Discrete choice experiments (DCEs) are widely used in healthcare to estimate willingness-to-pay (WTP) but may be affected by hypothetical bias (HB), especially in morally sensitive contexts. While cheap-talk is proposed as a mitigation strategy, its effectiveness in health-related DCEs involving moral trade-offs remains unclear. This study examines how cheap-talk influences WTP in such settings. A split-sample DCE on organ transplantation policies was conducted, involving trade-offs between cost and morally salient outcomes: saving lives ("being alive") and improving quality of life ("having a life"). Respondents (N = 651) were randomly assigned to one of three survey arms: control (no manipulation), cheap-talk, or cheap-talk with follow-up question. Multinomial logit model in WTP space with a Taboo Trade-off Aversion (TTOA) specification was used to estimate treatment effects and interactions with religiosity. Exposure to the cheap-talk script reduced WTP for saving lives, indicating increased attention to financial considerations. WTP for quality-of-life improvements and avoiding taboo trade-offs remained unchanged. Religious respondents reported higher WTP to avoid taboo trade-offs in the control arm, but this gap disappeared under cheap-talk, showing that deliberation moderates monetary expressions among religious individuals without altering underlying convictions. Cheap-talk promotes more reflective decision-making in morally sensitive health-related choices, particularly among individuals with strong moral or religious convictions. It reduces elevated WTP for taboo trade-offs, while its effect on other respondents is limited. Future research should combine stated and revealed preference data and explore models that account for non-compensatory moral decision rules to better capture complex moral preferences DCEs.
SINEs (Short Interspersed Nuclear Elements) are a class of retrotransposons, among the most prolific and transcriptionally active groups of repetitive elements. Rodent B1/B2-SINEs and primate Alu RNAs are upregulated in stress responses such as cellular heat shock or upon viral infection. Here, we review recent findings demonstrating that SINE RNAs have also integrated as adaptive regulators of gene expression in different biological contexts, particularly in nervous system lesion, degeneration and remodelling. These integral roles in physiological processes reinforce the concept that SINEs provide 'cheap genes' for evolutionary adaptation of non-coding RNA to biological function.
In this work, we report a series of hyper-cross-linked sulfonated polymers, structurally related to PIMs, as highly efficient and versatile catalysts for biodiesel production. By tuning monomer composition to increase aromatic content, we generate porous polymers with tailored surface areas and porosity, which are thoroughly characterized and assessed for CO2/N2 separation. These catalysts promote both Fischer esterification of free fatty acids and transesterification of triglyceride oils derived from the same fatty acids, achieving over 95% conversion to fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) in 24 h or less under diverse conditions. Remarkably, by using a variety of oils, high activity is maintained even with reduced catalyst and methanol loadings, demonstrating intrinsic efficiency and robustness. The polymers prove to be fully scalable and recyclable, retaining performance over multiple cycles and efficiently converting waste cooking sunflower oil with comparable yields to pure edible oils. This work establishes a direct structure-property-performance relationship, linking polymer architecture and porosity to catalytic activity, and provides a versatile, sustainable platform for next-generation porous catalysts in biodiesel production and broader chemical transformations.
This study was motivated by Ahmed's (2024) observation that subjects in animal models of addiction lack agency. Animals have been given increasing control over drug-taking in addiction models, but not the opportunity to change their circumstances in ways that favor drug self-administration vs. abstinence. The present study aimed to develop a model wherein rats could intervene to change the choice contingencies available to them. Rats were trained to choose between self-administered heroin or sucrose pellets in two choice conditions. In one condition, heroin was cheap and sucrose was expensive. In the other condition, the relative prices of these reinforcers were reversed. Then, rats were allowed to choose between these choice conditions. Rats frequently switched between the conditions when the cost of switching was low, and obtained many of the cheap reinforcers available in each condition. As the cost of switching increased, rats switched less often and increased consumption of the cheap reinforcer available in their current condition. When rats could only make one choice between conditions per session, large individual differences were observed, with some rats preferring the cheap heroin condition and others preferring the cheap sucrose condition. This study found that when rats are given the ability to choose between choices they will take advantage of this additional level of control. The initial environmental contingencies were, however, an important determinant of heroin-taking behavior. This finding is a step towards refining animal models of addiction towards a stronger analogy to human behavior.
