119 research outputs found

    Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

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    Abstract Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

    Global fertility in 204 countries and territories, 1950–2021, with forecasts to 2100: a comprehensive demographic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

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    BackgroundAccurate assessments of current and future fertility—including overall trends and changing population age structures across countries and regions—are essential to help plan for the profound social, economic, environmental, and geopolitical challenges that these changes will bring. Estimates and projections of fertility are necessary to inform policies involving resource and health-care needs, labour supply, education, gender equality, and family planning and support. The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2021 produced up-to-date and comprehensive demographic assessments of key fertility indicators at global, regional, and national levels from 1950 to 2021 and forecast fertility metrics to 2100 based on a reference scenario and key policy-dependent alternative scenarios. MethodsTo estimate fertility indicators from 1950 to 2021, mixed-effects regression models and spatiotemporal Gaussian process regression were used to synthesise data from 8709 country-years of vital and sample registrations, 1455 surveys and censuses, and 150 other sources, and to generate age-specific fertility rates (ASFRs) for 5-year age groups from age 10 years to 54 years. ASFRs were summed across age groups to produce estimates of total fertility rate (TFR). Livebirths were calculated by multiplying ASFR and age-specific female population, then summing across ages 10–54 years. To forecast future fertility up to 2100, our Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) forecasting model was based on projections of completed cohort fertility at age 50 years (CCF50; the average number of children born over time to females from a specified birth cohort), which yields more stable and accurate measures of fertility than directly modelling TFR. CCF50 was modelled using an ensemble approach in which three sub-models (with two, three, and four covariates variously consisting of female educational attainment, contraceptive met need, population density in habitable areas, and under-5 mortality) were given equal weights, and analyses were conducted utilising the MR-BRT (meta-regression—Bayesian, regularised, trimmed) tool. To capture time-series trends in CCF50 not explained by these covariates, we used a first-order autoregressive model on the residual term. CCF50 as a proportion of each 5-year ASFR was predicted using a linear mixed-effects model with fixed-effects covariates (female educational attainment and contraceptive met need) and random intercepts for geographical regions. Projected TFRs were then computed for each calendar year as the sum of single-year ASFRs across age groups. The reference forecast is our estimate of the most likely fertility future given the model, past fertility, forecasts of covariates, and historical relationships between covariates and fertility. We additionally produced forecasts for multiple alternative scenarios in each location: the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) for education is achieved by 2030; the contraceptive met need SDG is achieved by 2030; pro-natal policies are enacted to create supportive environments for those who give birth; and the previous three scenarios combined. Uncertainty from past data inputs and model estimation was propagated throughout analyses by taking 1000 draws for past and present fertility estimates and 500 draws for future forecasts from the estimated distribution for each metric, with 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs) given as the 2·5 and 97·5 percentiles of the draws. To evaluate the forecasting performance of our model and others, we computed skill values—a metric assessing gain in forecasting accuracy—by comparing predicted versus observed ASFRs from the past 15 years (2007–21). A positive skill metric indicates that the model being evaluated performs better than the baseline model (here, a simplified model holding 2007 values constant in the future), and a negative metric indicates that the evaluated model performs worse than baseline. FindingsDuring the period from 1950 to 2021, global TFR more than halved, from 4·84 (95% UI 4·63–5·06) to 2·23 (2·09–2·38). Global annual livebirths peaked in 2016 at 142 million (95% UI 137–147), declining to 129 million (121–138) in 2021. Fertility rates declined in all countries and territories since 1950, with TFR remaining above 2·1—canonically considered replacement-level fertility—in 94 (46·1%) countries and territories in 2021. This included 44 of 46 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, which was the super-region with the largest share of livebirths in 2021 (29·2% [28·7–29·6]). 47 countries and territories in which lowest estimated fertility between 1950 and 2021 was below replacement experienced one or more subsequent years with higher fertility; only three of these locations rebounded above replacement levels. Future fertility rates were projected to continue to decline worldwide, reaching a global TFR of 1·83 (1·59–2·08) in 2050 and 1·59 (1·25–1·96) in 2100 under the reference scenario. The number of countries and territories with fertility rates remaining above replacement was forecast to be 49 (24·0%) in 2050 and only six (2·9%) in 2100, with three of these six countries included in the 2021 World Bank-defined low-income group, all located in the GBD super-region of sub-Saharan Africa. The proportion of livebirths occurring in sub-Saharan Africa was forecast to increase to more than half of the world's livebirths in 2100, to 41·3% (39·6–43·1) in 2050 and 54·3% (47·1–59·5) in 2100. The share of livebirths was projected to decline between 2021 and 2100 in most of the six other super-regions—decreasing, for example, in south Asia from 24·8% (23·7–25·8) in 2021 to 16·7% (14·3–19·1) in 2050 and 7·1% (4·4–10·1) in 2100—but was forecast to increase modestly in the north Africa and Middle East and high-income super-regions. Forecast estimates for the alternative combined scenario suggest that meeting SDG targets for education and contraceptive met need, as well as implementing pro-natal policies, would result in global TFRs of 1·65 (1·40–1·92) in 2050 and 1·62 (1·35–1·95) in 2100. The forecasting skill metric values for the IHME model were positive across all age groups, indicating that the model is better than the constant prediction. InterpretationFertility is declining globally, with rates in more than half of all countries and territories in 2021 below replacement level. Trends since 2000 show considerable heterogeneity in the steepness of declines, and only a small number of countries experienced even a slight fertility rebound after their lowest observed rate, with none reaching replacement level. Additionally, the distribution of livebirths across the globe is shifting, with a greater proportion occurring in the lowest-income countries. Future fertility rates will continue to decline worldwide and will remain low even under successful implementation of pro-natal policies. These changes will have far-reaching economic and societal consequences due to ageing populations and declining workforces in higher-income countries, combined with an increasing share of livebirths among the already poorest regions of the world. FundingBill & Melinda Gates Foundation

