Rheumatic heart disease patients were young, predominantly female, and had high prevalence of major cardiovascular complications. There is suboptimal utilization of secondary antibiotic prophylaxis, oral anti-coagulation, and contraception, and variations in the use of percutaneous and surgical interventions by country income level.

Background

Acute rheumatic fever (ARF) and rheumatic heart disease (RHD) remain major causes of heart failure, stroke and death among African women and children, despite being preventable and imminently treatable. From 21 to 22 February 2015, the Social Cluster of the Africa Union Commission (AUC) hosted a consultation with RHD experts convened by the Pan-African Society of Cardiology (PASCAR) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to develop a ‘roadmap’ of key actions that need to be taken by governments to eliminate ARF and eradicate RHD in Africa.Seven priority areas for action were adopted: (1) create prospective disease registers at sentinel sites in affected countries to measure disease burden and track progress towards the reduction of mortality by 25% by the year 2025, (2) ensure an adequate supply of high-quality benzathine penicillin for the primary and secondary prevention of ARF/RHD, (3) improve access to reproductive health services for women with RHD and other non-communicable diseases (NCD), (4) decentralise technical expertise and technology for diagnosing and managing ARF and RHD (including ultrasound of the heart), (5) establish national and regional centres of excellence for essential cardiac surgery for the treatment of affected patients and training of cardiovascular practitioners of the future, (6) initiate national multi-sectoral RHD programmes within NCD control programmes of affected countries, and (7) foster international partnerships with multinational organsations for resource mobilisation, monitoring and evaluation of the programme to end RHD in Africa.This Addis Ababa communiqué has since been endorsed by African Union heads of state, and plans are underway to implement the roadmap in order to end ARF and RHD in Africa in our lifetime.

This review article forms a guideline for LIBS contribution in coal analysis, encompassing fundamental aspects, operation modes, data processing, and analytical results. LIBS applications related to coal utilization are also highlighted (fly ash analysis and combustion monitoring).

Objective To evaluate our ability in classifying the fetal heart as normal or abnormal during the 1st trimester scan through fetal cardiac examination and determining the best time for this examination. Methods This was a prospective study performed on 3240 pregnant women to examine the fetal heart. Four chambers view and ventricular outflow tracts were mainly examined during the scan. We used grayscale and color mapping in the diagnosis. Color Doppler was used if additional information was needed, and all patients were rescanned during the 2nd trimester to confirm or negate our diagnosis. Results The cardiac findings were normal at both scans in 3108 pregnancies. The same cardiac abnormality was detected at both scans in 79 cases. In 36 cases there was false-positive diagnosis at the early scan; in 20 of these cases, there were mildly abnormal functional findings early in pregnancy with no abnormality found later. In 17 fetuses, there was discordance between the early and later diagnosis due to missed or incorrect diagnoses. The best time to do fetal heart examination during 1st trimester is between 13 and 13 + 6 weeks. Conclusion A high degree of accuracy in the identification of congenital heart disease (CHD) can be achieved by a 1st trimester fetal echocardiography.

Collecting strong enough and repeatable signals from laser-induced plasmas is the primary goal of laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy optical detection systems. Typically, the light emitted from the plasma is refracted by the lens, collected by the fiber, and measured by the spectrometer. In the present work, we established a three-dimensional model to systematically evaluate the overall emission collected from different positions of the plasma for a typical optical collection system composed of a focus lens and a collection fiber, and sensitivity analyses were further performed. In addition, experiments were conducted and partially validated the model. Results showed that for the collection system with an optical fiber located on the focal point of the collection lens, the collection efficiency distribution is almost constant within a large cylindrical-shaped area, while for that located off the focal point, there is a rhombus-shaped area with higher collection efficiency than other areas. This much higher collection efficiency area is small in size but has a large impact on the detected spectral intensity. The spatially distributed collection efficiency on the lens parameters, such as size and position, was further discussed to clarify the impacts of the collection system. Furthermore, sensitivity analyses were performed to evaluate the impact of the collection system on the signal repeatability. Based on these calculations, recommendations for the design of the collection for optimized spectral intensity and stability were proposed.

Provenance classification of nephrite jades is important since the unit price of jade changes drastically with its geological origin.

Modulating the laser induced plasma and improving the signal quality of LIBS by beam shaping.