Economical Method Research Articles

Use of hydroponic fertilizers in growth media for Chlorella vulgaris for producing affordable protein in developing countries

ABSTRACT Chlorella vulgaris (Chlorophyta) stands out as a promising microalga for single-cell protein production, particularly due to its potential to address the need for affordable nutrition in less-developed regions. Given this context, the quest for more economic fertilization methods is essential. Among the viable alternatives, hydroponic fertilizer (HF) emerges as a widely available option, particularly in regions such as Indonesia. Typically, HF is supplied in two distinct forms, powdered Mix-A and Mix-B, to prepare the stock solutions. This study investigates the impact of varying concentrations and stock solution ratios on both the growth rate and biomass yield of C. vulgaris. Additionally, an economic analysis of cultivation activities is conducted, with a specific focus on comparing the feasibility of utilizing hydroponic fertilizer against conventional methods. The findings reveal that specific ratios and concentrations of the tested growth media outperform standard media in promoting the growth rate and biomass yield of cultivated C. vulgaris. Furthermore, the economic analysis assesses two primary cost components: fertilizer and energy. All tested hydroponic media offered a more cost-effective cultivation solution compared to conventional methods, primarily attributed to the lower cost of the hydroponic fertilizers.

Analysis of Leakage and Diffusion Characteristics and Hazard Range Determination of Buried Hydrogen-Blended Natural Gas Pipeline Based on CFD.

Injecting hydrogen into natural gas pipelines is an economical and efficient method of hydrogen transportation. However, the addition of hydrogen leads to significant hydrogen corrosion and embrittlement in the pipelines, especially in harsh and concealed underground conditions, where leak accidents are frequent and difficult to detect. This Article uses Le Chatelier's Principle to determine the hazardous range of hydrogen-blended natural gas (HBNG) by employing numerical simulation, it examines the gas leakage and diffusion characteristics before and after hydrogen injection as well as under different hydrogen blending ratio (HBR). Additionally, considering the density of the mixed gas, a prediction model for the diffusion hazard range of hydrogen-mixed natural gas is established based on multivariate regression theory. The results show that after a leakage occurs in HBNG the diffusion range in soil is wider compared to methane, with higher corresponding pressure and velocity values. Moreover, as the HBR increases, the farthest danger range (FDR) of the HBNG also increases. When the leakage of the buried HBNG pipeline occurs for 1 min, the difference in FDR between HBR 25% and HBR 5% is 0.005 m. After 30 min, this difference increases to 0.019 m, indicating that with longer leakage duration, the potential explosion risk resulting from increased HBR becomes greater. Factors such as pipeline pressure increase, larger leak hole size, and decreased burial depth all contribute to an increase in FDR, with pipeline pressure change having the greatest impact and burial depth change having the smallest impact. The maximum error of the predicted model for the diffusion hazard range of hydrogen-mixed natural gas is 9.385%, and the average error is 2.376%, demonstrating the accuracy of the prediction results. This study provides guidance for monitoring underground hydrogen-blended natural gas pipeline leaks, offers a basis for determining the repair range of pipelines, and ensures the safe transportation of hydrogen-mixed natural gas pipelines.

The Knowledge and Application of Economics in Healthcare in a High-Income Country Today: The Case of Belgium.

Healthcare is a huge business sector in many countries, focusing on the social function of delivering quality health when people develop illness. The system is essentially financed by public funds based on the solidarity principle. With a large financial outlay, the sector must use economic evaluation methods to achieve better efficiency. The objective of our study was to evaluate and to understand how health economics is used today, taking Belgium as an example of a high-income country. The evaluation started with a historical view of healthcare development and ended with potential projections for its future. A literature review focused on country-specific evaluation reports to identify the health economic methods used, with a search for potential gaps. The first results indicated that Belgium in 2021 devoted 11% of its GDP, 17% of its total tax revenue, and 30% of the national Social Security Fund to health-related activities, totalizing EUR 55.5 billion spending. The main health economic method used was a cost-effectiveness analysis linked to budget impact, assigning reimbursable monetary values to new products becoming available. However, these evaluation methods only impacted at most 20% of the money circulating in healthcare. The remaining 80% was subject to financial regulations (70%) and budgeting (10%), which could use many other techniques of an economic analysis. The evaluation indicated two potentially important changes in health economic use in Belgium. One was an increased focus on budgeting with plans, time frames, and quantified treatment objectives on specific disease problems. Economic models with simulations are very supportive in those settings. The other was the application of constrained optimization methods, which may become the new standard of practice when switching from fee-for-service to pay-per-performance as promoted by value-based healthcare and value-based health management. This economic refocusing to a more constrained approach may help to keep the healthcare system sustainable and affordable in the face of the many future challenges including ageing, climate change, migration, pandemics, logistical limitations, and financial instability.

