Case-fatality from COVID-19 has been reported to be relatively high in patients age 65 years or older. We sought to determine the age-specific rates of COVID-19 mortality at the population level.
We ...obtained information regarding the total number of COVID-19 reported deaths for six consecutive weeks beginning at the 50th recorded death, among 16 countries that reported a relatively high number of COVID-19 cases as of April 12, 2020. We performed an ecological study to model COVID-19 mortality rates per week by age group (54 years or younger, 55-64 years, and 65 years or older) and sex using a Poisson mixed effects regression model.
Over the six-week period of data, there were 178,568 COVID-19 deaths from a total population of approximately 2.4 billion people. Age and sex were associated with COVID-19 mortality. Compared with individuals ages 54 years or younger, the incident rate ratio (IRR) was 8.1, indicating that the mortality rate of COVID-19 was 8.1 times higher (95%CI = 7.7, 8.5) among those 55 to 64 years, and more than 62 times higher (IRR = 62.1; 95%CI = 59.7, 64.7) among those ages 65 or older. Mortality rates from COVID-19 were 77% higher in men than in women (IRR = 1.77, 95%CI = 1.74, 1.79).
In the 16 countries examined, persons age 65 years or older had strikingly higher COVID-19 mortality rates compared to younger individuals, and men had a higher risk of COVID-19 death than women.
Hydrogen production through the reduction of water appears to be a convenient solution for the long-run storage of renewable energies. However, economically viable hydrogen production requests ...platinum-free catalysts, because this expensive and scarce (only 37 ppb in the Earth's crust) metal is not a sustainable resource Gordon RB, Bertram M, Graedel TE (2006) Proc Natl Acad Sei USA 103:1209-1214. Here, we report on a new family of cobalt and nickel diimine-dioxime complexes as efficient and stable electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution from acidic nonaqueous solutions with slightly lower overvoltages and much larger stabilities towards hydrolysis as compared to previously reported cobaloxime catalysts. A mechanistic study allowed us to determine that hydrogen evolution likely proceeds through a bimetallic homolytic pathway. The presence of a proton-exchanging site in the ligand, furthermore, provides an exquisite mechanism for tuning the electrocatalytic potential for hydrogen evolution of these compounds in response to variations of the acidity of the solution, a feature only reported for native hydrogenase enzymes so far.
Dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors (DPP-4is) are generally considered as glucose-lowering agents with a safe profile in type 2 diabetes.
An updated review of recent safety data from randomised ...controlled trials, observational studies, meta-analyses, pharmacovigilance reports regarding alogliptin, linagliptin, saxagliptin, sitagliptin, and vildagliptin, with a special focus on risks of hypoglycemia, pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer, major cardiovascular events, hospitalisation for heart failure and other new safety issues, such as bone fractures and arthralgia. The safety of DPP-4i use in special populations, elderly patients, patients with renal impairment, liver disease or heart failure, will also be discussed.
The good tolerance/safety profile of DPP-4is has been largely confirmed, including in more fragile populations, with no gastrointestinal adverse effects and a minimal risk of hypoglycemia. DPP-4is appear to be associated with a small increased incidence of acute pancreatitis in placebo-controlled trials, although most observational studies are reassuring. Most recent studies with DPP-4is do not confirm the increased risk of hospitalisation for heart failure reported with saxagliptin in SAVOR-TIMI 53, but further post-marketing surveillance is still recommended. New adverse events have been reported such as arthralgia, yet a causal relationship remains unclear.
The future of energy supply depends on innovative breakthroughs regarding the design of cheap, sustainable and efficient systems for the conversion and storage of renewable energy sources. The ...production of hydrogen through water splitting seems a promising and appealing solution. We found that a robust nanoparticulate electrocatalytic material, H(2)-CoCat, can be electrochemically prepared from cobalt salts in a phosphate buffer. This material consists of metallic cobalt coated with a cobalt-oxo/hydroxo-phosphate layer in contact with the electrolyte and mediates H(2) evolution from neutral aqueous buffer at modest overpotentials. Remarkably, it can be converted on anodic equilibration into the previously described amorphous cobalt oxide film (O(2)-CoCat or CoPi) catalysing O(2) evolution. The switch between the two catalytic forms is fully reversible and corresponds to a local interconversion between two morphologies and compositions at the surface of the electrode. After deposition, the noble-metal-free coating thus functions as a robust, bifunctional and switchable catalyst.
Pouye, I.; Adjoussi, D.P.; Ndione, J.A., and Sall, A., 2024. Evaluation of the economic impact of coastal erosion in Dakar region. Journal of Coastal Research, 40(1), 193–209. Charlotte (North ...Carolina), ISSN 0749-0208. Besides the environmental impacts, climate change negatively affects the economic value of coastal zones. Coastal erosion, which is one of its impacts, causes damage to people living along the coast. The narrowing of the beach due to erosion leads to socio-economic damage by reducing the areas where economic activities are carried out. As a result, livelihoods, human settlements, and economic activities such as fishing, tourism, and industry are disrupted. The evaluation of the economic impacts of coastal erosion is timely and relevant. This study aims to economically investigate the most affected coastal areas in Dakar region in 2030 and 2040. It also allows for the identification of localities that need protective infrastructure to prevent economic losses from coastal erosion. The assessment is done by estimating the economic value of the beach using multilinear regression, an econometric forecasting model. Software such as R, Excel, ArcGIS, and Digital Shoreline Analysis System were used in this study. The results show that, due to coastal erosion, the district municipalities along the coast of Dakar will record a loss estimated at 38,507,856,000 FCFA in 2030 and 57,822,698,000 FCFA in 2040. The results of this study suggest that the parameters such as Beach Width, Lost Areas, Coastal Length, Dynamic Rate, Littoral Areas, Built Areas, Proximity to Town, Coastal Vulnerability Index, Number of Buildings, Number of Hotels, Number of Industries, Number of Fishing Points, and Road Length play an important role on littoral value. Coastal erosion will be among the most threatening disasters in the Dakar region if the “do nothing” option is adopted as an adaptation measure.
