Global, regional, and national burden of colorectal cancer and its risk factors, 1990–2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

Funding: F Carvalho and E Fernandes acknowledge support from Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P. (FCT), in the scope of the project UIDP/04378/2020 and UIDB/04378/2020 of the Research Unit on Applied Molecular Biosciences UCIBIO and the project LA/P/0140/2020 of the Associate Laboratory Institute for Health and Bioeconomy i4HB; FCT/MCTES through the project UIDB/50006/2020. J Conde acknowledges the European Research Council Starting Grant (ERC-StG-2019-848325). V M Costa acknowledges the grant SFRH/BHD/110001/2015, received by Portuguese national funds through Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT), IP, under the Norma Transitória DL57/2016/CP1334/CT0006.proofepub_ahead_of_prin

The global burden of adolescent and young adult cancer in 2019 : a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

Background In estimating the global burden of cancer, adolescents and young adults with cancer are often overlooked, despite being a distinct subgroup with unique epidemiology, clinical care needs, and societal impact. Comprehensive estimates of the global cancer burden in adolescents and young adults (aged 15-39 years) are lacking. To address this gap, we analysed results from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019, with a focus on the outcome of disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), to inform global cancer control measures in adolescents and young adults. Methods Using the GBD 2019 methodology, international mortality data were collected from vital registration systems, verbal autopsies, and population-based cancer registry inputs modelled with mortality-to-incidence ratios (MIRs). Incidence was computed with mortality estimates and corresponding MIRs. Prevalence estimates were calculated using modelled survival and multiplied by disability weights to obtain years lived with disability (YLDs). Years of life lost (YLLs) were calculated as age-specific cancer deaths multiplied by the standard life expectancy at the age of death. The main outcome was DALYs (the sum of YLLs and YLDs). Estimates were presented globally and by Socio-demographic Index (SDI) quintiles (countries ranked and divided into five equal SDI groups), and all estimates were presented with corresponding 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs). For this analysis, we used the age range of 15-39 years to define adolescents and young adults. Findings There were 1.19 million (95% UI 1.11-1.28) incident cancer cases and 396 000 (370 000-425 000) deaths due to cancer among people aged 15-39 years worldwide in 2019. The highest age-standardised incidence rates occurred in high SDI (59.6 [54.5-65.7] per 100 000 person-years) and high-middle SDI countries (53.2 [48.8-57.9] per 100 000 person-years), while the highest age-standardised mortality rates were in low-middle SDI (14.2 [12.9-15.6] per 100 000 person-years) and middle SDI (13.6 [12.6-14.8] per 100 000 person-years) countries. In 2019, adolescent and young adult cancers contributed 23.5 million (21.9-25.2) DALYs to the global burden of disease, of which 2.7% (1.9-3.6) came from YLDs and 97.3% (96.4-98.1) from YLLs. Cancer was the fourth leading cause of death and tenth leading cause of DALYs in adolescents and young adults globally. Interpretation Adolescent and young adult cancers contributed substantially to the overall adolescent and young adult disease burden globally in 2019. These results provide new insights into the distribution and magnitude of the adolescent and young adult cancer burden around the world. With notable differences observed across SDI settings, these estimates can inform global and country-level cancer control efforts. Copyright (C) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.Peer reviewe

Downstream process modeling, design, and optimization of plastic (PET) chemical recycling

Nowadays, plastics have been widely used in every aspect of our lives. Its widespread application in every corner of today's economy creates a massive demand for its production. This increment in plastic manufacturing escalates the concern about the growing amount of waste around the world. Plastic wastes are mainly either incinerated in the waste handling industry or dumped into nature. The increasing amount of plastic residues hurts the environment as well as the economy. It damages the environment since the plastic materials are considered as noxious material remaining in a substantial volume in the waste streams. From the economic point of view, it can lead up to 50-60% of capital loss due to not recycling and not coming back to the life cycle. The 12th UN sustainable development goal asks for urgent action to ensure that plastic products do not lead to the overexploitation of resources or harm the environment. This thesis aims to contribute to the elimination of the plastic waste issue on a global basis. The contribution is on offering plastic producers and waste recyclers a profitable way to treat and recycle plastic residues. I work on developing a sustainable and beneficial chemical recycling process to close the plastic life cycle. Specifically, I focus on one of the most used plastics, Poly-Ethylene Terephthalate, abbreviated to “PET”. I explore experimentally the thermodynamics of a chemical system widely used in the plastic recycling industry. This chemical system, which is mainly the product of depolymerization reactions, contains terephthalic acid, disodium terephthalate, sodium hydroxide, sodium chloride, ethylene glycol, and water. The studied chemical system is an electrolyte solution involving various ions and molecules which are &#x1d447;&#x1d443;2-, &#x1d43b;&#x1d447;&#x1d443;-, &#x1d441;&#x1d44e;+, &#x1d436;&#x1d459;-, &#x1d43b;+, &#x1d442;&#x1d43b;-, &#x1d440;&#x1d438;&#x1d43a;, and &#x1d43b;2&#x1d442;. This experimental study clearly draws a picture of properties and thermodynamic characteristics, including solid-liquid equilibrium, vapor-liquid equilibrium, density, and viscosity examinations. The thermodynamics of the defined chemical complex is mathematically modelled in order to predict its behaviour at various conditions. The Extended UNIQUAC model, which is widely applicable for electrolyte systems, is adapted for this purpose. The model adaption is carried out based on a data bank consisting of almost all of the existing experimental works in addition to the experimental results obtained through this Ph.D. study. The Extended UNIQUAC model has some parameters related to each of the species and their interactions; thus, for adopting this model, I tune those parametersbased on the experimental results. The developed thermodynamics model is critical for the further process design and simulation. Furthermore, this thesis presents a closed chemical process to recycle PET polymers. The design and simulation of the proposed process are carried out in ASPEN Plus software. In addition to the base case design, several improvements to save up to 15% energy consumption are suggested. </div

Optimal patrol scheduling of hazardous pipelines using game theory

An approach based on game theory is proposed to schedule security patrolling for a pipeline system. The method proposes numbers of patrolling paths according to the risk of security incidents on the pipeline system, in order to allow the patrolling team to covering high-risk segments more than low-risk segments. Patrolling of the pipeline system was modeled mathematically, based on time and distance discretization. The overall approach also examines the presence of security countermeasures on a pipeline system, and their effects on the patrolling schedule. The application of the method is explained by an illustrative case study