Purpose To update the 2000 American Society of Clinical Oncology guideline on the use of hematopoietic colony-stimulating factors (CSF). Update Methodology The Update Committee completed a review and analysis of pertinent data published from 1999 through September 2005. Guided by the 1996 ASCO clinical outcomes criteria, the Update Committee formulated recommendations based on improvements in survival, quality of life, toxicity reduction and cost-effectiveness. Recommendations The 2005 Update Committee agreed unanimously that reduction in febrile neutropenia (FN) is an important clinical outcome that justifies the use of CSFs, regardless of impact on other factors, when the risk of FN is approximately 20% and no other equally effective regimen that does not require CSFs is available. Primary prophylaxis is recommended for the prevention of FN in patients who are at high risk based on age, medical history, disease characteristics, and myelotoxicity of the chemotherapy regimen. CSF use allows a modest to mo...

https://ascopubs.org/doi/pdfdirect/10.1200/JCO.2006.06.4451

2006 Update of Recommendations for the Use of White Blood Cell Growth Factors: An Evidence-Based Clinical Practice Guideline

Global environmental concerns and the escalating demand for energy, coupled with steady progress in renewable energy technologies, are opening up new opportunities for utilization of renewable energy resources. Solar energy is the most abundant, inexhaustible and clean of all the renewable energy resources till date. The power from sun intercepted by the earth is about 1.8 × 1011 MW, which is many times larger than the present rate of all the energy consumption. Photovoltaic technology is one of the finest ways to harness the solar power. This paper reviews the photovoltaic technology, its power generating capability, the different existing light absorbing materials used, its environmental aspect coupled with a variety of its applications. The different existing performance and reliability evaluation models, sizing and control, grid connection and distribution have also been discussed. © 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

A review of solar photovoltaic technologies

BACKGROUND
Hospitalization for febrile neutropenia (FN) in cancer patients is associated with considerable morbidity, mortality, and cost. The study was undertaken to better define mortality, length of stay (LOS), cost, and risk factors associated with mortality and prolonged hospitalization in cancer patients with FN.

METHODS
The longitudinal discharge database derived from 115 US medical centers was used to study all adult cancer patients hospitalized with FN between 1995 and 2000, comprising a total of 41,779 patients. Primary outcomes included mortality, LOS, and cost per episode.

RESULTS
Overall, in-hospital mortality was 9.5%. Patients without any major comorbidities had a 2.6% risk of mortality, whereas 1 major comorbidity was associated with a 10.3% and more than 1 major comorbidity with a ≥21.4% risk of mortality, respectively. Mean (median) length of stay was 11.5 (6) days, and the mean (median) cost was $19,110 ($8,376) per episode of FN. Patients hospitalized for ≥10 days (35% of all patients) accounted for 78% of overall cost. Independent major risk factors for inpatient mortality included invasive fungal infections, Gram-negative sepsis, pneumonia and other lung disease, cerebrovascular, renal, and liver disease. Main predictors for LOS ≥10 days included leukemia, invasive fungal infections, other types of infection, and several comorbid conditions.

CONCLUSION
Factors associated with increased mortality, LOS, and cost in hospitalized adult cancer patients with FN include patient characteristics, type of malignancy, comorbidities, and infectious complications. These factors may be useful in identifying patients at increased risk of serious medical complications and mortality for more aggressive supportive care measures. Cancer 2006. © 2006 American Cancer Society.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/cncr.21847

Mortality, morbidity, and cost associated with febrile neutropenia in adult cancer patients.

World׳s energy demand is growing fast because of population explosion and technological advancements. It is therefore important to go for reliable, cost effective and everlasting renewable energy source for energy demand arising in future. Solar energy, among other renewable sources of energy, is a promising and freely available energy source for managing long term issues in energy crisis. Solar industry is developing steadily all over the world because of the high demand for energy while major energy source, fossil fuel, is limited and other sources are expensive. It has become a tool to develop economic status of developing countries and to sustain the lives of many underprivileged people as it is now cost effective after a long aggressive researches done to expedite its development. The solar industry would definitely be a best option for future energy demand since it is superior in terms of availability, cost effectiveness, accessibility, capacity and efficiency compared to other renewable energy sources. This paper therefore discusses about the need of solar industry with its fundamental concepts, worlds energy scenario, highlights of researches done to upgrade solar industry, its potential applications and barriers for better solar industry in future in order to resolve energy crisis.

Solar energy for future world: - A review

Several simplified design procedures for solar energy systems require monthly average meteorological data. Monthly average daily totals of the solar radiation incident on a horizontal surface are available. However, radiation data on tilted surfaces, required by the design procedures, are generally not available. A simple method of estimating the average daily radiation for each calendar month on surfaces facing directly towards the equator has been presented by Liu and Jordan [1]. This method is verified with experimental measurements and extended to allow calculation of monthly average radiation on surfaces of a wide range of orientations.

