Summary Background 80% of individuals with cancer will require a surgical procedure, yet little comparative data exist on early outcomes in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). We compared postoperative outcomes in breast, colorectal, and gastric cancer surgery in hospitals worldwide, focusing on the effect of disease stage and complications on postoperative mortality. Methods This was a multicentre, international prospective cohort study of consecutive adult patients undergoing surgery for primary breast, colorectal, or gastric cancer requiring a skin incision done under general or neuraxial anaesthesia. The primary outcome was death or major complication within 30 days of surgery. Multilevel logistic regression determined relationships within three-level nested models of patients within hospitals and countries. Hospital-level infrastructure effects were explored with three-way mediation analyses. This study was registered with ClinicalTrials.gov , NCT03471494 . Findings Between April 1, 2018, and Jan 31, 2019, we enrolled 15 958 patients from 428 hospitals in 82 countries (high income 9106 patients, 31 countries; upper-middle income 2721 patients, 23 countries; or lower-middle income 4131 patients, 28 countries). Patients in LMICs presented with more advanced disease compared with patients in high-income countries. 30-day mortality was higher for gastric cancer in low-income or lower-middle-income countries (adjusted odds ratio 3·72, 95% CI 1·70–8·16) and for colorectal cancer in low-income or lower-middle-income countries (4·59, 2·39–8·80) and upper-middle-income countries (2·06, 1·11–3·83). No difference in 30-day mortality was seen in breast cancer. The proportion of patients who died after a major complication was greatest in low-income or lower-middle-income countries (6·15, 3·26–11·59) and upper-middle-income countries (3·89, 2·08–7·29). Postoperative death after complications was partly explained by patient factors (60%) and partly by hospital or country (40%). The absence of consistently available postoperative care facilities was associated with seven to 10 more deaths per 100 major complications in LMICs. Cancer stage alone explained little of the early variation in mortality or postoperative complications. Interpretation Higher levels of mortality after cancer surgery in LMICs was not fully explained by later presentation of disease. The capacity to rescue patients from surgical complications is a tangible opportunity for meaningful intervention. Early death after cancer surgery might be reduced by policies focusing on strengthening perioperative care systems to detect and intervene in common complications. Funding National Institute for Health Research Global Health Research Unit.

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The application of customary laws between two disputant states is quite cumbersome if there is no written agreement. I explore how customary equidistance laws are used as a frame work to resolve a conflict between two disputant states. Customary equidistance laws are prominent in maritime boundaries. Ghana and Cote D"Ivoire have a long history of written agreement to safeguard their maritime boundaries. This customary agreement was observed by the two countries for five decades without any rancour. The Ivorian government only became alarmed when Ghana made a substantial oil discovery next to the equidistance line bordering the two nations. This oil findings led to a diplomatic row between Ghana and Cote D"Ivoire, which needed the intervention of a third neutral party. The International Tribunal for the of the Sea (ITLOS) acted as an arbitrator to resolve the impasse between Ghana and Cote D"Ivoire. Prior to ruling, ITLOS placed an embargo on Ghana from drilling new wells in the disputed area. The embargo was disruptive to oil companies in Ghana. In the year 2016, the revenue of oil companies in Ghana fell by 50 percent.

IntroductionDozens of multivariable prediction models for atrial fibrillation after cardiac surgery (AFACS) have been published, but none have been incorporated into regular clinical practice. One of the reasons for this lack of adoption is poor model performance due to methodological weaknesses in model development. In addition, there has been little external validation of these existing models to evaluate their reproducibility and transportability. The aim of this systematic review is to critically appraise the methodology and risk of bias of papers presenting the development and/or validation of models for AFACS.MethodsWe will identify studies that present the development and/or validation of a multivariable prediction model for AFACS through searches of PubMed, Embase and Web of Science from inception to 31 December 2021. Pairs of reviewers will independently extract model performance measures, assess methodological quality and assess risk of bias of included studies using extraction forms adapted from a combination of the Critical Appraisal and Data Extraction for Systematic Reviews of Prediction Modelling Studies checklist and the Prediction Model Risk of Bias Assessment Tool. Extracted information will be reported by narrative synthesis and descriptive statistics.Ethics and disseminationThis systemic review will only include published aggregate data, so no protected health information will be used. Study findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications and scientific conference presentations. Further, this review will identify weaknesses in past AFACS prediction model development and validation methodology so that subsequent studies can improve upon prior practices and produce a clinically useful risk estimation tool.PROSPERO registration numberCRD42019127329.

Introduction: Catheter ablation therapy (CAT) is recommended for the management of symptomatic atrial fibrillation (AF). Previous real-world studies using the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) have described a disproportionately higher burden of post-CAT complications in women Hypothesis: We sought to determine whether the prior gender disparities in complications post-CAT for AF still exist. We hypothesize that with increasing CAT proficiency women would be no more likely to suffer complications compared to men Methods: We identified all percutaneous AF CAT hospitalizations in the NIS 2016-2019. We used Inverse-Probability Weighting (IPW) to create a pseudo-population where gender was independent of the following confounders: age, race/ethnicity, primary payor, median income, CHA2DS2VASc and Elixhauser scores, comorbidities including obesity, alcohol use disorder, obstructive sleep apnea, chronic pulmonary disease, and hospital characteristics-region, teaching-status, and bed-size. We compared in-hospital mortality rate, total procedural complications including pericardial (tamponade/effusion/pericarditis); cardiac (heart failure/perioperative MI/shock); respiratory (pneumothorax/respiratory failure); esophageal (perforation/injury); vascular (access-site fistulas/bleeding); and renal (acute kidney injury) between men and women Results: Of the 5,835 AF CATs identified (representing 29,175 nationally), 43.2% were performed in women. Before IPW, women were older, and had higher proportions of comorbidities. After applying weights, baseline characters were well-balanced. In the weighted-cohort, there was no difference in mortality (0.48% vs 0.29%, p=0.52) or total complications (8.3% vs 9.6%, p=0.20). Likewise, pericardial (4.5% vs 4.1%, p=0.26); cardiac (0.3% vs 0.4%, p=0.40); vascular (3.6% vs 3.4%, p=0.37); respiratory (0.7% vs 0.8%, p=0.70); esophageal (0.5% vs 0.4%, p=0.31); and renal (1.2% vs 2.3%, p=0.38) complications, were similar across gender Conclusion: In this real-world cohort, the burden of complications after CAT for AF was similar across gender. Sustained national efforts at maintaining awareness of gender disparities in complications post-AF CAT are needed to keep this new status quo