Kaons and antikaons in strong magnetic fields

The in-medium masses of the kaons and antikaons in strongly magnetized asymmetric nuclear matter are studied using a chiral SU(3) model. The medium modifications of the masses of these open strange pseudoscalar mesons arise due to their interactions with the nucleons and scalar mesons within the model. The proton, the charged nucleon, has effects from the Landau energy levels in the presence of the magnetic field. The anomalous magnetic moments (AMM) of the nucleons are taken into consideration in the present study and these are seen to be large at high magnetic fields and high densities. The isospin effects are appreciable at high densities. The density effects are observed to be the dominant medium effects, as compared to the effects from magnetic field and isospin asymmetry. ~Comment: 22 pages, 4 figures, version to be published in Eur. Phys. Jour. A. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1712.0799

Mapping child growth failure across low- and middle-income countries

Child growth failure (CGF), manifested as stunting, wasting, and underweight, is associated with high 5 mortality and increased risks of cognitive, physical, and metabolic impairments. Children in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) face the highest levels of CGF globally. Here we illustrate national and subnational variation of under-5 CGF indicators across LMICs, providing 2000–2017 annual estimates mapped at a high spatial resolution and aggregated to policy-relevant administrative units and national levels. Despite remarkable declines over the study period, many LMICs remain far from the World Health 10 Organization’s ambitious Global Nutrition Targets to reduce stunting by 40% and wasting to less than 5% by 2025. Large disparities in prevalence and rates of progress exist across regions, countries, and within countries; our maps identify areas where high prevalence persists even within nations otherwise succeeding in reducing overall CGF prevalence. By highlighting where subnational disparities exist and the highest-need populations reside, these geospatial estimates can support policy-makers in planning locally 15 tailored interventions and efficient directing of resources to accelerate progress in reducing CGF and its health implications

Global burden of 369 diseases and injuries in 204 countries and territories, 1990–2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

Background: In an era of shifting global agendas and expanded emphasis on non-communicable diseases and injuries along with communicable diseases, sound evidence on trends by cause at the national level is essential. The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) provides a systematic scientific assessment of published, publicly available, and contributed data on incidence, prevalence, and mortality for a mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive list of diseases and injuries. Methods: GBD estimates incidence, prevalence, mortality, years of life lost (YLLs), years lived with disability (YLDs), and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) due to 369 diseases and injuries, for two sexes, and for 204 countries and territories. Input data were extracted from censuses, household surveys, civil registration and vital statistics, disease registries, health service use, air pollution monitors, satellite imaging, disease notifications, and other sources. Cause-specific death rates and cause fractions were calculated using the Cause of Death Ensemble model and spatiotemporal Gaussian process regression. Cause-specific deaths were adjusted to match the total all-cause deaths calculated as part of the GBD population, fertility, and mortality estimates. Deaths were multiplied by standard life expectancy at each age to calculate YLLs. A Bayesian meta-regression modelling tool, DisMod-MR 2.1, was used to ensure consistency between incidence, prevalence, remission, excess mortality, and cause-specific mortality for most causes. Prevalence estimates were multiplied by disability weights for mutually exclusive sequelae of diseases and injuries to calculate YLDs. We considered results in the context of the Socio-demographic Index (SDI), a composite indicator of income per capita, years of schooling, and fertility rate in females younger than 25 years. Uncertainty intervals (UIs) were generated for every metric using the 25th and 975th ordered 1000 draw values of the posterior distribution. Findings: Global health has steadily improved over the past 30 years as measured by age-standardised DALY rates. After taking into account population growth and ageing, the absolute number of DALYs has remained stable. Since 2010, the pace of decline in global age-standardised DALY rates has accelerated in age groups younger than 50 years compared with the 1990–2010 time period, with the greatest annualised rate of decline occurring in the 0–9-year age group. Six infectious diseases were among the top ten causes of DALYs in children younger than 10 years in 2019: lower respiratory infections (ranked second), diarrhoeal diseases (third), malaria (fifth), meningitis (sixth), whooping cough (ninth), and sexually transmitted infections (which, in this age group, is fully accounted for by congenital syphilis; ranked tenth). In adolescents aged 10–24 years, three injury causes were among the top causes of DALYs: road injuries (ranked first), self-harm (third), and interpersonal violence (fifth). Five of the causes that were in the top ten for ages 10–24 years were also in the top ten in the 25–49-year age group: road injuries (ranked first), HIV/AIDS (second), low back pain (fourth), headache disorders (fifth), and depressive disorders (sixth). In 2019, ischaemic heart disease and stroke were the top-ranked causes of DALYs in both the 50–74-year and 75-years-and-older age groups. Since 1990, there has been a marked shift towards a greater proportion of burden due to YLDs from non-communicable diseases and injuries. In 2019, there were 11 countries where non-communicable disease and injury YLDs constituted more than half of all disease burden. Decreases in age-standardised DALY rates have accelerated over the past decade in countries at the lower end of the SDI range, while improvements have started to stagnate or even reverse in countries with higher SDI. Interpretation: As disability becomes an increasingly large component of disease burden and a larger component of health expenditure, greater research and developm nt investment is needed to identify new, more effective intervention strategies. With a rapidly ageing global population, the demands on health services to deal with disabling outcomes, which increase with age, will require policy makers to anticipate these changes. The mix of universal and more geographically specific influences on health reinforces the need for regular reporting on population health in detail and by underlying cause to help decision makers to identify success stories of disease control to emulate, as well as opportunities to improve. Funding: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY 4.0 licens

