Economic Analysis of Stand-Alone Hybrid Wind/PV/Diesel Water Pumping System: A Case Study in Egypt

The design and evaluation of a stand-alone hybrid renewable energy system for pumping underground water for small farm irrigation is presented. Given environmental conditions, system specifications and daily load demand data, the optimal size of main system components is obtained using a sizing algorithm. Different renewable energy systems are compared using yearly simulations, on hourly base via specialized commercial software simulation packages PVSYST and HOMER, to simulate the system performance and to reach the optimum configurations based on the objective criteria. The criteria used in economic optimization are the net present cost and the cost of energy, with the percent of the capacity shortage. The following systems can be compared: PV only, PV with horizontal axis wind turbine, PV with vertical axis wind turbine, and PV with horizontal axis wind turbine and diesel generator and diesel generator only. The simulation also was carried out for different load patterns for optimum operation. The study was illustrated for climatic conditions of an isolated area in El-Tour City, Sinai, Egypt. The installed 3.42 kW PV water pumping system for irrigation purposes in the same site was also described

Mortality from gastrointestinal congenital anomalies at 264 hospitals in 74 low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries: a multicentre, international, prospective cohort study

Summary Background Congenital anomalies are the fifth leading cause of mortality in children younger than 5 years globally. Many gastrointestinal congenital anomalies are fatal without timely access to neonatal surgical care, but few studies have been done on these conditions in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). We compared outcomes of the seven most common gastrointestinal congenital anomalies in low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries globally, and identified factors associated with mortality. Methods We did a multicentre, international prospective cohort study of patients younger than 16 years, presenting to hospital for the first time with oesophageal atresia, congenital diaphragmatic hernia, intestinal atresia, gastroschisis, exomphalos, anorectal malformation, and Hirschsprung’s disease. Recruitment was of consecutive patients for a minimum of 1 month between October, 2018, and April, 2019. We collected data on patient demographics, clinical status, interventions, and outcomes using the REDCap platform. Patients were followed up for 30 days after primary intervention, or 30 days after admission if they did not receive an intervention. The primary outcome was all-cause, in-hospital mortality for all conditions combined and each condition individually, stratified by country income status. We did a complete case analysis. Findings We included 3849 patients with 3975 study conditions (560 with oesophageal atresia, 448 with congenital diaphragmatic hernia, 681 with intestinal atresia, 453 with gastroschisis, 325 with exomphalos, 991 with anorectal malformation, and 517 with Hirschsprung’s disease) from 264 hospitals (89 in high-income countries, 166 in middleincome countries, and nine in low-income countries) in 74 countries. Of the 3849 patients, 2231 (58·0%) were male. Median gestational age at birth was 38 weeks (IQR 36–39) and median bodyweight at presentation was 2·8 kg (2·3–3·3). Mortality among all patients was 37 (39·8%) of 93 in low-income countries, 583 (20·4%) of 2860 in middle-income countries, and 50 (5·6%) of 896 in high-income countries (p<0·0001 between all country income groups). Gastroschisis had the greatest difference in mortality between country income strata (nine [90·0%] of ten in lowincome countries, 97 [31·9%] of 304 in middle-income countries, and two [1·4%] of 139 in high-income countries; p≤0·0001 between all country income groups). Factors significantly associated with higher mortality for all patients combined included country income status (low-income vs high-income countries, risk ratio 2·78 [95% CI 1·88–4·11], p<0·0001; middle-income vs high-income countries, 2·11 [1·59–2·79], p<0·0001), sepsis at presentation (1·20 [1·04–1·40], p=0·016), higher American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score at primary intervention (ASA 4–5 vs ASA 1–2, 1·82 [1·40–2·35], p<0·0001; ASA 3 vs ASA 1–2, 1·58, [1·30–1·92], p<0·0001]), surgical safety checklist not used (1·39 [1·02–1·90], p=0·035), and ventilation or parenteral nutrition unavailable when needed (ventilation 1·96, [1·41–2·71], p=0·0001; parenteral nutrition 1·35, [1·05–1·74], p=0·018). Administration of parenteral nutrition (0·61, [0·47–0·79], p=0·0002) and use of a peripherally inserted central catheter (0·65 [0·50–0·86], p=0·0024) or percutaneous central line (0·69 [0·48–1·00], p=0·049) were associated with lower mortality. Interpretation Unacceptable differences in mortality exist for gastrointestinal congenital anomalies between lowincome, middle-income, and high-income countries. Improving access to quality neonatal surgical care in LMICs will be vital to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 3.2 of ending preventable deaths in neonates and children younger than 5 years by 2030

Design, Synthesis, In Vitro Biological Activity Evaluation and Stabilized Nanostructured Lipid Carrier Formulation of Newly Synthesized Schiff Bases-Based TMP Moieties

A series of novel Schiff bases-based TMP moieties have been designed and synthesized as potential anticancer agents. The target Schiff bases were screened for their cytotoxic activity against the MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cell line. Most of the tested molecules revealed good cytotoxic activity, especially compounds 4h, 4j and 5d. Being the most potent, compound 4h showed good tubulin polymerization inhibition activity as revealed by immunofluorescence analysis and ELISA assay. Additionally, compound 4h was screened for cell cycle disturbance and apoptosis induction. Pre-G1 apoptosis and cell growth halt at the G2/M phase were discovered to be caused by it. Moreover, compound 4h induced apoptosis via p53 and Bax activation, as well as reduced the level of Bcl-2. Additionally, the most potent compound 4h was lodged on nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs). 23 full factorial design was involved to govern the influence of the fabrication variables on the in vitro characters of the casted NLCs. F3 was picked as the optimum formula exhibiting dominant desirability value 0.805, EE% 95.6 ± 2.4, PS 222.4 ±18.7, PDI 0.23 ± 0.05 and ZP −39.2 ± 3.9 Mv. Furthermore, F3 affirmed improved solubility and release over the drug suspension. In the comparative cytotoxic activity, F3 was capable of diminishing the IC50 by around 2.15 times for pure 4h, while nearly close to the IC50 of the reference drug. Thus, NLCs could be a potential platform for boosted antitumor activity