Lithography-free Fabrication of High Quality Substrate-supported and Freestanding Graphene devices

We present a lithography-free technique for fabrication of clean, high quality graphene devices. This technique is based on evaporation through hard Si shadow masks, and eliminates contaminants introduced by lithographical processes. We demonstrate that devices fabricated by this technique have significantly higher mobility values than those by standard electron beam lithography. To obtain ultra-high mobility devices, we extend this technique to fabricate suspended graphene samples with mobility as high as 120,000 cm^2/Vs

Mapping geographical inequalities in access to drinking water and sanitation facilities in low-income and middle-income countries, 2000-17

Background: Universal access to safe drinking water and sanitation facilities is an essential human right, recognised in the Sustainable Development Goals as crucial for preventing disease and improving human wellbeing. Comprehensive, high-resolution estimates are important to inform progress towards achieving this goal. We aimed to produce high-resolution geospatial estimates of access to drinking water and sanitation facilities. Methods: We used a Bayesian geostatistical model and data from 600 sources across more than 88 low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) to estimate access to drinking water and sanitation facilities on continuous continent-wide surfaces from 2000 to 2017, and aggregated results to policy-relevant administrative units. We estimated mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive subcategories of facilities for drinking water (piped water on or off premises, other improved facilities, unimproved, and surface water) and sanitation facilities (septic or sewer sanitation, other improved, unimproved, and open defecation) with use of ordinal regression. We also estimated the number of diarrhoeal deaths in children younger than 5 years attributed to unsafe facilities and estimated deaths that were averted by increased access to safe facilities in 2017, and analysed geographical inequality in access within LMICs. Findings: Across LMICs, access to both piped water and improved water overall increased between 2000 and 2017, with progress varying spatially. For piped water, the safest water facility type, access increased from 40·0% (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 39·4–40·7) to 50·3% (50·0–50·5), but was lowest in sub-Saharan Africa, where access to piped water was mostly concentrated in urban centres. Access to both sewer or septic sanitation and improved sanitation overall also increased across all LMICs during the study period. For sewer or septic sanitation, access was 46·3% (95% UI 46·1–46·5) in 2017, compared with 28·7% (28·5–29·0) in 2000. Although some units improved access to the safest drinking water or sanitation facilities since 2000, a large absolute number of people continued to not have access in several units with high access to such facilities (>80%) in 2017. More than 253 000 people did not have access to sewer or septic sanitation facilities in the city of Harare, Zimbabwe, despite 88·6% (95% UI 87·2–89·7) access overall. Many units were able to transition from the least safe facilities in 2000 to safe facilities by 2017; for units in which populations primarily practised open defecation in 2000, 686 (95% UI 664–711) of the 1830 (1797–1863) units transitioned to the use of improved sanitation. Geographical disparities in access to improved water across units decreased in 76·1% (95% UI 71·6–80·7) of countries from 2000 to 2017, and in 53·9% (50·6–59·6) of countries for access to improved sanitation, but remained evident subnationally in most countries in 2017. Interpretation: Our estimates, combined with geospatial trends in diarrhoeal burden, identify where efforts to increase access to safe drinking water and sanitation facilities are most needed. By highlighting areas with successful approaches or in need of targeted interventions, our estimates can enable precision public health to effectively progress towards universal access to safe water and sanitation

Impact of COVID-19 on cardiovascular testing in the United States versus the rest of the world

Objectives: This study sought to quantify and compare the decline in volumes of cardiovascular procedures between the United States and non-US institutions during the early phase of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the care of many non-COVID-19 illnesses. Reductions in diagnostic cardiovascular testing around the world have led to concerns over the implications of reduced testing for cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality. Methods: Data were submitted to the INCAPS-COVID (International Atomic Energy Agency Non-Invasive Cardiology Protocols Study of COVID-19), a multinational registry comprising 909 institutions in 108 countries (including 155 facilities in 40 U.S. states), assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on volumes of diagnostic cardiovascular procedures. Data were obtained for April 2020 and compared with volumes of baseline procedures from March 2019. We compared laboratory characteristics, practices, and procedure volumes between U.S. and non-U.S. facilities and between U.S. geographic regions and identified factors associated with volume reduction in the United States. Results: Reductions in the volumes of procedures in the United States were similar to those in non-U.S. facilities (68% vs. 63%, respectively; p = 0.237), although U.S. facilities reported greater reductions in invasive coronary angiography (69% vs. 53%, respectively; p < 0.001). Significantly more U.S. facilities reported increased use of telehealth and patient screening measures than non-U.S. facilities, such as temperature checks, symptom screenings, and COVID-19 testing. Reductions in volumes of procedures differed between U.S. regions, with larger declines observed in the Northeast (76%) and Midwest (74%) than in the South (62%) and West (44%). Prevalence of COVID-19, staff redeployments, outpatient centers, and urban centers were associated with greater reductions in volume in U.S. facilities in a multivariable analysis. Conclusions: We observed marked reductions in U.S. cardiovascular testing in the early phase of the pandemic and significant variability between U.S. regions. The association between reductions of volumes and COVID-19 prevalence in the United States highlighted the need for proactive efforts to maintain access to cardiovascular testing in areas most affected by outbreaks of COVID-19 infection

