Global development

Heart motion tracking for radiation therapy treatment planning can result in effective motion management strategies to minimize radiation-induced cardiotoxicity. However, automatic heart motion tracking is challenging due to factors that include the complex spatial relationship between the heart and its neighboring structures, dynamic changes in heart shape, and limited image contrast, resolution, and volume coverage. In this study, we developed and evaluated a deep generative shape model-driven level set method to address these challenges...

While contemporary manufacturing technologies stimulate the industrial revolution and promote the rapidly changing global economy, it has caused enormous environmental negative externalities and managing the industrial waste remains a primary challenge, especially for fast developing countries such as China. Though existing studies explored the influence of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) legislations on environmental externalities, only fewer researches aimed at policy issues. Particularly, the relationship among environmental regulations, environmental strategies and corporate performance in the EPR system has not been deeply investigated...

Concurrent with the rise in obesity, global rates of diabetes are increasing at alarming rates in both developed and developing nations. As these conditions become more prevalent among women of reproductive age, rates of hyperglycemia in pregnancy (HIP) are also increasing. HIP is associated with many immediate perinatal complications which affect both maternal and fetal/neonatal health, as well as with more long term complications. Long term complications include an increase in chronic non-communicable diseases in both mother and offspring, therefore affecting future generations...

Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease of global importance with major economic and social burden accounting for 25% of all avoidable deaths in developing countries. Extrapulmonary involvement may occur either in association with clinically apparent pulmonary tuberculosis or in isolation. This cross-sectional descriptive study aimed to evaluate the impact of ocular tuberculosis in visual acuity at baseline and after two months of intensive anti-tuberculous therapy. A sample of 133 pulmonary TB patients, seven disseminated TB, and three pleural TB patients was evaluated...

OBJECTIVES: To assess patient impression of change following interdisciplinary pain management utilizing a newly developed Multidimensional Patient Impression of Change (MPIC) questionnaire. METHODS: A heterogeneous group of chronic pain patients (N = 601) participated in an interdisciplinary treatment program. Programs included individual and group therapies (pain psychology, physical therapy, occupational therapy, relaxation training/biofeedback, aerobic conditioning, patient education and medical management)...

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To review the clinical impact methamphetamine has on emergency departments (ED) by assessing the available research on the rates and features of methamphetamine-related presentations. BACKGROUND: Globally, methamphetamine availability, distribution and use has rapidly increased. As a result, the number of methamphetamine-related presentations to EDs has also increased. In this context, it is timely to review the rate and features of methamphetamine-related presentations to understand the impact of methamphetamine on EDs and facilitate the allocation of services, staff and resources...

Burosumab (Crysvita® ; Kyowa Hakko Kirin Co., Ltd. and Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc.) is a fully human monoclonal antibody directed at fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23). Excessive FGF23 production has been implicated in various hypophosphataemic diseases. Inhibition of FGF23 by burosumab results in increased renal phosphate reabsorption and increased serum levels of phosphorus and active vitamin D. In February 2018, the EMA granted subcutaneous burosumab conditional marketing authorization for the treatment of X-linked hypophosphataemia (XLH) with radiographic evidence of bone disease in children one year of age and older and adolescents with growing skeletons...

A novel single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) camera was developed to evaluate dynamic myocardial perfusion flow. However, it is unclear whether myocardial flow reserve (MFR) derived by dynamic perfusion SPECT using the novel SPECT camera (D-SPECT) reflects the severity of coronary atherosclerosis. In the present study, we therefore examined the relationship between MFR using D-SPECT and severity of coronary lesions. The study population comprised 40 patients who underwent both a myocardial dynamic perfusion SPECT study and invasive coronary angiography...

Rice blast caused by Magnaporthe oryzae severely impacts global rice yield stability. The rice endophyte Streptomyces sporocinereus OsiSh-2, with strong antagonistic activity towards M. oryzae, has been reported in our previous study. To decipher the model of the antagonistic action of OsiSh-2 towards M. oryzae, we compared the iron-capturing abilities of these two strains. The cultivation of OsiSh-2 and a M. oryzae strain under iron-rich and iron-starved conditions showed that M. oryzae depended more on iron supplementation for growth and development than did OsiSh-2...

Psychotic illnesses show variable responses to treatment. Determining the neurobiology underlying this is important for precision medicine and the development of better treatments. It has been proposed that dopaminergic differences underlie variation in response, with striatal dopamine synthesis capacity (DSC) elevated in responders and unaltered in non-responders. We therefore aimed to test this in a prospective cohort, with a nested case-control comparison. 40 volunteers (26 patients with first-episode psychosis and 14 controls) received an 18 F-DOPA Positron Emission Tomography scan to measure DSC (Kicer ) prior to antipsychotic treatment...