Mapping inequalities in exclusive breastfeeding in low- and middle-income countries, 2000–2018

Exclusive breastfeeding (EBF)—giving infants only breast-milk for the first 6 months of life—is a component of optimal breastfeeding practices effective in preventing child morbidity and mortality. EBF practices are known to vary by population and comparable subnational estimates of prevalence and progress across low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are required for planning policy and interventions. Here we present a geospatial analysis of EBF prevalence estimates from 2000 to 2018 across 94 LMICs mapped to policy-relevant administrative units (for example, districts), quantify subnational inequalities and their changes over time, and estimate probabilities of meeting the World Health Organization’s Global Nutrition Target (WHO GNT) of ≥70% EBF prevalence by 2030. While six LMICs are projected to meet the WHO GNT of ≥70% EBF prevalence at a national scale, only three are predicted to meet the target in all their district-level units by 2030

Picomolar Detection of Lead Ions (Pb²⁺) by Functionally Modified Fluorescent Carbon Quantum Dots from Watermelon Juice and Their Imaging in Cancer Cells

Water contamination due to the presence of lead is one of the leading causes of environmental and health hazards because of poor soil and groundwater waste management. Herein we report the synthesis of functionally modified luminescent carbon quantum dots (CQDs) obtained from watermelon juice as potential nanomaterials for the detection of toxic Pb2+ ions in polluted water and cancer cells. By introducing surface passivating ligands such as ethanolamine (EA) and ethylenediamine (ED) in watermelon juice, watermelon-ethanolamine (WMEA)-CQDs and watermelon-ethylenediamine (WMED)-CQDs exhibited a remarkable ~10-fold and ~6-fold increase in fluorescence intensity with respect to non-doped WM-CQDs. The relative fluorescence quantum yields of WMEA-CQDs and WMED-CQDs were found to be 8% and 7%, respectively, in an aqueous medium. Among various functionally-modified CQDs, only WMED-CQDs showed high selectivity towards Pb2+ ions with a remarkably good limit of detection (LoD) of 190 pM, which is less than that of the permissible limit (72 nM) in drinking water. The functionally altered WMED-CQDs detected Pb2+ metal ions in polluted water and in a human cervical cancer cell line (HeLa), thus advocating new vistas for eco-friendly nanomaterials for their use as diagnostic tools in the environment and biomedical research areas

A new pyrrolyl-pyranone based AIEgen with solution solid dual emissive property

192-199The design and synthesis of organic molecules having aggregation induced emission (AIE) property has been a prime area of research in recent years. In this regard, we have synthesized new pyranone based AIEgens with interesting photophysical properties. The synthesized donor-acceptor based pyranones 3 and 4a-d show multicolour emission in the range of 476-585 nm in solid state. The compound 3 also showed blue emission (485 nm) in DMSO solution and surprisingly exhibits orange emission (572 nm) with remarkable bathochromic shift in 99% water in DMSO due to AIE characteristics. The detailed study of AIE behaviour of 3 was carried out in increasing fraction of water (0-99%) in THF, the intensity of emission at 485 nm gradually increased upto 80% of water and then decreased at 90% water. Interestingly, the THF solution of 3 in 99% water showed remarkable bathochromic shift (~100 nm) of emission maximum from blue (λmax 485 nm) to orange region (λmax 585 nm) due to formation of nano-aggregates leading to restriction in intramolecular rotation (RIR). The time-correlated single photon counting (TCSPC) analysis of 3 in the water−THF (99:1) mixture showed an average lifetime of 4.8 ns for these nano-aggregates. The pyrrolyl-pyranone 3 having Solution-Solid Dual Emissive (SSDE) characteristics may be utilized in exploring its application in both biomedical and material research fields