A Telescopic, Scalable and Industrially Feasible Method for the Synthesis of Antidepressant Drug, Moclobemide

AbstractAn improved, scalable, industrially feasible telescopic process for multigram synthesis of highly commercialized antidepressant drug, moclobemide has been developed. Unlike the conventional approaches, this process enjoys the privilege of being an economical, operationally simple, effectively scalable, and quantitative method for the synthesis of amide‐containing drug moclobemide, showcasing easy isolation and purification without the aid of column chromatography. An environmentally benign reagent combination of TBN and NHS very effectively converts the acyl source, 4‐chlorobenzaldehyde into its N‐hydroxysuccinimide ester intermediate, which simply affords the drug molecule after nucleophilic substitution with the amine source. The synthetic process has successfully been scaled‐up upto ~145 g scale with 75 % overall yield and >95 % first crop HPLC purity.

Identify Affecting Factors on Total Fertility Rate: A Systematic Review

Background: The total fertility rate (TFR) is a key indicator of population dynamics and health. It shows the average number of children a woman would have in her lifetime, based on the current fertility rates for different age groups. Various factors affect the TFR, such as social, economic, political, technological, environmental, and health factors. By analyzing these factors and how they influence the TFR, policymakers and planners can design and implement interventions to achieve optimal population and health outcomes. Methods: We searched PubMed, Scopus, ISI Web of Science, and ProQuest databases, as well as the Google Scholar search engine systematically. We searched for studies from 13 December 2021 - 20 May 2022, without time limits. We included studies that described at least one driver of TFR. We applied the STEEPH framework (social, technology, environmental, economic, political, and health) method to analyze the qualitative data. Results: We included 64 studies from 26 countries. We identified 410 drivers of TFR, and classified 181 drivers into six main categories: Social, technological, environmental, economic, political, and health. The main factors that lower the fertility rate are education, aging, poverty, postponing marriage (social), exposure of women to mass media (technology), type of residence and living in urban areas, road accidents (environmental), income and economic situation (recession and inflation), unemployment, debt, women’s employment (economic), government policies (political), use of anti-fertility drugs (health). The main drivers that raise the fertility rate are having first child girls, women’s proximity to their workplace (social), use of assisted reproductive technology (technology), living in rural areas and natural and unnatural disasters (environmental), improvement in men’s labor market conditions, employment opportunities (economic), increased parental leave (political), high infant mortality (health). Conclusions: We identified a comprehensive list of effective drivers that have increased or decreased TFR in different parts of the world. It is necessary to review these drivers considering the specific conditions and social, cultural, economic, and political coordinates of each country. This review should inform policymakers' actions in this area.

Genetic evolutionary analysis of a strain of Senecavirus A in Anhui and the establishment of its detection method

