ontology interconnectivity

Since its creation in 2016, the FoodOn food ontology has become an interconnected partner in various academic and government projects that span agricultural and public health domains. This paper examines recent data interoperability capabilities arising from food-related ontologies belonging to, or compatible with, the encyclopedic Open Biological and Biomedical Ontology Foundry (OBO) ontology platform, and how research organizations and industry might utilize them for their own projects or for data exchange. Projects are seeking standardized vocabulary across many food supply activities ranging from agricultural production, harvesting, preparation, food processing, marketing, distribution and consumption, as well as more indirect health, economic, food security and sustainability analysis and reporting tools. To satisfy this demand for controlled vocabulary requires establishing domain specific ontologies whose curators coordinate closely to produce recommended patterns for food system vocabulary

'Say her name' : symbolic racism and officer valuing predict white americans’ reactions to the fatal police shooting of a Black woman

A report entitled Say Her Name: Resisting Police Brutality against Black Women underscores the paucity of research examining police violence toward Black women. This study focused on how valuing a White police officer and symbolic racism moderate reactions when the officer fatally shoots a Black or White woman during a traffic stop. At high levels of officer valuing, symbolic racism was positively associated with perceptions the victim presented a threat to the officer, but negatively associated with support for punishing the officer and perceived victim compliance; these associations were stronger when the victim was Black relative to White. At low officer valuing levels, there was no variability in the link between symbolic racism and the outcome variables as a function of victim race. Implications for bias in judicial outcomes for the victim and officer are discussed

Dynamic multi‐agent dc‐bus reconfiguration in modular motor drives with a stacked polyphase bridge converter

A stacked polyphase bridge converter consists of multiple standard, three‐phase two‐level voltage source inverters connected in series to the same dc voltage source. The authors present a decentralised and dynamic dc‐bus reconfiguration strategy for this type of converter. The innovation of the proposed strategy lies in its ability to isolate or reactivate one of the inverters in the series connection online, even in motoring mode, enabling increased fault tolerance and an extended speed range. Both the required hardware alterations and the multi‐agent control strategy are addressed. Its major benefits compared to the state‐of‐the‐art are that only two additional active, unidirectional semiconductor switches are required per inverter, and that the control is based on local computations, local measurements and neighbour‐to‐neighbour communication only. Hence, the scalability and reliability of the hardware are extended towards the control. Simulations and experimental results on a 4 kW modular axial‐flux PMSM prove the feasibility of the concept, and validate that the dc‐bus can be reconfigured in 100 ms, without torque interruption

The interplay between macromolecular structure, rheology, processing condition, and morphology for (linear) low density polyethylenes in film blowing

Film blowing is a crucial plastic conversion technique for (Linear) Low Density Polyethylene ((L)LDPE), widely employed in the industry. However, understanding its complexities, which involve a delicate interplay between various parameters, such as macromolecular features, flow behavior, processing conditions, and final film performance, remains limited in the literature. Notably, the quantification of processability in film blowing has not yet been adequately addressed. Present study investigates the key parameters in this interplay, introduces a framework to quantify the processability, and establishes its connection with molecular weight (distribution) and the extensional flow behavior of (L)LDPE. Additionally, selected processing conditions are correlated with the crystalline morphology and performance of the films. The findings of this research offer a fundamental understanding of the film blowing process and serve as a valuable baseline for future endeavors involving more complicated polymer systems, such as blends and contaminated recyclates. By shedding light on the crucial parameters and their interdependencies, this work contributes to advancing the efficiency and quality of the process, facilitating the production of high-performance films

Urban tree canopies drive human heat stress mitigation

Climate warming and urbanisation compound the public health risk posed by heat. Heat can be mitigated at local scales through urban greening, which provides shade and reduces surface and air temperatures. Yet, the relative effectiveness of different greening options on human thermal comfort based on physiology-based indices is understudied. We installed microclimate stations at 17 locations covering a gradient of tree canopy cover and perviousness in the city of Ghent, Belgium, and monitored the modified Physiologically Equivalent Temperature (mPET) during 195 days over Spring and Summer. We assessed the canopy cover, pervious surface fraction and building sky fraction based on field measures and hemispherical pictures. Unpaved locations with trees experienced a 2.4-fold reduction in the number of days with strong heat stress (mPET > 35 C-degrees) compared to paved, treeless locations. Based on mixed models and our selected environmental variables, cooling effects were predominantly driven by tree canopy cover, where locations with 100% canopy cover had temperature maxima 5.5 C-degrees mPET lower than treeless locations throughout the monitoring period. When air temperatures rose to 40 C-degrees, cooling by tree canopies increased to 8.8 C-degrees mPET. The pervious surface fraction and building view factor were less influential, generating variation of at most 1.7 C-degrees and 1.1 C-degrees mPET, respectively. In contrast, night-time temperatures were rather determined by the regional-scale urban heat island effect than by aforementioned local factors. Still, tree canopies slightly cooled the warmest nights only, whereas the vicinity of buildings led up to 1.2 C-degrees mPET warming on average. Expanding the urban tree cover may therefore be the best solution for improving local thermal comfort levels when daytime heat peaks, but will provide little relief at night

