Erratum to: 36th International Symposium on Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1186/s13054-016-1208-6.]

Impaired growth in rural Gambian infants exposed to aflatoxin: a prospective cohort study

Background: Exposure to aflatoxin, a mycotoxin produced by fungi that commonly contaminates cereal crops across sub-Saharan Africa, has been associated with impaired child growth. We investigated the impact of aflatoxin exposure on the growth of Gambian infants from birth to two years of age, and the impact on insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-axis proteins. Methods: A subsample (N = 374) of infants from the Early Nutrition and Immune Development (ENID) trial (ISRCTN49285450) were included in this study. Aflatoxin-albumin adducts (AF-alb) were measured in blood collected from infants at 6, 12 and 18 months of age. IGF-1 and IGFBP-3 were measured in blood collected at 12 and 18 months. Anthropometric measurements taken at 6, 12, 18 and 24 months of age were converted to z-scores against the WHO reference. The relationship between aflatoxin exposure and growth was analysed using multi-level modelling. Results: Inverse relationships were observed between lnAF-alb and length-for-age (LAZ), weight-for-age (WAZ), and weight-for-length (WLZ) z-scores from 6 to 18 months of age (β = − 0·04, P = 0·015; β = − 0·05, P = 0.003; β = − 0·06, P = 0·007; respectively). There was an inverse relationship between lnAF-alb at 6 months and change in WLZ between 6 and 12 months (β = − 0·01; P = 0·013). LnAF-alb at 12 months was associated with changes in LAZ and infant length between 12 and 18 months of age (β = − 0·01, P = 0·003; β = − 0·003, P = 0·02; respectively). LnAF-alb at 6 months was associated with IGFBP-3 at 12 months (r = − 0·12; P = 0·043). Conclusions: This study found a small but significant effect of aflatoxin exposure on the growth of Gambian infants. This relationship is not apparently explained by aflatoxin induced changes in the IGF-axis

A Study of the Performance of Ship Diesel-Electric Propulsion Systems From an Environmental, Energy Efficiency, and Economic Perspective

Climate change and air pollution that are enormously impacted by ship emissions have become an intriguing issue, drawing consideration from the shipping industry. The ship’s propulsion system is the main contributor to energy efficiency and ship emissions. This research paper presents a solution to this issue through propelling the ship by using a diesel-electric propulsion system instead of the conventional one. As a case study, a passenger ship is investigated. The results showed that the proposed electric propulsion system has lower emission rates than the conventional one by 10%, 21%, and 88% for Carbon dioxide, Nitrogen oxides and Sulfur dioxide emissions, respectively. From an energy efficiency point of view, the diesel-electric propulsion system enhances the energy efficiency and complies with the required International Maritime Organization (IMO) values, as actual energy efficiency is about 66%, 70%, 83%, and 95% of the required IMO values at baseline, Phase 1, Phase 2, and Phase 3, respectively. From the economic point of view, the annual costs are $2.5 and$3.05 million for both diesel-electric and conventional propulsion systems, respectively. This shows that the annual cost of the diesel-electric option is less than that of the conventional by 22%

Economics of Renewable Energy for Water Desalination in Developing Countries

The aim of this study is to investigate the economics of renewable energy- powered desalination, as applied to water supply for remote coastal and desert communities in developing countries. In this paper, the issue of integration of desalination technologies and renewable energy from specified sources is addressed. The features of Photovoltaic (PV) system combined with reverse osmosis desalination technology, which represents the most commonly applied integration between renewable energy and desalination technology, are analyzed. Further, a case study for conceptual seawater reverse osmosis (SW-RO) desalination plant with 1000 m3 /d capacity is presented, based on PV and conventional generators powered with fossil fuel to be installed in a remote coastal area in Egypt, as a typical developing country. The estimated water cost for desalination with PV/ SW-RO system is about $1.25 m3 , while ranging between$1.22-1.59 for SW-RO powered with conventional generator powered with fossil fuel. Analysis of the economical, technical and environmental factors depicts the merits of using large scale integrated PV/RO system as an economically feasible water supply relying upon a renewable energy source