Influence of permeability anisotropy on heat transfer and permeability evolution in geothermal reservoir

Acknowledgments The author would like to thank Dr. Quan Gan’s supervision, family’s support, and Prof. Cai’s valuable suggestions in completing this work, as part of the MSc degree requirements in Reservoir Engineering programme in the University of Aberdeen.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Photochemical origin of SiC2_2 in the circumstellar envelope of carbon-rich AGB stars revealed by ALMA

Whether SiC$_2$ is a parent species, that is formed in the photosphere or as a by-product of high-temperature dust formation, or a daughter species, formed in a chemistry driven by the photodestruction of parent species in the outer envelope, has been debated for a long time. Here, we analyze the ALMA observations of four SiC$_2$ transitions in the CSEs of three C-rich AGB stars (AI Vol, II Lup, and RAFGL 4211), and found that SiC$_2$ exhibits an annular, shell-like distribution in these targets, suggesting that SiC$_2$ can be a daughter species in the CSEs of carbon-rich AGB stars. The results can provide important references for future chemical models.Comment: Accepted in Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Science

The Impact of Unrelated Future Medical Costs on Economic Evaluation Outcomes for Different Models of Diabetes

Objective: This study leveraged data from 11 independent international diabetes models to evaluate the impact of unrelated future medical costs on the outcomes of health economic evaluations in diabetes mellitus. Methods: Eleven models simulated the progression of diabetes and occurrence of its complications in hypothetical cohorts of individuals with type 1 (T1D) or type 2 (T2D) diabetes over the remaining lifetime of the patients to evaluate the cost effectiveness of three hypothetical glucose improvement interventions versus a hypothetical control intervention. All models used the same set of costs associated with diabetes complications and interventions, using a United Kingdom healthcare system perspective. Standard utility/disutility values associated with diabetes-related complications were used. Unrelated future medical costs were assumed equal for all interventions and control arms. The statistical significance of changes on the total lifetime costs, incremental costs and incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) before and after adding the unrelated future medical costs were analysed using t-test and summarized in incremental cost-effectiveness diagrams by type of diabetes. Results: The inclusion of unrelated costs increased mean total lifetime costs substantially. However, there were no significant differences between the mean incremental costs and ICERs before and after adding unrelated future medical costs. Unrelated future medical cost inclusion did not alter the original conclusions of the diabetes modelling evaluations. Conclusions: For diabetes, with many costly noncommunicable diseases already explicitly modelled as complications, and with many interventions having predominantly an effect on the improvement of quality of life, unrelated future medical costs have a small impact on the outcomes of health economic evaluations.</p

Diabetes incidence and prevalence in Hong Kong during 2007-13

Purpose To estimate the incidence and prevalence of diabetes in Hong Kong using the Hospital Authority’s Clinical Management System (CMS) database. Setting Hong Kong has a mixed public-private health care economy. The Hospital Authority provides public sector services including hospitals, specialist outpatient clinics and general outpatient clinics (primary care). Hospital Authority services accounts for the majority of inpatient care (90% total bed-days), 50% of specialist outpatient care, and 30% of general outpatient services. Methods CMS data comprised of 6.1 million unique patient records during the period Jan 1, 2006 to Dec 31, 2013 inclusive. Ascertainment of diabetes was based on WHO 2011 guidelines on oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), fasting glucose and glycated haemoglobin; American Diabetes Association criterion of random plasma glucose in two separate months; and diagnosis coding for diabetes (International Classification of Disease and International Classification of Primary Care). Patients were counted as an incident case in the year of diagnosis, and then excluded from the numerator and denominator for subsequent years. Confidence intervals for incidence and prevalence were estimated using Poisson and binomial distributions respectively. Thematic Household Survey data was used to estimate the proportion of patients with diabetes who did not use public sector (Hospital Authority) services. Results Among adults aged 20 years and over, the crude incidence of diabetes remained stable from 2007 to 2013, ranging from 9.0 per 1,000 person-years (95% CI: 8.9, 9.1) to 9.5 per 1,000 person-years (95% CI: 9.4, 9.6). Age and sex-standardized incidence ranged from 9.1 (95% CI: 9.1, 9.2) to 9.7 (95% CI: 9.7, 9.8) per 1,000 person-years from 2008 to 2013. The crude prevalence of diabetes among adults aged 20 years and over increased from 5.0% (95% CI: 5.0, 5.0) in 2007 to 8.2% (95% CI: 8.2, 8.2) in 2013. Age and sex-standardized prevalence increased slightly from 5.6% (95% CI: 5.6, 5.7) to 8.2% (95% CI: 8.1, 8.2). Adjusting for patients with diabetes outside the public sector, the prevalence in 2013 was 9.4% and the incidence in 2013 was 10.8 per 1,000 person-years. Incidence and prevalence increased with age. During the period 2007 to 2013, the incidence rates within the age- and sex-specific strata were stable. Conclusion Similar to highly developed Western and Asian countries, the incidence rate in Hong Kong appears to have stabilised. The overall prevalence of diabetes has continued to rise.published_or_final_versionPublic HealthMasterMaster of Public Healt

Are quality-adjusted medical prices declining for chronic disease? Evidence from diabetes care in four health systems.

