A PORTABLE MINI DISTILLATION APPARATUS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF ESSENTIAL OILS AND HYDROSOLS

The present invention relates to a portable mini distillation apparatus for the production of essential oils arid hydrosols. This apparatus is useful to distill essential oils and hydrosols such as rose water, ajowain water from fresh and dried plant material like leaves, flowers, roots and rhizomes by water distillation, water & steam distillations and as an optional, steam distillation can also be performed at atmospheric pressure as well as slightly higher and lower than atmospheric pressure. This unit can be heated on brick-clay furnace with small agro-waste, LPG cooking gas, electrically heated stove or kerosene/diesel burner etc., and requires minimum attention during handling. Since the apparatus is made of stainless steel and glass, the essential oil distilled is of better quality than the oil distilled by glass Clevenger type apparatus used in the laboratory. A laboratory equipment used for distillation of essential oils is called Clevenger type apparatus as shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings accompanying this specification. Reference may be made to Clevenger type, J.F., Apparatus for the determination of volatile oil. J. Amer. Pharm. Assoc., 17, pp. 346(1928), wherein the apparatus (I) is attached to the spherical glass vessel (a) having charged with the plant material along with water in 1:2 ratio through opening (b) which is also used for discharging the mixture after process is complete. The whole system is put on a heating mantle (c), which has an energy regulator (d) for controlling the temperature. After few minutes, the material inside starts boiling. The vapours so formed are passed through a vertical condenser (e) through a long vertical glass tube (f). The cold water around the condenser tube is circulated through inlet (g) and outlet (h). The condensed distillate gets collected in a measuring tube (i) connected to the outlet of the condenser where an air outlet (j) open to atmosphere is placed. The volatile oil separates as an upper layer, from the distillate because of its density difference, as the oil is lighter than the water. A return tube (k), for recycling of aqueous part of the distillate, connects the bottom of the measuring tube (i) and vertical tube (f). The oil is collected at the outlet by opening the stop-cock valve (1). The major drawback of the apparatus is that it was designed to distillate the plant material by water distillation at normal atmospheric pressure only. There are some aromatic plant materials exclusively distilled by steam distillation method rather than water distillation, reason being that some of volatile constituents get hydrolysed due to the presence of excessive water in the vessel. The apparatus works neither on the principle of steam distillation nor on water & steam distillation technique. Clevenger type apparatus is generally restricted to laboratories for the essential oil estimation but cannot be used to produce the essential oil in higher quantities. Since the system is heated up with the help of electric mantle (c) only, with very small batch capacity of material charging vessel (a), long vertical glass tube (f) and condenser (e) are made up of glass which requires careful handling and can not be heated without electricity which is difficult for a marginal farmer with small land holdings in remote areas. The recovery and quality of the essential oil distilled in this glass Clevenger type apparatus is of inferior quality. The colour of the oil is generally lighter than the commercially distilled oil which is not recommended in the market. There are distillation units which are operated by Water & Steam distillation method. Water & Steam distillation method involves a distillation tank with a false bottom and with or without Calendria at the bottom, cohobation column at the top which is connected to the condenser and a distillate receiver. The plant material is charged from the charging hole and closed tightly. Prior to charging of plant material some fresh water is added to the tank and the precautions are to be taken to control the water level which should not touch the false bottom. The water level is maintained by recycling the distillate collected in the receiver to the tank or a continuous or batch-wise fresh water is supplied to the tank. The tank is heated by direct firing of the agro-waste from the hearth bellow. The purpose of this method is to reduce the effect of hydrolysis of essential oil which are get hydrolysed when they came in to continuous contact with excess water. After few minutes the water vapours starts .forming and extracts the essential oil from the plant material and carries it over to condenser where they are condensed to liquid distillate. The distillate is collected in a receiver where it is separated in to two fractions; one as an essential oil and other as a saturated water layer. The essential oil is separated, cleaned and then stored as per the recommended methods. The major drawbacks of the unit are that it can jiqt distill thejpj.ant material by Steam distillation. Some parts of the aromatic herbs such as cedar wood, sandel wood are preferably distilled by Steam distillation method to obtain better recoveries and quality. Also these units can not distill the plant material neither at reduced pressure nor at higher pressure