ICT, FINANCIAL DEVELOPMENT AND ECONOMIC GROWTH IN BRICS COUNTRIES

The development and transformation of advanced technologies are considered vital for maintaining competitive economic growth and to have treasure and capacity of more efficient energy in the region. This has attracted many researchers and policy makers to explore the impact of ICT and other digital technologies to check their contribution in the country’s economic growth and sustainability. In lieu of these connections, the study aims to explore the impact of ICT and financial development on economic growth of BRICS countries. We analyzed the data of these countries from 2000 to 2018. The data was checked for the penal protocol procedures and hypothesis were tasted using Quantile Regression. The outcomes of the study revealed that all dimensions of ICT i.e. ICT-Tel, ICT-Mob and ICT-Net have positive significant effect of the GDP of BRICS countries. The results also highlight the impact of financial development on economic growth and reported positive significant impact of financial development on the economic growth of this region. The results are expected to be very meaningful for the relevant regulatory bodies and specially the economic think tank of these countries. &nbsp

Development of Environment-Friendly Concrete through Partial Addition of Waste Glass Powder (WGP) as Cement Replacement

This paper presents the study carried out on the utilization of Waste Glass Powder (WGP) as supplementary cementitious material in concrete. The evaluation of the influence of WGP on the mechanical properties of concrete was carried out by casting and testing of concrete samples as per ASTM standards (cylinders and beam elements). The control samples were designed to represent field conditions with a target compressive strength of 20,000 kPa. The Portland cement in concrete was substituted with WGP in proportions of 0%-35% by weight, in increments of 5%. Two curing domains were adopted in the preparation of the test samples to evaluate the effect of pozzolanic material wherein the tested samples were cured for 28, 56, and 84 days. The study results indicated a reduction in compressive strength of concrete up to 10% with partial replacement of cement with 25% of WGP when standard curing of 28 days was adopted. Furthermore, with the same replacement proportion and prolonged curing for 84 days, the gap in strength reduction was reduced by 5%. However, a significant decrease in workability was noted between the control concrete samples and glass powder infused concrete. Furthermore, the Waste Glass Powder Concrete (WGPC) exhibited an improved flexural strength with the modulus of rupture for WGPC being 2% higher than control concrete at the age of 84 days. Based on the results of this study it was concluded that 25% replacement of cement with WGP provides an optimum replacement ratio. Doi: 10.28991/cej-2020-03091620 Full Text: PD

Current challenges of digital health interventions in Pakistan: Mixed methods analysis

Background: Digital health is well-positioned in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) to revolutionize health care due, in part, to increasing mobile phone access and internet connectivity. This paper evaluates the underlying factors that can potentially facilitate or hinder the progress of digital health in Pakistan.Objective: The objective of this study is to identify the current digital health projects and studies being carried out in Pakistan, as well as the key stakeholders involved in these initiatives. We aim to follow a mixed-methods strategy and to evaluate these projects and studies through a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis to identify the internal and external factors that can potentially facilitate or hinder the progress of digital health in Pakistan.Methods: This study aims to evaluate digital health projects carried out in the last 5 years in Pakistan with mixed methods. The qualitative and quantitative data obtained from field surveys were categorized according to the World Health Organization\u27s (WHO) recommended building blocks for health systems research, and the data were analyzed using a SWOT analysis strategy.Results: Of the digital health projects carried out in the last 5 years in Pakistan, 51 are studied. Of these projects, 46% (23/51) used technology for conducting research, 30% (15/51) used technology for implementation, and 12% (6/51) used technology for app development. The health domains targeted were general health (23/51, 46%), immunization (13/51, 26%), and diagnostics (5/51, 10%). Smartphones and devices were used in 55% (28/51) of the interventions, and 59% (30/51) of projects included plans for scaling up. Artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning (ML) was used in 31% (16/51) of projects, and 74% (38/51) of interventions were being evaluated. The barriers faced by developers during the implementation phase included the populations\u27 inability to use the technology or mobile phones in 21% (11/51) of projects, costs in 16% (8/51) of projects, and privacy concerns in 12% (6/51) of projects.Conclusions: We conclude that while digital health has a promising future in Pakistan, it is still in its infancy at the time of this study. However, due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, there is an increase in demand for digital health and implementation of health outcomes following global social distancing protocols, especially in LMICs. Hence, there is a need for active involvement by public and private organizations to regulate, mobilize, and expand the digital health sector for the improvement of health care systems in countries

