Background:Esophageal atresia (EA) is a congenital malformation affecting 1:3000-4500 newborns. Approximately 15% have a long-gap EA (LGEA), in which case a primary anastomosis is often impossible to achieve. To create continuity of the esophagus patients instead have to undergo lengthening procedures or organ interpositions; methods associated with high morbidity and poor functional outcomes. Eso

Background: While recommendations for the optimal distribution of surgical services in high-income countries (HICs) exist, it is unclear how these translate to resource-limited settings. Given the significant shortage and maldistribution of surgical workforce and infrastructure in many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), the optimal role of decentralization versus regionalization (centraliza

Horizontal logistics collaboration can increase environmental sustainability and reduce shipping costs. Given these benefits—and the fact that few shippers actually opt to collaborate—public sector agencies and industry associations have attempted to sponsor and support the facilitation of horizontal logistics collaboration projects over the past 20 years. The literature, however, has yet to revea

Alternative food networks (AFNs) have the potential to enhance and redistribute value in favour of producers and consumers through novel ways of organizing supply chain activities. What is more, AFNs are often characterized by their ‘sustainability promise’ – or the idea that their networks foster social, ecological or environmental improvements over conventional food networks. Based on a purposiv

Background: New variants are evolving in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), and receptor binding domain (RBD) mutations have been associated with a higher capacity to evade neutralizing antibodies (NAbs). We aimed at determining the impact of COVID-19 vaccine and infection on human milk antibody titers and activity against the RBD mutations from SARS-CoV-2 variants of co

The European Spallation Source (ESS) is a neutron research facility under construction in southern Sweden. The facility will produce a wide range ofradionuclides that could be released into the environment. Some radionuclides are of particular concern such as the rare earth gadolinium-148. In this article, the local environment was investigated in terms of food production and rare earth element co

BACKGROUND: The HIV epidemic in Ethiopia is concentrated in urban areas. Ethiopia conducted a Population-based HIV Impact Assessment (EPHIA) in urban areas between October 2017 and April 2018 to measure the status of the country's response to the epidemic.METHODS: We conducted field data collection and HIV testing in randomly selected households using the national, rapid testing algorithm with lab

Several factors affect the capital structure of start-ups. In this study, we compare the capital structure choices of accelerated and non-accelerated start-ups to evaluate the role of accelerated programmes on the capital structure decisions for startups. Using a comprehensive database provided by Emory University, we find that accelerated start-ups have higher external equity ratios than non-acce

As part of an independent assessment of the preoperational radiation environment around the Ostrovets nuclear power plant in Belarus, grass and foodstuffs were collected in 2019 for 14C analysis. The preoperational 14C specific activities in the Ostrovets region were shown to be similar to that of European data from other uncontaminated sites.

The present research proposes a theoretical framework for a thrivable entrepreneurial ecosystem in which thrivability is a novel entrepreneurship approach that embeds a comprehensive view in which sustainability is ‘the way to walk’ rather than the goal to reach. A thrivable entrepreneurial ecosystem aims to create prosperity through ecosystem resource (re)generation and transformation to define l

In solids, strong repulsion between electrons can inhibit their movement and result in a “Mott” metal-to-insulator transition (MIT), a fundamental phenomenon whose understanding has remained a challenge for over 50 years. A key issue is how the wave-like itinerant electrons change into a localized-like state due to increased interactions. However, observing the MIT in terms of the energy- and mome

Plasma circulating cell-free mitochondrial DNA (ccf-mtDNA) is an immunogenic molecule and a novel biomarker of psychiatric disorders. Some previous studies reported increased levels of ccf-mtDNA in unmedicated depression and recent suicide attempters, while other studies found unchanged or decreased ccf-mtDNA levels in depression. Inconsistent findings across studies may be explained by small samp

Due to legal, cultural, and social factors, female sex workers (FSWs) experience anelevated level of violence, heavy alcohol consumption, and sexual abuse. Theseindividual and societal factors create a web of vulnerabilities that facilitate thespread of HIV within this population group. Moreover, stigma and discriminationare common among HIV-positive FSWs, contributing to poor HIV treatmentadheren

Mixtures of epoxy resins in the presence of epoxy hyperbranched polymers (HBP), in the range of 5-15 wt%, were investigated in the cationic photocuring process. No significant differences in rate of polymerization or final epoxy groups conversion were observed. At low concentration, HBP acts as plasticizer and causes a decrease of the glass transition temperature of the epoxy matrix and of the E'

The cationic photopolymerization of oxetane-based systems containing silicon monomers was investigated. For this purpose, three new silicon-containing oxetane monomers were synthesized through a simple and straightforward synthetic method. The silicon-containing monomers were added to a typical oxetane resin, 3,3-[oxydi(methylene)]bis(3-ethyloxetane), in concentrations of 1-5 wt %. They exploited

New difunctional fluoro-epoxide monomers were synthesized starting by allylation of the corresponding fluorinated diols and subsequent epoxidation. The new products were photocured, in the presence of triphenylsulphonium hexafluoroantimonate as photoinitiator; a higher reactivity of the fluorinated monomers was evidenced with respect to a typical UV curable diepoxy resin, hexanedioldiglycidyl ethe

Background: Middle Eastern immigrants represent a growing population in Sweden today. This group are at higher risk for type 2 diabetes than the native population, but are also shown to exhibit unique properties; despite an abundance in traditional cardiometabolic risk factors such as obesity, dearranged blood lipids and diminished physical acitivity, this group seem to exhibit lower blood pressur