INTRODUCTION: More than 20 orally bioavailable chemoattractant receptor-homologous molecule expressed on Th2 cells (CRTH2) antagonists have moved forward to clinical development in recent years for the treatment of asthma. However, evidence from individual randomised controlled trials (RCTs) has demonstrated inconsistent results in their efficacy and safety. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: PubMed/Medline, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Global Index Medicus, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and Scopus will be searched from inception to 30 December 2017 for eligible RCTs, with additional studies being identified by manual searches...

BACKGROUND: Unfortunately, global efforts to promote "how much" physical activity people should be undertaking have been largely unsuccessful. Given the difficulty of achieving a sustained lifestyle behavior change, many scientists are reexamining their approaches. One such approach is to focus on understanding the context of the lifestyle behavior (ie, where, when, and with whom) with a view to identifying promising intervention targets. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to develop and implement an innovative algorithm to determine "where" physical activity occurs using proximity sensors coupled with a widely used physical activity monitor...

Ongoing global efforts to commercialize microalgal biofuels have expedited the use of multi-omics techniques to gain insights into lipid biosynthetic pathways. Functional genomics analyses have recently been employed to complement existing sequence-level omics studies, shedding light on the dynamics of lipid synthesis and its interplay with other cellular metabolic pathways, thus revealing possible targets for metabolic engineering. Here, we review the current status of algal omics studies to reveal potential targets to augment TAG accumulation in various microalgae...

BACKGROUND: Comparable estimates of health spending are crucial for the assessment of health systems and to optimally deploy health resources. The methods used to track health spending continue to evolve, but little is known about the distribution of spending across diseases. We developed improved estimates of health spending by source, including development assistance for health, and, for the first time, estimated HIV/AIDS spending on prevention and treatment and by source of funding, for 188 countries...

BACKGROUND: Achieving universal health coverage (UHC) requires health financing systems that provide prepaid pooled resources for key health services without placing undue financial stress on households. Understanding current and future trajectories of health financing is vital for progress towards UHC. We used historical health financing data for 188 countries from 1995 to 2015 to estimate future scenarios of health spending and pooled health spending through to 2040. METHODS: We extracted historical data on gross domestic product (GDP) and health spending for 188 countries from 1995 to 2015, and projected annual GDP, development assistance for health, and government, out-of-pocket, and prepaid private health spending from 2015 through to 2040 as a reference scenario...

Patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HC) are at increased risk of sudden cardiac death. Abnormalities in myocardial blood flow (MBF) detected by positron emission tomography (PET) are common in HC, but a PET marker that identifies patients at risk of sudden cardiac death is lacking. We hypothesized that disparities in regional myocardial perfusion detected by PET would identify patients with HC at risk of ventricular arrhythmias. To test this hypothesis, we quantified global and regional MBFs by 13 NH3 -PET at rest and at stress, and developed a heterogeneity index to assess MBF heterogeneity in 133 symptomatic patients with HC...

Motor oil classification is important for quality control and the identification of oil adulteration. In thiswork, we propose a simple, rapid, inexpensive and nondestructive approach based on image analysis and pattern recognition techniques for the classification of nine different types of motor oils according to their corresponding color histograms. For this, we applied color histogram in different color spaces such as red green blue (RGB), grayscale, and hue saturation intensity (HSI) in order to extract features that can help with the classification procedure...

Background : Confirming the integrity of seed samples in powdered form is important priorto conducting a genetically modified organism (GMO) test. Rapid onsite methods may provide a technological solution to check for genetically modified (GM) events at ports of entry. In India, Bt cotton is the commercialized GM crop with four approved GM events; however, 59 GM events have been approved globally. GMO screening is required to test for authorized GM events. The identity and amplifiability of test samples could be ensured first by employing endogenous genes as an internal control...

BACKGROUND: Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are predominantly derived from protein coding genes, and some can act as microRNA sponges or transcriptional regulators. Changes in circRNA levels have been identified during human development which may be functionally important, but lineage-specific analyses are currently lacking. To address this, we performed RNAseq analysis of human embryonic stem (ES) cells differentiated for 90 days towards 3D laminated retina. RESULTS: A transcriptome-wide increase in circRNA expression, size, and exon count was observed, with circRNA levels reaching a plateau by day 45...

BACKGROUND: Global warming has triggered an increase in the prevalence and severity of coral disease, yet little is known about coral/pathogen interactions in the early stages of infection. The point of entry of the pathogen and the route that they take once inside the polyp is currently unknown, as is the coral's capacity to respond to infection. To address these questions, we developed a novel method that combines stable isotope labelling and microfluidics with transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and nanoscale secondary ion mass spectrometry (NanoSIMS), to monitor the infection process between Pocillopora damicornis and Vibrio coralliilyticus under elevated temperature...