Prospective cohort study of referred Malawian children and their survival by hypoxaemia and hypoglycaemia status

Objective To investigate survival in children referred from primary care in Malawi, with a focus on hypoglycaemia and hypoxaemia progression. Methods The study involved a prospective cohort of children aged 12 years or under referred from primary health-care facilities in Mchinji district, Malawi in 2019 and 2020. Peripheral blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) and blood glucose were measured at recruitment and on arrival at a subsequent health-care facility (i.e. four hospitals and 14 primary health-care facilities). Children were followed up 2 weeks after discharge or their last clinical visit. The primary study outcome was the case fatality ratio at 2 weeks. Associations between SpO2 and blood glucose levels and death were evaluated using Cox proportional hazards models and the treatment effect of hospitalization was assessed using propensity score matching. Findings Of 826 children recruited, 784 (94.9%) completed follow-up. At presentation, hypoxaemia was moderate (SpO2: 90–93%) in 13.1% (108/826) and severe (SpO2: < 90%) in 8.6% (71/826) and hypoglycaemia was moderate (blood glucose: 2.5–4.0 mmol/L) in 9.0% (74/826) and severe (blood glucose: < 2.5 mmol/L) in 2.3% (19/826). The case fatality ratio was 3.7% (29/784) overall but 26.3% (5/19) in severely hypoglycaemic children and 12.7% (9/71) in severely hypoxaemic children. Neither moderate hypoglycaemia nor moderate hypoxaemia was associated with mortality. Conclusion Presumptive pre-referral glucose treatment and better management of hypoglycaemia could reduce the high case fatality ratio observed in children with severe hypoglycaemia. The morbidity and mortality burden of severe hypoxaemia was high; ways of improving hypoxaemia identification and management are needed

Simplified antibiotic regimens for young infants with possible serious bacterial infection when the referral is not feasible in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Introduction Neonates with serious bacterial infections should be treated with injectable antibiotics after hospitalization, which may not be feasible in many low resource settings. In 2015, the World Health Organization (WHO) launched a guideline for the management of young infants (0–59 days old) with possible serious bacterial infection (PSBI) when referral for hospital treatment is not feasible. We evaluated the feasibility of the WHO guideline implementation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to achieve high coverage of PSBI treatment. Methods From April 2016 to March 2017, in a longitudinal, descriptive, mixed methods implementation research study, we implemented WHO PSBI guideline for sick young infants (0–59 dyas of age) in the public health programme setting in five health areas of North and South Ubangi Provinces with an overall population of about 60,000. We conducted policy dialogue with national and sub-national level government planners, decision-makers, academics and other stakeholders. We established a Technical Support Unit to provide implementation support. We built the capacity of health workers and managers and ensured the availability of necessary medicines and commodities. We followed infants with PSBI signs up to 14 days. The research team systematically collected data on adherence to treatment and outcomes. Results We identified 3050 live births and 285 (9.3%) young infants with signs of PSBI in the study area, of whom 256 were treated. Published data have reported 10% PSBI incidence rate in young infants. Therefore, the estimated coverage of treatment was 83.9% (256/305). Another 426 from outside the study catchment area were also identified with PSBI signs by the nurses of a health centre within the study area. Thus, a total of 711 young infants with PSBI were identified, 285 (40%) 7–59 days old infants had fast breathing (pneumonia), 141 (20%) 0–6 days old had fast breathing (severe pneumonia), 233 (33%) had signs of clinical severe infection (CSI), and 52 (7%) had signs of critical illness. Referral to a hospital was advised to 426 (60%) infants with CSI, critical illness or severe pneumonia. The referral was refused by 282 families who accepted simplified antibiotic treatment on an outpatient basis at the health centres. Treatment failure among those who received outpatient treatment occurred in 10/128 (8%) with severe pneumonia, 25/147 (17%) with CSI, including one death, and 2/7 (29%) young infants with a critical illness. Among 285 infants with pneumonia, 257 (90%) received oral amoxicillin treatment, and 8 (3%) failed treatment. Adherence to outpatient treatment was 98% to 100% for various PSBI sub-categories. Among 144 infants treated in a hospital, 8% (1/13) with severe pneumonia, 23% (20/86) with CSI and 40% (18/45) with critical illness died. Conclusion Implementation of the WHO PSBI guideline when a referral was not possible was feasible in our context with high coverage. Without financial and technical input to strengthen the health system at all levels, including the community and the referral level, it may not be possible to achieve and sustain the same high treatment coverage

