Low-Power and Programmable Analog Circuitry for Wireless Sensors

Embedding networks of secure, wirelessly-connected sensors and actuators will help us to conscientiously manage our local and extended environments. One major challenge for this vision is to create networks of wireless sensor devices that provide maximal knowledge of their environment while using only the energy that is available within that environment. In this work, it is argued that the energy constraints in wireless sensor design are best addressed by incorporating analog signal processors. The low power-consumption of an analog signal processor allows persistent monitoring of multiple sensors while the device\u27s analog-to-digital converter, microcontroller, and transceiver are all in sleep mode. This dissertation describes the development of analog signal processing integrated circuits for wireless sensor networks. Specific technology problems that are addressed include reconfigurable processing architectures for low-power sensing applications, as well as the development of reprogrammable biasing for analog circuits

Scaling up women’s agripreneurship through public-private linkages to improve rural women’s income, nutrition and the effectiveness of institutions in rural Ghana (Linking Up : women’s agripreneurship sustainability and scale-up project)

Over one-third of rural Ghanaians live below the poverty line, with women and children living in poverty having the highest risk of poor nutrition and health. Sustained integrated approaches that increase agricultural productivity and value addition, diversify incomes, and enhance knowledge and skills among all stakeholders, notably women are required to improve the well-being of rural communities. The Scaling up women’s agripreneurship through public-private linkages to improve rural women’s income, nutrition, and the effectiveness of institutions in rural Ghana project (Linking Up) is a follow-up study to build on the results of the Nutrition Links project (NLP) funded by the Canadian Government (2013-18). The NLP’s multi-sectoral integrated livelihoods, nutrition, agriculture and health intervention with rural women groups in the Upper Manya Krobo District (UMKD) of the Eastern Region decreased household food insecurity, increased women’s access to income and improved young children’s diets and nutritional status. However, efforts to sustain the intervention through multisectoral collaborations by local institutions were unsuccessful due primarily to the lack of integration of sustainability mechanisms into the regular operations of the local institutions. In this report we note factors identified that facilitate or impede women’s participation in farming and agri-food entrepreneur associations supported by local institutions

Brain Metastases from Biliary Tract Cancer: Case Series and Clinicogenomic Analysis

BACKGROUND: Limited data from small series have suggested that brain metastases from biliary tract cancers (BrM-BTC) affect ≤2% of patients with BTC. We sought to review our experience with patients with BrM-BTC and to identify associations of tumor-related molecular alterations with outcomes. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective review of patients with BTC seen at a tertiary referral center from 2005 to 2021 was performed; patients with BrM-BTC were identified, and clinical and molecular data were collected. RESULTS: Twenty-one of 823 patients with BTC (2.6%) developed BrM. For patients with BrM-BTC, median follow-up time was 27.9 months after primary BTC diagnosis and 3.1 months after BrM diagnosis. Median time from primary diagnosis to diagnosis of BrM was 14.4 [range, 1.1-66.0] months. Median overall survival (OS) from primary diagnosis was 31.5 [2.9-99.8] months and median OS from BrM diagnosis was 4.2 [0.2-33.8] months. Patients who underwent BrM-directed therapy trended toward longer OS following BrM diagnosis than patients receiving supportive care only (median 6.5 vs 0.8 months, P = .060). The BrM-BTC cohort was enriched for BRAF (30%), PIK3CA (25%), and GNAS (20%) mutations. patients with BrM-BTC with BRAF mutations trended toward longer OS following BrM diagnosis (median 13.1 vs 4.2 months, P = .131). CONCLUSION: This is the largest series of patients with BrM-BTC to date and provides molecular characterization of this rare subgroup of patients with BTC. Patients with BrM-BTC may be more likely to have BRAF mutations. With advances in targeted therapy for patients with BTC with actionable mutations, continued examination of shifting patterns of failure, with emphasis on BrM, is warranted

Definitive Liver Radiotherapy for Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma with Extrahepatic Metastases

INTRODUCTION: Tumor-related liver failure (TRLF) is the most common cause of death in patients with intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC). Though we previously showed that liver radiotherapy (L-RT) for locally advanced ICC is associated with less frequent TRLF and longer overall survival (OS), the role of L-RT for patients with extrahepatic metastatic disease (M1) remains undefined. We sought to compare outcomes for M1 ICC patients treated with and without L-RT. METHODS: We reviewed ICC patients that found to have M1 disease at initial diagnosis at a single institution between 2010 and 2021 who received L-RT, matching them with an institutional cohort by propensity score and a National Cancer Database (NCDB) cohort by frequency technique. The median biologically effective dose was 97.5 Gy (interquartile range 80.5-97.9 Gy) for L-RT. Patients treated with other local therapies or supportive care alone were excluded. We analyzed survival with Cox proportional hazard modeling. RESULTS: We identified 61 patients who received L-RT and 220 who received chemotherapy alone. At median follow-up of 11 months after diagnosis, median OS was 9 months (95% confidence interval [CI] 8-11) and 21 months (CI: 17-26) for patients receiving chemotherapy alone and L-RT, respectively. TRLF was the cause of death more often in the patients who received chemotherapy alone compared to those who received L-RT (82% vs. 47%; CONCLUSION: For M1 ICC, L-RT associated with a lower rate of death due to TRLF and longer OS versus those treated with chemotherapy alone. Prospective studies of L-RT in this setting are warranted

Association of women's participation in farmer-based organizations with female and male empowerment and its implication for nutrition-sensitive agriculture interventions in rural Ghana

Background: Few studies have examined the influence of women's participation in farmer groups on female and male empowerment, which is considered essential to improving nutrition. Objectives: The study aimed to 1) assess the empowerment of Ghanaian women farmers, 1 adult male family decision-maker per household, and the household gender equality; and 2) investigate the relation of empowerment and household gender equality with women's participation in farmer-based organizations (FBOs), women's and men's nutritional status, and household food security. Methods: A cross-sectional study investigated secondary outcomes using baseline data from a nutrition-sensitive agriculture intervention implemented through FBOs in rural Ghana. Existing FBOs in 8 communities were selected based on 6 criteria (e.g., participation level, readiness to change). Female FBO (n = 166) and non-FBO (n = 164) members together with a male family member (n = 205) provided data on individual and household characteristics; empowerment was measured across 11 indicators with the project-level Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index. Generalized linear mixed models tested the associations of empowerment and household gender equality with FBO membership, nutritional status, and household food security. Results: Women's FBO membership was associated with an increased likelihood of women's empowerment [adjusted odds ratio (aOR): 3.25; 95% CI: 1.97, 5.33] and household gender parity (aOR: 2.82; 95% CI: 1.39, 5.84) but not men's empowerment. Household food insecurity, but not nutritional status, was positively associated with women's FBO participation and individual empowerment indicators (financial services). Food insecurity was negatively associated with the women's empowerment indicator related to attitudes about domestic violence [adjusted β coefficient (aβ): −0.78; 95% CI: −1.35, −0.21] and men's overall empowerment (aβ: −0.79; 95% CI: −1.58, −0.01). Conclusions: Understanding the complexity in which FBO participation, empowerment, nutritional status, and food security are linked is critical in designing interventions that promote gender equality and improved nutrition