Dual functionality anti-reflection and biocidal coatings

A thin film combination of anti-reflection (AR) and biocidal properties would be of particular interest to reduce the transfer of infection and improve readability of public high use touch screens. In this paper we describe the development of a dual functionality film of silica (AR) and copper oxide (biocidal). Deposition was via flame assisted chemical vapour deposition (FACVD) which has the advantages of being a cost efficient atmospheric pressure technique enabling use of non-volatile precursors and that no closed reaction cell is required so making it ideal for integration into industrial production lines. The resulting films were characterized by a range of techniques including optical spectroscopy, electron microscope and X-ray fluorescence. Biocidal behavior was tested by determining the kill rate of Escherichia coli. A 3 layer stack on glass of silica/copper oxide/silica had better adhesion and lower reflection than a comparable 2 layer stack. This multilayer film led to a > 2% drop in reflection from that of uncoated glass, similar to that of silica only film. In addition, showed a > 6 log10 kill between 6 and 24 h for as deposited and annealed samples

International benchmarking: Policy responses to biodiversity and climate change in OECD countries

Responding to global environmental issues like biodiversity loss and climate change challenge national governments and intergovernmental bodies. A conventional response has been to set targets. Yet to achieve targets, governments must implement effective policies. Indicators that track policy implementation could provide information on individual country progress towards targets and for international benchmarking. We take up a recommendation from Convention on Biological Diversity mandated experts to develop a policy indicator(s) for biodiversity. This expert group identified four indicator attributes: identification, establishment, strengthening and assessment. We review biodiversity (and climate change) policies implemented in the period 1952–2012 in 54 nations using an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) database. We find: the number of countries implementing biodiversity policies increased steadily until the end of the 2000s (identification); evidence of continuous innovation in the types of policy instruments implemented (establishment); and evidence of policy revision and shifts in jurisdiction (strengthening). To overcome a lack of data to evaluate policy effectiveness (assessment) we suggest improvements in data collection and the possibility to combine the OECD database with other databases

How shift work influences anxiety, depression, stress and insomnia conditions in Italian nurses: an exploratory study

Background and aim of the work. Evidence suggest that the nursing profession is a very complex profession. The aim of the present study is to investigate how nursing shift work influences nurses’ health, particularly if shift work impacts on anxiety, depression, stress and insomnia conditions Methods. An on-line cohort observational study has been conducted during May 2022 and 408 nurses have been enrolled. Results. Most of the nurses recruited are employed also during the night shift (73.3%) and are very young (p<0.001), as ageing less than 30 years (29.2%) and between 31-40 years (29%). Significant difference has been reported in smoking habit, as nurses who are employed also during the night shift report higher smoking habit than the other comparing groups (p=0.020). No further significant differences according to sex, age, work experience, nursing education, nursing activity, BMI and shift have been found. Finally, no differences have been assessed between anxiety, depression, stress and insomnia conditions according to shift work typologies. Conclusions. The present study highlights research results already explored in the current literature; however, it collects further information and assesses additional differences, in order to defibe a more complete picture of the nursing profession. (www.actabiomedica.it

Effects of telmisartan and ramipril on adiponectin and blood pressure in patients with type 2 diabetes