Airway management in obese adults can be challenging. Obesity causes both anatomical and physiological changes that make a difficult airway more likely and rescue techniques more likely to fail. The final approach to "can't intubate, can't oxygenate" in airway management is acquiring front-of-neck access (FONA) to facilitate oxygenation. Although incredibly rare, it is essential that the quickest and most efficient technique is utilized. Therefore, FONA needs to be taught and performed to the highest standards to maximize the chances of success. However, there is a distinct lack of obese models available for FONA training. Standard training models do not replicate obesity, and obese model designs described in the literature are often bespoke to the authors' facility. To create a model that replicates the obese airway as much as possible, both in size and girth of the neck, thickness of the anterior neck skin folds, tactile feel of the subcutaneous tissue, and the lack of anatomical landmarks. For education and training purposes it should be cheap and easily produced. For research purposes it should be reproducible with little variation between subsequent models using the same materials. We trialed several models, including animal and synthetic products, culminating in a model involving a commercially available task trainer, 3D printed larynx for increased anatomical accuracy, ballistics gel to reproduce subcutaneous adipose tissue and the proprietary skin supplied with the commercial model. A pilot phase involved use of the model in various educational forums, with fine tuning of the model as issues were identified. The final model adequately reproduces the obese airway while being cheap, easily reproducible, standardized for obese airway FONA research, and can be produced en masse for large educational forums.
Minimum unit pricing (MUP) reduces use of cheap, high strength alcoholic beverages that drive harm, yet concerns remain about inequitable effects for structurally vulnerable groups. As part of the Consumption, Harms, Expenditures and Alcohol Prices (CHEAP) study, we linked individual-level, product-specific alcohol consumption survey data with provincial retail price data to estimate prices per standard drink (PPSD) and examine their association with alcohol-related outcomes across sociodemographic groups. A cross-sectional survey of people who consumed alcohol in the past week in British Columbia, Canada, was linked to provincial product-level alcohol sales data. The population weighted sample included 1,217 adults ≥ 19 years (716 men; mean age 49.34, SD 16.98). Participants reported product-specific consumption, which was matched to retail prices to calculate individual-level PPSD. Survey weighted quasibinomial models examined associations between PPSD and three outcomes: (1) causing harm to self or others in the past year, (2) scoring ≥ 8 on the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test, and (3) consuming ≥ 15 standard drinks per week. Analyses were stratified by income, education, subjective social status, and race/ethnicity. Lower price per standard drink was associated with higher odds of harm (OR 3.05, 95% CI 1.25-7.40) and an AUDIT score ≥ 8 (OR 2.34, 95% CI 1.37-3.99). Associations were generally stronger among structurally disadvantaged groups, including low-income and Indigenous participants. Lower alcohol prices are linked to risky alcohol use, with the strongest effects among structurally disadvantaged groups. MUP is likely to reduce this risk and promote health equity.
Alcohol pricing policies are recognised as effective strategies for reducing consumption and alcohol-related harms, with their strongest impact concentrated across the lowest-priced products. Across many retail markets, low-cost alcohol is increasingly supplied through retailer-owned (private-label) brands, yet there is little research on how ownership structure relates to pricing at the product level. Product-level pricing data for cask wine sold by major Australian online alcohol retailers over a month were collected through a commercial web-scraping partnership. Products were classified as retailer-owned or independently owned using trademark records and publicly available ownership information. Prices were standardised to price per standard drink, and analyses were run to compare pricing across ownership types. Retailer-owned products accounted for 42% of all cask wine products listed across major retailers and were consistently and significantly cheaper per standard drink than independently owned products. The lowest-priced cask wine products sold by major retailers were predominately retailer-owned. These findings suggest that pricing-based alcohol policies targeting cheap alcohol in Australia would likely have a larger impact on retailer-owned private-label products rather than independent brands.