since the system is opened to the atmospheric pressure and can not operated as a closed system. Being an industrial size these units can not be a portable systems and thus difficult to take them to the fields where the plant material is available in remote areas and distilling the fresh raw material is not possible in such a system which is one of the major parameter in affecting the quality of an essential oil. Being commercial scale units they requires more man power, operational costs etc., and the marginal farmers can not afford to purchase these industrial scale distillation units. The widely used hydrodistillation method in the essential oil industry is Steam distillation. The units used to perform the Steam distillation method merely consists of a distillation tank with a false bottom fixed at a certain height from the bottom of the tank. A spurger is provided below the false bottom which is connected to the industrial size boilers. The plant material is placed above the false bottom and then the lid is closed tightly by nut-bolts. Steam generated from the boiler is fed to the tank through the fixed steam spurger to commence the distillation. After few minutes the vapours starts forming which are taken to the vapour inlet of a shell and tube condenser which is connected to the vapour out let of the distillation tank at the top. The condensed liquid is collected in a receiver where the essential oil and distillate are separated. The major drawbacks of the unit are that it can not distill the plant material neither by Water distillation nor by Water & Steam distillation. Some parts of the aromatic herbs are preferably distilled by Water distillation method to obtain better recoveries and quality. Also these units can not distill the plant material neither at reduced pressure nor at higher pressure since the system is opened to the atmospheric pressure and can not operated as a closed system. Being an industrial size these units can not be a portable systems and thus difficult to take them to the fields wnere the plant material is available in remote areas and distilling the fresh raw material is not possible in such a system which is one of the major parameter in affecting the consistency in the quality of an essential oil. Being commercial scale units they requires more man power, operational costs etc., and the marginal farmers can not afford to purchase these industrial scale distillation units. Thus, apparatus, industrial scale units and the process mentioned above has one or the other major drawbacks like inferior oil quality, low oil recovery, low batch capacity, lack of Water distillation, Steam distillation and Water & Steam distillation facility, restricted mode of heating, unable to distill the plant material under vacuum and at higher pressures, difficulty in charging and discharging of plant materials because of narrow mouth and requires more attention during processing, more capital investment, operational cost. The main object of the present invention is to provide a simple, convenient, portable mini distillation apparatus for the production of essential oils and hydrosols, which obviates the drawbacks as detailed above. Another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for the distillation of essential oils having capacity little higher than the laboratory scale apparatus to meet the needs of marginal farmers. Still another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for the distillation of essential oils, if required, slightly at higher and lower pressures than atmospheric pressure. Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for the distillation of essential oil by water distillation, water & steam distillation and steam distillation on small scale. Another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for the production of perfumed water from aromatic plant material at small scale. Still another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for the production of distilled water from the tap water or natural sources for lab use or for other purpose. Yet another object of the present invention is to provide portable and convenient apparatus for effecting distillation even in the fields or remote farming areas. Another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for the production of quality grade essential oils at house hold scale as a cottage industry to suit the marginal farmers/entrepreneurs who can not afford to install bigger capacity units. In fig. 2 of the drawings accompanying this specification, a schematic diagram of an embodiment of the apparatus of the present invention is shown. The present invention essentially consists of main parts such as a distillation vessel (1); a cohobation column (8), condenser (11) and oil retention column (13) with recycle line (16) connected to the cohobation column (8). Accordingly, the present invention provides a A portable mini distillation apparatus for the production of essential oils and hydrosols comprising one or more vessel(s)(l) having conventional means for heating internally/externally, the said vessel characterized in that a threaded rod (6) being fixed concentrically inside bottom of the said vessel(s) so as to allow vertical movement of a sieved false bottom(5,7), one or more steam spurger(s)(24) being provided between the said vessel bottom (2) and the said movable false bottom, the said vessel(s) being provided with removable fixed