Theoretical and experimental insights into the C-steel aqueous corrosion inhibition at elevated temperatures in 1.0M HCl via multi-carbonyl Gemini cationic surfactants

Despite corrosion being an inevitable process, researchers strive to control corrosion. In this study, our goal was to prepare two amido Gemini cationic surfactants, LAPG and MAPG, each with different alkyl chains and multiple carbonyl groups as rich electronic rich centers. We aimed to evaluate these surfactants as potential corrosion inhibitors for carbon steel (CS) in 1M HCl at temperatures of 25-55 ± 0.1°C. In theoretical investigations, DFT parameters and Mont Carlo simulation were run to predict the adsorption affinity and reactive sites of the LAPG and MAPG molecules. Their efficacy was investigated experimentally considering weight loss and electrochemical techniques. The Tafel polarization revealed that at 0.1mM of LAPG and MAPG, the corrosion current density (i corr) of CS was reduced to the lowest extent (75.56 and 53.82μAcm-2) compared to 529.3μAcm-2 in the absence of the inhibitors. EIS data suggests the enhancement of the thickness of the adsorbed layers of the studied compounds from the decrease of the double-layer capacitance C dl values. The Langmuir isotherm explained the adoption phenomena of these compounds at 25-55 ± 0.1°C. Activation and adsorption thermodynamic parameters predicted the chemisorption behavior of these molecules onto the steel surface. AFM and XPS tools confirm the CS surface protection due to these inhibitors' adsorbed layer. A parallel study showed the superiority of these corrosion inhibitors in HCl compared with those reported earlier, making these compounds highly promising corrosion inhibitors, especially in high-temperature acidic environments

Impact of opioid-free analgesia on pain severity and patient satisfaction after discharge from surgery: multispecialty, prospective cohort study in 25 countries

Background: Balancing opioid stewardship and the need for adequate analgesia following discharge after surgery is challenging. This study aimed to compare the outcomes for patients discharged with opioid versus opioid-free analgesia after common surgical procedures.Methods: This international, multicentre, prospective cohort study collected data from patients undergoing common acute and elective general surgical, urological, gynaecological, and orthopaedic procedures. The primary outcomes were patient-reported time in severe pain measured on a numerical analogue scale from 0 to 100% and patient-reported satisfaction with pain relief during the first week following discharge. Data were collected by in-hospital chart review and patient telephone interview 1 week after discharge.Results: The study recruited 4273 patients from 144 centres in 25 countries; 1311 patients (30.7%) were prescribed opioid analgesia at discharge. Patients reported being in severe pain for 10 (i.q.r. 1-30)% of the first week after discharge and rated satisfaction with analgesia as 90 (i.q.r. 80-100) of 100. After adjustment for confounders, opioid analgesia on discharge was independently associated with increased pain severity (risk ratio 1.52, 95% c.i. 1.31 to 1.76; P < 0.001) and re-presentation to healthcare providers owing to side-effects of medication (OR 2.38, 95% c.i. 1.36 to 4.17; P = 0.004), but not with satisfaction with analgesia (beta coefficient 0.92, 95% c.i. -1.52 to 3.36; P = 0.468) compared with opioid-free analgesia. Although opioid prescribing varied greatly between high-income and low- and middle-income countries, patient-reported outcomes did not.Conclusion: Opioid analgesia prescription on surgical discharge is associated with a higher risk of re-presentation owing to side-effects of medication and increased patient-reported pain, but not with changes in patient-reported satisfaction. Opioid-free discharge analgesia should be adopted routinely

A novel method has been developed to efficiently recover valuable lead, zinc, and rare earth elements from hazardous waste generated by glass polishing

AbstractDiscovering new processing routes to put waste to use in the manufacturing of high-value products is essential to the success of the circular economy. A glass polishing waste containing 16.4% PbO, 0.672% ZnO and 7.296% rare earth elements (REEs) oxides was subjected to this work. The current research looked into the feasibility of adopting a sequential three-stage leaching procedure to selectively recover Pb, Zn, and REEs from hazardous glass polishing waste (HGPW). First-stage leaching with 1 M H2SO4 at 80 °C for 90 min extracted 75–99.9% of contaminant heavy metals such Fe, Ni, Co, and Cu, leaving behind insoluble residue containing the metals of interest. In the second stage of leaching, the sodium hydroxide solution extracted Pb and Zn from the first spend residue. Using shrinking core models, we were able to assess the kinetics of lead and zinc dissolution. The activation energy was determined to be 32.16 kJ/mol for Pb and 34.59 kJ/mol for Zn. In the final step, the REEs were extracted from the dried alkali-treated residue by leaching it with concentrated H2SO4 at higher temperatures. For the technological recovery of Pb, Zn, and REEs from glass polishing waste, a flow chart was created

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on patients with paediatric cancer in low-income, middle-income and high-income countries: a multicentre, international, observational cohort study

OBJECTIVES: Paediatric cancer is a leading cause of death for children. Children in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) were four times more likely to die than children in high-income countries (HICs). This study aimed to test the hypothesis that the COVID-19 pandemic had affected the delivery of healthcare services worldwide, and exacerbated the disparity in paediatric cancer outcomes between LMICs and HICs. DESIGN: A multicentre, international, collaborative cohort study. SETTING: 91 hospitals and cancer centres in 39 countries providing cancer treatment to paediatric patients between March and December 2020. PARTICIPANTS: Patients were included if they were under the age of 18 years, and newly diagnosed with or undergoing active cancer treatment for Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma, Wilms' tumour, sarcoma, retinoblastoma, gliomas, medulloblastomas or neuroblastomas, in keeping with the WHO Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: All-cause mortality at 30 days and 90 days. RESULTS: 1660 patients were recruited. 219 children had changes to their treatment due to the pandemic. Patients in LMICs were primarily affected (n=182/219, 83.1%). Relative to patients with paediatric cancer in HICs, patients with paediatric cancer in LMICs had 12.1 (95% CI 2.93 to 50.3) and 7.9 (95% CI 3.2 to 19.7) times the odds of death at 30 days and 90 days, respectively, after presentation during the COVID-19 pandemic (p<0.001). After adjusting for confounders, patients with paediatric cancer in LMICs had 15.6 (95% CI 3.7 to 65.8) times the odds of death at 30 days (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The COVID-19 pandemic has affected paediatric oncology service provision. It has disproportionately affected patients in LMICs, highlighting and compounding existing disparities in healthcare systems globally that need addressing urgently. However, many patients with paediatric cancer continued to receive their normal standard of care. This speaks to the adaptability and resilience of healthcare systems and healthcare workers globally