BackgroundSenecavirus A (SVA) is the only member of the genus Senecavirus in the family Picornaviridae, and is one of the pathogens of porcine blistering disease. SVA has been reported in the United States, Canada, China, Thailand, and Colombia. MethodsIn this study, positive SVA infection was detected by RT-PCR in sick materials collected from pig farms of different sizes in Anhui Province. ResultsIn this study, a virulent strain of SVA was successfully obtained by viral isolation on BHK21 cells and named SVA-CH-AHAU-1. Meanwhile, a simple, rapid and accurate nano-PCR method for the detection of SVA infection was established in this study, using the recombinant plasmid pClone-SVA-3D as a template. ConclusionsThe complete genome of SVA-CH-AHAU-1 is 7286 bp, including a 5′ non-coding region (UTR), an open reading frame (ORF) of 6546 nucleotides, encoding 2182 amino acids (aa), and a 3’ UTR with Poly(A) features, and phylogenetic analysis showed that this isolate had the highest nucleotide homology (97.9 %) with the US isolate US-15-41901SD. In this study, the virulent strain SVA-CH-AHAU-1 was found to recombine in the ORF region with isolates SVA-CH-SDGT-2017 and SVA/Canada/ON/FMA-2015-0024 T2/2015. The complete genome has been submitted to GeneBank with the accession number OM654411. In addition, our results suggest that the established nano-PCR assay can be used as an economical, reliable and sensitive method for the field diagnosis of SVA method, especially in resource-limited areas.

Cradle to gate life-cycle assessment of battery grade nickel sulphate production through high-pressure acid leaching

The rising global demand for high-purity nickel (Ni) sulphate, primarily used in lithium-ion batteries, is largely met by processing Indonesian laterite ores via hydrometallurgy. However, this supply chain is associated with significant environmental challenges and lack of transparent industrial data. This study uses a cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment (LCA) approach to quantify the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and energy use associated with the production of mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP) from low-grade Indonesian laterites via high-pressure acid leaching (HPAL), which is then refined in China for the production of battery-grade nickel sulphate hexahydrate (NiSO4·6H2O, NSH). Fifteen impact categories are analyzed using established impact assessment and allocation (mass and economic) methods. The analysis reveals that feed preparation/HPAL and purification are the stages that contribute most to environmental impacts and in particular to global warming potential (GWP). Mass allocation results in higher environmental impacts, with 36.8 kg CO2-eq per 1 kg of Ni in NSH for GWP, compared to 33.8 kg CO2-eq per 1 kg of Ni in NSH when economic allocation is used. Sensitivity analysis shows a potential reduction (up to 13 %) in key impact categories if production of NSH is fully integrated in Indonesia or a greener electricity mix is used. Overall, our results indicate that the production of MHP in Indonesia and its refinement to NSH in China has a GWP about two times higher than the global average. Given the limited number of LCA studies for the production of battery-grade nickel, this study highlights major environmental concerns for the NSH production process from Indonesian laterites and identifies opportunities for improvement, towards a more sustainable global battery supply chain.

On improving the efficiency of providing budgetary places in Russian universities (on the example of engineering and technical areas of study)

Relevance. In the current economic and political conditions in Russia, there is an acute shortage of welltrained engineers, and not only in the IT field. In order to overcome this problem, the state annually raises the admission target numbers (CAP) for technical educational programs. This increases the amount of public funding for universities (both per capita and for general development); it is measured in hundreds of billions of rubles, which requires studying the efficiency of resource use. The purpose of the article is, based on the results of a comprehensive empirical analysis, to identify the key problems that reduce the effectiveness of state financing of state-funded places in engineering and technical areas, and to substantiate proposals for minimizing them. Methodology and methods. The methodological basis is a systematic approach, within which general scientific methods (deduction, induction, generalization, comparative analysis, etc.) were used, as well as special economic and statistical research methods. Results and scientific novelty. It was revealed that the use of the current methodology for the distribution of CSC by the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia leads to the fact that a significant part of budget places in engineering and technical areas of study are occupied by students with low (18.2% excluding IT areas) and extremely low (at least 14.5 %) by the level of incoming knowledge. In a number of areas, the proportion of such students reaches 87%, despite the fact that ¾ of the applicants have an extremely weak physical and mathematical base (within the framework of the school course). The actual scale of the problems turned out to be greater due to the non-linear scale of the Unified State Examination, “tuned” by the Ministry of Education of Russia to overestimate the score for “C” students. Taken together, this naturally leads to the training of engineers of the appropriate level at the state expense. A set of measures is substantiated to change the methodology for distributing budgetary places, aimed at improving the efficiency of the use of public funding. Practical significance. The results of the study can be used by the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia, as well as by the administrations of technical universities to improve the quality of applicants for engineering education programs.

