Zinc oxide thin-film transistors fabricated at low temperature by chemical spray pyrolysis

We report the electrical behavior of undoped zinc oxide thin-film transistors (TFTs) fabricated by low-temperature chemical spray pyrolysis. An aerosol system utilizing aerodynamic focusing was used to deposit the ZnO. Polycrystalline films were subsequently formed by annealing at the relatively low temperature of 140°C. The saturation mobility of the TFTs was 2 cm2/Vs, which is the highest reported for undoped ZnO TFTs manufactured below 150°C. The devices also had an on/off ratio of 104 and a threshold voltage of −3.5 V. These values were found to depend reversibly on measurement conditions

Impact of efavirenz pharmacokinetics and pharmacogenomics on neuropsychological performance in older HIV-infected patients

Pharmacokinetics (PK) and pharmacodynamics of efavirenz and its 8-hydroxy metabolite (8-OH-efavirenz) have not been robustly evaluated in older HIV-infected persons

Goat health and management for improved smallholders’ livelihoods in central Malawi – a socioeconomic analysis of rural households

DATA AVAILABILITY : Anonymized tabulated data are available in S1 File, additional anonymised survey files are available upon request.The true value of goats, their management systems, and the limitations of smallholdings have not been fully explored in the context of sustainable livelihoods among rural smallholders in central Malawi. However, goats are an essential part of rural livelihoods as transferable assets and sources of household nutrition, especially at times of food insecurity aligned to an ever more variable climate. To study the impact and limitations of goat ownership in Malawi’s Lilongwe district, surveys were performed across four villages covering 148 households from October-November 2019. Surveys were designed to identify linkages between household demographics, livelihoods, goat ownership, and management practices. Findings revealed goats are highly valued compared to other livestock. However, herds were small (median = 3) with only 62% reported kidding in the last year, while 50% reported deaths due to diseases, predation (such as by hyenas), and dog bites. Odds-ratio analyses identified farmers (as a primary occupation) were more likely to successfully breed goats to increase their herd size. Larger herds were associated with those who could accumulate wealth and utilise goats for ceremonies. However, diseases were a major contributor to losses and increased the risk of household food insecurity. Limiting disease impacts through anthelmintics and supplementation were correlated to an increased likelihood of sustainable offtake from smallholdings and improved livelihoods. With limited access to veterinary services, smallholders utilise a diversity of medicinal plants and ash to treat diarrhoea in their herd. The results highlight that goat security and health is fundamental to realising smallholding livelihood gains. Future efforts should aim to empower smallholders through providing tools to monitor goat health and to assess the effects of local practices, including the use of medicinal plants, for goat health.The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council,https://www.elsevier.com/locate/smallrumresam2024Veterinary Tropical DiseasesSDG-02:Zero Hunge

Consumer Complaints and Company Market Value

Consumer complaints affect company market value and common sense suggests that a negative impact is expected. However, do complaints always negatively impact company market value? We hypothesize in this study that complaints may have a non-linear effect on market value. Positive (e.g. avoiding high costs to solve complaints) and negative (e.g. speedy and intense diffusion) tradeoffs may occur given the level of complaints. To test our non-linear hypothesis, a panel data was collected from cell phone service providers from 2005 to 2013. The results supported our tradeoff rationale. Low levels of complaints allow for companies to increase market value, while high levels of complaints cause increasing harm to market value. The sample, model and period considered in this study, indicates a level of 0.49 complaints per thousand consumers as the threshold for a shift in tradeoffs. The effects on market value become increasingly negative when trying to make reductions to move below this level, due to negative tradeoffs