    Searches for violation of Lorentz invariance in tt \mathrm{t} \overline{\mathrm{t}} production using dilepton events in proton-proton collisions at s= \sqrt{s}= 13 TeV

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    A search for violation of Lorentz invariance in the production of top quark pairs (tt \mathrm{t} \overline{\mathrm{t}} ) is presented. The measured normalized differential tt \mathrm{t} \overline{\mathrm{t}} production cross section, as function of the sidereal time, is examined for potential modulations induced by Lorentz-invariance breaking operators in an effective field theory extension of the standard model (SM). The cross section is measured from collision events collected by the CMS detector at a center-of-mass-energy of 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 77.8 fb1 ^{-1} , and containing one electron and one muon. The results are found to be compatible with zero, in agreement with the SM, and are used to bound the Lorentz-violating couplings to be in ranges of 1-8 × \times 103^{-3} at 68% confidence level. This is the first precision test of the isotropy in special relativity with top quarks at the LHC, restricting further the bounds on such couplings by up two orders of magnitude with respect to previous searches conducted at the Tevatron.A search for violation of Lorentz invariance in the production of top quark pairs (ttˉ\mathrm{t\bar{t}}) is presented. The measured normalized differential ttˉ\mathrm{t\bar{t}} production cross section, as function of the sidereal time, is examined for potential modulations induced by Lorentz-invariance breaking operators in an effective field theory extension of the standard model (SM). The cross section is measured from collision events collected by the CMS detector at a center-of-mass-energy of 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 77.8 fb1^{-1}, and containing one electron and one muon. The results are found to be compatible with zero, in agreement with the SM, and are used to bound the Lorentz-violating couplings to be in ranges of 1 - 8 ×\times 103^{-3} at 68% confidence level. This is the first precision test of the isotropy in special relativity with top quarks at the LHC, restricting further the bounds on such couplings by up two orders of magnitude with respect to previous searches conducted at the Tevatron

    Search for long-lived heavy neutral leptons with lepton flavour conserving or violating decays to a jet and a charged lepton

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    International audienceA search for long-lived heavy neutral leptons (HNLs) is presented, which considers the hadronic final state and coupling scenarios involving all three lepton generations in the 2-20 GeV HNL mass range for the first time. Events comprising two leptons (electrons or muons) and jets are analyzed in a data sample of proton-proton collisions, recorded with the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb1^{-1}. A novel jet tagger, based on a deep neural network, has been developed to identify jets from an HNL decay using various features of the jet and its constituent particles. The network output can be used as a powerful discriminating tool to probe a broad range of HNL lifetimes and masses. Contributions from background processes are determined from data. No excess of events in data over the expected background is observed. Upper limits on the HNL production cross section are derived as functions of the HNL mass and the three coupling strengths VNV_{\ell\mathrm{N}} to each lepton generation \ell and presented as exclusion limits in the coupling-mass plane, as lower limits on the HNL lifetime, and on the HNL mass. In this search, the most stringent limit on the coupling strength is obtained for pure muon coupling scenarios; values of VμN2>\lvert V_{\mu\mathrm{N}}\rvert^{2}\gt 5 (4)×\times107^{-7} are excluded for Dirac (Majorana) HNLs with a mass of 10 GeV at a confidence level of 95% that correspond to proper decay lengths of 17 (10) mm

    Search for ZZ and ZH production in the bbˉbbˉ\mathrm{b\bar{b}b\bar{b}} final state using proton-proton collisions at s\sqrt{s} = 13 TeV

