Background: The convergence of the economic crisis, COVID-19 pandemic, and Beirut Blast has precipitated unprecedented challenges for the healthcare system in Lebanon, particularly for cancer patients. Amidst these crises, our study evaluates its contribution to a concerning trend of operating on more late-stage and complex colorectal cancer (CRC) cases.
Methods: We included 155 patients operated for CRC between 2017 and 2023. Patients age; sex; operation type (emergency or elective); tumor size, grade, and location; tumour, node, metastasis stage; lymphatic, vascular and perineural invasions; American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score, presentation and previous history, and complications were examined.
Results: Surgical outcomes remained relatively consistent before and after the crisis. However, there was a notable increase, with patients being 3.59 times more likely to undergo resection of adjacent organs in metastatic disease post-crisis. Patient characteristics also exhibited notable shifts, with a 9.60-fold increase in the likelihood of having an ASA score of at least 2 after the crisis. Additionally, there was a 5.36-fold decrease in the odds of patients undergoing a colonoscopy before their diagnostic one post-crisis. Preoperative carcinoembryonic antigen levels were significantly elevated post-crisis compared to pre-crisis levels. Pathological findings revealed increased odds of perineural, vascular, and lymphatic invasion post-crisis. Additionally, there was a notable increase in the likelihood of hepatic synchronous metastases post-crisis. Furthermore, a trend to operate on complicated diseases was noted with an increased number of colostomies.
Conclusion: The economic crisis in Lebanon has profoundly affected early intervention and comprehensive treatment for CRC patients, resulting in a concerning rise in late-stage cases requiring surgical intervention.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
---|---|
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/wjs.12321 | DOI Listing |
BMJ Glob Health
January 2025
Population Council, Nairobi, Kenya.
Introduction: Climate change is shaping adolescent and young people's (AYP) transitions to adulthood with significant and often compounding effects on their physical and mental health. The climate crisis is an intergenerational inequity, with the current generation of young people exposed to more climate events over their lifetime than any previous one. Despite this injustice, research and policy to date lacks AYP's perspectives and active engagement.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProc Natl Acad Sci U S A
January 2025
Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511.
The recent COVID-19 pandemic offers a rare opportunity to understand how citizens attribute responsibility for governments' responses to unanticipated negative-and in this case, systemic-exogenous shocks. Classical accounts of responsibility are complicated when crises are pervasive, involve multiple valence dimensions, and where individuals can make relative assessments of performance. We fielded a conjoint experiment in 16 countries with 22,147 respondents.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChemSusChem
January 2025
Southeast University, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Dong nan da xue Road No.2, Jiangning District, Nanjing, China., 211189, Nanjing, CHINA.
Concentrated solar-driven CO2 reduction is a breakthrough approach to combat climate crisis. Harnessing the in-situ coupling of high photon flux density and high thermal energy flow initiates multiple energy conversion pathways, such as photothermal, photoelectric, and thermoelectric processes, thereby enhancing the efficient activation of CO2. This review systematically presents the fundamental principles of concentrated solar systems, the design and classification of solar-concentrating devices, and industrial application case studies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFront Public Health
January 2025
College of Economics and Management, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China.
Despite the increasing demand for sustainable development of pharmaceutical companies due to the rigorous pressure of environmental regulation, public health crisis and economic competition, there has been little research on relevant evaluation models. The COVID-19 experience has also prompted investors in pharmaceutical companies to re-examine the impact of environment and ethics on business development. Therefore, pharmaceutical companies need to focus on their performance, especially on the shift from a single financial performance to an integrated performance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Ethn Migr Stud
November 2024
Institute for Sociology, University of Duisburg Essen, Duisburg, Germany.
The European Union (EU) experienced two major instances of refugee influx: in 2015, refugees, mainly from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq fled civil war, persecution, and dire conditions in neighbouring countries and in 2022, Ukrainians fled from Russia's full-scale invasion. Fusing theoretical insights on framing and crisification of migration, we ask: How do EU actors frame situations of refugee mass influx? Employing a Discourse Network Analysis, we examine EU representatives' framing of both instances with respect to three analytical foci: (1) who or what they considered to be in crisis, (2) their framing of refugees; and (3) who they saw to be responsible for solving the crisis. We show how, in 2015, EU representatives framed mass displacement predominantly as a crisis at and of Europe's borders, and refugees as threats to Member States' public, economic and cultural security.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!