Priority Areas For Research Research Articles

Energy transition in a developing economy: Challenges, prospects and policy considerations

Energy transition as a process of decarbonizing energy systems is considered a key mitigation strategy in the global effort to curb rising temperatures stemming from greenhouse gases. The main challenge with the energy transition process has to do with the social, economic, political and technological capacities of a country to undertake this transition process for which developing countries globally are lagging behind. The purpose of this study is the present a policy discussion paper looking at the pertinent social, economic and institutional challenges that developing countries need to consider in its energy transition process. As a case study, the paper also looked at the economy of Guyana, a country that is experiencing an oil and gas boom and also has committed to developing a low carbon development strategy. The paper implemented a narrative literature review and constructed the case study for Guyana utilizing secondary information on policy positions and directives for the energy sector in Guyana. Several pertinent issues within developing countries were identified including centralized and state dominated markets, poor infrastructure to support the transition process, availability of technology, energy justice and energy bullying and a lack of policies that foster community energy systems, energy sensitization and energy investments. These issues also reverberated with Guyana with policy recommendations emphasizing on collective actions needed to address the policy needs of developing countries in their transition process. The issues identified within the policy discussion of this paper can be used by policy makers globally as a potential framework for identifying the research gaps and priority areas to channel resources and technical skills to enhance the energy transition process in developing countries.

Research Priorities in CriticalCareCardiology: JACC Expert Panel.

Over the last several decades, the cardiac intensive care unit (CICU) has seen a substantial evolution in the patient population, comorbidities, and diagnoses. However, the generation of high-quality evidence to manage these complex and critically ill patients has been slow. Given the scarcity of clinical trials focused on critical care cardiology (CCC), CICU clinicians are often left to extrapolate from studies that either exclude or poorly represent the patient population admitted to CICUs. The lack of high-quality evidence and limited guidance from society guidelines has led to significant variation in practice patterns for many of the most common CICU diagnoses. Several barriers, both common to critical care research and unique to CCC, have impeded progress. In this multinational perspective, we describe key areas of priority for CCC research, current challenges for investigation in the CICU, and essential elements of a path forward for the field.

Prevalence of Malaria Parasite among Pregnant Women Attending to Saudi Kassala Teaching Hospital in Kassala State, Eastern Sudan.

Malaria during pregnancy is a priority area for malaria research and control as pregnant women represent a high risk group for severe malaria, and the presentation of malaria during pregnancy varies according to the level of transmission in the area; so the aim of this study is to determine the prevalence rates of malaria parasite among pregnant women attending to Saudi Kassala Teaching hospital in Kassala state, 2022. A cross-sectional study was carried out in Saudi Kassala Teaching hospital in Kassala State. This study involved one hundred and eighty-five blood samples collected from pregnant women who was then examined by using blood films and ICT for malaria, and the data were collected by a structured questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS version 21. The prevalence of malaria among pregnant women was 2.2% (95% CI: 0.006-0.054). There was no significant difference among the different age groups with respect to the prevalence of malaria (P value = 0.483). The prevalence of malaria in rural residency was 2.2%, and this was significantly more common than the urban residency (P value = 0.021). When compared across the gestational trimesters, there was no significant difference between them (P value = 0.518). The number of gravidity is not related to malaria infection (P value = 0.737). The presence of symptom compliant of malaria during pregnancy does not suggest the presence of malaria (P value = 0.152). No difference was found between the different educational levels with respect to the prevalence of malaria (P value = 0.362). The result showed that there was 1 (0.5%) negative result in ICT which was positive in blood film for malaria (BFFM) and there were 3 (1.6%) positive malaria parasites by both methods in all 185 samples with statistically insignificant differences (P = 0.703). Plasmodium falciparum was only species detected in this study. Malaria among pregnant women was more prevalent in rural areas. However, other factors such as age, gestational age, gravidity, and educational level do not affect the prevalence of malaria in pregnant women. The presence of symptomatic compliant of malaria during pregnancy does not suggest the presence of malaria. The use of ICT or BFFM has similar diagnostic outcome for malaria in pregnancy.

