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

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

Religious orthodoxy and the development of the Arabic linguistic tradition The formative years

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:DXN018750 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Real-time thermal self-energies: In the variational bases and spaces

In this work, we introduce a systematic study for studying the scalar propagator and tadpole self-energy by considering an arbitrary parameter σ that allows for a path integral description in real-time formalism (RTF). The closed time path formalism (CTP) and Thermofield Dynamics (TFD) are two popular choices for the parameter σ in the Feynman rules. We have constructed a scalar propagator and a tadpole self-energy in two different bases in the momentum space as well as the mixed space. The results show that the diagonal components of self-energy in both spaces for the 1/2 basis are the same in both approaches within RTF, whereas the other off-diagonal components of self-energy are different because they depend on the path parameter. On the other hand, the diagonal components of self-energy in both spaces for the new basis are not the same in both approaches within RTF, whereas the off-diagonal components of self-energy are vanishing. That means the new basis allows one to reduce the components for the quantities studied, like self-energy or other

Post-trial Access in Maternal Vaccine Trials

Provisions for post-trial access (PTA) of the experimental intervention are required before the start of a clinical trial. Although there has been ample attention for PTA in the context of preventive vaccine research, discussions on PTA barely include maternal vaccine trials in which mother-infant pairs are exposed to the intervention. In maternal vaccination trials, specific PTA arrangements are required because pregnancy is transient and PTA may apply to the next pregnancy or the child. In this article, we examine the application and adherence to PTA in the context of maternal vaccine trials. We focused on differences between publications before and after 2000 when international ethical guidance documents formalized PTA requirements. Randomized maternal vaccine trials were included after a systematic search for clinical trials in phases II and III with a maternal vaccine as intervention. We used PTA as defined at the time of publication in the World Medical Association's Declaration of Helsinki (DoH) or in the ethical guidelines of the Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences (CIOMS). In addition, we investigated whether PTA was included in the trial design. Therefore, we contacted principal investigators (PI's) of the publications found in the review to fill out a questionnaire regarding provisions for PTA. Before and after 2000, no trial articles examined in the systematic review described PTA in their trial publication (0/7, 0% and 0/17, 0%, respectively). In addition, more than half of the PI's of the trials found were not familiar with PTA recommendations in international ethical guidelines. Most cases of PTA included making knowledge available by publishing the results of the trial. The revision of the DoH in 2002 and the CIOMS ethical guidelines in 2002 has not resulted in increased PTA provisions for maternal vaccination trials. PTA is a shared responsibility of various stakeholders including sponsors, Institutional Review Boards, regulators, political entities, and researchers. Inclusion of PTA provisions in trial protocols and publications on maternal vaccination trials is essential to increase transparency on the form and content of these provisions