Satellite-Based Quantification of Methane Emissions from Wetlands and Rice Paddies Ecosystems in North and Northeast India

Methane is produced by various natural processes that directly or indirectly contribute to the entire Earth’s methane budget. If the Earth’s overall methane budget becomes imbalanced, CH4 has an impact on climate change. Wetlands, rice fields, animals, factories, and fossil fuels are major sources of methane emissions. Among all the resources, wetlands and rice fields are more prominent factors in methane emission, dependent on the water table, temperature, and vegetation. Our study employed the GIS remote sensing technique to analyze methane emissions from 2003 to 2021 in the northern part of India, East Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, and the northeast region of India that is Assam. We also predicted the water table, temperature, and vegetation as raw materials for methane creation. Water table, temperature, and vegetation are essential for wetland ecosystem life, particularly for methanogenic organisms; however, the water table and temperature are critical for rice plant growth and development. With the help of GIS remote sensing, India’s monthly rainfall pattern and the water table, vegetation, and temperature pattern over 41 years were analyzed. Our key findings highlight the importance of GIS remote-sensing-based monitoring of methane gas emissions from wetlands and rice fields for their management

Improved electrical parameter of graphene in Si/SiO2/Al2O3/graphene heterostructure for THz modulation

We proposed the extraction of necessary electrical parameters of graphene (Gr) on Si/SiO _2 /Gr and Si/SiO _2 /Al _2 O _3 /Gr heterostructure THz modulators using the THz measurement technique. The obtained average THz absorption is 24.5% more on Si/SiO _2 /Al _2 O _3 /Gr as compared to the Gr on Si/SiO _2 . The calculated value of the carrier mobility of graphene on Si/SiO _2 /Al _2 O _3 is 2.33 times more than that on Si/SiO _2 . The presence of Al _2 O _3 may play a role of a barrier for diffusion of trap and impurity charges from Si/SiO _2 to graphene which may lead to higher mobility and higher THz absorption. THz modulation measurements by optical pumping were also performed. Maximum modulation depth was 18.54% on Si/SiO _2 /Al _2 O _3 /Gr modulator at 2W pumping power which is 16.54% higher as compared to Gr on Si/SiO _2 . This shows that graphene on Si/SiO _2 /Al _2 O _3 heterostructure exhibits great potential for the development of an efficient electro-optical THz modulator as compared to Si/SiO _2 /Gr modulator

Donor–Acceptor Biarylcarbazoles as Efficient Host Materials for Solution-Processable High-Performance Phosphorescent Organic Light-Emitting Diodes

Host materials having high triplet energies offer great commercial potential for the development of solution-processable high-performance phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes (PhOLEDs). While plenty of vacuum-deposited host materials are available, the literature reveals a dearth of solution-processable host materials. Therefore, a series of biarylcarbazoles (BACs) were designed as host materials by incorporating donor–acceptor functionalities and doped with blue, green, yellow, and orange phosphorescent emitters to develop energy-saving high-performance PhOLEDs with low turn-on voltages. All of the synthesized host materials exhibited good thermal stability in the range of 294–355 °C and exhibited remarkably high triplet energies of 2.50–2.81 eV. Surprisingly, PhOLEDs prepared by incorporating a host material 6a doped with a green phosphorescent emitter, i.e., Ir(ppy)3, displayed admirable efficiencies with a maximum power efficiency (PE) of 55.6 lm/W, a current efficiency (CE) of 53.2 cd/A, and an external quantum efficiency of 17.1% with a maximum brightness (Lmax) of 27 000 cd/m2. BAC host material 6a exhibited better performance compared to that of commercial host 4,4′-bis(N-carbazolyl)-1,1′-biphenyl (CBP) and 4,4′,4″-tris(carbazol-9-yl)triphenylamine. The BAC 6a host was also found to be compatible with orange, yellow, and blue phosphorescent emitters, which displayed PEs of 31.9, 21.4, and 14.1 lm/W, respectively, at a brightness of 100 cd/m2. Notably, the green PhOLED with donor–acceptor-based host 6a exhibited 23% roll-up in CE while moving from 100 to 1000 cd/m2. The enhancement of the performance of the green PhOLED is attributed to higher singlet and triplet energies of host 6a compared to that of the utilized green emitter tris(2-phenylpyridine)iridium(III), leading to effective host–guest energy transfer and the ability to form efficient excitons in the host–guest matrix, thus enhancing the OLED performance. Thus, BAC 6a has commercial potential as a suitable host material for the fabrication of efficient multicolor PhOLEDs