Methanol outbreak in the district of Hulu Langat, 2018

Introduction: A methanol outbreak occurred in the district of Hulu Langat on 16 September 2018. The Hulu Langat District Health Office received 25 notifications of a suspected methanol poisoning from Kajang and Ampang Hospital. An outbreak investigation was done to determine the source followed by a preventive and control measure. Method: Active case detection was done on cases living quarters and workplaces. Patients were interviewed, and their blood and urine samples were sent for methanol analysis. Samples of suspected alcoholic beverages were also sent for analysis. A suspected case was defined as any person presented with clinical symptoms with a history of consuming alcoholic beverages within five days before symptoms and high anion gap metabolic acidosis. A confirmed case was defined as a suspected case with positive blood and urine methanol. Results: In total, there were 25 suspected cases, of which 12 cases were confirmed. The calculated attack rate was 48%. There were six mortalities (50%) secondary to severe metabolic acidosis. The most common presenting symptom was vomiting (75%) and abdominal pain (41.7%). These cases were linked to consumption of illicitly produced alcohol. Samples of the alcoholic drinks were positive containing high level of methanol. Conclusion: The methanol outbreak in the Hulu Langat was successfully managed. Appropriate control and prevention measures were taken, including health promotion and joint enforcement activities. Steps were taken successfully through collaborations with multiple agencies and cooperation with Selangor Health Departments and the Ministry of Health. Continuous surveillance on the product of liquor, and health promotion are essential to prevent a similar outbreak from happening again in future

New insights into Se/BiVO4 heterostructure for photoelectrochemical water splitting: a combined experimental and DFT study

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.Monoclinic clinobisvanite BiVO4 is one of the most promising materials in the field of solar water splitting due to its band gap and suitable VBM position. We have carried out a comprehensive experimental and periodic density functional theory (DFT) simulations of BiVO4 heterojunction with Selenium (Se/BiVO4), to understand the nature of heterojunction. We have also investigated contribution of Se to higher performance by effecting morphology, light absorption and charge transfer properties in heterojunction. Electronic properties simulations of BiVO4 shows that its VBM and CBM are comprised of O 2p and V 3d orbitals, respectively. The Se/BiVO4 heterojunction has boosted the photocurrent density by three fold from 0.7 to 2.2 mAcm-2 at 1.3 V vs. SCE. The electrochemical impedance and Mott-Schottky analysis consequence favorable charge transfer characteristics which account for the higher performance in Se/BiVO4 compared to the BiVO4 and Se. Finally, spectroscopic, photoelectrochemical and DFT evident that Se makes a direct Z-scheme (band alignments) with BiVO4 where the photoexcited electron of BiVO4 recombine with the VB of Se, consequences electron-hole separation at Se and BiVO4, respectively as a result enhanced photocurrent is obtained.The authors would like to thank the National University of Malaysia for the financial support from grants GUP-2016-089. One of us (H.U) acknowledges the NOTUR supercomputing facilities within the project nn4608

Diagnosing business incubation for social purpose: a viable system model approach

Business incubation is one of the means that promotes the overall business and economic growth of a particular location. However, to date, the role of business incubation as a social innovation, which has the aim to achieve concurrent development of firms, the economy and the society, is not yet understood. Using the systemic approach, specifically the viable system model (VSM) as the framework, the objective of this study is to diagnose the operation of an incubation programme that focuses on supporting business development for social purpose. This study utilized the qualitative methodology and selected an incubator, known as Kompleks Industri Makanan MARA (KIMAR), as the system-in-focus. KIMAR is a halal food industry complex established and operated by Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA); the latter a Malaysian government agency that aims to promote the socio-economic empowerment of the indigenous people of Malaysia including the Malays. Data for the diagnosis was collected through interviews with the executives responsible for the incubator operation, as well as the managers or entrepreneurs of the businesses located within it. Our analysis found cohesions among the functions of the incubator and their functionality to manage certain varieties in the environment, although more requisite varieties are needed to manage the high complexity of global halal business development. In managing these varieties, the incubation process receives financial sponsorship and other support from its social-based parent organization. The use of systems perspective highlights operational values of responsibility, long-term perspective as well as effective management of resources that drive the impact of a social incubator, thus enriches the concept of social innovation that typically focuses on the social impact of the outcome