Cross-Community Collaboration and Data Collection to Optimize Patient Care in Hemolytic Anemias

Background: Patient engagement is becoming increasingly important for all facets of healthcare, from drug development and approval, to ensuring equitable access and the delivery of care. It is imperative to bring the voice of those impacted by the actual disease into these processes: this is particularly true for rare diseases, such as hereditary hemolytic anemias (HHAs), where the disease burden is often high and coupled with a poor quality of life and complex treatment requirements. The Red Cell Revolution™ (RCR) advisory council arose organically as part of an Agios Pharmaceuticals-sponsored discovery process, during which a range of stakeholders including healthcare providers (HCPs), advocates, patients, and company leaders offered perspectives on how to optimize engagement with the disease communities. Insights uncovered as part of this process demonstrated that there are unifying health concerns and needs among those impacted by pyruvate kinase (PK) deficiency, sickle cell disease (SCD), and thalassemia, and that there is an opportunity to explore new patient-advocacy research, supported by the creation of a unique multi-stakeholder council. Objective: To apply a multi-stakeholder, rigorous patient-advocacy data collection approach to understand the unmet needs of patients, caregivers, and HCPs for three HHAs: PK deficiency, SCD, and thalassemia. Methods: The RCR (supported by Agios Pharmaceuticals) was established across three allied disease areas, with representation from patients (N=5), caregivers (N=1), advocates (N=3), clinicians (N=8), and Agios representatives (N=5) impacted by HHA. The patient advocacy research method commenced with a survey shared with all RCR members, which curated both qualitative and quantitative insights from the group. These insights subsequently underwent cluster analysis to determine the shared concerns experienced by those impacted by HHA. The data were also subjected to linguistic analysis whereby terminology used to describe the experiences of participants was ranked according to frequency of use to reveal the most prominent concerns. The results of these analyses were distilled into an agreed group vision by the RCR, and a specific research strategy was aligned on for the RCR to pursue. Results: RCR members provided detailed answers about unmet needs across three categories: 1) impact of disease; 2) local and regional community needs; and 3) international community needs. When applied, the analysis uncovered 12 common concerns expressed by all participants across the three disease areas. These are outlined in Table 1. These insights were distilled into four key topic areas: 1) emotional and physical fatigue, 2) timely care, 3) transition from pediatric to adult care, and 4) access disparities, which were then ranked according to four parameters, namely whether it was: 1) common across all three disease areas, 2) global in scope, 3) high potential for lasting impact, and 4) revolutionary (involving or causing a complete or dramatic change). This produced alignment on one key priority: emotional and physical fatigue. Conclusion: The commonality analysis deployed here demonstrates the ability of a multi-stakeholder council to determine priority areas for research to address unmet needs. The RCR will conduct an in-depth evidence audit of the existing research in this field to identify key knowledge gaps, enabling the design of a study that will answer outstanding research questions. This study will generate patient experience data with the potential to inform both the clinical setting and drug development. As a next step, the RCR is developing a patient advocacy research study to collect the necessary evidence to better understand fatigue and its impact on psychosocial quality of life measures, such as feelings of guilt.

Biological production of hydrogen: From basic principles to the latest advances in process improvement

The development of net-zero emission fuels is a priority area of modern research due to the imminent reduction of fossil fuel reserves and environmental problems caused by their combustion. One of the promising fuels is hydrogen, which has a high heat of combustion and is eco-friendly, forms water as the only byproduct. Recently, methods of hydrogen production by microorganisms, which use directly the solar energy or utilize the organic waste during fermentation, have been intensively developed and applied. In this review, the basic principles of the main light-dependent (biophotolysis, photofermentation) and light-independent (dark fermentation and microbial electrolysis) methods of biological hydrogen production are discussed. Particular attention is paid to the advantages and disadvantages of these methods, the possibility of combining them into a single system, as well as various strategies for improving biohydrogen production aimed at transition from laboratory research to full-scale application.

