352 research outputs found
Embodied carbon and construction cost differences between Hong Kong and Melbourne buildings
Limiting the amount of embodied carbon in buildings can help minimize the damaging impacts of global warming through lower upstream emission of CO2. This study empirically investigates the embodied carbon footprint of new-build and refurbished buildings in both Hong Kong and Melbourne to determine the embodied carbon profile and its relationship to both embodied energy and construction cost. The Hong Kong findings suggest that mean embodied carbon for refurbished buildings is 33-39% lower than new-build projects, and the cost for refurbished buildings is 22-50% lower than new-build projects (per square metre of floor area). The Melbourne findings, however, suggest that mean embodied carbon for refurbished buildings is 4% lower than new-build projects, and the cost for refurbished buildings is 24% higher than new-build projects (per square metre of floor area). Embodied carbon ranges from 645-1,059 kgCO2e/m2 for new-build and 294-655 kgCO2e/m2 for refurbished projects in Hong Kong, and 1,138-1,705 kgCO2e/m2 for new-build and 900-1,681 kgCO2e/m2 for refurbished projects in Melbourne. The reasons behind these locational discrepancies are explored and critiqued. Overall, a very strong linear relationship between embodied energy and construction cost in both cities was found and can be used to predict the former, given the latter
A targeted gene panel that covers coding, non-coding and short tandem repeat regions improves the diagnosis of patients with neurodegenerative diseases
Genetic testing for neurodegenerative diseases (NDs) is highly challenging because of genetic heterogeneity and overlapping manifestations. Targeted-gene panels (TGPs), coupled with next-generation sequencing (NGS), can facilitate the profiling of a large repertoire of ND-related genes. Due to the technical limitations inherent in NGS and TGPs, short tandem repeat (STR) variations are often ignored. However, STR expansions are known to cause such NDs as Huntington\u27s disease and spinocerebellar ataxias type 3 (SCA3). Here, we studied the clinical utility of a custom-made TGP that targets 199 NDs and 311 ND-associated genes on 118 undiagnosed patients. At least one known or likely pathogenic variation was found in 54 patients; 27 patients demonstrated clinical profiles that matched the variants; and 16 patients whose original diagnosis were refined. A high concordance of variant calling were observed when comparing the results from TGP and whole-exome sequencing of four patients. Our in-house STR detection algorithm has reached a specificity of 0.88 and a sensitivity of 0.82 in our SCA3 cohort. This study also uncovered a trove of novel and recurrent variants that may enrich the repertoire of ND-related genetic markers. We propose that a combined comprehensive TGPs-bioinformatics pipeline can improve the clinical diagnosis of NDs
Effect of brief social contact video compared with expert information video in changing knowledge and attitude towards psychosis patients among medical students
Maintenance treatment with quetiapine versus discontinuation after one year of treatment in patients with remitted first episode psychosis: randomised controlled trial
Objective To study rates of relapse in remitted patients with first episode psychosis who either continued or discontinued antipsychotic drugs after at least one year of maintenance treatment
Integrated market selection and production planning: Complexity and solution approaches
Emphasis on effective demand management is becoming increasingly recognized as an important factor in operations performance. Operations models that account for supply costs and constraints as well as a supplier's ability to influence demand characteristics can lead to an improved match between supply and demand. This paper presents a class of optimization models that allow a supplier to select, from a set of potential markets, those markets that provide maximum profit when production/procurement economies of scale exist in the supply process. The resulting optimization problem we study possesses an interesting structure and we show that although the general problem is NP -complete, a number of relevant and practical special cases can be solved in polynomial time. We also provide a computationally very efficient and intuitively attractive heuristic solution procedure that performs extremely well on a large number of test instances
The Complete Genome Sequence of ‘Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum’, the Bacterium Associated with Potato Zebra Chip Disease
Zebra Chip (ZC) is an emerging plant disease that causes aboveground decline of
potato shoots and generally results in unusable tubers. This disease has led to
multi-million dollar losses for growers in the central and western United States
over the past decade and impacts the livelihood of potato farmers in Mexico and
New Zealand. ZC is associated with ‘Candidatus
Liberibacter solanacearum’, a fastidious alpha-proteobacterium that is
transmitted by a phloem-feeding psyllid vector, Bactericera
cockerelli Sulc. Research on this disease has been hampered by a
lack of robust culture methods and paucity of genome sequence information for
‘Ca. L. solanacearum’. Here we present the
sequence of the 1.26 Mbp metagenome of ‘Ca. L.
solanacearum’, based on DNA isolated from potato psyllids. The coding
inventory of the ‘Ca. L. solanacearum’ genome was
analyzed and compared to related Rhizobiaceae to better
understand ‘Ca. L. solanacearum’ physiology and
identify potential targets to develop improved treatment strategies. This
analysis revealed a number of unique transporters and pathways, all potentially
contributing to ZC pathogenesis. Some of these factors may have been acquired
through horizontal gene transfer. Taxonomically, ‘Ca. L.