lid(s)(3) having a safety valve(s)(21), housing(20) for fixing pressure/vacuum/temperature guage and a vapour outlet(s)(9), the said vapour outlet(s) being connected to the inlet of one or more vertical cohobation column(s)(8), the outlet(s) of the said cohobation column(s) being fixed to the inlet(lO) of a conventional condenser(ll) provided with closeable vent(15), outlet(12) of the said condenser being detachably fixed by clamp(14) to a vertical receiver-cum-separator column(13) having a valve(18) controlled outlet(23), the bottom and middle of the said receiver-cum-separator column being provided with a plurality of valve(17,19) controlled recycling pipes (16) connected to the upper portion of the said L nation column (s). In an embodiment of the present invention, the vessel is heated internally by means of known electrical heating system and externally by any conventional/non-conventional beatings means. In another embodiment of the present invention, the vessel has a height to diameter ratio in the range of 0.5 to 1.5. In yet another embodiment of the present invention the vessel, cohobation column, condenser and recycling pipes are made up of metal such as stainless steel, copper, tin. In still another embodiment of the present invention the receiver-cum-separator column is made of glass, coated with transparent plastic or covered with an aluminum casing. In yet another embodiment of the present invention the closeable vent (15) of the condenser is optionally connected through a valve to a vacuum pump. The present portable mini distillation unit provides a simple, convenient, portable apparatus for the distillation of essential oils which comprises charging of aromatic plant material along with water in the ratio in the range of 1:0 to 1:2 in the vessel (1) through the charging hole, as described above and depicted in fig. 2, depending upon the type of the distillation process to be used. Place the gasket properly above the flange of the still, tighten the lid by quickfit joint (4) and attach the cohobation column (8), condenser (11) and glass tube (13) with the lid by tightening the union (9) after ensuring the proper setting of the gasket, place the whole system above the direct fired furnace/LPG burner/Kerosene or Diesel stove for heating the vessel (1). Fill the shell side of the condenser with water and the optimum water flow rate, for the total condensation, was maintained. Fill the oil retention glass tube (13) with water through air vent (15) at rear end of the condenser (11) until water starts flowing in to the cohobation column (8) through recycling line (16). The air vent (15) on the condenser (11) is opened throughout the process, if the plant material is to be distilled at atmospheric pressure and remain closed if the plant material is to be extracted under pressure. The valve (19) on the recycle line is kept opened throughout the process if essential oil only is to be distilled and remain closed if only perfumed distillate required. Now start heating the vessel (1) with any heating means mentioned above. Vapours start forming/ a few minutes later and enter to the condenser (11) through cohobation column (8) where they are condensed and collected in the glass tube. The essential oil in the distillate settles as an upper layer over the lower layer of water as the case may be. The aqueous part of the distillate is recycled, to the cohobation column (8) through the recycling line (16) if the essential oil is lighter than the water otherwise, it is recycled through the other pipe line shown in the fig. 2 as a dotted line. In order to recover the dissolved oil, the process is continued for 3 to 5 hr depending upon the type of plant material and distillation performed. After the completion of process, the essential oil is collected from the outlet (23) of glass tube (13) by opening the valve (18). The collected oil is measured and dried over anhydrous Na2SO4 filtered and then can be stored in aluminium bottles. The constructional features of an embodiment of the apparatusof the present invention are given below : A stainless steal (SS) - 304 vessel (1) having internal diameter (ID) = 325 mm, height = 325 mm with slightly curved bottom (2) and wide mouth ID = 325 mm for easier charging and discharging plant material is to be distilled, above which a conical lid (3) with base diameter =325 mm, vertical height = 150 mm, slant height = 210 mm to which a flange ID = 325 mm, outer diameter (OD) = 350 mm, is welded. The lid is attached to the vessel by a quick-fit joint (4). The material of construction (MOC) of lid (3) is stainless steel (SS) -304. A false bottom (5), 320 Φ, 2 mm thickness (thk.), with 2 Φ holes in Δle pitch and 10 Φ hole in the center to fit in the threaded SS rod (6) with 10 Φ for adjusting up and down according to the plant material charged. A circular strip (7) ID = 315 mm, OD = 325 mm welded to the vessel at a height of 35 mm from the bottom end to hold the false bottom. At the top of conical lid (3), a stainless steel cohobation column (8) is fixed with the help of union (9). The cohobation column (8) ID = 50 mm up to at a height of 780 mm which is reduced to ID = 40 mm upto a length of 215 mm and slant height of the reducer is 40 mm. The outlet of the column, ID = 40 mm, is welded to a bend (10) having same ID. The bend is again welded to a stainless steel horizontal shell and tube 1-1 heat exchanger (condenser) (11) with ten number of SS

