12,902 research outputs found
Core components for effective infection prevention and control programmes: new WHO evidence-based recommendations
Abstract
Health care-associated infections (HAI) are a major public health problem with a significant impact on morbidity, mortality and quality of life. They represent also an important economic burden to health systems worldwide. However, a large proportion of HAI are preventable through effective infection prevention and control (IPC) measures. Improvements in IPC at the national and facility level are critical for the successful containment of antimicrobial resistance and the prevention of HAI, including outbreaks of highly transmissible diseases through high quality care within the context of universal health coverage. Given the limited availability of IPC evidence-based guidance and standards, the World Health Organization (WHO) decided to prioritize the development of global recommendations on the core components of effective IPC programmes both at the national and acute health care facility level, based on systematic literature reviews and expert consensus. The aim of the guideline development process was to identify the evidence and evaluate its quality, consider patient values and preferences, resource implications, and the feasibility and acceptability of the recommendations. As a result, 11 recommendations and three good practice statements are presented here, including a summary of the supporting evidence, and form the substance of a new WHO IPC guideline
Learning Lessons: Urban Water Supply Sector
Complementing a November 2009 guidance note that outlined risks to development effectiveness in the urban water supply sector, this brief provides relevant lessons from evaluations of Asian Development Bank programs over the last ten years. The findings warn against the sector's vulnerability to diverse institutional, organizational, operations, and project-level risks
Overview of holistic application of biogas for small scale farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa
Peer reviewedPostprin
Using Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing to Review and Classify the Medical Literature on Cancer Susceptibility Genes
PURPOSE: The medical literature relevant to germline genetics is growing
exponentially. Clinicians need tools monitoring and prioritizing the literature
to understand the clinical implications of the pathogenic genetic variants. We
developed and evaluated two machine learning models to classify abstracts as
relevant to the penetrance (risk of cancer for germline mutation carriers) or
prevalence of germline genetic mutations. METHODS: We conducted literature
searches in PubMed and retrieved paper titles and abstracts to create an
annotated dataset for training and evaluating the two machine learning
classification models. Our first model is a support vector machine (SVM) which
learns a linear decision rule based on the bag-of-ngrams representation of each
title and abstract. Our second model is a convolutional neural network (CNN)
which learns a complex nonlinear decision rule based on the raw title and
abstract. We evaluated the performance of the two models on the classification
of papers as relevant to penetrance or prevalence. RESULTS: For penetrance
classification, we annotated 3740 paper titles and abstracts and used 60% for
training the model, 20% for tuning the model, and 20% for evaluating the model.
The SVM model achieves 89.53% accuracy (percentage of papers that were
correctly classified) while the CNN model achieves 88.95 % accuracy. For
prevalence classification, we annotated 3753 paper titles and abstracts. The
SVM model achieves 89.14% accuracy while the CNN model achieves 89.13 %
accuracy. CONCLUSION: Our models achieve high accuracy in classifying abstracts
as relevant to penetrance or prevalence. By facilitating literature review,
this tool could help clinicians and researchers keep abreast of the burgeoning
knowledge of gene-cancer associations and keep the knowledge bases for clinical
decision support tools up to date
Ecologically Designed Sanitary Sewer Based on Constructed WetlandsTechnology – Case Study in Managua (Nicaragua)
In developed countries the sanitation and treatment of urban wastewater is well sustained and technically solved by means of conventional pipe networksandsubsequentcentralizedtreatments.However,developingcountries lack these infrastructures and are in need of sustainable, decentralized and economically viable solutions for the disposal of their urban wastewaters. In addition to this, there are situations where the demands of conservation of naturalspacesdonotallowintensiveconstructiveproceduresandwhichforce the implementation of sanitary engineering with less environmental impact. We present the Ecological Wastewater Sewer (EWS), an ecological urban sewerage system that simultaneously transports wastewater and improves its quality.Thisinnovativetechnologyisanalternativetoconventionalsanitation piping that has minimal environmental impact. It is based on a successful previous work for the improvement of artificial wetlands in a pilot scheme andatfull-scaleonatestsite.TheEWSisachannel-shapeddevicethatrelies on the application of two key developments: a carefully designed cornered stones layout, and the creation of a natural aeration system. This way, it acts as a separating sewage system that guarantees the presence of a chamber of circulating air within the transportation unit, favouring permanent aerobic conditions in the upper levels of the mass of wastewater. Furthermore, its capacity to set tle suspended solids allows the EWS to be used as a sedimentor in water purification processes. A real-life application of this system proved successful in the sanitation of a district of Managua (Nicaragua). Working with a 100-metre-long street of 20 one-story houses, the system is reported to still be in full operating order after six years. The conclusions and results drawn from its monitoring are meticulously explained in our paper, as well astherecommendations&guidelinesforthedesignofmoreEWSunits,with aim to the popularization of this affordable, efficient and green approach to wastewater sanitation.Andalusian International School of Water Engineering, City hall of SevilleCooperation Office at the University of Sevill
Gender in Water and Sanitation
The report highlights the experiences of mainstreaming gender at various levels in the water and sanitation sector. It begins with a discussion on gender responses to policy and its requirement for analysis and clear policy objectives to guide operations. The report touches on experiences of mainstreaming gender within sector operations, beginning with the importance of mainstreaming in the workplace, and describes how gender can be addressed within service delivery in urban water, in sanitation, in small towns and rural water operations. The report also addresses gender responses to monitoring and evaluation processes, examines responses to gender issues within accountability and voice initiatives, assesses gender responses within hygiene and behavior change programs, and examines the linkages between water, sanitation and HIV/AIDS
Needs assessment to strengthen capacity in water and sanitation research in Africa:experiences of the African SNOWS consortium
Despite its contribution to global disease burden, diarrhoeal disease is still a relatively neglected area for research funding, especially in low-income country settings. The SNOWS consortium (Scientists Networked for Outcomes from Water and Sanitation) is funded by the Wellcome Trust under an initiative to build the necessary research skills in Africa. This paper focuses on the research training needs of the consortium as identified during the first three years of the project
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