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    International audienceA search for ZZ and ZH production in the bbˉbbˉ\mathrm{b\bar{b}b\bar{b}} final state is presented, where H is the standard model (SM) Higgs boson. The search uses an event sample of proton-proton collisions corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 133 fb1^{-1} collected at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV with the CMS detector at the CERN LHC. The analysis introduces several novel techniques for deriving and validating a multi-dimensional background model based on control samples in data. A multiclass multivariate classifier customized for the bbˉbbˉ\mathrm{b\bar{b}b\bar{b}} final state is developed to derive the background model and extract the signal. The data are found to be consistent, within uncertainties, with the SM predictions. The observed (expected) upper limits at 95% confidence level are found to be 3.8 (3.8) and 5.0 (2.9) times the SM prediction for the ZZ and ZH production cross sections, respectively

    Nonresonant central exclusive production of charged-hadron pairs in proton-proton collisions at s\sqrt{s} = 13 TeV

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    International audienceThe central exclusive production of charged-hadron pairs in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13\TeV is examined, based on data collected in a special high-β\beta^* run of the LHC. The nonresonant continuum processes are studied with the invariant mass of the centrally produced two-pion system in the resonance-free region, mπ+πm_{\pi^+\pi^-}<\lt 0.7 GeV or mπ+πm_{\pi^+\pi^-}>\gt 1.8 GeV. Differential cross sections as functions of the azimuthal angle between the surviving protons, squared exchanged four-momenta, and mπ+πm_{\pi^+\pi^-} are measured in a wide region of scattered proton transverse momenta, between 0.2 and 0.8 GeV, and for pion rapidities y\lvert y\rvert<\lt 2. A rich structure of interactions related to double-pomeron exchange is observed. A parabolic minimum in the distribution of the two-proton azimuthal angle is observed for the first time. It can be interpreted as an effect of additional pomeron exchanges between the protons from the interference between the bare and the rescattered amplitudes. After model tuning, various physical quantities are determined that are related to the pomeron cross section, proton-pomeron and meson-pomeron form factors, pomeron trajectory and intercept, and coefficients of diffractive eigenstates of the proton

    Search for long-lived heavy neutral leptons with lepton flavour conserving or violating decays to a jet and a charged lepton

    No full text
    International audienceA search for long-lived heavy neutral leptons (HNLs) is presented, which considers the hadronic final state and coupling scenarios involving all three lepton generations in the 2-20 GeV HNL mass range for the first time. Events comprising two leptons (electrons or muons) and jets are analyzed in a data sample of proton-proton collisions, recorded with the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb1^{-1}. A novel jet tagger, based on a deep neural network, has been developed to identify jets from an HNL decay using various features of the jet and its constituent particles. The network output can be used as a powerful discriminating tool to probe a broad range of HNL lifetimes and masses. Contributions from background processes are determined from data. No excess of events in data over the expected background is observed. Upper limits on the HNL production cross section are derived as functions of the HNL mass and the three coupling strengths VNV_{\ell\mathrm{N}} to each lepton generation \ell and presented as exclusion limits in the coupling-mass plane, as lower limits on the HNL lifetime, and on the HNL mass. In this search, the most stringent limit on the coupling strength is obtained for pure muon coupling scenarios; values of VμN2>\lvert V_{\mu\mathrm{N}}\rvert^{2}\gt 5 (4)×\times107^{-7} are excluded for Dirac (Majorana) HNLs with a mass of 10 GeV at a confidence level of 95% that correspond to proper decay lengths of 17 (10) mm

    Nonresonant central exclusive production of charged-hadron pairs in proton-proton collisions at s\sqrt{s} = 13 TeV

    No full text
    International audienceThe central exclusive production of charged-hadron pairs in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13\TeV is examined, based on data collected in a special high-β\beta^* run of the LHC. The nonresonant continuum processes are studied with the invariant mass of the centrally produced two-pion system in the resonance-free region, mπ+πm_{\pi^+\pi^-}<\lt 0.7 GeV or mπ+πm_{\pi^+\pi^-}>\gt 1.8 GeV. Differential cross sections as functions of the azimuthal angle between the surviving protons, squared exchanged four-momenta, and mπ+πm_{\pi^+\pi^-} are measured in a wide region of scattered proton transverse momenta, between 0.2 and 0.8 GeV, and for pion rapidities y\lvert y\rvert<\lt 2. A rich structure of interactions related to double-pomeron exchange is observed. A parabolic minimum in the distribution of the two-proton azimuthal angle is observed for the first time. It can be interpreted as an effect of additional pomeron exchanges between the protons from the interference between the bare and the rescattered amplitudes. After model tuning, various physical quantities are determined that are related to the pomeron cross section, proton-pomeron and meson-pomeron form factors, pomeron trajectory and intercept, and coefficients of diffractive eigenstates of the proton
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