Development of a Field Screening Technique and Identification of Blast Resistance in Finger Millet Core Collection

Effective management of blast disease in finger millet can best be achieved through host-plant resistance. In this study, field screening technique was developed and core collection evaluated to identify sources of resistance to blast. The field screening technique involved: use of systematic susceptible checks after every four test rows, artificial spray inoculation at pre-flowering stage with an aqueous conidial suspension (1×105 spores ml−1) of Magnaporthe grisea fm strain multiplied on oatmeal agar medium at 27±1ºC for 10 days, and maintaining high humidity and leaf wetness through sprinkler irrigation twice a day for 4 weeks following inoculation. Neck blast was recorded on a 1–5 scale and finger blast as severity percentage on all the tillers of selected 10 plants in a row at physiological maturity. The finger millet core collection consisting of 622 accessions was evaluated for neck and finger blast resistance. Among the core collection, 402 accessions were found resistant to neck blast, 436 to finger blast and 372 had combined resistance to both the diseases. Blast resistant accessions belonged to one wild and four cultivated races of finger millet that originated from 19 countries indicating the wide geographical diversity among resistant accessions. Most of the accessions from Asian origin were susceptible to neck and finger blasts while, those from African origin were resistant. A significant strong positive correlation (r = 0.85, P<0.0001) was found between neck blast and finger blast ratings. Core collection accessions with stable resistance to blast would be useful for finger millet breeding programs

Identification of blast resistance in a core collection of foxtail millet germplasm

Blast, also known as leaf spot, caused by Pyricularia grisea [teleomorph: Magnaporthe grisea], is a serious disease affecting both forage and grain production in foxtail millet in India. For the identification of new and diverse sources of blast resistance, a foxtail millet core collection comprising 155 accessions was evaluated against Patancheru isolate (Fx 57) of M. grisea. In a field screen during 2009 and 2010, 21 accessions were identified with neck and head blast resistance against Fx 57. In a greenhouse screen, 11 of the 155 accessions exhibited seedling leaf blast resistance to the same isolate. Further evaluation of the selected 28 accessions (found resistant to neck and head blast under field conditions during 2009 and 2010, and/or leaf blast in the greenhouse screen) against four M. grisea isolates Fx 57, Fx 58, Fx 60 and Fx 62 from Patancheru, Nandyal, Vizianagaram and Mandya, respectively, led to the identification of 16 accessions with leaf, sheath, neck and head blast resistance to at least one isolate. Two accessions (ISe 1181 and ISe 1547) were free from head blast infection and showed resistance to leaf (score ≤3.0 on a 1-to-9 scale), neck and sheath blast (score ≤2.0 on a 1-to-5 scale) against all the four isolates. In addition, ISe 1067 and ISe 1575 also exhibited high levels of blast resistance. Blast-resistant accessions with superior agronomic and nutritional quality traits can be evaluated in multilocation yield trials before releasing them for cultivation to farmers

Resistance to blast (Magnaporthe grisea) in a mini-core collection of finger millet germplasm