&lt;b&gt;Background:&lt;/b&gt; Adiponectin is secreted by adipose tissue and may play a role in cardiovascular disease. We examined adiponectin levels in patients with type 2 diabetes who participated in the Telmisartan vs. Ramipril in Renal Endothelial Dysfunction (TRENDY) study. &lt;b&gt;Methods&lt;/b&gt; A total of 87 patients were assessed at baseline and following 9 weeks treatment with the angiotensin-receptor blocker telmisartan (final dose, 80 mg; n = 45) or the angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor ramipril (final dose, 10 mg; n = 42). Adiponectin levels were measured in plasma by radioimmunoassay. &lt;b&gt;Results:&lt;/b&gt; Adiponectin levels were inversely correlated with systolic (SBP; r = -0.240, P &#60; 0.05) and diastolic (DBP; r = -0.227, P &#60; 0.05) blood pressure at baseline and following treatment with telmisartan or ramipril (SBP: r = -0.228, P &#60; 0.05; DBP: r = -0.286, P &#60; 0.05). Changes in adiponectin levels were related to changes in SBP (r = -0.357, P &#60; 0.01) and DBP (r = -0.286, P &#60; 0.01). There was a significant increase in adiponectin levels in the telmisartan (0.68 (95% confidence interval (CI), 0.27 to 1.10) &lt;sup&gt;&#181;&lt;/sup&gt;g/ml, P &#60; 0.01) but not in the ramipril group (0.17 (95% CI, -0.56 to 0.90) &lt;sup&gt;&#181;&lt;/sup&gt;g/ml, P = 0.67). Blood pressure reduction in the telmisartan group (DeltaSBP: -13.5 (95% CI, -17.0 to -10.0) mm Hg; &#916;DBP: -7.6 (95% CI, -9.8 to -5.3) mm Hg, each P &#60; 0.001) was significantly (P less than or equal to 0.01 for SBP and P &#60; 0.01 for DBP) greater than in the ramipril group (&#916;SBP: -6.1 (95% CI, -6.2 to -2.0) mm Hg; &#916;DBP: -2.7 (95% CI, -5.0 to -0.5) mm Hg; P &#60; 0.01 and P &#60; 0.05, respectively). &lt;b&gt;Conclusion:&lt;/b&gt; Adiponectin is correlated with blood pressure in patients with type 2 diabetes. Whether increased adiponectin contributes to the blood pressure–lowering effect of telmisartan needs further study

Bridging the gap between policy and science in assessing the health status of marine ecosystems

Human activities, both established and emerging, increasingly affect the provision of marine ecosystem services that deliver societal and economic benefits. Monitoring the status of marine ecosystems and determining how human activities change their capacity to sustain benefits for society requires an evidence-based Integrated Ecosystem Assessment approach that incorporates knowledge of ecosystem functioning and services). Although, there are diverse methods to assess the status of individual ecosystem components, none assesses the health of marine ecosystems holistically, integrating information from multiple ecosystem components. Similarly, while acknowledging the availability of several methods to measure single pressures and assess their impacts, evaluation of cumulative effects of multiple pressures remains scarce. Therefore, an integrative assessment requires us to first understand the response of marine ecosystems to human activities and their pressures and then develop innovative, cost-effective monitoring tools that enable collection of data to assess the health status of large marine areas. Conceptually, combining this knowledge of effective monitoring methods with cost-benefit analyses will help identify appropriate management measures to improve environmental status economically and efficiently. The European project DEVOTES (DEVelopment Of innovative Tools for understanding marine biodiversity and assessing good Environmental Status) specifically addressed t hese topics in order to support policy makers and managers in implementing the European Marine Strategy Framework Directive. Here, we synthesize our main innovative findings, placing these within the context of recent wider research, and identifying gaps and the major future challenges

Implementation of an electronic monitoring and evaluation system for the antiretroviral treatment programme in the Cape Winelands district, South Africa: a qualitative evaluation

BACKGROUND: A pragmatic three-tiered approach to monitor the world's largest antiretroviral treatment (ART) programme was adopted by the South African National Department of Health in 2010. With the rapid expansion of the programme, the limitations of the paper-based register (tier 1) were the catalyst for implementation of the stand-alone electronic register (tier 2), which offers simple digitisation of the paper-based register. This article engages with theory on implementation to identify and contextualise enabling and constraining factors for implementation of the electronic register, to describe experiences and use of the register, and to make recommendations for implementation in similar settings where standardisation of ART monitoring and evaluation has not been achieved. METHODS: We conducted a qualitative evaluation of the roll-out of the register. This comprised twenty in-depth interviews with a diverse sample of stakeholders at facility, sub-district, and district levels of the health system. Facility-level participants were selected across five sub-districts, including one facility per sub-district. Responses were coded and analysed using a thematic approach. An implementation science framework guided interpretation of the data. Results & DISCUSSION: We identified the following seven themes: 1) ease of implementation, 2) perceived value of an electronic M&E system, 3) importance of stakeholder engagement, 4) influence of a data champion, 5) operational and logistical factors, 6) workload and role clarity, and 7) importance of integrating the electronic register with routine facility monitoring and evaluation. Interpreting our findings through an implementation theory enabled us to construct the scaffolding for implementation across the five facility-settings. This approach illustrated that implementation was not a linear process but occurred at two nodes: at the adoption of the register for roll-out, and at implementation at facility-level. CONCLUSION: In this study we found that relative advantage of an intervention and stakeholder engagement are critical to implementation. We suggest that without these aspects of implementation, formative and summative outcomes of implementation at both the adoption and coalface stages of implementation would be negatively affected

