An evidence review of research on health interventions in humanitarian crises. Final Report

This review was conducted to provide a rigorous assessment of the current quality and depth of the evidence-base that informs humanitarian public health programming globally. It assesses the quantity and quality of intervention studies, rather than measuring the actual effectiveness of the intervention itself. The review addresses evidence on interventions in humanitarian crises (including early recovery and forced displacement) for health topics of: communicable disease control water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) nutrition sexual and reproductive health (SRH), including gender-based violence (GBV) mental health and psychosocial support non-communicable disease (NCD) injury and physical rehabilitation health services health systems. In addition, contextual factors influencing the delivery of health-related interventions are included in the project, consisting of: * access to health services * health assessment methods * coordination * accountability * health worker security * urbanisation. The evidence review used the following two main methods: (i) A series of systematic literature reviews on evidence of humanitarian interventions related to the health topics and on the influence of contextual factors on the interventions. The systematic review on evidence of interventions for the different health topics included quantitative evidence from published and grey literature. The systematic review on the contextual factors included quantitative and qualitative evidence from the published literature. Standard systematic review methodologies were used. (ii) Qualitative individual interviews with expert practitioners, policy makers and academics to identify critical weaknesses and gaps in the evidence base for humanitarian public health actions (including related to the contextual factors) and to recommend priority areas for further research. A series of more general consultations with humanitarian health experts through meetings in London, Geneva, Paris, and New York

A knowledge discovery framework to predict the N2O emissions in the wastewater sector

Horizon 2020 research and innovation program SMART-Plant (grant agreement No 690323

Clinical profiles and quality of care of subjects with type 2 diabetes according to their cardiovascular risk: an observational, retrospective study

Background: The European Society of Cardiology (ESC) recently defined cardiovascular risk classes for subjects with diabetes. Aim of this study was to explore the distribution of subjects with type 2 diabetes (T2D) by cardiovascular risk groups according to the ESC classification and to describe the quality indicators of care, with particular regard to cardiovascular risk factors. Methods: The study is based on data extracted from electronic medical records of patients treated at the 258 Italian diabetes centers participating in the AMD Annals initiative. Patients with T2D were stratified by cardiovascular risk. General descriptive indicators, measures of intermediate outcomes, intensity/appropriateness of pharmacological treatment for diabetes and cardiovascular risk factors, presence of other complications and overall quality of care were evaluated. Results: Overall, 473,740 subjects with type 2 diabetes (78.5% at very high cardiovascular risk, 20.9% at high risk and 0.6% at moderate risk) were evaluated. Among people with T2D at very high risk: 26.4% had retinopathy, 39.5% had albuminuria, 18.7% had a previous major cardiovascular event, 39.0% had organ damage, 89.1% had three or more risk factors. The use of DPP4-i markedly increased as cardiovascular risk increased. The prescription of secretagogues also increased and that of GLP1-RAs tended to increase. The use of SGLT2-i was still limited, and only slightly higher in subjects with very high cardiovascular risk. The overall quality of care, as summarized by the Q score, tended to be lower as the level of cardiovascular risk increased. Conclusions: A large proportion of subjects with T2D is at high or very high risk. Glucose-lowering drug therapies seem not to be adequately used with respect to their potential advantages in terms of cardiovascular risk reduction. Several actions are necessary to improve the quality of care

Urban agriculture: a global analysis of the space constraint to meet urban vegetable demand

Urban agriculture (UA) has been drawing a lot of attention recently for several reasons: the majority of the world population has shifted from living in rural to urban areas; the environmental impact of agriculture is a matter of rising concern; and food insecurity, especially the accessibility of food, remains a major challenge. UA has often been proposed as a solution to some of these issues, for example by producing food in places where population density is highest, reducing transportation costs, connecting people directly to food systems and using urban areas efficiently. However, to date no study has examined how much food could actually be produced in urban areas at the global scale. Here we use a simple approach, based on different global-scale datasets, to assess to what extent UA is constrained by the existing amount of urban space. Our results suggest that UA would require roughly one third of the total global urban area to meet the global vegetable consumption of urban dwellers. This estimate does not consider how much urban area may actually be suitable and available for UA, which likely varies substantially around the world and according to the type of UA performed. Further, this global average value masks variations of more than two orders of magnitude among individual countries. The variations in the space required across countries derive mostly from variations in urban population density, and much less from variations in yields or per capita consumption. Overall, the space required is regrettably the highest where UA is most needed, i.e., in more food insecure countries. We also show that smaller urban clusters (i.e., <100 km2 each) together represent about two thirds of the global urban extent; thus UA discourse and policies should not focus on large cities exclusively, but should also target smaller urban areas that offer the greatest potential in terms of physical space