Optimization of direct supply chains in the restaurant industry: Addressing key challenges through technological innovation

This study aimed to explore the potential of different supply channels in the restaurant industry, with a focus on optimizing direct supply using advanced technologies. By applying economic and statistical methods, the research analyses the role of large distributors and wholesalers in the United States food supply chain. While these supply chain participants support restaurant and manufacturer operations, they can also increase costs, reduce marketing and logistics control, and hinder the development of customer relationships. Direct supply presents significant advantages, such as improved brand loyalty, higher profit retention, and access to high-quality products. However, its growth is constrained by challenges like high marketing expenses and the implementation of same-day delivery. These costs include investments in advertising, technology platforms, CRM systems, and staff remuneration. Key obstacles to same-day delivery include staff shortages (especially drivers), high delivery costs, and inefficient logistics. The study suggests that technological solutions, including the development of direct access networks, automated promotional tools, and logistics infrastructure, can help mitigate these challenges. The Sample Box Marathon and Rgand Prime Fulfilment platforms are analysed as practical solutions that reduce costs and improve profitability. The findings of this research can provide valuable insights for producers and restaurants looking to optimize their supply chain operation

Complications of Fat Grafting and Repositioning for Correction of Lower Eyelid Pouch With Tear Trough Deformity or Lid-Cheek Junction: A Systematic Review.

Fat grafting and repositioning may serve as a convenient, economical, and effective surgical method for correcting lower eyelid pouch with a tear trough deformity or lid-cheek junction. However, comprehensive systematic reviews and meta-analyses investigating the complications associated with this technique are lacking. This study aimed to summarize and gather data on complications related to fat grafting and repositioning for the correction of tear trough deformity or lid-cheek junction in lower eyelid blepharoplasty. A thorough search was performed across multiple databases including PubMed, Cochrane, Embase, ProQuest, Ovid, Scopus, and Web of Science. Specific inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied to screen the articles. The occurrence of complications was analyzed using a random-effects model. A total of 33 studies involving 4671 patients met the criteria for systematic evaluation and were included in this meta-analysis. The overall complication rates were 0.112 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.060-0.177) for total complications, 0.062 (95% CI: 0.003-0.172) for unsatisfactory correction or contour irregularity, 0.062 (95% CI: 0.009-0.151) for hematoma, swelling (not specified as bulbar conjunctiva), ecchymosis, or oozing of blood, and 0.024 (95% CI: 0.013-0.038) for reoperation. Fat grafting and repositioning for correcting a lower eyelid pouch with tear trough deformity or lid-cheek junction was associated with high rates of complications. Therefore, it is crucial to closely monitor the rates of unsatisfactory correction or contour irregularity, hematoma, swelling (not specified as bulbar conjunctiva), ecchymosis, or oozing of blood, and reoperation. In addition, effective communication with patients should be prioritized.

Research and application of low-carbon economic dispatch of urban building integrated energy system

Abstract Global warming is a serious threat common to all countries. The technological revolution and sustainable development of energy have become the international consensus. While ensuring economic benefits, promoting low carbon environmental protection of comprehensive energy system has become a top priority. Therefore, this paper designs a low-carbon economic scheduling system based on consistency theory. First, the importance of user demand response should be considered in the integrated energy system to ensure the economy of scheduling. Secondly, the improved step-step carbon trading mechanism is used in the algorithm to improve the low carbon performance of scheduling. Then, the distributed consistency algorithm is used to schedule the integrated energy system to realize the most energy output of each unit. In addition, a noise function is added to the algorithm for encryption and desensitization to prevent user privacy leakage. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed economic scheduling method.

Quantitative analysis of student learning progress in online curses during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract The pandemic of COVID-19 forced the transition of education to online platforms. This shift allowed for a more in-depth study of the learning process of students, as it provided access to information about their activities and interactions with the course’s contents [1-3]. In this work, we apply quantitative methods to analyze the student learning progress of students for two first year courses of the B.Sc. degree in Physics (Universidad Católica del Norte). The data are collected from activity logs of digital platforms during Academic year 2021, which were employed to characterize the student learning habits along these processes (experience, selectivity and workflow). Statistical analysis is based on the distribution of the time spent on learning activities, such as the daily time distribution and the cumulative attention per online materials. The results show that the learning process of students in online courses is complex and adaptive. We report statistical patterns similar to those found in financial markets. These empirical results provide evidence about the importance of economic principles and methods in the understanding of the teaching-learning process.

