The effect of honey on lipid profiles: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Controlled Clinical Trials

Honey is known not only as a natural food but also as complementary medicine. According to the controversial evidence about the effects of honey on blood lipids, this meta-analysis was performed to investigate the potential effects of honey on lipid profiles. Relevant studies were identified by searching PubMed, Web of Science (WOS), Scopus, EMBASE, and Cochrane databases. All human controlled clinical trials (either with a parallel or a crossover design) published in English that reported changes in serum lipid markers (Total Cholesterol (TC), Triglyceride (TG), Low Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol (LDL-C), High Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol (HDL-C), and LDL-C/HDL-C ratio) following honey consumption were considered. Standardized Mean Differences (SMDs) and their respective 95 Confidence Intervals (CIs) were calculated to assess the changes in lipid profiles following honey consumption by random effects model. Statistical heterogeneity, sensitivity analysis, publication bias, and quality of the included studies were assessed, as well. The meta-analysis of 23 trials showed that honey had no significant effects on TC, TG, LDL-C, HDL-C, and LDL-C/HDL-C ratio. Significant heterogeneity was seen among the studies for all the studied factors (I2 index > 50). Subgroup analysis based on the lipid profile status, types of honey, and intervention duration revealed no significant effect on TC, TG, LDL-C, and HDL-C. Quality of the evidences varied form very low to moderate according to various parameters. In conclusion, honey consumption did not affect serum lipid profiles (TC, TG, LDL-C, HDL-C, and LDL-C/HDL-C ratio). © 2021 Cambridge University Press. All rights reserved

Design, construction, and test of the Gas Pixel Detectors for the IXPE mission

Due to be launched in late 2021, the Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) is a NASA Small Explorer mission designed to perform polarization measurements in the 2-8 keV band, complemented with imaging, spectroscopy and timing capabilities. At the heart of the focal plane is a set of three polarization-sensitive Gas Pixel Detectors (GPD), each based on a custom ASIC acting as a charge-collecting anode. In this paper we shall review the design, manufacturing, and test of the IXPE focal-plane detectors, with particular emphasis on the connection between the science drivers, the performance metrics and the operational aspects. We shall present a thorough characterization of the GPDs in terms of effective noise, trigger efficiency, dead time, uniformity of response, and spectral and polarimetric performance. In addition, we shall discuss in detail a number of instrumental effects that are relevant for high-level science analysis -- particularly as far as the response to unpolarized radiation and the stability in time are concerned.Comment: To be published in Astroparticle Physic

Global overview of the management of acute cholecystitis during the COVID-19 pandemic (CHOLECOVID study)

Background: This study provides a global overview of the management of patients with acute cholecystitis during the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: CHOLECOVID is an international, multicentre, observational comparative study of patients admitted to hospital with acute cholecystitis during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data on management were collected for a 2-month study interval coincident with the WHO declaration of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and compared with an equivalent pre-pandemic time interval. Mediation analysis examined the influence of SARS-COV-2 infection on 30-day mortality. Results: This study collected data on 9783 patients with acute cholecystitis admitted to 247 hospitals across the world. The pandemic was associated with reduced availability of surgical workforce and operating facilities globally, a significant shift to worse severity of disease, and increased use of conservative management. There was a reduction (both absolute and proportionate) in the number of patients undergoing cholecystectomy from 3095 patients (56.2 per cent) pre-pandemic to 1998 patients (46.2 per cent) during the pandemic but there was no difference in 30-day all-cause mortality after cholecystectomy comparing the pre-pandemic interval with the pandemic (13 patients (0.4 per cent) pre-pandemic to 13 patients (0.6 per cent) pandemic; P = 0.355). In mediation analysis, an admission with acute cholecystitis during the pandemic was associated with a non-significant increased risk of death (OR 1.29, 95 per cent c.i. 0.93 to 1.79, P = 0.121). Conclusion: CHOLECOVID provides a unique overview of the treatment of patients with cholecystitis across the globe during the first months of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. The study highlights the need for system resilience in retention of elective surgical activity. Cholecystectomy was associated with a low risk of mortality and deferral of treatment results in an increase in avoidable morbidity that represents the non-COVID cost of this pandemic

