Quality indicators of telemedical care offshore—a scoping review

Background Offshore industries operate all around the world in diverse and remote environments. The use of telemedicine to ensure up-to-date medical care for thousands of people offshore has been common practice for decades. Thus, in this setting, extensive experiences with this type of health care delivery have already been gathered, while in other settings this is just beginning. However, the quality of telemedical care on offshore installations is rarely reported yet. The objective of this review was to explore published literature with regards to the following questions: Have any Quality Indicators (QIs) been published for measuring the quality of telemedical care on offshore installations or are there identifiable items that could be used as such QIs? Methods We conducted a comprehensive Scoping Review (PRISMA-ScR) of the published literature using the databases MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, Web of Science (Core Collection), and Google Scholar. Search results were read and QIs or findings from which QIs could be derived were classified according to the dimensions of quality established by Donabedian (structure, process, or outcome QIs). Results The search returned 10,236 non-recurring articles, 45 of which were full-text screened and 15 of which were included in this review. Types of publications were heterogenous. No QIs for the quality of telemedical care offshore have been published yet. Findings that could be the basis for QIs focused on structure quality (11 QIs) followed by process quality (11 QIs), while outcome quality was less common (1 QI). Conclusion Currently, although years of experience with telemedical care on offshore installations exist, there is a paucity of research on a solid data base regarding the quality of telemedical care offshore. The authors derived a list of 24 possible QIs from the findings of the publications for further validation. This could be the basis for implementation and definition of QIs in this and in similar remote settings.

RE-CODING ETHICS OF URBANISM FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE QURAN

This paper aims to identify and discuss core concepts of importance to the ethics of urbanism by undertaking a detailed study of urban issues in the light of the Holy Quran based on their associated ethical dimensions and the nature of the urban structure. This study attempts to analyze the concepts of ethical urbanism by conducting a thorough content analysis of urbanismthemes within the divine message of Muslims (the Quran) and related prior literature focusing on their related ethical aspects. The Islamic view of ethical urbanism is systematic and unambiguous. The analyzes identified 1819 verses in all 30 sections of the Quran, including five themes linked to urban Structure Quality and Ethical Responsibility. Particularly environmental, physical, social, economic, and political responsibility. This urban content and the associated principles are embedded in the idea that men are God's rulers on earth and their deeds have earthly and celestial benefits. This paper leads to the intellectual growth of Islam through promoting involvement in Ijtihad. Therefore, this is the interest of urban scholars and responsibility to properly urban practices and religious traditions.

Modeling of protein complexes in CASP14 with emphasis on the interaction interface prediction

The goal of CASP experiments is to monitor the progress in the protein structure prediction field. During the 14th CASP edition we aimed to test our capabilities of predicting structures of protein complexes. Our protocol for modeling protein assemblies included both template-based modeling and free docking. Structural templates were identified using sensitive sequence-based searches. If sequence-based searches failed, we performed structure-based template searches using selected CASP server models. In the absence of reliable templates we applied free docking starting from monomers generated by CASP servers. We evaluated and ranked models of protein complexes using an improved version of protein structure quality assessment method, VoroMQA, taking into account both interaction interface and global structure scores. If reliable templates could be identified, generally accurate models of protein assemblies were generated with the exception of an antibody-antigen interaction. The success of free docking mainly depended on the accuracy of initial subunit models and on the scoring of docking solutions. To put our overall results in perspective, we analyzed our performance in the context of other CASP groups. Although the subunits in our assembly models often were not of the top quality, these models had, overall, the best predicted interfaces according to several protein-protein interface accuracy measures. Since we did not use co-evolution-based prediction of inter-chain contacts, we attribute our relative success in predicting interfaces primarily to the emphasis on the interaction interface when modeling and scoring.