Blast caused by Pyricularia grisea [teleomorph: Magnaporthe grisea] is an economically important and widespread disease of finger millet in the world. Host resistance is the most economical and effective means of combating this disease as finger millet is predominantly grown by resource-poor and marginal farmers. At the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), we evaluated a finger millet mini-core collection of 80 germplasm accessions (about 1 % of the total germplasm collection representing major trait variability) for blast resistance both in the field and greenhouse. Field evaluation was done using a refined screening technique that included new improved rating scales for leaf, neck and finger infection. Sixty six of the 80 accessions showed combined resistance to leaf, neck and finger blast in two seasons (2009 and 2010) of field screening. A highly significant and positive correlation was found between neck and finger blast ratings (r = 0.92), whereas small but significant correlations were found between leaf blast and neck blast (r = 0.25) and between leaf blast and finger blast (r = 0.30). These accessions were also screened for leaf blast resistance in the greenhouse by artificial inoculation of seedlings to confirm field observations. Fifty-eight of the 80 accessions were resistant to leaf blast in the greenhouse screen as well. These resistant accessions represented one wild (africana) and four cultivated races (vulgaris, plana, elongate and compacta) of finger millet that originated from 13 countries in Asia and Africa and exhibited considerable diversity for agronomic traits, such as maturity period, plant height and panicle type. These blast resistant accessions from the mini-core collection would be useful in finger millet disease resistance breeding programs

The development and validation of a scoring tool to predict the operative duration of elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy

Background: The ability to accurately predict operative duration has the potential to optimise theatre efficiency and utilisation, thus reducing costs and increasing staff and patient satisfaction. With laparoscopic cholecystectomy being one of the most commonly performed procedures worldwide, a tool to predict operative duration could be extremely beneficial to healthcare organisations. Methods: Data collected from the CholeS study on patients undergoing cholecystectomy in UK and Irish hospitals between 04/2014 and 05/2014 were used to study operative duration. A multivariable binary logistic regression model was produced in order to identify significant independent predictors of long (> 90 min) operations. The resulting model was converted to a risk score, which was subsequently validated on second cohort of patients using ROC curves. Results: After exclusions, data were available for 7227 patients in the derivation (CholeS) cohort. The median operative duration was 60 min (interquartile range 45–85), with 17.7% of operations lasting longer than 90 min. Ten factors were found to be significant independent predictors of operative durations > 90 min, including ASA, age, previous surgical admissions, BMI, gallbladder wall thickness and CBD diameter. A risk score was then produced from these factors, and applied to a cohort of 2405 patients from a tertiary centre for external validation. This returned an area under the ROC curve of 0.708 (SE = 0.013, p  90 min increasing more than eightfold from 5.1 to 41.8% in the extremes of the score. Conclusion: The scoring tool produced in this study was found to be significantly predictive of long operative durations on validation in an external cohort. As such, the tool may have the potential to enable organisations to better organise theatre lists and deliver greater efficiencies in care

The Cholecystectomy As A Day Case (CAAD) Score: A Validated Score of Preoperative Predictors of Successful Day-Case Cholecystectomy Using the CholeS Data Set

Background Day-case surgery is associated with significant patient and cost benefits. However, only 43% of cholecystectomy patients are discharged home the same day. One hypothesis is day-case cholecystectomy rates, defined as patients discharged the same day as their operation, may be improved by better assessment of patients using standard preoperative variables. Methods Data were extracted from a prospectively collected data set of cholecystectomy patients from 166 UK and Irish hospitals (CholeS). Cholecystectomies performed as elective procedures were divided into main (75%) and validation (25%) data sets. Preoperative predictors were identified, and a risk score of failed day case was devised using multivariate logistic regression. Receiver operating curve analysis was used to validate the score in the validation data set. Results Of the 7426 elective cholecystectomies performed, 49% of these were discharged home the same day. Same-day discharge following cholecystectomy was less likely with older patients (OR 0.18, 95% CI 0.15–0.23), higher ASA scores (OR 0.19, 95% CI 0.15–0.23), complicated cholelithiasis (OR 0.38, 95% CI 0.31 to 0.48), male gender (OR 0.66, 95% CI 0.58–0.74), previous acute gallstone-related admissions (OR 0.54, 95% CI 0.48–0.60) and preoperative endoscopic intervention (OR 0.40, 95% CI 0.34–0.47). The CAAD score was developed using these variables. When applied to the validation subgroup, a CAAD score of ≤5 was associated with 80.8% successful day-case cholecystectomy compared with 19.2% associated with a CAAD score >5 (p < 0.001). Conclusions The CAAD score which utilises data readily available from clinic letters and electronic sources can predict same-day discharges following cholecystectomy