The role of social media in driving beliefs, attitudes, and intentions of meat reduction towards plant-based meat behavioral intentions

The environmental challenges associated with meat production and consumption have driven the rise of new plant-based (PB) meats. However, PB meat consumption among Europeans remains low. One of the main barriers to the consumption of PB foods is the consumers' need for information. Social media (SM) can help rapidly disseminate a wide range of information. Yet, misinformation in these channels raises concerns about consumers' trust. Therefore, this study examined whether involvement in SM mediates the relationship between beliefs, attitudes and intentions towards reducing meat consumption and PB meat behavioral intentions, particularly for omnivores and flexitarians. Data were collected from 10 European countries (n = 6869). Two SM-related factors, namely the likelihood of using SM to find information about PB foods and trust in information about PB foods from SM were designated as mediators. At least 30 % of the respondents were more likely to use and trust information on PB food from SM. The mediation analyses revealed significant partial mediation (p < 0.001) with respect to the direct effect between beliefs, attitudes and intentions towards meat reduction and the indirect effects of the mediators on PB meat behavioral intentions. This study builds upon how SM shape the behavioral intentions towards PB meat consumption and the meat reducing attitudes of Europeans. The results also provide evidence on how SM can promote European consumers' behavioral intentions for PB meat

Chemical functionalization strategies for poly(aspartic acid) towards crosslinking and processing capabilities

Poly(aspartic acid) (PASP) hydrogels have gained significant attention in recent years due to their excellent biocompatibility, biodegradability and tunable swelling behavior. This comprehensive review presents an overview of past and current research efforts focusing on PASP hydrogels, their functionalization strategies, processing methods and applications. The chemical functionalization of PASP is addressed, highlighting the ability to tailor the functionalities of PASP for customization. Precise control over functional groups for crosslinking enables the preparation of PASP hydrogels that can respond to environmental triggers, rendering them valuable for applications including, yet not limited to, controlled drug release, tissue engineering and self-healing concrete. Furthermore, the processing methods employed to produce PASP in different forms, such as films, nanoparticles and fibers are described. Finally, the applications of PASP hydrogels are overviewed, highlighting their potential to help improving human health and environmental sustainability by providing an alternative for fossil-based hydrogels

Safety and protection of plasma donors : a scoping review and evidence gap map

Background and Objectives: As part of a large-scale project to safely increase plasma collection in Europe, the current scoping review identifies the existing evidence (gaps) on adverse events (AEs) and other health effects in plasmapheresis donors, as well as factors that may be associated with such events/effects. Materials and Methods: We searched six databases and three registries. Study characteristics (publication type, language, study design, population, outcomes, associated factors, time of assessment, duration of follow-up, number and frequency of donations, convalescent plasma [y/n], setting and location) were synthesized narratively and in an interactive evidence gap map (EGM). Results: Ninety-four research articles and five registrations were identified. Around 90% were observational studies (57 controlled and 33 uncontrolled), and most of them were performed in Europe (55%) or the United States (20%). Factors studied in association with donor health included donor characteristics (e.g., sex, age) (n = 27), cumulative number of donations (n = 21), donation frequency (n = 11), plasma collection device or programme (n = 11), donor status (first time vs. repeat) (n = 10), donation volume per session (n = 8), time in donation programme (n = 3), preventive measures (n = 2) or other (n = 9). Conclusion: The current scoping review provides an accessible tool for researchers and policymakers to identify the available evidence (gaps) concerning plasmapheresis donation safety. Controlled prospective studies with long-term donor follow-up are scarce. Furthermore, additional experimental studies comparing the health effects of different donation frequencies are required to inform a safe upper limit for donation frequency