The importance of initial application and reapplication of biochar in the context of soil structure improvement

It was shown that the use of biochar provides many benefits to agriculture by improving the whole complex of soil properties, including soil structure. However, the diverse range of biochar effects depends on its physicochemical properties, its application rates, soil initial properties etc. The impacts of biochar, mainly its reapplication to soils and its interaction with nitrogen in relation to water-stable aggregates (WSA) did not receive much attention to date. The aims of the study were: (1) to evaluate the effect of initial application (in spring 2014) and reapplication (in spring 2018) of different biochar rates (B0, B10 and B20 t ha−1) as well as application of biochar with N-fertilizer (40 to 240 kg N ha−1 depending on the requirement of the cultivated crop) on the content of WSA as one of the most important indicators of soil structure quality, (2) to assess the interrelationships between the contents of soil organic matter (SOM) and WSA. The study was conducted in 2017–2019 as part of the field experiment with biochar on Haplic Luvisol at the experimental station of SUA in Nitra, Slovakia. Results showed that initial application as well as reapplication of biochar improved soil structure. The most favorable changes in soil structure were found in N0B20B treatment (with biochar reapplication) at which a significantly higher content of water-stable macro-aggregates (WSAma) (+15%) as well as content of WSAma size fractions of > 5 mm, 5–3 mm, 3–2 mm and 2–1 mm (+72%, +65%, +57% and +64%, respectively) was observed compared to the control. An increase in SOM content, due to both, initial biochar application and its reapplication, significantly supported the stability of soil aggregates, while organic matter including humic substances composition did not.

Status of Farming and Marketing of Live Pangas (Pangasius hypophthalmus) from Trishal Upazila to Different Areas of Bangladesh

The research was conducted to collect information on the status of farming and marketing of live pangas (Pangasius hypophthalmus) from Trishal region to different areas of Bangladesh by interviewing stakeholder and secondary sources. The survey was carried out for seven months from May to November, 2016. Pangas farmers, arotdar, commission agents, wholesaler and retailers were interviewed in accordance with participatory rural methods. The results showed that the best harvesting season were found to be June to July and November to January. It was also found that 90% farmers harvested their fish completely and only 10% of farmers harvested partially. The price of pangas depends on market structure, quality, size, distance, weight, seasonal variation and regional perception. The prices of pangas were found to be highest of 130tk/kg and the lowest of 85tk/kg but sometimes 60 to 70tk/kg when the fish are dead (on the way to destined area) in different districts. On the other hand significant quantity loss was observed in fish 8%, 10%, 15%, 18%, and 19% after reaching to Savar, Manikgonj, Maowa, Sylhet, and Barisal from Trishal. Therefore, it was strongly recommended that proper handling of live fish must be ensured during transportation to attain quality pangas at consumer level. Environ. Sci. & Natural Resources, 12(1&2): 73-82, 2019

Crystallographic models of SARS-CoV-2 3CLpro: in-depth assessment of structure quality and validation

The appearance at the end of 2019 of the new SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus led to an unprecedented response by the structural biology community, resulting in the rapid determination of many hundreds of structures of proteins encoded by the virus. As part of an effort to analyze and, if necessary, remediate these structures as deposited in the Protein Data Bank (PDB), this work presents a detailed analysis of 81 crystal structures of the main protease 3CLpro, an important target for the design of drugs against COVID-19. The structures of the unliganded enzyme and its complexes with a number of inhibitors were determined by multiple research groups using different experimental approaches and conditions; the resulting structures span 13 different polymorphs representing seven space groups. The structures of the enzyme itself, all determined by molecular replacement, are highly similar, with the exception of one polymorph with a different inter-domain orientation. However, a number of complexes with bound inhibitors were found to pose significant problems. Some of these could be traced to faulty definitions of geometrical restraints for ligands and to the general problem of a lack of such information in the PDB depositions. Several problems with ligand definition in the PDB itself were also noted. In several cases extensive corrections to the models were necessary to adhere to the evidence of the electron-density maps. Taken together, this analysis of a large number of structures of a single, medically important protein, all determined within less than a year using modern experimental tools, should be useful in future studies of other systems of high interest to the biomedical community.