Ni-incorporated N-doped graphitic carbon derived from pomegranate peel biowaste as an efficient OER and HER electrocatalyst for sustainable water splitting

The electrochemical energy conversion process must develop effective, long-lasting, and reasonably priced bifunctional electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER). In this work, we present a simple, sustainable, economical, and scalable method for the preparation of stable and useful nickel nanoparticles on highly porous graphitic carbon doped with nitrogen. Direct pyrolysis followed by carbonization was used to create robust catalysts at different temperatures in an environment containing nitrogen (N2). The carbon material generated at 600 °C (Ni@NPC-600) shows greater electrochemical efficiency when compared to other catalysts. The synthesized electroactive catalyst Ni@NPC-600 requires a less overpotential 280 mV (114 mV dec−1) for OER and 151 mV (98 mV dec−1) to conduct a HER at 10 mA cm−2 in 1 M KOH. The active catalyst Ni@NPC-600 shows long-lasting robustness over 90 h with a current loss of <3.33 % and <4.9 % for OER and HER respectively. In addition, the overall water disintegration of Ni@NPC-600/NF//Ni@NPC-600/NF was achieved at 1.51 V with a continuous evolution of H2 and O2 at the cathode and anode respectively for approximately 150 h of prolonged robustness with a current reduction of < 4.6 %.

Unveiling complementarities between mangrove restoration and global sustainable development goals

Indonesia, renowned as the most mangrove-rich nation, has committed to extensive mangrove restoration policies, but the effects of these policies have yet to be systematically evaluated. Our study conducts a comprehensive network analysis to investigate the synergies between mangrove restoration policy and global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) achievements by exploring their interactions. This investigation follows the ‘product space’ method in economics and creates the ‘Mangrove-SDG space’ to assess each metric pair's co-occurrence and comparative advantages with validated stability. Our analysis unveils a tripartite structure, encompassing socio-economic and environmental clusters, each significantly contributing to global sustainability and a distinctive mangrove cluster tied to land attributes. At the Goal level, mangrove loss showcases robust synergies with SDGs 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production) and 13 (Climate Change), and mangrove metrics such as tropical storm frequency and mangrove change, indicating strong interdependences between mangrove forests and SDGs. The result indicates that improved performance of climate change and responsible consumption can greatly enhance mangrove forests' performance in alleviating mangrove loss and reducing tropical storms. Moreover, our analysis underscores the central roles played by ‘bridge’ Goals. Indicator-level space details how they warrant prioritization because of their cascade synergistic enhancements across widely interconnected indicators, triggering systematic positive improvements. Turning to Indonesia, we advocate a strategic shift from solely expanding mangrove extent to focusing on four critical policy priorities: effective nitrogen management, enhancing Ramsar site efficiency, optimizing logistic performance, and addressing urban population conditions. These priorities are pivotal to seeking complementarities between Indonesia's international sustainability commitment and fostering mangrove restoration success.

Development and Validation of RP-HPLC Method for Estimation of Ticagrelor in Pharmaceutical Dosage Form and Force degradation study