Improvements in medical treatment have contributed to rising health spending. Yet there is relatively little evidence on whether the spending increase is "worth it" in the sense of producing better health outcomes of commensurate value-a critical question for understanding productivity in the health sector and, as that sector grows, for deriving an accurate quality-adjusted price index for an entire economy. We analyze individual-level panel data on medical spending and health outcomes for 123,548 patients with type 2 diabetes in four health systems: Japan, The Netherlands, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Using a "cost-of-living" method that measures value based on improved survival, we find a positive net value of diabetes care: the value of improved survival outweighs the added costs of care in each of the four health systems. This finding is robust to accounting for selective survival, end-of-life spending, and a range of values for a life-year or fraction of benefits attributable to medical care. Since the estimates do not include the value from improved quality of life, they are conservative. We, therefore, conclude that the increase in medical spending for management of diabetes is offset by an increase in quality.Public Health and primary car

Nanogeosciences: Research History, Current Status, and Development Trends

Nanogeosciences are the international frontier field for the recent cross-development of geosciences and nanotechnology, also are the combination of nanometer and earth. It is possible to research the morphology, structures, and components of the earth on a nanoscale and further reveal the nanoscale information recorded by the substances on the earth, relying on research means, experience, and achievements of fast-developing nanotechnology and in combination with geoscience. Based on the summarization of the existing academic achievements in ultra-microscopic reasearch on geosciences, the concept of nanogeosciences is put forward. Nanogeosciences are a series of geosciences, taking the matters on different layers of the earth as a research target, to reveal the information of nanoparticles and nanopores and their relationship with geoscientific phenomena and especially genetic types during the geoscientific processes on the basis of nanoscience and geoscience, as well as nanotechnology and geoscientific tools. Nanotechnology has been introduced in various branches of geosciences, at first nanogeology since the 1980s. From the nanogeology to nanogeosciences, nanogeosciences have witnessed three major developmental stages: exploratory research, development of several research directions, and the preliminary formation of the subject based on comprehensive research. Among them, relevant nanophenomena found in the field of geoscience have been observed and relevant geoscientific issues have been explored. In the nanogeosciences, the various branches formed by the combination of nanotechnology and geosciences has analyzed systematically, including: nano-mineralogy, nano-petrology, nano-geochemistry, nano-structural geology, nano-energy geology, nano-ore deposit geology, nano-earthquake geology, nano-environmental geology, nano-atmospheric science, and nano-marine science. The significant and groundbreaking scientific issues, along with the developing trend of nanogeosciences also has discussed, mainly include basic geological study, nano-ore deposit and unconventional energy, nano-mineralogy and coal-based materials, nanoparticles and environmental pollution, and nanostructure and geological disaster. Nanogeosciences are still in its initial stages but with a revolutionary challenge and huge prospects for development in geosciences

Long-term spill-over impact of COVID-19 on health and healthcare of people with non-communicable diseases: a study protocol for a population-based cohort and health economic study

INTRODUCTION: The COVID-19 pandemic has a significant spill-over effect on people with non-communicable diseases (NCDs) over the long term, beyond the direct effect of COVID-19 infection. Evaluating changes in health outcomes, health service use and costs can provide evidence to optimise care for people with NCDs during and after the pandemic, and to better prepare outbreak responses in the future. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This is a population-based cohort study using electronic health records of the Hong Kong Hospital Authority (HA) CMS, economic modelling and serial cross-sectional surveys on health service use. This study includes people aged ≥18 years who have a documented diagnosis of diabetes mellitus, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic respiratory disease or chronic kidney disease with at least one attendance at the HA hospital or clinic between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2019, and without COVID-19 infection. Changes in all-cause mortality, disease-specific outcomes, and health services use rates and costs will be assessed between pre-COVID-19 and-post-COVID-19 pandemic or during each wave using an interrupted time series analysis. The long-term health economic impact of healthcare disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic will be studied using microsimulation modelling. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression and Poisson/negative binomial regression will be used to evaluate the effect of different modes of supplementary care on health outcomes. ETHICS AND DISSEMNIATION: The study was approved by the institutional review board of the University of Hong Kong, the HA Hong Kong West Cluster (reference number UW 21–297). The study findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications and international conferences