Preparation and characterization of in situ polymerized cyclic butylene terephthalate/graphene nanocomposites

Graphene reinforced cyclic butylene terephthalate (CBT) matrix nanocomposites were prepared and characterized by mechanical and thermal methods. These nanocomposites containing different amounts of graphene (up to 5 wt%) were prepared by melt mixing with CBT that was polymerized in situ during a subsequent hot pressing. The nanocomposites and the neat polymerized CBT (pCBT) as reference material were subjected to differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), dynamical mechanical analysis (DMA), thermogravimetrical analysis (TGA) and heat conductivity measurements. The dispersion of the grapheme nanoplatelets was characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). It was established that the partly exfoliated graphene worked as nucleating agent for crystallization, acted as very efficient reinforcing agent (the storage modulus at room temperature was increased by 39 and 89% by incorporating 1 and 5 wt.% graphene, respectively). Graphene incorporation markedly enhanced the heat conductivity but did not influence the TGA behaviour due to the not proper exfoliation except the ash content

Characteristics of Different Systems for the Solar Drying of Crops

Solar dryers are used to enable the preservation of agricultural crops, food processing industries for dehydration of fruits and vegetables, fish and meat drying, dairy industries for production of milk powder, seasoning of wood and timber, textile industries for drying of textile materials. The fundamental concepts and contexts of their use to dry crops is discussed in the chapter. It is shown that solar drying is the outcome of complex interactions particular between the intensity and duration of solar energy, the prevailing ambient relative humidity and temperature, the characteristics of the particular crop and its pre-preparation and the design and operation of the solar dryer

Community mobilisation and health management committee strengthening to increase birth attendance by trained health workers in rural Makwanpur, Nepal: study protocol for a cluster randomised controlled trial

Background: Birth attendance by trained health workers is low in rural Nepal. Local participation in improving health services and increased interaction between health systems and communities may stimulate demand for health services. Significant increases in birth attendance by trained health workers may be affected through community mobilisation by local women's groups and health management committee strengthening. We will test the effect of community mobilisation through women's groups, and health management committee strengthening, on institutional deliveries and home deliveries attended by trained health workers in Makwanpur District. Design: Cluster randomised controlled trial involving 43 village development committee clusters. 21 clusters will receive the intervention and 22 clusters will serve as control areas. In intervention areas, Female Community Health Volunteers are supported in convening monthly women's groups. The groups work through an action research cycle in which they consider barriers to institutional delivery, plan and implement strategies to address these barriers with their communities, and evaluate their progress. Health management committees participate in three-day workshops that use appreciative inquiry methods to explore and plan ways to improve maternal and newborn health services. Follow-up meetings are conducted every three months to review progress. Primary outcomes are institutional deliveries and home deliveries conducted by trained health workers. Secondary outcome measures include uptake of antenatal and postnatal care, neonatal mortality and stillbirth rates, and maternal morbidity

Large vessel vasculitis

Takayasu arteritis is a chronic granulomatous disease of the aorta and its major branches that usually affects women during the second and third decades of life, but it has been reported in young children. This review details the clinical, pathological and radiological features, differential diagnoses and management of the condition, focusing chiefly on the disease in children. The recent definition of Takayasu arteritis is discussed. The condition should be considered in patients with unexplained arterial hypertension or unexplained inflammatory syndromes without signs of localization. Since the disease may be life-threatening and progressive, early recognition is necessary to initiate appropriate therapy. Patients with persistent ischaemic symptoms including hypertension might benefit from revascularization procedures

Estimating global injuries morbidity and mortality: methods and data used in the Global Burden of Disease 2017 study

BACKGROUND: While there is a long history of measuring death and disability from injuries, modern research methods must account for the wide spectrum of disability that can occur in an injury, and must provide estimates with sufficient demographic, geographical and temporal detail to be useful for policy makers. The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2017 study used methods to provide highly detailed estimates of global injury burden that meet these criteria. METHODS: In this study, we report and discuss the methods used in GBD 2017 for injury morbidity and mortality burden estimation. In summary, these methods included estimating cause-specific mortality for every cause of injury, and then estimating incidence for every cause of injury. Non-fatal disability for each cause is then calculated based on the probabilities of suffering from different types of bodily injury experienced. RESULTS: GBD 2017 produced morbidity and mortality estimates for 38 causes of injury. Estimates were produced in terms of incidence, prevalence, years lived with disability, cause-specific mortality, years of life lost and disability-adjusted life-years for a 28-year period for 22 age groups, 195 countries and both sexes. CONCLUSIONS: GBD 2017 demonstrated a complex and sophisticated series of analytical steps using the largest known database of morbidity and mortality data on injuries. GBD 2017 results should be used to help inform injury prevention policy making and resource allocation. We also identify important avenues for improving injury burden estimation in the future

Genetic variants in novel pathways influence blood pressure and cardiovascular disease risk.

Blood pressure is a heritable trait influenced by several biological pathways and responsive to environmental stimuli. Over one billion people worldwide have hypertension (≥140 mm Hg systolic blood pressure or  ≥90 mm Hg diastolic blood pressure). Even small increments in blood pressure are associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular events. This genome-wide association study of systolic and diastolic blood pressure, which used a multi-stage design in 200,000 individuals of European descent, identified sixteen novel loci: six of these loci contain genes previously known or suspected to regulate blood pressure (GUCY1A3-GUCY1B3, NPR3-C5orf23, ADM, FURIN-FES, GOSR2, GNAS-EDN3); the other ten provide new clues to blood pressure physiology. A genetic risk score based on 29 genome-wide significant variants was associated with hypertension, left ventricular wall thickness, stroke and coronary artery disease, but not kidney disease or kidney function. We also observed associations with blood pressure in East Asian, South Asian and African ancestry individuals. Our findings provide new insights into the genetics and biology of blood pressure, and suggest potential novel therapeutic pathways for cardiovascular disease prevention