Hidden charm molecules in finite volume

In the present paper we address the interaction of pairs of charmed mesons with hidden charm in a finite box. We use the interaction from a recent model based on heavy-quark spin symmetry that predicts molecules of hidden charm in the infinite volume. The energy levels in the box are generated within this model, and from them some synthetic data are generated. These data are then employed to study the inverse problem of getting the energies of the bound states and phase shifts for D (D) over bar or D*(D) over bar*. Different strategies are investigated using the lowest two levels for different values of the box size, and the errors produced are studied. Starting from the upper level, fits to the synthetic data are carried out to determine the scattering length and effective range plus the binding energy of the ground state. A similar strategy using the effective range formula is considered with a simultaneous fit to the two levels-one above and the other one below the threshold. This method turns out to be more efficient than the previous one. Finally, a method based on the fit to the data by means of a potential and a conveniently regularized loop function, turns out to be very efficient and allows us to produce accurate results in the infinite volume starting from levels of the box with errors far larger than the uncertainties obtained in the final results. A regularization method based on Gaussian wave functions turns out to be rather efficient in the analysis and as a byproduct a practical and fast method to calculate the Luscher function with high precision is presented

Distribution of killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors genes in the Italian Caucasian population

BACKGROUND: Killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIRs) are a family of inhibitory and activatory receptors that are expressed by most natural killer (NK) cells. The KIR gene family is polymorphic: genomic diversity is achieved through differences in gene content and allelic polymorphism. The number of KIR loci has been reported to vary among individuals, resulting in different KIR haplotypes. In this study we report the genotypic structure of KIRs in 217 unrelated healthy Italian individuals from 22 immunogenetics laboratories, located in the northern, central and southern regions of Italy. METHODS: Two hundred and seventeen DNA samples were studied by a low resolution PCR-SSP kit designed to identify all KIR genes. RESULTS: All 17 KIR genes were observed in the population with different frequencies than other Caucasian and non-Caucasian populations; framework genes KIR3DL3, KIR3DP1, KIR2DL4 and KIR3DL2 were present in all individuals. Sixty-five different profiles were found in this Italian population study. Haplotype A remains the most prevalent and genotype 1, with a frequency of 28.5%, is the most commonly observed in the Italian population. CONCLUSION: The Italian Caucasian population shows polymorphism of the KIR gene family like other Caucasian and non-Caucasian populations. Although 64 genotypes have been observed, genotype 1 remains the most frequent as already observed in other populations. Such knowledge of the KIR gene distribution in populations is very useful in the study of associations with diseases and in selection of donors for haploidentical bone marrow transplantation

Electronic reconstruction forming a C2C_2-symmetric Dirac semimetal in Ca3_3Ru2_2O7_7

Electronic band structures in solids stem from a periodic potential reflecting the structure of either the crystal lattice or an electronic order. In the stoichiometric ruthenate Ca$_3$Ru$_2$O$_7$, numerous Fermi surface sensitive probes indicate a low-temperature electronic reconstruction. Yet, the causality and the reconstructed band structure remain unsolved. Here, we show by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, how in Ca$_3$Ru$_2$O$_7$ a $C_2$-symmetric massive Dirac semimetal is realized through a Brillouin-zone preserving electronic reconstruction. This Dirac semimetal emerges in a two-stage transition upon cooling. The Dirac point and band velocities are consistent with constraints set by quantum oscillation, thermodynamic, and transport experiments, suggesting that the complete Fermi surface is resolved. The reconstructed structure -- incompatible with translational-symmetry-breaking density waves -- serves as an important test for band structure calculations of correlated electron systems

Effect of Differential N-linked and O-linked Mannosylation on Recognition of Fungal Antigens by Dendritic Cells

BACKGROUND. An experimental approach for improving vaccine efficacy involves targeting antigens to mannose receptors (MRs) on dendritic cells (DCs) and other professional antigen presenting cells. Previously, we demonstrated that mannosylated Pichia pastoris-derived recombinant proteins exhibited increased immunogenicity compared to proteins lacking mannosylation. In order to gain insight into the mechanisms responsible for this observation, the present study examined the cellular uptake of the mannosylated and deglycosylated recombinant proteins. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS. Utilizing transfected cell lines, roles for the macrophage mannose receptor (MMR, CD206) and DC-SIGN (CD209) in the recognition of the mannosylated, but not deglycosylated, antigens were demonstrated. The uptake of mannosylated antigens into murine bone marrow-derived DCs (BMDCs) was inhibited by yeast mannans (YMs), suggesting a mannose-specific C-type lectin receptor-dependent process, while the uptake of deglycosylated antigens remained unaffected. In particular, antigens with both N-linked and extensive O-linked mannosylation showed the highest binding and uptake by BMDCs. Finally, confocal microscopy studies revealed that both mannosylated and deglycosylated P. pastoris-derived recombinant proteins localized in MHC class II+ compartments within BMDCs. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE. Taken together with our previous results, these data suggest that increased uptake by mannose-specific C-type lectin receptors is the major mechanism responsible for the enhanced antigenicity seen with mannosylated proteins. These findings have important implications for vaccine design and contribute to our understanding of how glycosylation affects the immune response to eukaryotic pathogens.National Institutes of Health (RO1 AI25780, RO1 AI37532