Mapping local patterns of childhood overweight and wasting in low- and middle-income countries between 2000 and 2017

A double burden of malnutrition occurs when individuals, household members or communities experience both undernutrition and overweight. Here, we show geospatial estimates of overweight and wasting prevalence among children under 5 years of age in 105 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) from 2000 to 2017 and aggregate these to policy-relevant administrative units. Wasting decreased overall across LMICs between 2000 and 2017, from 8.4% (62.3 (55.1–70.8) million) to 6.4% (58.3 (47.6–70.7) million), but is predicted to remain above the World Health Organization’s Global Nutrition Target of <5% in over half of LMICs by 2025. Prevalence of overweight increased from 5.2% (30 (22.8–38.5) million) in 2000 to 6.0% (55.5 (44.8–67.9) million) children aged under 5 years in 2017. Areas most affected by double burden of malnutrition were located in Indonesia, Thailand, southeastern China, Botswana, Cameroon and central Nigeria. Our estimates provide a new perspective to researchers, policy makers and public health agencies in their efforts to address this global childhood syndemic

Retrospective evaluation of whole exome and genome mutation calls in 746 cancer samples

Funder: NCI U24CA211006Abstract: The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) curated consensus somatic mutation calls using whole exome sequencing (WES) and whole genome sequencing (WGS), respectively. Here, as part of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium, which aggregated whole genome sequencing data from 2,658 cancers across 38 tumour types, we compare WES and WGS side-by-side from 746 TCGA samples, finding that ~80% of mutations overlap in covered exonic regions. We estimate that low variant allele fraction (VAF < 15%) and clonal heterogeneity contribute up to 68% of private WGS mutations and 71% of private WES mutations. We observe that ~30% of private WGS mutations trace to mutations identified by a single variant caller in WES consensus efforts. WGS captures both ~50% more variation in exonic regions and un-observed mutations in loci with variable GC-content. Together, our analysis highlights technological divergences between two reproducible somatic variant detection efforts

Measuring the health-related Sustainable Development Goals in 188 countries : a baseline analysis from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015

Background In September, 2015, the UN General Assembly established the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs specify 17 universal goals, 169 targets, and 230 indicators leading up to 2030. We provide an analysis of 33 health-related SDG indicators based on the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2015 (GBD 2015). Methods We applied statistical methods to systematically compiled data to estimate the performance of 33 health-related SDG indicators for 188 countries from 1990 to 2015. We rescaled each indicator on a scale from 0 (worst observed value between 1990 and 2015) to 100 (best observed). Indices representing all 33 health-related SDG indicators (health-related SDG index), health-related SDG indicators included in the Millennium Development Goals (MDG index), and health-related indicators not included in the MDGs (non-MDG index) were computed as the geometric mean of the rescaled indicators by SDG target. We used spline regressions to examine the relations between the Socio-demographic Index (SDI, a summary measure based on average income per person, educational attainment, and total fertility rate) and each of the health-related SDG indicators and indices. Findings In 2015, the median health-related SDG index was 59.3 (95% uncertainty interval 56.8-61.8) and varied widely by country, ranging from 85.5 (84.2-86.5) in Iceland to 20.4 (15.4-24.9) in Central African Republic. SDI was a good predictor of the health-related SDG index (r(2) = 0.88) and the MDG index (r(2) = 0.2), whereas the non-MDG index had a weaker relation with SDI (r(2) = 0.79). Between 2000 and 2015, the health-related SDG index improved by a median of 7.9 (IQR 5.0-10.4), and gains on the MDG index (a median change of 10.0 [6.7-13.1]) exceeded that of the non-MDG index (a median change of 5.5 [2.1-8.9]). Since 2000, pronounced progress occurred for indicators such as met need with modern contraception, under-5 mortality, and neonatal mortality, as well as the indicator for universal health coverage tracer interventions. Moderate improvements were found for indicators such as HIV and tuberculosis incidence, minimal changes for hepatitis B incidence took place, and childhood overweight considerably worsened. Interpretation GBD provides an independent, comparable avenue for monitoring progress towards the health-related SDGs. Our analysis not only highlights the importance of income, education, and fertility as drivers of health improvement but also emphasises that investments in these areas alone will not be sufficient. Although considerable progress on the health-related MDG indicators has been made, these gains will need to be sustained and, in many cases, accelerated to achieve the ambitious SDG targets. The minimal improvement in or worsening of health-related indicators beyond the MDGs highlight the need for additional resources to effectively address the expanded scope of the health-related SDGs.Peer reviewe

Low temperature synthesis of ZnSe nanoparticles

Synthesis of thioglycerol capped zinc selenide nanoparticles with a relatively narrow size distribution by a simple and inexpensive low temperature (~ 80 °C) wet chemical method is reported here. Main advantage of this method is the use of non-toxic precursors. The size of the nanoparticles can be varied easily by changing the concentration of the capping agent. The extracted nanoparticles remain stable under normal atmospheric conditions and can be redispersed in suitable solvents. The sharp absorption features obtained in the UV-Visible absorption spectra reveal the formation of monodispersed ZnSe nanoparticles. The nanoparticles were characterized using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, UV-Visible absorption spectroscopy, photoluminescence and transmission electron microscopy

Failure to Use and Sustain Male Condom Usage: Lessons Learned from a Prospective Study among Men Attending STI Clinic in Pune, India.