Global burden of 288 causes of death and life expectancy decomposition in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

BACKGROUND Regular, detailed reporting on population health by underlying cause of death is fundamental for public health decision making. Cause-specific estimates of mortality and the subsequent effects on life expectancy worldwide are valuable metrics to gauge progress in reducing mortality rates. These estimates are particularly important following large-scale mortality spikes, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. When systematically analysed, mortality rates and life expectancy allow comparisons of the consequences of causes of death globally and over time, providing a nuanced understanding of the effect of these causes on global populations. METHODS The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2021 cause-of-death analysis estimated mortality and years of life lost (YLLs) from 288 causes of death by age-sex-location-year in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations for each year from 1990 until 2021. The analysis used 56 604 data sources, including data from vital registration and verbal autopsy as well as surveys, censuses, surveillance systems, and cancer registries, among others. As with previous GBD rounds, cause-specific death rates for most causes were estimated using the Cause of Death Ensemble model-a modelling tool developed for GBD to assess the out-of-sample predictive validity of different statistical models and covariate permutations and combine those results to produce cause-specific mortality estimates-with alternative strategies adapted to model causes with insufficient data, substantial changes in reporting over the study period, or unusual epidemiology. YLLs were computed as the product of the number of deaths for each cause-age-sex-location-year and the standard life expectancy at each age. As part of the modelling process, uncertainty intervals (UIs) were generated using the 2·5th and 97·5th percentiles from a 1000-draw distribution for each metric. We decomposed life expectancy by cause of death, location, and year to show cause-specific effects on life expectancy from 1990 to 2021. We also used the coefficient of variation and the fraction of population affected by 90% of deaths to highlight concentrations of mortality. Findings are reported in counts and age-standardised rates. Methodological improvements for cause-of-death estimates in GBD 2021 include the expansion of under-5-years age group to include four new age groups, enhanced methods to account for stochastic variation of sparse data, and the inclusion of COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality-which includes excess mortality associated with the pandemic, excluding COVID-19, lower respiratory infections, measles, malaria, and pertussis. For this analysis, 199 new country-years of vital registration cause-of-death data, 5 country-years of surveillance data, 21 country-years of verbal autopsy data, and 94 country-years of other data types were added to those used in previous GBD rounds. FINDINGS The leading causes of age-standardised deaths globally were the same in 2019 as they were in 1990; in descending order, these were, ischaemic heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lower respiratory infections. In 2021, however, COVID-19 replaced stroke as the second-leading age-standardised cause of death, with 94·0 deaths (95% UI 89·2-100·0) per 100 000 population. The COVID-19 pandemic shifted the rankings of the leading five causes, lowering stroke to the third-leading and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease to the fourth-leading position. In 2021, the highest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 occurred in sub-Saharan Africa (271·0 deaths [250·1-290·7] per 100 000 population) and Latin America and the Caribbean (195·4 deaths [182·1-211·4] per 100 000 population). The lowest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 were in the high-income super-region (48·1 deaths [47·4-48·8] per 100 000 population) and southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania (23·2 deaths [16·3-37·2] per 100 000 population). Globally, life expectancy steadily improved between 1990 and 2019 for 18 of the 22 investigated causes. Decomposition of global and regional life expectancy showed the positive effect that reductions in deaths from enteric infections, lower respiratory infections, stroke, and neonatal deaths, among others have contributed to improved survival over the study period. However, a net reduction of 1·6 years occurred in global life expectancy between 2019 and 2021, primarily due to increased death rates from COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality. Life expectancy was highly variable between super-regions over the study period, with southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania gaining 8·3 years (6·7-9·9) overall, while having the smallest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 (0·4 years). The largest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 occurred in Latin America and the Caribbean (3·6 years). Additionally, 53 of the 288 causes of death were highly concentrated in locations with less than 50% of the global population as of 2021, and these causes of death became progressively more concentrated since 1990, when only 44 causes showed this pattern. The concentration phenomenon is discussed heuristically with respect to enteric and lower respiratory infections, malaria, HIV/AIDS, neonatal disorders, tuberculosis, and measles. INTERPRETATION Long-standing gains in life expectancy and reductions in many of the leading causes of death have been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the adverse effects of which were spread unevenly among populations. Despite the pandemic, there has been continued progress in combatting several notable causes of death, leading to improved global life expectancy over the study period. Each of the seven GBD super-regions showed an overall improvement from 1990 and 2021, obscuring the negative effect in the years of the pandemic. Additionally, our findings regarding regional variation in causes of death driving increases in life expectancy hold clear policy utility. Analyses of shifting mortality trends reveal that several causes, once widespread globally, are now increasingly concentrated geographically. These changes in mortality concentration, alongside further investigation of changing risks, interventions, and relevant policy, present an important opportunity to deepen our understanding of mortality-reduction strategies. Examining patterns in mortality concentration might reveal areas where successful public health interventions have been implemented. Translating these successes to locations where certain causes of death remain entrenched can inform policies that work to improve life expectancy for people everywhere. FUNDING Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Effect of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor and angiotensin receptor blocker initiation on organ support-free days in patients hospitalized with COVID-19

