Cytomegalovirus Management in Solid Organ Transplant Recipients: A Pre-COVID-19 Survey From the Working Group of the European Society for Organ Transplantation

Infections are leading causes of morbidity/mortality following solid organ transplantation (SOT) and cytomegalovirus (CMV) is among the most frequent pathogens, causing a considerable threat to SOT recipients. A survey was conducted 19 July–31 October 2019 to capture clinical practices about CMV in SOT recipients (e.g., how practices aligned with guidelines, how adequately treatments met patients’ needs, and respondents’ expectations for future developments). Transplant professionals completed a ∼30-minute online questionnaire: 224 responses were included, representing 160 hospitals and 197 SOT programs (41 countries; 167[83%] European programs). Findings revealed a heterogenous approach to CMV diagnosis and management and, sometimes, significant divergence from international guidelines. Valganciclovir prophylaxis (of variable duration) was administered by 201/224 (90%) respondents in D+/R− SOT and by 40% in R+ cases, with pre-emptive strategies generally reserved for R+ cases: DNA thresholds to initiate treatment ranged across 10–10,000 copies/ml. Ganciclovir-resistant CMV strains were still perceived as major challenges, and tailored treatment was one of the most important unmet needs for CMV management. These findings may help to design studies to evaluate safety and efficacy of new strategies to prevent CMV disease in SOT recipients, and target specific educational activities to harmonize CMV management in this challenging population

The rural bite in population pyramids: what are the implications for responsiveness of health systems in middle income countries?

BackgroundHealth services can only be responsive if they are designed to service the needs of the population at hand. In many low and middle income countries, the rate of urbanisation can leave the profile of the rural population quite different from the urban population. As a consequence, the kinds of services required for an urban population may be quite different from that required for a rural population. This is examined using data from the South East Asia Community Observatory in rural Malaysia and contrasting it with the national Malaysia population profile.MethodsCensus data were collected from 10,373 household and the sex and age of household members was recorded. Approximate Malaysian national age and sex profiles were downloaded from the US Census Bureau. The population pyramids, and the dependency and support ratios for the whole population and the SEACO sub-district population are compared.ResultsBased on the population profiles and the dependency ratios, the rural sub-district shows need for health services in the under 14 age group similar to that required nationally. In the older age group, however, the rural sub-district shows twice the need for services as the national data indicate.ConclusionThe health services needs of an older population will tend towards chronic conditions, rather than the typically acute conditions of childhood. The relatively greater number of older people in the rural population suggest a very different health services mix need. Community based population monitoring provides critical information to inform health systems

Genotype x Environment interaction for quality traits in durum wheat cultivars adapted to different environments

The quality traits of durum wheat are important for the utilization by the industries. These traits may be influenced by genotype and interaction of genotype and environment (GxE). To evaluate the effects of genotype, environment and genotype x environment interaction on quality traits such as vitreousness, SDS sedimentation test, yellow pigment index, protein content and test weight, twelve Moroccan durum wheat cultivars representing a range of agronomic adaptation were tested in five locations representing a range of environments in three growing seasons. The results indicated significant effects of genotype, environment and GxE for all the quality traits. The extent of these effects differed; for SDSsedimentation volumes, yellow pigment and test weight, the component of variation due to genotype was larger than due to the environment, indicating the greater influence of genotypes on these traits. However, for vitreousness and protein content, the effect of environment was higher than the effect due to genotypes. Thus, these traits are controlled greatly by environmental effects than genetics. The variation due to GxE was higher than that of genotype for vitreousness and test weight, indicating high GxE interaction effect and less genotypic stability for these traits. For protein content, where the environmental effect was greater than that of genotype and GxE effect, multiple environmental trials are necessary in order to determine protein content of a cultivar. For other traits,  preliminary evaluations can be done in one environment and good performing ones can be selected for multiple environmental trials

Heat transfer model to predict human skin temperature under comfort levels by using bioheat equation

Thermal comfort is the human subject perceived satisfaction to the environmental condition. The human comfort level is affected by skin temperature. Currently to determine the human skin temperature by using human experiment in a controlled environment. However, the experiment is very rigorous and exhaustive. This study was conducted to predict human skin temperature under comfort level with using the finite element method and the bioheat equation. The bioheat equation is used to predict the initial value of human skin temperature with the influence of the metabolic heat generation and the blood perfusion. It is discovered the skin temperature of the human subject experiment fluctuates. However, the result obtained from the model remains unchanged until the simulation ends. The predicted results from the model were well in agreement with the experimental results with an acceptable error of 1.05%

A novel double chamber rotary sleeve air compressor -part II: friction losses model

This paper presents the friction loss model of a novel double chamber rotary sleeve air compressor (DCRSC) concept. The compressor mechanism is similar to that of rotary compressor whereby the novelty transpires in the instalment of two rotating sleeves and a secured vane that has one end fixed to an outer sleeve and the other end to a rotor, respectively. This Part II of the paper series presents the friction losses analysis of the compressor. Thermodynamic and leakage losses models were respectively presented in Part I and Part III of this paper series. The primary aim of this paper is to formulate and analyse the friction loss model at the radial and axial contact regions of DCRSC at different rotational speed. The variations of the mechanical power and efficiency were evaluated based on the adiabatic, polytropic and isothermal thermodynamic principles as illustrated in Part I of this paper series. Considering the design simplicity of cylindrical shaped components, at maximum rotational speed of 1500 rpm, the DCRSC mechanical efficiencies are 72.43%, 66.2% and 59% when air undergoes adiabatic, polytropic and isothermal compression process, respectively. it is believed that the DCRSC is well suited for compressed air systems and air-conditioning applications