Dementia research in Ireland: What should we prioritise?

Dementia research prioritisation allows for the systematic allocation of investment in dementia research by governments, funding agencies and the private sector. There is currently a lack of information available in Ireland regarding priority areas for dementia research. To address this gap, a dementia research prioritisation exercise was undertaken, consisting of an online survey of professionals in the dementia field and workshops for people living with dementia and family carers. (1) An anonymous online survey of professionals, based on an existing WHO global survey: the global survey was adapted to an Irish context and participants were asked to score 65 thematic research avenues under five criteria; (2) A mixed-methods exercise for people living with dementia and family carers: this involved two facilitated workshops where participants voted on the research themes they felt were important to them and should be addressed through research. Eight of the top ten research priorities in the survey of professionals ( n=108) were focused on the delivery and quality of care and services for people with dementia and carers. Other research avenues ranked in the top ten focused on themes of timely and accurate diagnosis of dementia in primary health-care practices and diversifying therapeutic approaches in clinical trials. Participants in the workshops ( n=13) ranked 'better drugs and treatment for people with dementia', 'dementia prevention/ risk reduction' and 'care for people with dementia and carers' as their top priority areas. Findings from this prioritisation exercise will inform and motivate policymakers, funders and researchers to support and conduct dementia-focused research and ensure that the limited resources made available are spent on research that has the most impact for those who will benefit from and use the results of research.

Legal basis of international agricultural organizations

Contractual relations between various agricultural producers and other legal entities act as one of the priority areas in research carried out in the field of agro-industrial legislation. The study of specific areas of their activities, the goals they set for them- selves, the array of documentation developed by them, the effectiveness of their work, the presence or absence of interaction with other international structures. There is a detailed analysis of those trends that have generated the need for interstate cooperation and interaction in the field of countering the problems that have arisen in the agricultural sector of the world economy, as well as a set of methods by which these problems are solved. The information that will be presented in this article is applicable as reference, additional information at the state and interstate level of cer- tain activities that are aimed at forming a policy for interaction with both state and non-governmental actors of the world community in the agricultural, agricultural sector.

Moving forward through consensus: a national Delphi approach to determine the top research priorities in prostate cancer in Uganda

ObjectiveTo identify key areas for research in prostate cancer (PC) in the Ugandan context by establishing the major health system, socioeconomic and clinical barriers to seeking, reaching and receiving high-quality...

How digital health translational research is prioritised: a qualitative stakeholder-driven approach to decision support evaluation

ObjectivesDigital health is now routinely being applied in clinical care, and with a variety of clinician-facing systems available, healthcare organisations are increasingly required to make decisions about technology implementation and...

Pesticide residues with hazard classifications relevant to non-target species including humans are omnipresent in the environment and farmer residences

Intensive and widespread use of pesticides raises serious environmental and human health concerns. The presence and levels of 209 pesticide residues (active substances and transformation products) in 625 environmental samples (201 soil, 193 crop, 20 outdoor air, 115 indoor dust, 58 surface water, and 38 sediment samples) have been studied. The samples were collected during the 2021 growing season, across 10 study sites, covering the main European crops, and conventional and organic farming systems. We profiled the pesticide residues found in the different matrices using existing hazard classifications towards non-target organisms and humans. Combining monitoring data and hazard information, we developed an indicator for the prioritization of pesticides, which can support policy decisions and sustainable pesticide use transitions. Eighty-six percent of the samples had at least one residue above the respective limit of detection. One hundred residues were found in soil, 112 in water, 99 in sediments, 78 in crops, 76 in outdoor air, and 197 in indoor dust. The number, levels, and profile of residues varied between farming systems. Our results show that non-approved compounds still represent a significant part of environmental cocktails and should be accounted for in monitoring programs and risk assessments. The hazard profiles analysis confirms the dominance of compounds of low-moderate hazard and underscores the high hazard of some approved compounds and recurring “no data available” situations. Overall, our results support the idea that risk should be assessed in a mixture context, taking environmentally relevant mixtures into consideration. We have uncovered uncertainties and data gaps that should be addressed, as well as the policy implications at the EU approval status level. Our newly introduced indicator can help identify research priority areas, and act as a reference for targeted scenarios set forth in the Farm to Fork pesticide reduction goals.

