Magnetic monolayer Li2_{2}N: Density Functional Theory Calculations

Density functional theory (DFT) calculations are used to investigate the electronic and magnetic structures of a two-dimensional (2D) monolayer Li$_{2}$N. It is shown that bulk Li$_{3}$N is a non-magnetic semiconductor. The non-spinpolarized DFT calculations show that $p$ electrons of N in 2D Li$_{2}$N form a narrow band at the Fermi energy $E_{\rm{F}}$ due to a low coordination number, and the density of states at the Fermi energy ($g(E_{\rm{F}}$)) is increased as compared with bulk Li$_{3}$N. The large $g(E_{\rm{F}}$) shows instability towards magnetism in Stoner's mean field model. The spin-polarized calculations reveal that 2D Li$_{2}$N is magnetic without intrinsic or impurity defects. The magnetic moment of 1.0\,$\mu_{\rm{B}}$ in 2D Li$_{2}$N is mainly contributed by the $p_{z}$ electrons of N, and the band structure shows half-metallic behavior. {Dynamic instability in planar Li$_{2}$N monolayer is observed, but a buckled Li$_{2}$N monolayer is found to be dynamically stable.} The ferromagnetic (FM) and antiferromagnetic (AFM) coupling between the N atoms is also investigated to access the exchange field strength. {We found that planar (buckled) 2D Li$_{2}$N is a ferromagnetic material with Curie temperature $T_{c}$ of 161 (572) K.}Comment: Euro Phys. Lett. 2017 (Accepted

Waveform Effects on the Operation of the Parallel-Bridge Rectifier System and the Field Modulated Generator System

Electrical Engineerin

The Nature of Motivation in Saudi EFL Context: An Overview

This article reviews past research done on English as a foreign language learning motivation in Saudi Arabian universities from the last twenty years, in order to evaluate its impact on learning process and to find out the nature of motivation of EFL learners. It focuses on the studies of psychological theories of motivation which were tested in FL classrooms for their validation in Saudi universities. It has been observed that there are significant changes in EFL learners’ learning level of motivation at different times in different contexts. Additionally, this review emphasizes the complexities seen in the relationships between teaching and learner motivation. Eventually, an attempt is made to clarify certain emerging truths and point out the most promising research directions. Keywords: Motivation; EFL learning process; Saudi Arabian universities DOI: 10.7176/JLLL/98-05 Publication date:September 30th 202

Management of diabetes and arthritis –A systematic review

Purpose: Diabetes is a metabolic syndrome with reported musculoskeletal  effects. This systemic review aimed to identify a relationship between  diabetes and arthritis; disease-related risk factors, the effect of diet in disease management and the effect of anti-arthritic drugs on diabetes  treatment.Methods: This study analysed 20 articles identified and selected according to the study criteria. PRISMA guidelines were used for identification and screening of literature. Data search covered several primary databases, including Pubmed, Wiley library, Scopus, Clinical Trial Registry, etc.Results: The study findings suggest a significant correlation between  diabetes and arthritis. Obesity, impaired glucose tolerance (MS  components), vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 (VCAM-1) hypertension and dyslipidemia are the most common risk factors leading to disease progression. Omega -3-fatty acid showed no protective effect on disease condition.Conclusion: The findings indicate that anti-tumor necrosis factor (Tnf)-α, disease modifying antirheumatic drugs, and Interleukin receptors  antagonist improved the efficacy of diabetic medication and maintained blood sugar levels. However, Tnf-α reduced glucose intolerance, and therefore, its therapeutic use in conjunction with diabetic medications should be limited.Keywords: Diabetes, Arthritis, Risk factors, Diet, Pathogenesis, Disease progression, Medicatio

Revealing the Yield and Quality Responses of Soybean Advanced Lines under Semi-Arid Conditions

Background: Soybean as human diet is a rich source of protein and oil. It also plays a vital role in livestock and poultry industries. Objective of this work is to exploit the local soybean germplasm for semi-arid conditions.Methods: The experiment was conducted in Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. Plant × plant and row × row distance was maintained as 4 inch and 1ft respectively. At maturity data for plant height, days to 50% flowering, no. of branches, no. of pods, grains per pod and grain yield per hectare were recorded.  Furthermore, oil percentage, protein percentage, omega-3, omega-6, omega-9, palmitic acid and stearic acids were also measured.Results: All genotypes showed highly significant difference from each other for selected traits. Grain yield per hectare was significant in genotypes such as CN-5, FS-10, E-402 and SH-1274 as compared to Faisal soybean (check). Protein and oil percentage were significantly more in CN-5, HS-17 and FS-10. Branches per plant significantly correlated with the yield but protein and oil percentage negatively correlated with each other. PCA indicated that only four out of 13 PCAs exhibited more than 1 Eigen value and showed 76.53 % variation. All traits for yield and quality were presented in PCA1, PCA2 and PCA3. Biplot indicated that genotype CN-5, SH-1274 and HB-17 falls in the positive portion that perform good.Conclusion: Soybean genotypes CN-5 and FS-10 showed the more yield with high protein and oil percentage as compared to check variety and could be used in semi-arid environments.Keywords: Oilseeds; Soybean; Semi-arid; Yield; Quality   

