HPTN 035 phase II/IIb randomised safety and effectiveness study of the vaginal microbicides BufferGel and 0.5% PRO 2000 for the prevention of sexually transmitted infections in women.

CAPRISA, 2014.Abstract available in pdf

Energy harvesting for sensors in infrastructure monitoring and maintenance

Infrastructure monitoring and maintenance needs various kinds of sensors; all these sensors are expected to have long lifetime and self- maintenance and not be replaced. For non-destructive infrastructure monitoring, these sensors should be wireless, however, wireless sensors have an inherent problem on energy efficiency and energy consumption. Thus, how to power sensors efficiently or how to design a self-powered sensor is a key issue to this problem. Energy harvesting technique emerges as a new direction on getting power from environment. Piezoelectric and electromagnetic harvesting methods on vibration are analysed in this paper, and a low cost self-powered conversion circuit is modelled and simulated. Other kinds of energy harvesting are also briefly compared with those two methods; the solar-electric, vibration-electric, thermal-electric and electromagnetic-electric energy harvesting methods are briefly compared in this paper

Energy harvesting for sensors in infrastructure monitoring and maintenance

Infrastructure monitoring and maintenance needs various kinds of sensors; all these sensors are expected to have long lifetime and self- maintenance and not be replaced. For non-destructive infrastructure monitoring, these sensors should be wireless, however, wireless sensors have an inherent problem on energy efficiency and energy consumption. Thus, how to power sensors efficiently or how to design a self-powered sensor is a key issue to this problem. Energy harvesting technique emerges as a new direction on getting power from environment. Piezoelectric and electromagnetic harvesting methods on vibration are analysed in this paper, and a low cost self-powered conversion circuit is modelled and simulated. Other kinds of energy harvesting are also briefly compared with those two methods; the solar-electric, vibration-electric, thermal-electric and electromagnetic-electric energy harvesting methods are briefly compared in this paper

Harvesting energy from vibrations of the underlying structure

The use of wireless sensors for structural health monitoring offers several advantages such as small size, easy installation and minimal intervention on existing structures. However the most significant concern about such wireless sensors is the lifetime of the system, which depends heavily on the type of power supply. No matter how energy efficient the operation of a battery operated sensor is, the energy of the battery will be exhausted at some point. In order to achieve a virtually unlimited lifetime, the sensor node should be able to recharge its battery in an easy way. Energy harvesting emerges as a technique that can harvest energy from the surrounding environment. Among all possible energy harvesting solutions, kinetic energy harvesting seems to be the most convenient, especially for sensors placed on structures that experience regular vibrations. Such micro-vibrations can be harmful to the long-term structural health of a building or bridge, but at the same time they can be exploited as a power source to power the wireless sensors that are monitoring this structural health. This paper presents a new energy harvesting method based on a vibration driven electromagnetic harvester. By using an improved Maximum Power Point Tracking technique on the conversion circuit, the proposed method is shown to maximize the conversion coefficient from kinetic energy to applicable electrical energy. Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav

Prospective observational cohort study on grading the severity of postoperative complications in global surgery research

Background The Clavien–Dindo classification is perhaps the most widely used approach for reporting postoperative complications in clinical trials. This system classifies complication severity by the treatment provided. However, it is unclear whether the Clavien–Dindo system can be used internationally in studies across differing healthcare systems in high- (HICs) and low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Methods This was a secondary analysis of the International Surgical Outcomes Study (ISOS), a prospective observational cohort study of elective surgery in adults. Data collection occurred over a 7-day period. Severity of complications was graded using Clavien–Dindo and the simpler ISOS grading (mild, moderate or severe, based on guided investigator judgement). Severity grading was compared using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Data are presented as frequencies and ICC values (with 95 per cent c.i.). The analysis was stratified by income status of the country, comparing HICs with LMICs. Results A total of 44 814 patients were recruited from 474 hospitals in 27 countries (19 HICs and 8 LMICs). Some 7508 patients (16·8 per cent) experienced at least one postoperative complication, equivalent to 11 664 complications in total. Using the ISOS classification, 5504 of 11 664 complications (47·2 per cent) were graded as mild, 4244 (36·4 per cent) as moderate and 1916 (16·4 per cent) as severe. Using Clavien–Dindo, 6781 of 11 664 complications (58·1 per cent) were graded as I or II, 1740 (14·9 per cent) as III, 2408 (20·6 per cent) as IV and 735 (6·3 per cent) as V. Agreement between classification systems was poor overall (ICC 0·41, 95 per cent c.i. 0·20 to 0·55), and in LMICs (ICC 0·23, 0·05 to 0·38) and HICs (ICC 0·46, 0·25 to 0·59). Conclusion Caution is recommended when using a treatment approach to grade complications in global surgery studies, as this may introduce bias unintentionally