Ticagrelor is a selective Adenosine diphosphate (ADP)-receptor antagonist which is prescribed in the form of tablets and acts as an oral antiplatelet for the prevention of further thrombotic events in patients with Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and those undergoing Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Therefore, accurate and reliable determination of Ticagrelor in bulk and in dosage forms is vital for clinical consideration. The objective of the method is to develop a new, simple, sensitive, accurate, and economical analytical method for the determination of assay of Ticagrelor Tablet and to perform a forced degradation study of Ticagrelor Tablet by RP-HPLC. Chromatographic separation was achieved on an UHPLC equipped with reverse phase C-18 (250 × 4.6mm, 5µ) with a mobile phase composed of acetonitrile and buffer solution (75:25) at a flow rate of 1.10 ml/min. The effluents were detected at a wavelength of 256 nm. The retention time of Ticagrelor was found to be at 3.579 min. The correlation coefficient for Ticagrelor was found to be 0.997. Recovery of Ticagrelor in the formulation was found to be 98%-102%. LOD and LOQ values of Ticagrelor were found to be 1.31 and 3.98, respectively. The method was proven to be precise (%RSD=2%), accurate (&gt;90%), and specific for the measurement of Ticagrelor in tablets. Thus, being simple, accurate, precise, and rapid, the newly developed RP-HPLC method is recommended for the estimation of Ticagrelor in nature. Due to its high sensitivity and specificity, it is a suitable choice for identifying Ticagrelor in drugs and other products and differentiating hid similarities. However, this method can effectively be used for routine assay and stability study, which can help manage cardiovascular diseases since the quality and efficacy of Ticagrelor-containing products are significant to patients’ condition.

Development and validation of stability indicating HPTLC method for estimation of Daclatasvir Dihydrochloride in pharmaceutical dosage form

A high-performance thin-layer chromatographic method was developed and validated for estimation of Daclatasvir Dihydrochloride in pharmaceutical dosage form. The proposed method was applied successfully to the pharmaceutical analysis of the recently approved dosage form of Daclatasvir Dihydrochloride which is available in market as a brand name of ‘NALDAC 60’ tablets. The drugs were satisfactorily show peak with RF 0.38 for Daclatasvir Dihydrochloride. Method was validated according to the ICH guidelines. The calibration plot was linear between 50-300 ng per band for Daclatasvir Dihydrochloride. The LOD and LOQ for Daclatasvir Dihydrochloride were found to be 0.171 μg per band and 0.521 μg per band, respectively. Accuracy and precision of the proposed method was evaluated by recovery studies (% recovery for Daclatasvir Dihydrochloride was 99.88%) and intra-day and inter-day precision studies (standard deviation value for precision studies was found to be 0.453). In stability testing, Daclatasvir Dihydrochloride was found susceptible to acid hydrolysis and alkaline degradation. Because the method could effectively separate the drugs from their degradation products, it can be used as a stability indicating method. The proposed validated stability indicating assay for the sensitive determination of the mentioned drugs is suitable for Quality control laboratories as a simple fast economic method. Degradation product of Daclatasvir Dihydrochloride in alkaline condition was carried out.

CE-UV method for the determination of catecholamine metabolites from baby pee-covered diapers

A method has been developed for the analysis of vanillylmandelic acid, homovanillic acid, and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid from baby urine as biomarkers of neuroblastoma in infants. Disposable diapers were employed as sampling devices in order to guarantee a low invasiveness during this step. The proposed method consists on a simple extraction step with water from the used diaper followed by the measurement using capillary electrophoresis with UV detection. The Box-Behnken design (BBD) was utilized to optimize the process of extracting catecholamine metabolites from the examined samples. The variables of the sample preparation step were optimized and the method was validated obtaining limits of quantification of 1.65 μg mL−1, good intraday and inter-day precision with RSDs under 15 %. Finally the method was applied to real samples collected from the Department of Neonatology, University Clinical Centre (Gdańsk, Poland). The greenness of the proposed method was also evaluated with different tools (i.e., AGREEPrep and GAPI) with satisfactory results, which allow to state that the method can be considered green. Moreover, its practicality was evaluated by application of BAGI tool, proving to be a practical and economical method to be applied in routine laboratories for determination of catecholamine metabolites in urine-type samples.

Development of a novel patient reported outcome measure for health-related quality of life in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (PROQuALS): study protocol

