Teacher support and guidelines for diverse student learners during COVID-19

Teachers serving students from low-income backgrounds, students with disabilities, and students from underrepresented racial and ethnic backgrounds are experiencing a myriad of challenges due to the pandemic that is exacerbating existing inequities and risks. The purpose of this study was to assess whether and to what extent teachers received access to professional development support that would enable them to more effectively respond to the education to the challenges experienced in managing through COVID-19 and evaluate the impact of this access on their perceptions on student engagement. Using the RAND 2020 American Teacher Panel (ATP) COVID-19 collected in October 2020, four clusters of support and resources were identified: Most Supported, Least Supported, Moderate Supported A (received support primarily with students with Disabilities) and Moderate Supported B (received support primarily with diverse backgrounds). Teachers classified as relatively less supported groups were more likely to be teaching in more urbanized settings with larger size schools than the other clusters and perceived their students as attending less often and being less ready for grade-level coursework. Recommendations for school psychologists and human service professionals organizing professional development to address teacher self-care and social emotional learning are described.First author draf

Riociguat treatment in patients with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension: Final safety data from the EXPERT registry

Objective: The soluble guanylate cyclase stimulator riociguat is approved for the treatment of adult patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and inoperable or persistent/recurrent chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) following Phase

Global burden and strength of evidence for 88 risk factors in 204 countries and 811 subnational locations, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

Background: Understanding the health consequences associated with exposure to risk factors is necessary to inform public health policy and practice. To systematically quantify the contributions of risk factor exposures to specific health outcomes, the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2021 aims to provide comprehensive estimates of exposure levels, relative health risks, and attributable burden of disease for 88 risk factors in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations, from 1990 to 2021. Methods: The GBD 2021 risk factor analysis used data from 54 561 total distinct sources to produce epidemiological estimates for 88 risk factors and their associated health outcomes for a total of 631 risk–outcome pairs. Pairs were included on the basis of data-driven determination of a risk–outcome association. Age-sex-location-year-specific estimates were generated at global, regional, and national levels. Our approach followed the comparative risk assessment framework predicated on a causal web of hierarchically organised, potentially combinative, modifiable risks. Relative risks (RRs) of a given outcome occurring as a function of risk factor exposure were estimated separately for each risk–outcome pair, and summary exposure values (SEVs), representing risk-weighted exposure prevalence, and theoretical minimum risk exposure levels (TMRELs) were estimated for each risk factor. These estimates were used to calculate the population attributable fraction (PAF; ie, the proportional change in health risk that would occur if exposure to a risk factor were reduced to the TMREL). The product of PAFs and disease burden associated with a given outcome, measured in disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), yielded measures of attributable burden (ie, the proportion of total disease burden attributable to a particular risk factor or combination of risk factors). Adjustments for mediation were applied to account for relationships involving risk factors that act indirectly on outcomes via intermediate risks. Attributable burden estimates were stratified by Socio-demographic Index (SDI) quintile and presented as counts, age-standardised rates, and rankings. To complement estimates of RR and attributable burden, newly developed burden of proof risk function (BPRF) methods were applied to yield supplementary, conservative interpretations of risk–outcome associations based on the consistency of underlying evidence, accounting for unexplained heterogeneity between input data from different studies. Estimates reported represent the mean value across 500 draws from the estimate's distribution, with 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs) calculated as the 2·5th and 97·5th percentile values across the draws. Findings: Among the specific risk factors analysed for this study, particulate matter air pollution was the leading contributor to the global disease burden in 2021, contributing 8·0% (95% UI 6·7–9·4) of total DALYs, followed by high systolic blood pressure (SBP; 7·8% [6·4–9·2]), smoking (5·7% [4·7–6·8]), low birthweight and short gestation (5·6% [4·8–6·3]), and high fasting plasma glucose (FPG; 5·4% [4·8–6·0]). For younger demographics (ie, those aged 0–4 years and 5–14 years), risks such as low birthweight and short gestation and unsafe water, sanitation, and handwashing (WaSH) were among the leading risk factors, while for older age groups, metabolic risks such as high SBP, high body-mass index (BMI), high FPG, and high LDL cholesterol had a greater impact. From 2000 to 2021, there was an observable shift in global health challenges, marked by a decline in the number of all-age DALYs broadly attributable to behavioural risks (decrease of 20·7% [13·9–27·7]) and environmental and occupational risks (decrease of 22·0% [15·5–28·8]), coupled with a 49·4% (42·3–56·9) increase in DALYs attributable to metabolic risks, all reflecting ageing populations and changing lifestyles on a global scale. Age-standardised global DALY rates attributable to high BMI and high FPG rose considerably (15·7% [9·9–21·7] for high BMI and 7·9% [3·3–12·9] for high FPG) over this period, with exposure to these risks increasing annually at rates of 1·8% (1·6–1·9) for high BMI and 1·3% (1·1–1·5) for high FPG. By contrast, the global risk-attributable burden and exposure to many other risk factors declined, notably for risks such as child growth failure and unsafe water source, with age-standardised attributable DALYs decreasing by 71·5% (64·4–78·8) for child growth failure and 66·3% (60·2–72·0) for unsafe water source. We separated risk factors into three groups according to trajectory over time: those with a decreasing attributable burden, due largely to declining risk exposure (eg, diet high in trans-fat and household air pollution) but also to proportionally smaller child and youth populations (eg, child and maternal malnutrition); those for which the burden increased moderately in spite of declining risk exposure, due largely to population ageing (eg, smoking); and those for which the burden increased considerably due to both increasing risk exposure and population ageing (eg, ambient particulate matter air pollution, high BMI, high FPG, and high SBP). Interpretation: Substantial progress has been made in reducing the global disease burden attributable to a range of risk factors, particularly those related to maternal and child health, WaSH, and household air pollution. Maintaining efforts to minimise the impact of these risk factors, especially in low SDI locations, is necessary to sustain progress. Successes in moderating the smoking-related burden by reducing risk exposure highlight the need to advance policies that reduce exposure to other leading risk factors such as ambient particulate matter air pollution and high SBP. Troubling increases in high FPG, high BMI, and other risk factors related to obesity and metabolic syndrome indicate an urgent need to identify and implement interventions. Funding: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Corrosion inhibition and adsorption characteristics of camel foot leaves extracts on mild steel in hydrochloric acid solution