Assessment of hospital pharmacists' clinical knowledge and practical skill levels for pharmaceutical care in Madinah, Saudi Arabia

Purpose: To evaluate hospital pharmacists’ clinical knowledge and practical skill levels for pharmaceutical care.Methods: A quasi-experimental prospective longitudinal study design was used to evaluate the level of clinical skills with problem-based learning (PBL) sessions. Pharmacists’ in three different government hospitals in Madinah, Saudi Arabia recorded their responses or assessments in their work manuals for preparing reports. Instructors encouraged interactive learning by presenting case studies, in which pharmacists had to interpret medical history and clinical assessments of various body systems. Course learning design also focused on drug use evaluation, monitoring plans, and reaching clinical evidencebased decision-making.Results: A total of two hundred and fifty-five (255) hospital pharmacists participated in the study. The study sample was comprised of 128 (50.9 %) males and 127 (49.1 %) females. A significant (p < 0.01) difference was noticed between genders (male: 47.91 ± 7.15, female: 50.31 ± 4.88) for total mean scores of clinical skills. Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient for case data recitation was 0.91, while clinical assessment skills coefficient was 0.89. Overall, pharmacists reported that they “agree” (4.01 ± 0.67) that they acquired the ability to use case data recitation taught in the PBL; they also reported a positive evaluation (4.48 ± 0.58) of their ability to perform clinical data assessment.Conclusion: The findings indicate that pharmacist’s self-confidence to perform clinical assessment activities is low. Lack of confidence remains a critical education issue among pharmacists in the study setting.Keywords: Clinical pharmacy, Problem-based learning, Clinical skills, Pharmacist focus group, Therapeutics, Pharmaceutical car

Global, regional, and national incidence of six major immune-mediated inflammatory diseases: findings from the global burden of disease study 2019

Background The causes for immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMIDs) are diverse and the incidence trends of IMIDs from specific causes are rarely studied. The study aims to investigate the pattern and trend of IMIDs from 1990 to 2019. Methods We collected detailed information on six major causes of IMIDs, including asthma, inflammatory bowel disease, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, and atopic dermatitis, between 1990 and 2019, derived from the Global Burden of Disease study in 2019. The average annual percent change (AAPC) in number of incidents and age standardized incidence rate (ASR) on IMIDs, by sex, age, region, and causes, were calculated to quantify the temporal trends. Findings In 2019, rheumatoid arthritis, atopic dermatitis, asthma, multiple sclerosis, psoriasis, inflammatory bowel disease accounted 1.59%, 36.17%, 54.71%, 0.09%, 6.84%, 0.60% of overall new IMIDs cases, respectively. The ASR of IMIDs showed substantial regional and global variation with the highest in High SDI region, High-income North America, and United States of America. Throughout human lifespan, the age distribution of incident cases from six IMIDs was quite different. Globally, incident cases of IMIDs increased with an AAPC of 0.68 and the ASR decreased with an AAPC of −0.34 from 1990 to 2019. The incident cases increased across six IMIDs, the ASR of rheumatoid arthritis increased (0.21, 95% CI 0.18, 0.25), while the ASR of asthma (AAPC = −0.41), inflammatory bowel disease (AAPC = −0.72), multiple sclerosis (AAPC = −0.26), psoriasis (AAPC = −0.77), and atopic dermatitis (AAPC = −0.15) decreased. The ASR of overall and six individual IMID increased with SDI at regional and global level. Countries with higher ASR in 1990 experienced a more rapid decrease in ASR. Interpretation The incidence patterns of IMIDs varied considerably across the world. Innovative prevention and integrative management strategy are urgently needed to mitigate the increasing ASR of rheumatoid arthritis and upsurging new cases of other five IMIDs, respectively. Funding The Global Burden of Disease Study is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The project funded by Scientific Research Fund of Sichuan Academy of Medical Sciences & Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital (2022QN38)

Global burden of 288 causes of death and life expectancy decomposition in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