Calculation of monthly average insolation on tilted surfaces

We report a non-enzymatic facile method for the detection of L-cysteine (L-Cyst) using free-standing TiO2 nanotube (TNT) array-modified glassy carbon electrodes (GCEs). Self-organized, highly ordered, and vertically oriented TNT arrays were fabricated by anodization of titanium sheets in ethylene glycol-based electrolyte. Detailed electrochemical measurements were performed and it was found that modified GCE exhibited high current compared to the pristine counterpart. The high current of the modified electrode was attributed to the high surface area and enhanced electrocatalytic activities of the TNTs toward the L-Cyst oxidation. Under the optimum conditions, the modified electrode exhibited a high sensitivity of ∼1.68 µA mM-1 cm-2 with a low detection limit of ∼0.1 mM. The fabricated electrode was found to be sensitive to pH and electrolyte temperature. The real sample analysis of the proposed method showed a decent recovery toward L-Cyst addition in human blood serum. Furthermore, the density-funcational theory (DFT) analysis revealed that TNTs have greater affinity toward L-Cyst, having stronger binding distance after its adsorption. The higher negative E ads values suggested a stable and chemisorption nature. The density of states results show that the E gap of TNTs is significantly reduced after L-Cyst adsorption. The modified GCE showed excellent selectivity, enhanced stability, and fast response, which make TNTs a promising candidate for the enzyme-free detection of other biological analytes.

https://robots.iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1361-6528/abb431/pdf

TiO2 nanotube array-modified electrodes for L-cysteine biosensing: experimental and density-functional theory study.

Since all renewable energies depend upon the geography, climate and environment of a region, Hybrid Renewable Energy Systems (HRES) are designed on the basis of these parameters to fulfill thepower demands of a region. Optimization of HRES is a process of selecting the best source and its sizing with a suitable operation tactic to deliver economical, efficient, reliable and cost effective alternative energy supply. This study reflects different components of HRES and develops a general model to find an optimal configuration of HERS for remote areas of Balochistan to minimize the life cycle cost. In this study an integrated optimal configuration of HRES is achieved using photovoltaic (PV), wind, geothermal and diesel generator with a battery bank for backup. For this purpose local solar radiation data, wind speed data and components database from different manufactures are analyzed and simulated in HOMER (Hybrid Optimization Model for Electric Renewables). Performance of HERS components is evaluated byincorporating the environmental aspects in different configurations. The proposed system is examined in two different remote areas of Balochistan (Chaghi and Ornach). Meteorological data from Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) and from other sources such as NASA is used for the estimation of solar & wind energy potentials.

Optimal configuration of Hybrid Renewable Energy System for remote areas of Balochistan

The balancing approach of electricity generation and consumption is an essential part of a reliable power system. The mismatch between supply and demand may also cause fluctuation in the power syst...

Examination of optimum benefits of customer and LSE by incentive and dynamic price-based demand response

The role of money in determining the level of economic
 activity has long been debated among economists. The classical
 economists were of the view that the changes in the money supply can
 only affect the monetary variables like the price level and nominal wage
 rates but cannot influence real output. J. M. Keynes and his followers
 asserted that changes in money supply do influence the level of real
 output through their effect on the rate of interest and thereby changing
 investment expenditure. However, by introducing the idea of a liquidity
 trap and by making investment as highly interest inelastic, Keynes did
 not assign any active role to money. Milton Friedman and his followers,
 known as the Monetarists, raised the slogan that "money does matter" and
 thus tried to assign a dominant role to money supply in determining the
 level of economic activity. They assert that changes in money supply
 have a dominant influence on changes in nominal income. They are of the
 view that in the short run money does influence real output and
 employment and thus money is the dominant factor causing cyclical
 movements in output and employment. However, they believe like the
 classical economists, that in the long run the changes in money
 primarily influence the price level and other nominal
 magnitudes.

/pdf/money-income-and-causality-some-evidence-from-pakistan-2n74qa44uw.pdf

Money, Income, and Causality: Some Evidence from Pakistan

Vehicular ad-hoc Network (VANET) is an emerging mobile wireless ad hoc communication system applied on the roads, realizing multi-hop wireless communication between Vehicles to Vehicles, Vehicles to Roadside Infrastructure (RSI) and between RSIs. The Vehicle transmits the information to the nearest RSI that is connected to gateway either wirelessly or wired. The deployment of a roadside infrastructure is expensive and cannot be efficiently implemented using low-cost hardware. Power Line Communication (PLC) refers to the utilization of electricity transmission power lines for communication medium whilst simultaneously serving as a physical medium for realization of data transmission. PLC today are not only used for remote meter reading, home automation and other low-speed control systems but are also utilized at physical layer of Internet infrastructure. The power line is the only network that is available almost in any part of the inhabited area, hence can provide extensive coverage for VANET. In this article a scheme is proposed for power lines serve as a medium for transfer of information from RSI to RSI and RSI to Internet gateway. Standard equations are used to noise analysis and quantify the proposed approach as a cost effective deployment of PLC for VANET. Simulation results are provided for further investigations and research. It is evident that PLC with low data rate is suitable for transmission of smart car sensor data as compare to costly high-speed wireless medium.

Muhammad Hussain

Papers

TiO2 nanotube array-modified electrodes for L-cysteine biosensing: experimental and density-functional theory study.

Optimal configuration of Hybrid Renewable Energy System for remote areas of Balochistan

Examination of optimum benefits of customer and LSE by incentive and dynamic price-based demand response

Money, Income, and Causality: Some Evidence from Pakistan

Roadside infrastructure transmission of VANET using Power Line Communication