Itinerant electron metamagnetism in LaCo9_9Si4_4

The strongly exchange enhanced Pauli paramagnet LaCo$_9$Si$_4$ is found to exhibit an itinerant metamagnetic phase transition with indications for metamagnetic quantum criticality. Our investigation comprises magnetic, specific heat, and NMR measurements as well as ab-initio electronic structure calculations. The critical field is about 3.5 T for $H||c$ and 6 T for $H\bot c$, which is the lowest value ever found for rare earth intermetallic compounds. In the ferromagnetic state there appears a moment of about 0.2 $\mu_B$/Co at the $16k$ Co-sites, but sigificantly smaller moments at the 4d and $16l$ Co-sites.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, PRB Rapid Communication, in prin

Indeterminate thyroid cytology: Detecting malignancy using analysis of nuclear images

Background: Thyroid nodules diagnosed as 'atypia of undetermined significance/ follicular lesion of undetermined significance' (AUS/FLUS) or 'follicular neoplasm/ suspected follicular neoplasm' (FN/SFN), according to Bethesda’s classification, represena challenge in clinical practice. Computerized analysis of nuclear images (CANI) could be a useful tool for these cases. Our aim was to evaluate the ability of CANI to correctly classify AUS/FLUS and FN/SFN thyroid nodules for malignancy. Methods: We studied 101 nodules cytologically classified as AUS/FLUS (n = 68) or FN/SFN (n = 33) from 97 thyroidectomy patients. Slides with cytological material were submitted for manual selection and analysis of the follicular cell nuclei for morphometric and texture parameters using ImageJ software. The histologically benign and malignant lesions were compared for such parameters which were then evaluated for the capacity to predict malignancy using the classification and regression trees gini model. The intraclass coefficient of correlation was used to evaluate method reproducibility. Results: In AUS/FLUS nodule analysis, the benign and malignant nodules differed for entropy (P < 0.05), while the FN/SFN nodules differed for fractal analysis, coefficient of variation (CV) of roughness, and CV-entropy (P < 0.05). Considering the AUS/FLUS and FN/SFN nodules separately, it correctly classified 90.0 and 100.0% malignant nodules, with a correct global classification of 94.1 and 97%, respectively. We observed that reproducibility was substantially or nearly complete (0.61–0.93) in 10 of the 12 nuclear parameters evaluated. Conclusion: CANI demonstrated a high capacity for correctly classifying AUS/FLUS and FN/SFN thyroid nodules for malignancy. This could be a useful method to help increase diagnostic accuracy in the indeterminate thyroid cytology.This study received financial support from Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP; processes number 2016/14987-0 and number 2016/14988-6). Further funding through 'Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologi' – FCT and FEDER 'Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional funds through the COMPETE 2020'; by Operacional Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalization 'POCI' (Grant no. POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007274); by the 'Advancing cancer research: from basic knowledge to application' (grant no. NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000029); and by the 'Projetos Estruturados de I & D & I', funded by Norte 2020 – Programa Operacional Regional do Norte

Natural Language Processing to extract SNOMED-CT codes from pathological reports

Objective. The use of standardized structured reports (SSR) and suitable terminologies like SNOMED-CT can enhance data retrieval and analysis, fostering large-scale studies and collaboration. However, the still large prevalence of narrative reports in our laboratories warrants alternative and automated labeling approaches. In this project, natural language processing (NLP) methods were used to associate SNOMED-CT codes to structured and unstructured reports from an Italian Digital Pathology Department. Methods. Two NLP-based automatic coding systems (support vector machine, SVM, and long-short term memory, LSTM) were trained and applied to a series of narrative reports. Results. The 1163 cases were tested with both algorithms, showing good performances in terms of accuracy, precision, recall, and F1 score, with SVM showing slightly better performances as compared to LSTM (0.84, 0.87, 0.83, 0.82 vs 0.83, 0.85, 0.83, 0.82, respectively). The integration of an explainability allowed identification of terms and groups of words of importance, enabling fine-tuning, balancing semantic meaning and model performance. Conclusions. AI tools allow the automatic SNOMED-CT labeling of the pathology archives, providing a retrospective fix to the large lack of organization of narrative reports