Development and validation of the ISARIC 4C Deterioration model for adults hospitalised with COVID-19: a prospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Prognostic models to predict the risk of clinical deterioration in acute COVID-19 cases are urgently required to inform clinical management decisions. METHODS: We developed and validated a multivariable logistic regression model for in-hospital clinical deterioration (defined as any requirement of ventilatory support or critical care, or death) among consecutively hospitalised adults with highly suspected or confirmed COVID-19 who were prospectively recruited to the International Severe Acute Respiratory and Emerging Infections Consortium Coronavirus Clinical Characterisation Consortium (ISARIC4C) study across 260 hospitals in England, Scotland, and Wales. Candidate predictors that were specified a priori were considered for inclusion in the model on the basis of previous prognostic scores and emerging literature describing routinely measured biomarkers associated with COVID-19 prognosis. We used internal-external cross-validation to evaluate discrimination, calibration, and clinical utility across eight National Health Service (NHS) regions in the development cohort. We further validated the final model in held-out data from an additional NHS region (London). FINDINGS: 74 944 participants (recruited between Feb 6 and Aug 26, 2020) were included, of whom 31 924 (43·2%) of 73 948 with available outcomes met the composite clinical deterioration outcome. In internal-external cross-validation in the development cohort of 66 705 participants, the selected model (comprising 11 predictors routinely measured at the point of hospital admission) showed consistent discrimination, calibration, and clinical utility across all eight NHS regions. In held-out data from London (n=8239), the model showed a similarly consistent performance (C-statistic 0·77 [95% CI 0·76 to 0·78]; calibration-in-the-large 0·00 [-0·05 to 0·05]); calibration slope 0·96 [0·91 to 1·01]), and greater net benefit than any other reproducible prognostic model. INTERPRETATION: The 4C Deterioration model has strong potential for clinical utility and generalisability to predict clinical deterioration and inform decision making among adults hospitalised with COVID-19. FUNDING: National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), UK Medical Research Council, Wellcome Trust, Department for International Development, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, EU Platform for European Preparedness Against (Re-)emerging Epidemics, NIHR Health Protection Research Unit (HPRU) in Emerging and Zoonotic Infections at University of Liverpool, NIHR HPRU in Respiratory Infections at Imperial College London

What is damaging the kidney in lupus nephritis?

Despite marked improvements in the survival of patients with severe lupus nephritis over the past 50 years, the rate of complete clinical remission after immune suppression therapy i

Importance of patient bed pathways and length of stay differences in predicting COVID-19 hospital bed occupancy in England.

Background: Predicting bed occupancy for hospitalised patients with COVID-19 requires understanding of length of stay (LoS) in particular bed types. LoS can vary depending on the patient’s “bed pathway” - the sequence of transfers of individual patients between bed types during a hospital stay. In this study, we characterise these pathways, and their impact on predicted hospital bed occupancy. Methods: We obtained data from University College Hospital (UCH) and the ISARIC4C COVID-19 Clinical Information Network (CO-CIN) on hospitalised patients with COVID-19 who required care in general ward or critical care (CC) beds to determine possible bed pathways and LoS. We developed a discrete-time model to examine the implications of using either bed pathways or only average LoS by bed type to forecast bed occupancy. We compared model-predicted bed occupancy to publicly available bed occupancy data on COVID-19 in England between March and August 2020. Results: In both the UCH and CO-CIN datasets, 82% of hospitalised patients with COVID-19 only received care in general ward beds. We identified four other bed pathways, present in both datasets: “Ward, CC, Ward”, “Ward, CC”, “CC” and “CC, Ward”. Mean LoS varied by bed type, pathway, and dataset, between 1.78 and 13.53 days. For UCH, we found that using bed pathways improved the accuracy of bed occupancy predictions, while only using an average LoS for each bed type underestimated true bed occupancy. However, using the CO-CIN LoS dataset we were not able to replicate past data on bed occupancy in England, suggesting regional LoS heterogeneities. Conclusions: We identified five bed pathways, with substantial variation in LoS by bed type, pathway, and geography. This might be caused by local differences in patient characteristics, clinical care strategies, or resource availability, and suggests that national LoS averages may not be appropriate for local forecasts of bed occupancy for COVID-19. Trial registration: The ISARIC WHO CCP-UK study ISRCTN66726260 was retrospectively registered on 21/04/2020 and designated an Urgent Public Health Research Study by NIHR.</p