Advancing understanding of digital well-being at the intersection of technology and leisure

As new technologies emerge and are inserted within peoples’ lives each day, scholarly examination of the intersections between these innovations and leisure is increasingly vital. Researchers and their methods must continue to advance, in order to better anticipate and inform theory, industry, and society. This closing article of the Journal of Leisure Research special issue on technology, innovation, and leisure (TIL) provides a brief targeted bibliometric review of recent Web of Science (WoS) indexed research related to TIL, identifying research co-occurrence trends for 111 recent articles. These trends, along with commonalities within keyword co-occurrence clusters, and contributions from the seven special issue articles, informed ten proposed areas of TIL research priority that will often interact and overlap: Technology enhanced travel behavior; Psychology of social networks/media; Game-based educational innovation; Aging and digital leisure; Health and well-being technological design; Gender considerations; ICT attitudes, adoption, and literacy; Youth and adolescent technology and leisure; Social aspects of technology and leisure in urban settings; and Digital leisure DEI. Specific research needs within these ten areas are identified, based on the insights and recommendations of the special issue contributors.

A roadmap for research in post-stroke fatigue: Consensus-based core recommendations from the third Stroke Recovery and Rehabilitation Roundtable.

Fatigue affects almost half of all people living with stroke. Stroke survivors rank understanding fatigue and how to reduce it as one of the highest research priorities. We convened an interdisciplinary, international group of clinical and pre-clinical researchers and lived experience experts. We identified four priority areas: (1) best measurement tools for research, (2) clinical identification of fatigue and potentially modifiable causes, (3) promising interventions and recommendations for future trials, and (4) possible biological mechanisms of fatigue. Cross-cutting themes were aphasia and the voice of people with lived experience. Working parties were formed and structured consensus building processes were followed. We present 20 recommendations covering outcome measures for research, development, and testing of new interventions and priority areas for future research on the biology of post-stroke fatigue. We developed and recommend the use of the Stroke Fatigue Clinical Assessment Tool. By synthesizing current knowledge in post-stroke fatigue across clinical and pre-clinical fields, our work provides a roadmap for future research into post-stroke fatigue.

A roadmap for research in post-stroke fatigue: Consensus-based core recommendations from the third Stroke Recovery and Rehabilitation Roundtable.

Fatigue affects almost half of all people living with stroke. Stroke survivors rank understanding fatigue and how to reduce it as one of the highest research priorities. We convened an interdisciplinary, international group of clinical and pre-clinical researchers and lived experience experts. We identified four priority areas: (1) best measurement tools for research, (2) clinical identification of fatigue and potentially modifiable causes, (3) promising interventions and recommendations for future trials, and (4) possible biological mechanisms of fatigue. Cross-cutting themes were aphasia and the voice of people with lived experience. Working parties were formed and structured consensus building processes were followed. We present 20 recommendations covering outcome measures for research, development, and testing of new interventions and priority areas for future research on the biology of post-stroke fatigue. We developed and recommend the use of the Stroke Fatigue Clinical Assessment Tool. By synthesizing current knowledge in post-stroke fatigue across clinical and pre-clinical fields, our work provides a roadmap for future research into post-stroke fatigue.