BACKGROUND Regular, detailed reporting on population health by underlying cause of death is fundamental for public health decision making. Cause-specific estimates of mortality and the subsequent effects on life expectancy worldwide are valuable metrics to gauge progress in reducing mortality rates. These estimates are particularly important following large-scale mortality spikes, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. When systematically analysed, mortality rates and life expectancy allow comparisons of the consequences of causes of death globally and over time, providing a nuanced understanding of the effect of these causes on global populations. METHODS The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2021 cause-of-death analysis estimated mortality and years of life lost (YLLs) from 288 causes of death by age-sex-location-year in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations for each year from 1990 until 2021. The analysis used 56 604 data sources, including data from vital registration and verbal autopsy as well as surveys, censuses, surveillance systems, and cancer registries, among others. As with previous GBD rounds, cause-specific death rates for most causes were estimated using the Cause of Death Ensemble model-a modelling tool developed for GBD to assess the out-of-sample predictive validity of different statistical models and covariate permutations and combine those results to produce cause-specific mortality estimates-with alternative strategies adapted to model causes with insufficient data, substantial changes in reporting over the study period, or unusual epidemiology. YLLs were computed as the product of the number of deaths for each cause-age-sex-location-year and the standard life expectancy at each age. As part of the modelling process, uncertainty intervals (UIs) were generated using the 2·5th and 97·5th percentiles from a 1000-draw distribution for each metric. We decomposed life expectancy by cause of death, location, and year to show cause-specific effects on life expectancy from 1990 to 2021. We also used the coefficient of variation and the fraction of population affected by 90% of deaths to highlight concentrations of mortality. Findings are reported in counts and age-standardised rates. Methodological improvements for cause-of-death estimates in GBD 2021 include the expansion of under-5-years age group to include four new age groups, enhanced methods to account for stochastic variation of sparse data, and the inclusion of COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality-which includes excess mortality associated with the pandemic, excluding COVID-19, lower respiratory infections, measles, malaria, and pertussis. For this analysis, 199 new country-years of vital registration cause-of-death data, 5 country-years of surveillance data, 21 country-years of verbal autopsy data, and 94 country-years of other data types were added to those used in previous GBD rounds. FINDINGS The leading causes of age-standardised deaths globally were the same in 2019 as they were in 1990; in descending order, these were, ischaemic heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lower respiratory infections. In 2021, however, COVID-19 replaced stroke as the second-leading age-standardised cause of death, with 94·0 deaths (95% UI 89·2-100·0) per 100 000 population. The COVID-19 pandemic shifted the rankings of the leading five causes, lowering stroke to the third-leading and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease to the fourth-leading position. In 2021, the highest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 occurred in sub-Saharan Africa (271·0 deaths [250·1-290·7] per 100 000 population) and Latin America and the Caribbean (195·4 deaths [182·1-211·4] per 100 000 population). The lowest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 were in the high-income super-region (48·1 deaths [47·4-48·8] per 100 000 population) and southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania (23·2 deaths [16·3-37·2] per 100 000 population). Globally, life expectancy steadily improved between 1990 and 2019 for 18 of the 22 investigated causes. Decomposition of global and regional life expectancy showed the positive effect that reductions in deaths from enteric infections, lower respiratory infections, stroke, and neonatal deaths, among others have contributed to improved survival over the study period. However, a net reduction of 1·6 years occurred in global life expectancy between 2019 and 2021, primarily due to increased death rates from COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality. Life expectancy was highly variable between super-regions over the study period, with southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania gaining 8·3 years (6·7-9·9) overall, while having the smallest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 (0·4 years). The largest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 occurred in Latin America and the Caribbean (3·6 years). Additionally, 53 of the 288 causes of death were highly concentrated in locations with less than 50% of the global population as of 2021, and these causes of death became progressively more concentrated since 1990, when only 44 causes showed this pattern. The concentration phenomenon is discussed heuristically with respect to enteric and lower respiratory infections, malaria, HIV/AIDS, neonatal disorders, tuberculosis, and measles. INTERPRETATION Long-standing gains in life expectancy and reductions in many of the leading causes of death have been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the adverse effects of which were spread unevenly among populations. Despite the pandemic, there has been continued progress in combatting several notable causes of death, leading to improved global life expectancy over the study period. Each of the seven GBD super-regions showed an overall improvement from 1990 and 2021, obscuring the negative effect in the years of the pandemic. Additionally, our findings regarding regional variation in causes of death driving increases in life expectancy hold clear policy utility. Analyses of shifting mortality trends reveal that several causes, once widespread globally, are now increasingly concentrated geographically. These changes in mortality concentration, alongside further investigation of changing risks, interventions, and relevant policy, present an important opportunity to deepen our understanding of mortality-reduction strategies. Examining patterns in mortality concentration might reveal areas where successful public health interventions have been implemented. Translating these successes to locations where certain causes of death remain entrenched can inform policies that work to improve life expectancy for people everywhere. FUNDING Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation