143 research outputs found
Key challenges for the surveillance of respiratory viruses: transitioning out of the acute phase of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic
To support the ongoing management of viral respiratory diseases, many
countries are moving towards an integrated model of surveillance for
SARS-CoV-2, influenza, and other respiratory pathogens. While many surveillance
approaches catalysed by the COVID-19 pandemic provide novel epidemiological
insight, continuing them as implemented during the pandemic is unlikely to be
feasible for non-emergency surveillance, and many have already been scaled
back. Furthermore, given anticipated co-circulation of SARS-CoV-2 and
influenza, surveillance activities in place prior to the pandemic require
review and adjustment to ensure their ongoing value for public health. In this
perspective, we highlight key challenges for the development of integrated
models of surveillance. We discuss the relative strengths and limitations of
different surveillance practices and studies, their contribution to
epidemiological assessment, forecasting, and public health decision making
Gambling harms in adult social care: developing an âintroductoryâ question to identify gambling harms among service users
Gambling harms are disproportionately experienced among disadvantaged groups and as such, adult social care (ASC) practitioners are well-placed to identify and support affected individuals. There exists no evidence-based âintroductoryâ question for practitioners to identify those at risk of gambling harms, which includes family and friends (âaffected othersâ). To develop an âintroductoryâ question for use in English ASC, we conducted a scoping review that identified fifteen potential questions. Questions were refined through expert panel review groups (nâ=â13), cognitive interviewing (nâ=â18), testâretest reliability checks (nâ=â20) and validity testing (nâ=â2,100) against gold-standard measures of problem gambling behaviour. The question development process produced two questions suitable for testing in local authority (LA) ASC departments. These were (i) âDo you feel you are affected by any gambling, either your own or someone elseâs?â and (ii) âIf you or someone close to you gambles, do you feel it is causing you any worries?â Each had good face validity, strong testâretest reliability, correlated highly with well-being measures and performed reasonably against validated measures of problem gambling. These two questions are currently being piloted by ASC practitioners in three English LAs to assess their feasibility for adoption in practice
Hot Electron and Pair Production from the Texas Petawatt Laser Irradiating Thick Gold Targets
We present data for relativistic hot electron production by the Texas
Petawatt Laser irradiating solid Au targets with thickness between 1 and 4 mm.
The experiment was performed at the short focus target chamber TC1 in July
2011, with laser energies around 50 J. We measured hot electron spectra out to
50 MeV which show a narrow peak around 10 - 20 MeV plus high energy exponential
tail. The hot electron spectral shape differs from those reported for other PW
lasers. We did not observe direct evidence of positron production above
background.Comment: HEDLA 2012 Conference Paper. submitted to HEDP. revised 1/28/2013. 18
pages. 10 figure
Sequence stratigraphic interpretation of a Pennsylvanian (Upper Carboniferous) coal from the Central Appalachian Basin, USA
Maize Production in a Changing Climate
Plant breeding and improved management options have made remarkable progress in increasing crop yields during the past century. However, climate change projections suggest that large yield losses will be occurring in many regions, particularly within sub-Saharan Africa. The development of climate-ready germplasm to offset these losses is of the upmost importance. Given the time lag between the development of improved germplasm and adoption in farmersâ fields, the development of improved breeding pipelines needs to be a high priority. Recent advances in molecular breeding provide powerful tools to accelerate breeding gains and dissect stress adaptation. This review focuses on achievements in stress tolerance breeding and physiology and presents future tools for quick and efficient germplasm development. Sustainable agronomic and resource management practices can effectively contribute to climate change mitigation. Management options to increase maize system resilience to climate-related stresses and mitigate the effects of future climate change are also discussed
Repositioning of the global epicentre of non-optimal cholesterol
High blood cholesterol is typically considered a feature of wealthy western countries1,2. However, dietary and behavioural determinants of blood cholesterol are changing rapidly throughout the world3 and countries are using lipid-lowering medications at varying rates. These changes can have distinct effects on the levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and non-HDL cholesterol, which have different effects on human health4,5. However, the trends of HDL and non-HDL cholesterol levels over time have not been previously reported in a global analysis. Here we pooled 1,127 population-based studies that measured blood lipids in 102.6 million individuals aged 18 years and older to estimate trends from 1980 to 2018 in mean total, non-HDL and HDL cholesterol levels for 200 countries. Globally, there was little change in total or non-HDL cholesterol from 1980 to 2018. This was a net effect of increases in low- and middle-income countries, especially in east and southeast Asia, and decreases in high-income western countries, especially those in northwestern Europe, and in central and eastern Europe. As a result, countries with the highest level of non-HDL cholesterolâwhich is a marker of cardiovascular riskâchanged from those in western Europe such as Belgium, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Malta in 1980 to those in Asia and the Pacific, such as Tokelau, Malaysia, The Philippines and Thailand. In 2017, high non-HDL cholesterol was responsible for an estimated 3.9 million (95% credible interval 3.7 millionâ4.2 million) worldwide deaths, half of which occurred in east, southeast and south Asia. The global repositioning of lipid-related risk, with non-optimal cholesterol shifting from a distinct feature of high-income countries in northwestern Europe, north America and Australasia to one that affects countries in east and southeast Asia and Oceania should motivate the use of population-based policies and personal interventions to improve nutrition and enhance access to treatment throughout the world
Repositioning of the global epicentre of non-optimal cholesterol
High blood cholesterol is typically considered a feature of wealthy western countries(1,2). However, dietary and behavioural determinants of blood cholesterol are changing rapidly throughout the world(3) and countries are using lipid-lowering medications at varying rates. These changes can have distinct effects on the levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and non-HDL cholesterol, which have different effects on human health(4,5). However, the trends of HDL and non-HDL cholesterol levels over time have not been previously reported in a global analysis. Here we pooled 1,127 population-based studies that measured blood lipids in 102.6 million individuals aged 18 years and older to estimate trends from 1980 to 2018 in mean total, non-HDL and HDL cholesterol levels for 200 countries. Globally, there was little change in total or non-HDL cholesterol from 1980 to 2018. This was a net effect of increases in low- and middle-income countries, especially in east and southeast Asia, and decreases in high-income western countries, especially those in northwestern Europe, and in central and eastern Europe. As a result, countries with the highest level of non-HDL cholesterol-which is a marker of cardiovascular riskchanged from those in western Europe such as Belgium, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Malta in 1980 to those in Asia and the Pacific, such as Tokelau, Malaysia, The Philippines and Thailand. In 2017, high non-HDL cholesterol was responsible for an estimated 3.9 million (95% credible interval 3.7 million-4.2 million) worldwide deaths, half of which occurred in east, southeast and south Asia. The global repositioning of lipid-related risk, with non-optimal cholesterol shifting from a distinct feature of high-income countries in northwestern Europe, north America and Australasia to one that affects countries in east and southeast Asia and Oceania should motivate the use of population-based policies and personal interventions to improve nutrition and enhance access to treatment throughout the world.Peer reviewe
Height and body-mass index trajectories of school-aged children and adolescents from 1985 to 2019 in 200 countries and territories: a pooled analysis of 2181 population-based studies with 65 million participants
Summary Background Comparable global data on health and nutrition of school-aged children and adolescents are scarce. We aimed to estimate age trajectories and time trends in mean height and mean body-mass index (BMI), which measures weight gain beyond what is expected from height gain, for school-aged children and adolescents. Methods For this pooled analysis, we used a database of cardiometabolic risk factors collated by the Non-Communicable Disease Risk Factor Collaboration. We applied a Bayesian hierarchical model to estimate trends from 1985 to 2019 in mean height and mean BMI in 1-year age groups for ages 5â19 years. The model allowed for non-linear changes over time in mean height and mean BMI and for non-linear changes with age of children and adolescents, including periods of rapid growth during adolescence. Findings We pooled data from 2181 population-based studies, with measurements of height and weight in 65 million participants in 200 countries and territories. In 2019, we estimated a difference of 20 cm or higher in mean height of 19-year-old adolescents between countries with the tallest populations (the Netherlands, Montenegro, Estonia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina for boys; and the Netherlands, Montenegro, Denmark, and Iceland for girls) and those with the shortest populations (Timor-Leste, Laos, Solomon Islands, and Papua New Guinea for boys; and Guatemala, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Timor-Leste for girls). In the same year, the difference between the highest mean BMI (in Pacific island countries, Kuwait, Bahrain, The Bahamas, Chile, the USA, and New Zealand for both boys and girls and in South Africa for girls) and lowest mean BMI (in India, Bangladesh, Timor-Leste, Ethiopia, and Chad for boys and girls; and in Japan and Romania for girls) was approximately 9â10 kg/m2. In some countries, children aged 5 years started with healthier height or BMI than the global median and, in some cases, as healthy as the best performing countries, but they became progressively less healthy compared with their comparators as they grew older by not growing as tall (eg, boys in Austria and Barbados, and girls in Belgium and Puerto Rico) or gaining too much weight for their height (eg, girls and boys in Kuwait, Bahrain, Fiji, Jamaica, and Mexico; and girls in South Africa and New Zealand). In other countries, growing children overtook the height of their comparators (eg, Latvia, Czech Republic, Morocco, and Iran) or curbed their weight gain (eg, Italy, France, and Croatia) in late childhood and adolescence. When changes in both height and BMI were considered, girls in South Korea, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and some central Asian countries (eg, Armenia and Azerbaijan), and boys in central and western Europe (eg, Portugal, Denmark, Poland, and Montenegro) had the healthiest changes in anthropometric status over the past 3·5 decades because, compared with children and adolescents in other countries, they had a much larger gain in height than they did in BMI. The unhealthiest changesâgaining too little height, too much weight for their height compared with children in other countries, or bothâoccurred in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, New Zealand, and the USA for boys and girls; in Malaysia and some Pacific island nations for boys; and in Mexico for girls. Interpretation The height and BMI trajectories over age and time of school-aged children and adolescents are highly variable across countries, which indicates heterogeneous nutritional quality and lifelong health advantages and risks
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