An Ongoing Futuristic Career of Metal–Organic Frameworks and Ionic Liquids, A Magical Gateway to Capture CO₂; A Critical Review

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies are the “knight in shining armor” that can save humanity from burnout in the longer term, minimizing damage from CO2 emissions by keeping them out of the atmosphere. Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) have received a promising career for CO2 capture due to their high porosity, surface area, excellent metal-to-ligand interaction, and good affinity to capture CO2 molecules. On the other hand, Ionic liquids (ILs) as emerging solvents have reported a significant influence on CO2 solubility due to their wide range of tunability in the selection of a variety of cations and anions along with the advantage of nonvolatility, high thermal stability, and nonflammability. The current Review highlights the recent progress and ongoing careers of employing MOFs and ILs in carbon capture technologies before their commercialization on a large scale. A brief overview of CO2 capturing using MOFs and ILs is given under the influence of their possible functionalization to enhance their CO2 separation. Information on the possible integration of MOFs-ILs as a composite system or membrane-based gas separation is also presented in detail. The integration has a high potential to capture CO2 while minimizing the unit operation costs for a stable, efficient, and smooth industrial gas separation operation. Present work attempts to link the chemistry of MOF and IL and their successful hybridization (MOF-IL composite) to process the economics for CO2 capture

Global burden of 288 causes of death and life expectancy decomposition in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