Development of a real-time quantitative PCR assay for detection of a stable genomic region of BK virus

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>BK virus infections can have clinically significant consequences in immunocompromised individuals. Detection and monitoring of active BK virus infections in certain situations is recommended and therefore PCR assays for detection of BK virus have been developed. The performance of current BK PCR detection assays is limited by the existence of viral polymorphisms, unknown at the time of assay development, resulting in inconsistent detection of BK virus. The objective of this study was to identify a stable region of the BK viral genome for detection by PCR that would be minimally affected by polymorphisms as more sequence data for BK virus becomes available.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Employing a combination of techniques, including amino acid and DNA sequence alignment and interspecies analysis, a conserved, stable PCR target region of the BK viral genomic region was identified within the VP2 gene. A real-time quantitative PCR assay was then developed that is specific for BK virus, has an analytical sensitivity of 15 copies/reaction (450 copies/ml) and is highly reproducible (CV ≤ 5.0%).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Identifying stable PCR target regions when limited DNA sequence data is available may be possible by combining multiple analysis techniques to elucidate potential functional constraints on genomic regions. Applying this approach to the development of a real-time quantitative PCR assay for BK virus resulted in an accurate method with potential clinical applications and advantages over existing BK assays.</p

Infectious aetiologies of neonatal illness in south Asia classified using WHO definitions: a primary analysis of the ANISA study.

BACKGROUND: Globally, neonatal mortality accounts for almost half of all deaths in children younger than 5 years. Aetiological agents of neonatal infection are difficult to identify because the clinical signs are non-specific. Using data from the Aetiology of Neonatal Infections in south Asia (ANISA) cohort, we aimed to describe the spectrum of infectious aetiologies of acute neonatal illness categorised post-hoc using the 2015 WHO case definitions of critical illness, clinical severe infection, and fast breathing only. METHODS: Eligible infants were aged 0-59 days with possible serious bacterial infection and healthy infants enrolled in the ANISA study in Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan. We applied a partial latent class Bayesian model to estimate the prevalence of 27 pathogens detectable on PCR, pathogens detected by blood culture only, and illness not attributed to any infectious aetiology. Infants with at least one clinical specimen available were included in the analysis. We assessed the prevalence of these aetiologies according to WHO's case definitions of critically ill, clinical severe infection, and infants with late onset, isolated fast breathing. For the clinical severe definition, we compared the prevalence of signs by bacterial versus viral aetiology. FINDINGS: There were 934 infants (992 episodes) in the critically ill category, 3769 (4000 episodes) in the clinical severe infection category, and 738 (771 episodes) in the late-onset isolated fast breathing category. We estimated the proportion of illness attributable to bacterial infection was 32·7% in infants in the critically ill group, 15·6% in the clinical severe infection group, and 8·8% among infants with late-onset isolated fast breathing group. An infectious aetiology was not identified in 58-82% of infants in these categories. Among 4000 episodes of clinical severe infection, those with bacterial versus viral attribution had higher proportions of hypothermia, movement only when stimulated, convulsions, and poor feeding. INTERPRETATION: Our modelled results generally support the revised WHO case definitions, although a revision of the most severe case definition could be considered. Clinical criteria do not clearly differentiate between young infants with and without infectious aetiologies. Our results highlight the need for improved point-of-care diagnostics, and further study into neonatal deaths and episodes with no identified aetiology, to ensure antibiotic stewardship and targeted interventions. FUNDING: The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