Priorities for research to support local authority action on health and climate change: a study in England

BackgroundEvidence is needed to support local action to reduce the adverse health impacts of climate change and maximise the health co-benefits of climate action. Focused on England, the study identifies priority areas for research to inform local decision making.MethodsFirstly, potential priority areas for research were identified from a brief review of UK policy documents, and feedback invited from public and policy stakeholders. This included a survey of Directors of Public Health (DsPH) in England, the local government officers responsible for public health. Secondly, rapid reviews of research evidence examined whether there was UK evidence relating to the priorities identified in the survey.ResultsThe brief policy review pointed to the importance of evidence in two broad areas: (i) community engagement in local level action on the health impacts of climate change and (ii) the economic (cost) implications of such action. The DsPH survey (n = 57) confirmed these priorities. With respect to community engagement, public understanding of climate change’s health impacts and the public acceptability of local climate actions were identified as key evidence gaps. With respect to economic implications, the gaps related to evidence on the health and non-health-related costs and benefits of climate action and the short, medium and longer-term budgetary implications of such action, particularly with respect to investments in the built environment. Across both areas, the need for evidence relating to impacts across income groups was highlighted, a point also emphasised by the public involvement panel. The rapid reviews confirmed these evidence gaps (relating to public understanding, public acceptability, economic evaluation and social inequalities). In addition, public and policy stakeholders pointed to other barriers to action, including financial pressures, noting that better evidence is insufficient to enable effective local action.ConclusionsThere is limited evidence to inform health-centred local action on climate change. More evidence is required on public perspectives on, and the economic dimensions of, local climate action. Investment in locally focused research is urgently needed if local governments are to develop and implement evidence-based policies to protect public health from climate change and maximise the health co-benefits of local action.

Agricultural productivity and structural transformation: evidence and questions for African development

ABSTRACT This paper summarizes key findings from the recent literature on agricultural productivity and structural transformation and then identifies priority areas for further research. The paper discusses the macro relevance of agricultural productivity for growth and structural transformation. New theory and data have underscored the importance of agricultural productivity as a proximate cause of low aggregate productivity in the world’s poorest countries, including many in sub-Saharan Africa. Evidence has also emerged on the importance of agricultural productivity growth as a driver of development and growth in the past. But micro evidence and changes in the global context suggest that today’s low-income countries may face a different set of challenges in the years ahead.

A consensus process to identify research priorities in paediatric urology in the United Kingdom

Paediatric urologists manage a spectrum of conditions, much of the evidence for relevant treatment pathways is of low quality. For many conditions treatment varies according to location and surgeon; children with the same condition might have surgery in one unit but watchful waiting in another. Underlying this variation are differences in opinion, and insufficient high-level evidence with few prospective randomized studies. Such studies may be challenging to design, fund and recruit into, and are more likely to succeed if there is a collaborative approach. Research prioritization is a tool to identify the research of most value. Delphi methodology is an interpretive technique aiming to gain the consensus view of interested parties. The British Association of Paediatric Urologists (BAPU) set out to ascertain consensus on what paediatric urologists, working in the UK, consider to be areas of priority for research. This paper describes the process used, and the resulting list of research questions. A scoping survey of paediatric urologists in the UK was undertaken to identify an initial set of research questions. These were refined by the BAPU research committee (BAPU RC), then prioritized using a modified Delphi process. During Stage 1a multiple new research questions were submitted leading to Stage 1b, an interim process. All UK paediatric urologists were invited to take part in Stage 2 of the prioritization process. Sixty-five questions were submitted to the scoping survey by 24 paediatric urologists. The BAPU RC refined these to 60 questions, which were submitted to Stage 1a of the modified Delphi process. Sixty-seven people completed Stage 1a, at the same time submitting 224 additional research questions. The BAPU RC revised the entire question set, ensuring the key subject of the original question was not altered and novel questions were retained. The BAPU RC undertook interim scoring of the resultant 79 questions, the top scoring 25 questions plus 5 lower scoring 'wild card' questions (to ensure the breadth of the specialty was represented) were put forward to Stage 2. A total of 65 people completed Stage 2, including a lay representative. A list of 30 priority research questions was generated; the top 10 includes management of neuropathic bladder, posterior urethral valves, antibiotic prophylaxis, DSD & CAH, continence, male external genitalia, VUR and transition care (Table). This process has provided BAPU, paediatric urologists in the UK, and funders with areas of research considered a priority in the specialty.

