Grand Challenges in global eye health: a global prioritisation process using Delphi method

Background We undertook a Grand Challenges in Global Eye Health prioritisation exercise to identify the key issues that must be addressed to improve eye health in the context of an ageing population, to eliminate persistent inequities in health-care access, and to mitigate widespread resource limitations. Methods Drawing on methods used in previous Grand Challenges studies, we used a multi-step recruitment strategy to assemble a diverse panel of individuals from a range of disciplines relevant to global eye health from all regions globally to participate in a three-round, online, Delphi-like, prioritisation process to nominate and rank challenges in global eye health. Through this process, we developed both global and regional priority lists. Findings Between Sept 1 and Dec 12, 2019, 470 individuals complete round 1 of the process, of whom 336 completed all three rounds (round 2 between Feb 26 and March 18, 2020, and round 3 between April 2 and April 25, 2020) 156 (46%) of 336 were women, 180 (54%) were men. The proportion of participants who worked in each region ranged from 104 (31%) in sub-Saharan Africa to 21 (6%) in central Europe, eastern Europe, and in central Asia. Of 85 unique challenges identified after round 1, 16 challenges were prioritised at the global level; six focused on detection and treatment of conditions (cataract, refractive error, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, services for children and screening for early detection), two focused on addressing shortages in human resource capacity, five on other health service and policy factors (including strengthening policies, integration, health information systems, and budget allocation), and three on improving access to care and promoting equity. Interpretation This list of Grand Challenges serves as a starting point for immediate action by funders to guide investment in research and innovation in eye health. It challenges researchers, clinicians, and policy makers to build collaborations to address specific challenge

Anisotropy of Charge Transport in a Uniaxially Aligned Fused Electron-Deficient Polymer Processed by Solution Shear Coating.

Precise control of the microstructure in organic semiconductors (OSCs) is essential for developing high-performance organic electronic devices. Here, a comprehensive charge transport characterization of two recently reported rigid-rod conjugated polymers that do not contain single bonds in the main chain is reported. It is demonstrated that the molecular design of the polymer makes it possible to achieve an extended linear backbone structure, which can be directly visualized by high-resolution scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). The rigid structure of the polymers allows the formation of thin films with uniaxially aligned polymer chains by using a simple one-step solution-shear/bar coating technique. These aligned films show a high optical anisotropy with a dichroic ratio of up to a factor of 6. Transport measurements performed using top-gate bottom-contact field-effect transistors exhibit a high saturation electron mobility of 0.2 cm2 V-1 s-1 along the alignment direction, which is more than six times higher than the value reported in the previous work. This work demonstrates that this new class of polymers is able to achieve mobility values comparable to state-of-the-art n-type polymers and identifies an effective processing strategy for this class of rigid-rod polymer system to optimize their charge transport properties