BackgroundPatient reported outcome measures (PROMs) can be used to assess the impact of health conditions upon an individual’s health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Whilst PROMs have been used to quantify the HRQoL impact of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), existing instruments may not fully capture what matters to people living with ALS (plwALS) or be appropriate to be used directly to inform the cost-effectiveness of new treatments. This highlights a need for a new condition-specific PROM that can both capture what’s important to plwALS and be used in economic evaluation. This study has two key aims: 1) to produce a novel PROM for measuring HRQoL in plwALS (PROQuALS). 2) to value a set of items from the novel PROM to generate an associated preference-weighted measure (PWM) that will enable utility values to be generated.MethodsA mixed-methods study design will be conducted across three stages. Stage 1 involves concept elicitation and the generation of draft PROM content from a robust and comprehensive systematic review of HRQoL in ALS, with input from plwALS. Stage 2 consists of cognitive debriefing of the draft PROM content to ascertain its content validity (Stage 2a), followed by a psychometric survey (Stage 2b) to assess statistical performance. Evidence from Stage 2 will be used to make decisions on the final content and format of the novel PROM. Stage 3 will involve valuation and econometric modeling using health economics methods to generate preference weights, so a PWM derived from the novel PROM can be used in the cost-effectiveness analyses of treatments. Patient and clinical advisory groups will have critical, collaborative input throughout the project.DiscussionThe novel PROM will be designed to comprehensively assess important aspects of HRQoL to plwALS and to quantify HRQoL in terms of subjective impact. The PROQuALS measure will be available for use in research and healthcare settings. The associated PWM component will extend and enable the use of PROQuALS in cost-effective analyses of new treatments for ALS.Trial registrationNot applicable.

Engineering Ga-doped mesoporous bioactive glass-integrated PEEK implants for immunomodulatory and enhanced osseointegration effects

With the increasing aging population, the demand for orthopedic implants is also growing. Polyether ether ketone (PEEK) is considered a promising material for orthopedic implants due to its excellent biocompatibility. However, the lack of bioactivity and excessive immune response post-implantation often impair bone integration. Therefore, it is urgent to bio-functionalize PEEK-based implants to promote bone integration. This study employs a simple, economical, and feasible method to coat Ga-ion doped bioactive glass nanoparticles (Ga-MBGs) onto sulfonated PEEK surfaces, constructing a multifunctional PEEK-based orthopedic implant. The resulting bio-functionalized PEEK implants promote macrophage M2 phenotype polarization, thus fostering an anti-inflammatory immune microenvironment. Moreover, the direct osteogenic effect of Ga ions and the immuno-osteogenic effect through promoting macrophage M2 polarization enhance osteogenic differentiation potential in vitro and bone integration in vivo. A sequence of in vivo and in vitro experiments substantiates the essential and intricate function of this innovative orthopedic implants. in regulating normal bone immunity and metabolism. Overall, the application of Ga-MBGs provides a simple, economical, and effective method for developing multifunctional orthopedic implants. This surface bio-functionalized PEEK implant, capable of modulating immunity and bone metabolism, holds significant clinical application potential as an orthopedic implant.

Social hygiene in Germany in the early twentieth century: Science subject and methodology

Introduction. At the beginning of the 20th century, the theory of social hygiene was widely recognized worldwide. This science’s birthplace is Germany, and its founder is Alfred Grotjahn. In 1904, he presented a scientific concept of social hygiene, including a new hygienic science, field of study, subject, methodology, and scientific methods. Purpose. This study examines the scientific approaches to social hygiene in German academic literature from the early 1900s to the late 1920s. Materials and methods. This study gathered the necessary data by comprehensively reviewing key German manuals and periodic annual compilations. Results. A. Grotjahn viewed social hygiene as a science combining descriptive and normative approaches. By social hygiene, he meant the study of conditions affecting the social hygiene culture of individuals about place, time, and social environment, as well as their offspring. The descriptive component of the science aims to analyze these conditions, while the normative side investigates measures to improve hygienic culture among individuals and their offspring. He proposed to apply the probability theory as a scientific methodology and utilized the scientific methods of statistics, economics, history, sociology, and politics. Until the 1920s, German social hygienists followed Grotjahn’s theory in their manuals. In the mid-1920s, Ferdinand Huppe introduced the concept of constitutional hygiene theory in a multi-volume handbook of social hygiene. It was based on the methods of biology and the principles of racial hygiene. Conclusion. Grotjahn’s scientific concept of social hygiene underwent significant changes and evolution in the early twentieth century. These transformations, which were influenced by introducing new theories and applying different scientific methods, are crucial to understanding the development of social hygiene as a discipline.