Language processing speed in school students with hearing loss: A review

For effective learning in classroom settings, it is critical that students comprehend spoken and written language rapidly. If language processing is slow, children may miss content in lessons, struggle to participate effectively in group work, and be disadvantaged in high-stakes assessment tasks. Rapid language processing may be challenging for students with hearing loss using hearing aids or cochlear implants. They may process language more slowly than peers with normal hearing due to either contemporaneous signal degradation from their hearing devices, or “fuzzy” mental representation of language resulting from degraded input during language acquisition. A better understanding of language processing speed in students with hearing loss is urgently required to provide the basis for appropriate classroom support strategies and provisions in assessment tasks. This review of the current state of knowledge on language processing speed in school-age children with hearing loss will demonstrate that while some research does find slow language processing at the word and sentence level in this population, this may be modulated by factors including task difficulty and degree of hearing loss. Priority areas for future research, including processing speed at the paragraph/discourse level and the relationship between spoken and written language processing speed, will also be highlighted.

Трансформация поля исследований и инноваций в сфере педагогического образования (по итогам IX Международного форума по педагогическому образованию)

The aim of the study was to organize a reflexive understanding of the issues and trends in the development of the research in teacher education in Russia through the analysis of some aspects of the International Forum on Teacher Education on the basis of Kazan Federal University (https://ifte.kpfu.ru/). In this context, three tasks were solved: the development of the concepts of the "field description" of conference activities; formation of a preliminary "field image" of the IFTE-2023, identification of leading trends and urgent tasks in the organization of conference events in the near future. The research methodology included three components: conducting a survey of the Forum participants, aimed at identifying existing priorities, attitudes in the field of teacher education; analysis of the topics of "key reports"; analysis of the statements of experts participating in the panel discussion on the problems of teacher education, held on May 25, 2023 as part of IFTE-2023. The results obtained allow us to draw conclusions in the following aspects: on the use of key ideas for the study of research and innovation activities in the field of education; generalized requirements for the design of conference-oriented events on teacher education; preliminary assessment of the relevance and significance of events; conditions for improving the quality and efficiency of conference discussions; priority areas of research on practical pedagogy; activation of public participation in interdisciplinary and inter institutional projects; priorities for the transformation of teacher education.

Linguistic and Cultural Competence at Hospital Discharge

Hospital discharge is one of the most vulnerable moments in a patient's experience of care. One relatively unexplored area to improving transitions of care is how to meet the needs of diverse populations in a growing multicultural world. The intersectionality of language, race, ethnicity, and culture adds an additional layer of complexity to the hospital discharge process and raises the already high risk of communication failures. This article aims to review the role of language, race, ethnicity, and culture during the hospital discharge process; to discuss potential solutions to improve discharge outcomes amongst diverse populations; and to identify priority areas for future research.

Preharvest and postharvest management practices related to mycotoxin contamination in maize in Ethiopia – a review

Abstract Mycotoxins are fungal metabolites that commonly contaminate food crops such as maize. Conducive climatic conditions together with improper crop value chain practices are favorable for mycotoxin contamination. Previous studies in Ethiopia have indicated that mycotoxin contamination in maize is prevalent. For the implementation of proper mycotoxin prevention and control strategies, identifying the current local value chain practices that are related to mycotoxin contamination is needed. This review investigates current preharvest and postharvest management practices of maize cultivation in Ethiopia in relation to mycotoxin contamination and identifies gaps in knowledge and priority areas for future research. Findings indicate that the majority of applied preharvest and postharvest practices of maize in Ethiopia seem to favor mycotoxin contamination. Recent developments in grain drying and storage technologies, which are also potential mycotoxin management strategies, are facing constraints for proper implementation in subsistence farmers’ level.