Malaria continues to be a major public health concern with a substantial burden in Africa. Even though it has been widely demonstrated that malaria transmission is climate-driven, there have been ...very few studies assessing the relationship between climate variables and malaria transmission in Côte d'Ivoire. We used the VECTRI model to predict malaria transmission in southern Côte d'Ivoire. First, we tested the suitability of VECTRI in modeling malaria transmission using ERA5 temperature data and ARC2 rainfall data. We then used the projected climatic data pertaining to 2030, 2050, and 2080 from a set of 14 simulations from the CORDEX-Africa database to compute VECTRI outputs. The entomological inoculation rate (EIR) from the VECTRI model was well correlated with the observed malaria cases from 2010 to 2019, including the peaks of malaria cases and the EIR. However, the correlation between the two parameters was not statistically significant. The VECTRI model predicted an increase in malaria transmissions in both scenarios (RCP8.5 and RCP4.5) for the time period 2030 to 2080. The monthly EIR for RCP8.5 was very high (1.74 to 1131.71 bites/person) compared to RCP4.5 (0.48 to 908 bites/person). These findings call for greater efforts to control malaria that take into account the impact of climatic factors.
: To investigate if light sedation favorably affects subsequent patient mental health compared with deep sedation. Symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder are common in patients after they have ...undergone prolonged mechanical ventilation and are associated with sedation depth.
: Randomized, open-label, controlled trial.
: Single tertiary care center.
: Adult patients requiring mechanical ventilation.
: Patients were randomized to receive either light (patient awake and cooperative) or deep sedation (patient asleep, awakening upon physical stimulation).
: Self-reported measures of posttraumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and depression were collected at intensive care unit discharge and 4 wks later. The primary outcomes were symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and depression 4 wks after intensive care unit discharge.A total of 137 patients were assigned to either the light (n = 69) or the deep sedation (n = 68) group. Seven patients withdrew consent and one patient was randomized in error, leaving 129 patients (n = 65 in light sedation and n = 64 in deep sedation) available for analysis. At the 4-wk follow-up, patients in the deep sedation group tended to have more posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms (p = .07); the deep sedation group had more trouble remembering the event (37% vs. 14%; p = .02) and more disturbing memories of the intensive care unit (18% vs. 4%; p = .05). Patients in the light sedation group had an average one day less being ventilated and 1.5 fewer days in the intensive care unit. There were no differences between the two groups in the occurrence of anxiety and depression, and also no difference in mortality or in the incidence of adverse events.
: These data suggest that a strategy of light sedation affords benefits with regard to reduction of intensive care unit stay and duration of ventilation without negatively affecting subsequent patient mental health or patient safety.
Understanding the regional impact of future climate change is one of the major global challenges of this century. This study investigated possible effects of climate change on malaria in West Africa ...in the near future (2006–2035) and the far future (2036–2065) under two representative concentration pathway (RCP) scenarios (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5), compared to an observed evaluation period (1981–2010). Projected rainfall and temperature were obtained from the coordinated regional downscaling experiment (CORDEX) simulations of the Rossby Centre Regional Atmospheric regional climate model (RCA4). The malaria model used is the Liverpool malaria model (LMM), a dynamical malaria model driven by daily time series of rainfall and temperature obtained from the CORDEX data. Our results highlight the unimodal shape of the malaria prevalence distribution, and the seasonal malaria transmission contrast is closely linked to the latitudinal variation of the rainfall. Projections showed that the mean annual malaria prevalence would decrease in both climatological periods under both RCPs but with a larger magnitude of decreasing under the RCP8.5. We found that the mean malaria prevalence for the reference period is greater than the projected prevalence for 6 of the 8 downscaled GCMs. The study enhances understanding of how malaria is impacted under RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 emission scenarios. These results indicate that the southern area of West Africa is at most risk of epidemics, and the malaria control programs need extra effort and help to make the best use of available resources by stakeholders.
As part of the cost reduction of proton exchange membrane fuel cells, the substitution of the standard platinum catalyst by iron active sites for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) appears as a ...promising route. Herein, we report Pt-free catalysts prepared through an Fe–N-doped carbon cryogel synthesis process. By tuning selected parameters such as the initial pH and precursor molar ratios, various new structures with different chemical compositions and catalytic activities were synthesized and characterized. Carbon cryogels are porous materials, and the achieved hierarchical structures proved favorable for the accessibility of the active sites for O2 and H+. The value of the pH medium was identified as a key parameter to control the structure of N-rich carbon cryogels, leading to a specific pH range to diphasic hydrogels. These materials are described and characterized for the first time, and they show promising catalytic activity for the ORR.
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