Sustained or consistent use of condoms by men remains a challenge. A study was carried out to identify factors associated with failure to use condoms consistently by men attending STD clinics in Pune, India.Among 14137 STI clinic attendees, 8360 HIV sero-negative men were enrolled in a cohort study. The changes in condom usage behavior were studied among 1284 men who returned for first scheduled quarterly follow up, 309 reported consistent condom use at the time of enrollment in the cohort. Data pertaining to heterosexual men practicing high risk behavior were analyzed to identify factors associated with change in condom use behavior using logistic regression model. Demographic, behavioral and biological factors observed to be associated with condom use were fitted in five Cox proportional hazards models to calculate hazard ratios and their 95% confidence intervals to identify independent predictors of failure to sustain condom use behavior.The univariate analysis showed that men who were 30 years or older in age (p = 0.002) and those who did not have contact female sex worker (FSW) were more likely to fail to sustain consistent condom use. However both these factors did not show significant association in multivariable analysis. Marital status and contact with Hijra (eunuch) in lifetime were associated with failure to change in their condom use behavior [AOR 0.33 (CI 0.13-0.82; p = 0.017)]. During the follow up of 2 years, 61 events (15.5 per 100 person years, 95% CI 12.3-19.5 years) of 'failure of condom use' were recorded despite counseling. Older age, contact with non CSW partner and presence of genital ulcer disease / discharge syndrome were significant predictors of failure to sustain condom use.Married monogamous older men, who report contact with sex worker and present with genital ulcer disease are at risk of failure to use condom after first exposure to voluntary HIV counseling and testing. This is a scenario of primary prevention program. Condom promotion and counseling needs to be reinforced through follow up counseling among this population

Self-Assembly and Photopolymerization of Sub‑2 nm One-Dimensional Organic Nanostructures on Graphene

While graphene has attracted significant attention from the research community due to its high charge carrier mobility, important issues remain unresolved that prevent its widespread use in technologically significant applications such as digital electronics. For example, the chemical inertness of graphene hinders integration with other materials, and the lack of a bandgap implies poor switching characteristics in transistors. The formation of ordered organic monolayers on graphene has the potential to address each of these challenges. In particular, functional groups incorporated into the constituent molecules enable tailored chemical reactivity, while molecular-scale ordering within the monolayer provides sub-2 nm templates with the potential to tune the electronic band structure of graphene via quantum confinement effects. Toward these ends, we report here the formation of well-defined one-dimensional organic nanostructures on epitaxial graphene via the self-assembly of 10,12-pentacosadiynoic acid (PCDA) in ultrahigh vacuum (UHV). Molecular resolution UHV scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) images confirm the one-dimensional ordering of the as-deposited PCDA monolayer and show domain boundaries with symmetry consistent with the underlying graphene lattice. In an effort to further stabilize the monolayer, in situ ultraviolet photopolymerization induces covalent bonding between neighboring PCDA molecules in a manner that maintains one-dimensional ordering as verified by UHV STM and ambient atomic force microscopy (AFM). Further quantitative insights into these experimental observations are provided by semiempirical quantum chemistry calculations that compare the molecular structure before and after photopolymerization

Radiologist opinions regarding reporting incidental coronary and cardiac calcification on thoracic CT.

OBJECTIVES: Coronary and cardiac calcification are frequent incidental findings on non-gated thoracic computed tomography (CT). However, radiologist opinions and practices regarding the reporting of incidental calcification are poorly understood. METHODS: UK radiologists were invited to complete this online survey, organised by the British Society of Cardiovascular Imaging (BSCI). Questions included anonymous information on subspecialty, level of training and reporting practices for incidental coronary artery, aortic valve, mitral and thoracic aorta calcification. RESULTS: The survey was completed by 200 respondents: 10% trainees and 90% consultants. Calcification was not reported by 11% for the coronary arteries, 22% for the aortic valve, 35% for the mitral valve and 37% for the thoracic aorta. Those who did not subspecialise in cardiac imaging were less likely to report coronary artery calcification (p = 0.005), aortic valve calcification (p = 0.001) or mitral valve calcification (p = 0.008), but there was no difference in the reporting of thoracic aorta calcification. Those who did not subspecialise in cardiac imaging were also less likely to provide management recommendations for coronary artery calcification (p < 0.001) or recommend echocardiography for aortic valve calcification (p < 0.001), but there was no difference for mitral valve or thoracic aorta recommendations. CONCLUSION: Incidental coronary artery, valvular and aorta calcification are frequently not reported on thoracic CT and there are differences in reporting practices based on subspeciality. ADVANCES IN KNOWLEDGE: On routine thoracic CT, 11% of radiologists do not report coronary artery calcification. Radiologist reporting practices vary depending on subspeciality but not level of training