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

Prevalence and risk factors for vitamin C deficiency in north and south India: a two centre population based study in people aged 60 years and over.

Abstract Background: Studies from the UK and North America have reported vitamin C deficiency in around 1 in 5 men and 1 in 9 women in low income groups. There are few data on vitamin C deficiency in resource poor countries. Objectives: To investigate the prevalence of vitamin C deficiency in India. Design: We carried out a population-based cross-sectional survey in two areas of north and south India. Randomly sampled clusters were enumerated to identify people aged 60 and over. Participants (75% response rate) were interviewed for tobacco, alcohol, cooking fuel use, 24 hour diet recall and underwent anthropometry and blood collection. Vitamin C was measured using an enzyme-based assay in plasma stabilized with metaphosphoric acid. We categorised vitamin C status as deficient (,11 mmol/L), sub-optimal (11–28 mmol/L) and adequate (.28 mmol/L). We investigated factors associated with vitamin C deficiency using multivariable Poisson regression. Results: The age, sex and season standardized prevalence of vitamin C deficiency was 73.9% (95% confidence Interval, CI 70.4,77.5) in 2668 people in north India and 45.7% (95% CI 42.5,48.9) in 2970 from south India. Only 10.8% in the north and 25.9% in the south met the criteria for adequate levels. Vitamin C deficiency varied by season, and was more prevalent in men, with increasing age, users of tobacco and biomass fuels, in those with anthropometric indicators of poor nutrition and with lower intakes of dietary vitamin C. Conclusions: In poor communities, such as in our study, consideration needs to be given to measures to improve the consumption of vitamin C rich foods and to discourage the use of tobacco

Enhancing Liquid-Phase Olefin-Paraffin Separations Using Novel Silver-Based Ionic Liquids

This paper describes the extraction of C5–C8 linear α-olefins from olefin/paraffin mixtures of the same carbon number using silver­(I)/<i>N,N</i>-dimethylbenzamide bis­(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)­imide ([Ag­(DMBA)₂]­[Tf₂N]) or silver­(I)/propylamine bis­(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)­imide ([Ag­(PrNH₂)₂]­[Tf₂N]) as the extracting agent. The separation performance of the system increased with increasing chain length. [Ag­(DMBA)₂]­[Tf₂N] appeared to outperform [Ag­(PrNH₂)₂]­[Tf₂N] in terms of both selectivity and distribution coefficient. The [Ag­(DMBA)₂]­[Tf₂N] system was successfully modeled using the universal quasi-chemical activity coefficient (UNIQUAC) model. These results support the potential future development of amine/amide-based ligands for producing soluble silver complexes useful for the separation of olefins from paraffins