Knowledge Priorities on Climate Change and Water in the Upper Indus Basin: A Horizon Scanning Exercise to Identify the Top 100 Research Questions in Social and Natural Sciences

River systems originating from the Upper Indus Basin (UIB) are dominated by runoff from snow and glacier melt and summer monsoonal rainfall. These water resources are highly stressed as huge populations of people living in this region depend on them, including for agriculture, domestic use, and energy production. Projections suggest that the UIB region will be affected by considerable (yet poorly quantified) changes to the seasonality and composition of runoff in the future, which are likely to have considerable impacts on these supplies. Given how directly and indirectly communities and ecosystems are dependent on these resources and the growing pressure on them due to ever-increasing demands, the impacts of climate change pose considerable adaptation challenges. The strong linkages between hydroclimate, cryosphere, water resources, and human activities within the UIB suggest that a multi- and inter-disciplinary research approach integrating the social and natural/environmental sciences is critical for successful adaptation to ongoing and future hydrological and climate change. Here we use a horizon scanning technique to identify the Top 100 questions related to the most pressing knowledge gaps and research priorities in social and natural sciences on climate change and water in the UIB. These questions are on the margins of current thinking and investigation and are clustered into 14 themes, covering three overarching topics of ‘governance, policy, and sustainable solutions’, ‘socioeconomic processes and livelihoods’, and ‘integrated Earth System processes’. Raising awareness of these cutting-edge knowledge gaps and opportunities will hopefully encourage researchers, funding bodies, practitioners, and policy makers to address them

Nurses' perceptions of aids and obstacles to the provision of optimal end of life care in ICU

Contains fulltext : 172380.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access

Highly parallelized pattern matching execution for the ATLAS experiment

International audienceThe Associative Memory (AM) system of the Fast TracKer (FTK) processor has been designed to perform pattern matching using as input the data from the silicon tracker in the ATLAS experiment. The AM is the primary component of the FTK system and is designed using ASIC technology (the AM chip) to execute pattern matching with a high degree of parallelism. The FTK system finds track candidates at low resolution that are seeds for a full resolution track fitting. The AM system implementation is named “Serial Link Processor” and is based on an extremely powerful network of 2 Gb/s serial links to sustain a huge traffic of data. This paper reports on the design of the Serial Link Processor consisting of two types of boards, the Little Associative Memory Board (LAMB), a mezzanine where the AM chips are mounted, and the Associative Memory Board (AMB), a 9U VME motherboard which hosts four LAMB daughterboards. We also report on the performance of the prototypes (both hardware and firmware) produced and tested in the global FTK integration, an important milestone to be satisfied before the FTK production

The Associative Memory System Infrastructures for the ATLAS Fast Tracker

International audienceThe associative memory (AM) system of fast tracker (FTK) processor has been designed for the tracking trigger upgrade to the ATLAS detector at the Conseil Europeen Pour La Recherche Nucleaire large hadron collider. The system performs pattern matching (PM) using the detector hits of particles in the ATLAS silicon tracker. The AM system is the main processing element of FTK and is mainly based on the use of application-specified integrated circuits (ASICs) (AM chips) designed to execute PM with a high degree of parallelism. It finds track candidates at low resolution which become seeds for a full resolution track fitting. The AM system implementation is based on a collection of large 9U Versa Module Europa (VME) boards, named “serial link processors” (AMBSLPs). On these boards, a huge traffic of data is implemented on a network of 900 2-Gb/s serial links. The complete AM-based processor consumes much less power (~50 kW) than its CPU equivalent and its size is much smaller. The AMBSLP has a power consumption of ~250 W and there will be 16 of them in a crate. This results in unusually large power consumption for a VME crate and the need for complex custom infrastructure in order to have sufficient cooling. This paper reports on the design and testing of the infrastructures needed to run and cool the system which will include 16 AMBSLPs in the same crate, the integration of the AMBSLP inside a first FTK slice, the performance of the produced prototypes (both hardware and firmware), as well as their tests in the global FTK integration. This is an important milestone to be satisfied before the FTK production