IMPORTANCE Overactivation of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) may contribute to poor clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19. Objective To determine whether angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) initiation improves outcomes in patients hospitalized for COVID-19. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS In an ongoing, adaptive platform randomized clinical trial, 721 critically ill and 58 non–critically ill hospitalized adults were randomized to receive an RAS inhibitor or control between March 16, 2021, and February 25, 2022, at 69 sites in 7 countries (final follow-up on June 1, 2022). INTERVENTIONS Patients were randomized to receive open-label initiation of an ACE inhibitor (n = 257), ARB (n = 248), ARB in combination with DMX-200 (a chemokine receptor-2 inhibitor; n = 10), or no RAS inhibitor (control; n = 264) for up to 10 days. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary outcome was organ support–free days, a composite of hospital survival and days alive without cardiovascular or respiratory organ support through 21 days. The primary analysis was a bayesian cumulative logistic model. Odds ratios (ORs) greater than 1 represent improved outcomes. RESULTS On February 25, 2022, enrollment was discontinued due to safety concerns. Among 679 critically ill patients with available primary outcome data, the median age was 56 years and 239 participants (35.2%) were women. Median (IQR) organ support–free days among critically ill patients was 10 (–1 to 16) in the ACE inhibitor group (n = 231), 8 (–1 to 17) in the ARB group (n = 217), and 12 (0 to 17) in the control group (n = 231) (median adjusted odds ratios of 0.77 [95% bayesian credible interval, 0.58-1.06] for improvement for ACE inhibitor and 0.76 [95% credible interval, 0.56-1.05] for ARB compared with control). The posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitors and ARBs worsened organ support–free days compared with control were 94.9% and 95.4%, respectively. Hospital survival occurred in 166 of 231 critically ill participants (71.9%) in the ACE inhibitor group, 152 of 217 (70.0%) in the ARB group, and 182 of 231 (78.8%) in the control group (posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitor and ARB worsened hospital survival compared with control were 95.3% and 98.1%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE In this trial, among critically ill adults with COVID-19, initiation of an ACE inhibitor or ARB did not improve, and likely worsened, clinical outcomes. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT0273570

Simulation of Eucalyptus cinerea oil distillation: A study on optimization of 1,8-cineole production

Cineolic essential oils are used in medicinal,perfumery and flavour preparations. 1,8-Cineole, being an ecofriendly compound,has the potential to replace the ozone depleting industrial solvents.Optimized process parameters for hydrodistillation and production of essential oil enriched with 1,8-cineole from Eucalyptus cinerea grown in the mid-hills of western Himalaya,were reported. The effect of drying of the foliage prior to distillation with respect to oil composition and content was studied, The first order kinetic and Langmuir adsorption models were enaluated to simulate hydrodistillation of E.cinera oil. The Languir model parameters that simulate the hydrodistillation process were determined.GCMS analysis revealed that the oil produced from fresh foilage contained higher 1,8-cineole content(84.4%) than the dried foliage(77.6%).The other major constituents were limonene and -terpineol