BACKGROUND Regular, detailed reporting on population health by underlying cause of death is fundamental for public health decision making. Cause-specific estimates of mortality and the subsequent effects on life expectancy worldwide are valuable metrics to gauge progress in reducing mortality rates. These estimates are particularly important following large-scale mortality spikes, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. When systematically analysed, mortality rates and life expectancy allow comparisons of the consequences of causes of death globally and over time, providing a nuanced understanding of the effect of these causes on global populations. METHODS The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2021 cause-of-death analysis estimated mortality and years of life lost (YLLs) from 288 causes of death by age-sex-location-year in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations for each year from 1990 until 2021. The analysis used 56 604 data sources, including data from vital registration and verbal autopsy as well as surveys, censuses, surveillance systems, and cancer registries, among others. As with previous GBD rounds, cause-specific death rates for most causes were estimated using the Cause of Death Ensemble model-a modelling tool developed for GBD to assess the out-of-sample predictive validity of different statistical models and covariate permutations and combine those results to produce cause-specific mortality estimates-with alternative strategies adapted to model causes with insufficient data, substantial changes in reporting over the study period, or unusual epidemiology. YLLs were computed as the product of the number of deaths for each cause-age-sex-location-year and the standard life expectancy at each age. As part of the modelling process, uncertainty intervals (UIs) were generated using the 2·5th and 97·5th percentiles from a 1000-draw distribution for each metric. We decomposed life expectancy by cause of death, location, and year to show cause-specific effects on life expectancy from 1990 to 2021. We also used the coefficient of variation and the fraction of population affected by 90% of deaths to highlight concentrations of mortality. Findings are reported in counts and age-standardised rates. Methodological improvements for cause-of-death estimates in GBD 2021 include the expansion of under-5-years age group to include four new age groups, enhanced methods to account for stochastic variation of sparse data, and the inclusion of COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality-which includes excess mortality associated with the pandemic, excluding COVID-19, lower respiratory infections, measles, malaria, and pertussis. For this analysis, 199 new country-years of vital registration cause-of-death data, 5 country-years of surveillance data, 21 country-years of verbal autopsy data, and 94 country-years of other data types were added to those used in previous GBD rounds. FINDINGS The leading causes of age-standardised deaths globally were the same in 2019 as they were in 1990; in descending order, these were, ischaemic heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lower respiratory infections. In 2021, however, COVID-19 replaced stroke as the second-leading age-standardised cause of death, with 94·0 deaths (95% UI 89·2-100·0) per 100 000 population. The COVID-19 pandemic shifted the rankings of the leading five causes, lowering stroke to the third-leading and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease to the fourth-leading position. In 2021, the highest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 occurred in sub-Saharan Africa (271·0 deaths [250·1-290·7] per 100 000 population) and Latin America and the Caribbean (195·4 deaths [182·1-211·4] per 100 000 population). The lowest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 were in the high-income super-region (48·1 deaths [47·4-48·8] per 100 000 population) and southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania (23·2 deaths [16·3-37·2] per 100 000 population). Globally, life expectancy steadily improved between 1990 and 2019 for 18 of the 22 investigated causes. Decomposition of global and regional life expectancy showed the positive effect that reductions in deaths from enteric infections, lower respiratory infections, stroke, and neonatal deaths, among others have contributed to improved survival over the study period. However, a net reduction of 1·6 years occurred in global life expectancy between 2019 and 2021, primarily due to increased death rates from COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality. Life expectancy was highly variable between super-regions over the study period, with southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania gaining 8·3 years (6·7-9·9) overall, while having the smallest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 (0·4 years). The largest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 occurred in Latin America and the Caribbean (3·6 years). Additionally, 53 of the 288 causes of death were highly concentrated in locations with less than 50% of the global population as of 2021, and these causes of death became progressively more concentrated since 1990, when only 44 causes showed this pattern. The concentration phenomenon is discussed heuristically with respect to enteric and lower respiratory infections, malaria, HIV/AIDS, neonatal disorders, tuberculosis, and measles. INTERPRETATION Long-standing gains in life expectancy and reductions in many of the leading causes of death have been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the adverse effects of which were spread unevenly among populations. Despite the pandemic, there has been continued progress in combatting several notable causes of death, leading to improved global life expectancy over the study period. Each of the seven GBD super-regions showed an overall improvement from 1990 and 2021, obscuring the negative effect in the years of the pandemic. Additionally, our findings regarding regional variation in causes of death driving increases in life expectancy hold clear policy utility. Analyses of shifting mortality trends reveal that several causes, once widespread globally, are now increasingly concentrated geographically. These changes in mortality concentration, alongside further investigation of changing risks, interventions, and relevant policy, present an important opportunity to deepen our understanding of mortality-reduction strategies. Examining patterns in mortality concentration might reveal areas where successful public health interventions have been implemented. Translating these successes to locations where certain causes of death remain entrenched can inform policies that work to improve life expectancy for people everywhere. FUNDING Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

دور العصبية في أحداث الفتنة بقرطبة خلال القرن 5ه-11م: The role of fanaticism in the events of strife in Cordoba during the 5th century AH-11 AD

شهدت الأندلس خلال القرن الخامس الهجري الحادي عشر الميلادي، أحداثا تاريخية أطلق عليها المؤرخون "الفتنة القرطبية"، و التي كان لها الأثر على مختلف الأصعدة السياسية و الاجتماعية خاصة بعد نهاية حكم العامريين سنة 399ه - 1009م، حيث دخلت الأندلس خلال هذه الفترة في صراعات مستمرة بين مختلف طبقات المجتمع، و إزداد هذا الصراع بشكل خطير في تهديد الإسلام و المسلمين، حيث نتج عنه تشكل جديد لخارطة بلاد الأندلس بين مختلف العناصر الفاعلة و انزواء مختلف اطياف المجتمع بمناطقهم بسبب الظروف السياسية التي أجبرتهم على ذلك ، و ظهرت بهذه السياسة و قائع و حروب بين مختلف هذه الطوائف العرقية، أدت إلى تكريس حالة اللأمن و اللإستقرار في الأرواح و الممتلكات لمختلف المجموعات السكانية فارتسم صراع عرقي بين الطوائف الأندلسية و البربرية و الصقلبية، تغذيه روح الإنتماء القبلي و التي أصبحت العامل الرئيسي في تحريك أحداث الفتنة و القائمة على تحديد العلاقة بين شرائح المجتمع الأندلسي في إطار عرقي قبلي.During the fifth century AH (eleventh century AD), Andalusia witnessed historical events that historians called the “Fitna of al-Andalus”, which had an impact on various political and social levels, especially after the end of the rule of the Amiriden in 399 AH-1009 AD. During this period, Andalusia entered into ongoing conflicts between different classes of society. Moreover, this conflict increased in a dangerous way, threatening Islam and Muslims. It resulted in a new formation of political features for the map of Andalusia, distributed among the various actors from the social groups within their areas due to the political conditions that forced them to do so—with this policy, incidents and wars emerged between the various ethnic groups, perpetuating a state of insecurity and instability in the lives and properties of the various population groups. Ethnic conflict has been established between the Andalusian, Barbarian, and Ṣaqālibah communities, fueled by the spirit of tribal affiliation, which has become the main factor in the movement of strife and the determination of the relationship between the segments of Andalusian society within a tribal framework. In this study, we follow the descriptive and analytical methods of the course of events to highlight the goal of the tribal dimension and its role in feeding the nervous conflict in Andalusia, which destroyed Islamic civilization