solanacearum’ is related to ‘Ca. L.
asiaticus’, a suspected causative agent of citrus huanglongbing, yet many
genome rearrangements and several gene gains/losses are evident when comparing
these two Liberibacter. species. Relative to ‘Ca. L.
asiaticus’, ‘Ca. L. solanacearum’ probably
has reduced capacity for nucleic acid modification, increased amino acid and
vitamin biosynthesis functionalities, and gained a high-affinity iron transport
system characteristic of several pathogenic microbes
Antibiotic resistance genes in the gut microbiota of mothers and linked neonates with or without sepsis from low- and middle-income countries
Early development of the microbiome has been shown to affect general health and physical development of the infant and, although some studies have been undertaken in high-income countries, there are few studies from low- and middle-income countries. As part of the BARNARDS study, we examined the rectal microbiota of 2,931 neonates (term used up to 60 d) with clinical signs of sepsis and of 15,217 mothers screening for blaCTX-M-15, blaNDM, blaKPC and blaOXA-48-like genes, which were detected in 56.1%, 18.5%, 0% and 4.1% of neonates’ rectal swabs and 47.1%, 4.6%, 0% and 1.6% of mothers’ rectal swabs, respectively. Carbapenemase-positive bacteria were identified by MALDI-TOF MS and showed a high diversity of bacterial species (57 distinct species/genera) which exhibited resistance to most of the antibiotics tested. Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Enterobacter cloacae/E. cloacae complex, the most commonly found isolates, were subjected to whole-genome sequencing analysis and revealed close relationships between isolates from different samples, suggesting transmission of bacteria between neonates, and between neonates and mothers. Associations between the carriage of antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs) and healthcare/environmental factors were identified, and the presence of ARGs was a predictor of neonatal sepsis and adverse birth outcomes
Prognostic model to predict postoperative acute kidney injury in patients undergoing major gastrointestinal surgery based on a national prospective observational cohort study.
Background: Acute illness, existing co-morbidities and surgical stress response can all contribute to postoperative acute kidney injury (AKI) in patients undergoing major gastrointestinal surgery. The aim of this study was prospectively to develop a pragmatic prognostic model to stratify patients according to risk of developing AKI after major gastrointestinal surgery. Methods: This prospective multicentre cohort study included consecutive adults undergoing elective or emergency gastrointestinal resection, liver resection or stoma reversal in 2-week blocks over a continuous 3-month period. The primary outcome was the rate of AKI within 7 days of surgery. Bootstrap stability was used to select clinically plausible risk factors into the model. Internal model validation was carried out by bootstrap validation. Results: A total of 4544 patients were included across 173 centres in the UK and Ireland. The overall rate of AKI was 14·2 per cent (646 of 4544) and the 30-day mortality rate was 1·8 per cent (84 of 4544). Stage 1 AKI was significantly associated with 30-day mortality (unadjusted odds ratio 7·61, 95 per cent c.i. 4·49 to 12·90; P < 0·001), with increasing odds of death with each AKI stage. Six variables were selected for inclusion in the prognostic model: age, sex, ASA grade, preoperative estimated glomerular filtration rate, planned open surgery and preoperative use of either an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor or an angiotensin receptor blocker. Internal validation demonstrated good model discrimination (c-statistic 0·65). Discussion: Following major gastrointestinal surgery, AKI occurred in one in seven patients. This preoperative prognostic model identified patients at high risk of postoperative AKI. Validation in an independent data set is required to ensure generalizability
Defining Global Benchmarks for Laparoscopic Liver Resections: An International Multicenter Study
Identification of 12 new susceptibility loci for different histotypes of epithelial ovarian cancer.
To identify common alleles associated with different histotypes of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC), we pooled data from multiple genome-wide genotyping projects totaling 25,509 EOC cases and 40,941 controls. We identified nine new susceptibility loci for different EOC histotypes: six for serous EOC histotypes (3q28, 4q32.3, 8q21.11, 10q24.33, 18q11.2 and 22q12.1), two for mucinous EOC (3q22.3 and 9q31.1) and one for endometrioid EOC (5q12.3). We then performed meta-analysis on the results for high-grade serous ovarian cancer with the results from analysis of 31,448 BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers, including 3,887 mutation carriers with EOC. This identified three additional susceptibility loci at 2q13, 8q24.1 and 12q24.31. Integrated analyses of genes and regulatory biofeatures at each locus predicted candidate susceptibility genes, including OBFC1, a new candidate susceptibility gene for low-grade and borderline serous EOC
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