Inhibitive performance of Camel foot (Piliostigma thonningii) leave extract was investigated on corrosion of mild steel in 1.5M hydrochloric at different temperature (25oC to 60oC) using weight loss and hydrogen evolution measurement. Phytochemical screening was carried out on the extract and characterized with Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometer (GCMS) and Fourier Transformation Infrared (FTIR) analyses. The results obtained showed Camel foot leaf extract (CFLE) contained phytochemical compounds with an important functional groups that inhibit corrosion. It was found that the study plant extract exhibit an excellent inhibitive abilities on corrosion of mild steel in acidic medium. The inhibition efficiency obtained from weight loss and hydrogen evolution measurement at 60oC with addition of 0.5 g/l concentration of CFLE was 64.08% and 62.12% respectively. This shows there was good agreement between the results obtained for both methods adopted. At all investigated temperature, the adsorption of the studied inhibitor obeys’ Langmuir adsorption isotherm. The results of thermodynamic adsorption parameters (△Hads, △Sads, △Gads ) showed that the studied inhibitor is adsorbed on mild steel surface by physical adsorption mechanism, accompanied with an exothermic reaction and spontaneous process.Keywords: Camel foot; Mild steel; Phytochemical compounds; Inhibition performanc

Patterning and overgrowth of nanostructure quantum well wire arrays by LP-MOVPE (low pressure Metalorganic Vapor Phase Epitaxy)

Nanometer scale GaAs Quantum Well Wire (QWW) arrays with lateral dimensions in the range of 10--70 nm and a period of 200 nm have been fabricated in the GaAs/AlGaAs system using x-ray nanolithography patterning and overgrowth by a low pressure Metalorganic Vapor Phase Epitaxy (LP-MOVPE) technique. The QWW structures were either fabricated by post-growth patterning of a thin GaAs film on a AlGaAs-coated substrate followed by AlGaAs deposition, or by continuous in-situ deposition of a GaAs/AlGaAs QWW structure on a prepatterned GaAs substrate. Although cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy showed no structural defects in either QWW fabrication process, photoluminescence (PL) was only observed in the in-situ-deposited structures. Strong polarization dependence of the PL peak with respect to wire orientation has been confirmed and evidence of lateral confinement was observed. 17 refs., 4 figs