External validation of the RISC, RISC-Malawi, and PERCH clinical prediction rules to identify risk of death in children hospitalized with pneumonia

From Crossref journal articles via Jisc Publications RouterBackground Existing scores to identify children at risk of hospitalized pneumonia-related mortality lack broad external validation. Our objective was to externally validate three such risk scores. Methods We applied the Respiratory Index of Severity in Children (RISC) for HIV-negative children, the RISC-Malawi, and the Pneumonia Etiology Research for Child Health (PERCH) scores to hospitalized children in the Pneumonia REsearch Partnerships to Assess WHO REcommendations (PREPARE) data set. The PREPARE data set includes pooled data from 41 studies on pediatric pneumonia from across the world. We calculated test characteristics and the area under the curve (AUC) for each of these clinical prediction rules. Results The RISC score for HIV-negative children was applied to 3574 children 0-24 months and demonstrated poor discriminatory ability (AUC = 0.66, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.58-0.73) in the identification of children at risk of hospitalized pneumonia-related mortality. The RISC-Malawi score had fair discriminatory value (AUC = 0.75, 95% CI = 0.74-0.77) among 17 864 children 2-59 months. The PERCH score was applied to 732 children 1-59 months and also demonstrated poor discriminatory value (AUC = 0.55, 95% CI = 0.37-0.73). Conclusions In a large external application of the RISC, RISC-Malawi, and PERCH scores, a substantial number of children were misclassified for their risk of hospitalized pneumonia-related mortality. Although pneumonia risk scores have performed well among the cohorts in which they were derived, their performance diminished when externally applied. A generalizable risk assessment tool with higher sensitivity and specificity to identify children at risk of hospitalized pneumonia-related mortality may be needed. Such a generalizable risk assessment tool would need context-specific validation prior to implementation in that setting.11pubpub

Derivation and validation of a novel risk assessment tool to identify children aged 2-59 months at risk of hospitalised pneumonia-related mortality in 20 countries

INTRODUCTION: Existing risk assessment tools to identify children at risk of hospitalised pneumonia-related mortality have shown suboptimal discriminatory value during external validation. Our objective was to derive and validate a novel risk assessment tool to identify children aged 2-59 months at risk of hospitalised pneumonia-related mortality across various settings. METHODS: We used primary, baseline, patient-level data from 11 studies, including children evaluated for pneumonia in 20 low-income and middle-income countries. Patients with complete data were included in a logistic regression model to assess the association of candidate variables with the outcome hospitalised pneumonia-related mortality. Adjusted log coefficients were calculated for each candidate variable and assigned weighted points to derive the Pneumonia Research Partnership to Assess WHO Recommendations (PREPARE) risk assessment tool. We used bootstrapped selection with 200 repetitions to internally validate the PREPARE risk assessment tool. RESULTS: A total of 27 388 children were included in the analysis (mean age 14.0 months, pneumonia-related case fatality ratio 3.1%). The PREPARE risk assessment tool included patient age, sex, weight-for-age z-score, body temperature, respiratory rate, unconsciousness or decreased level of consciousness, convulsions, cyanosis and hypoxaemia at baseline. The PREPARE risk assessment tool had good discriminatory value when internally validated (area under the curve 0.83, 95% CI 0.81 to 0.84). CONCLUSIONS: The PREPARE risk assessment tool had good discriminatory ability for identifying children at risk of hospitalised pneumonia-related mortality in a large, geographically diverse dataset. After external validation, this tool may be implemented in various settings to identify children at risk of hospitalised pneumonia-related mortality