An Ongoing Futuristic Career of Metal–Organic Frameworks and Ionic Liquids, A Magical Gateway to Capture CO₂; A Critical Review

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies are the “knight in shining armor” that can save humanity from burnout in the longer term, minimizing damage from CO2 emissions by keeping them out of the atmosphere. Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) have received a promising career for CO2 capture due to their high porosity, surface area, excellent metal-to-ligand interaction, and good affinity to capture CO2 molecules. On the other hand, Ionic liquids (ILs) as emerging solvents have reported a significant influence on CO2 solubility due to their wide range of tunability in the selection of a variety of cations and anions along with the advantage of nonvolatility, high thermal stability, and nonflammability. The current Review highlights the recent progress and ongoing careers of employing MOFs and ILs in carbon capture technologies before their commercialization on a large scale. A brief overview of CO2 capturing using MOFs and ILs is given under the influence of their possible functionalization to enhance their CO2 separation. Information on the possible integration of MOFs-ILs as a composite system or membrane-based gas separation is also presented in detail. The integration has a high potential to capture CO2 while minimizing the unit operation costs for a stable, efficient, and smooth industrial gas separation operation. Present work attempts to link the chemistry of MOF and IL and their successful hybridization (MOF-IL composite) to process the economics for CO2 capture

Role of Intercropping in Sustainable Insect-Pest Management: A Review

Reduced soil fertility and rising pest and disease pressures are contributing to the already serious problem of global food insecurity. Monoculture is the most labour and resource-intensive form of crop production around the globe. Unfortunately, monocultures are more vulnerable to pests, diseases, and weeds, so the expansion of this system is accompanied by a host of biological issues. Negative effects on the environment, human health, and ecosystem stability are all associated with monocropping because it relies so heavily on the use of chemical plant protection products of all generations of pesticides. Although crop production strategies are important for overall enhancement in production, the intercropping can help farmers in attaining raised economic returns by taking multiple crops in a single season. Intercropping is an alternative strategy for improved resource use efficiency, environmental safety, and sustainable pest management without the use of chemical pesticides that can help mitigate these risks. Intercropping (two or more crop species coexisting) is a cultural practice in pest management that reduces insect pests by increasing ecosystem diversity. Intercropping and planting crops that kill or repel pests, attract natural enemies, or have antibacterial effects can reduce disease and pest damage and pesticide use. Intercropping, where crops grow between main crops, reduces the likelihood of pest infestation. Intercropping is a potential pest management practice because it diversifies crops in an agro-ecosystem to reduce insect populations and attacks. Intercropping relies on a deep understanding of insect ecology and crop traits. Intercropping can be used alone or in combination with host-plant resistance and biological control. Intercropping ensures crop yield stability, protects against crop failure, improves soil fertility, increases soil conservation, and reduces pesticide use, minimizing agriculture's environmental impact. The aim is to define the role and importance of intercropping as a strategy in crop pest management and as a boost for crop production vis-à-vis soil fertility