Youth vaping prevalence varies across countries and may be related to differing regulations/products. The emergence of cheap disposable vapes and high-concentration nicotine salts heightened concerns related to youth's ease of access, dependence and potential health risks. We examined youth in England versus Canada and the United States and: how patterns of vaping/smoking varied, given the countries' different regulatory frameworks nicotine and potential toxicant exposure in youth who vape, smoke or do neither in youth who use salt and free-base nicotine respiratory symptom reporting. Objectives 1 and 4: Repeated cross-sectional surveys (International Tobacco Control Youth Tobacco and Vaping Surveys), England, Canada, United States, 2017-22, N = 1355-39,214, 16- to 19-year-olds, or 16- to 29-year-olds, depending on analysis. Objectives 2 and 3: International Tobacco Control Biomarker Sub-Study, England, Canada, United States, 2019-22, 16- to 19-year-olds, N = 364 and England-only Biomarker Sub-Study, 2022-3, 16- to 19-year-olds, N = 201. Past-week users and past 30-day non-users were tested. None, comparisons based on vaping/smoking status. Objective 1: Vape flavours, nicotine concentration, product types, brands used. Objectives 2 and 3: Urinary biomarkers, normalised for creatinine; tobacco-specific nitrosamine NNK (NNAL); volatile organic compounds (VOCs): acrolein (3HPMA), acrylamide (2CaHEMA), acrylonitrile (2CyEMA), benzene (PhMA), toluene (BzMA), xylene (24MPhMA); nicotine: cotinine, trans-3'-hydroxycotinine (3-HC), total nicotine equivalents. Objective 4: Self-reporting any of 5 past-week respiratory symptoms (e.g. cough and dyspnoea). Objective 1: Usual flavours were unchanged after 2020 United States pod-based vape flavour restrictions. Youth used exempt brands/products. Simultaneously, disposable vape use increased. In England, in 2022, 48% of 16- to 29-year-olds who vaped in past 30 days used Elf Bar brands, mainly for subjective responses (e.g. flavour/taste), rather than quitting smoking. Nicotine concentrations varied cross-country. Objectives 1, 2 and 3: Compared to smoking tobacco (exclusive or alongside vaping), exclusive vaping was associated with: similar nicotine exposure (those using nicotine salts had higher levels of nicotine metabolites vs. free-base/unknown); lower exposure to NNK, acrolein, acrylamide and acrylonitrile, but higher toluene exposure (than dual use). Compared with not vaping/smoking, exclusive vaping was associated with similar exposure to acrolein and acrylonitrile and higher exposure to toluene and acrylamide (past 24-hour sensitivity analysis). Benzene and xylene biomarkers were detected in < 5% of urine samples. Some country-level biomarker differences were observed. Objective 4: Vaping was associated with higher respiratory symptom reporting than not vaping/smoking. Youth who smoked and vaped had higher odds of symptoms than those only vaping. Using fruit, multiple or 'other' flavours was associated with higher odds of symptoms than tobacco flavours. Nicotine salt use was frequently unknown but may be associated with symptoms. Recall, misunderstandings and misreporting are possible. A subset of biomarkers was included, not all potential confounders were assessed and categorisation into vaping/smoking groups based on past-week behaviour does not fully account for past smoking exposure. Pod flavour restrictions were ineffective. Youth were increasingly using disposable vapes containing nicotine salts. Those who vape were exposed to lower levels of toxicants than those who smoke, but a few toxicants were higher compared to youth who did not vape/smoke. Self-reported past-week respiratory symptoms were also higher in those who vaped than those not vaping/smoking and were related to flavours. The rapidly evolving nicotine vape market needs ongoing survey/biomarker research. This synopsis presents independent research funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Public Health Research programme as award number NIHR130292. We wanted to learn about youth nicotine vaping: Whether different products are used across countries with different regulations? How much nicotine and substances that could cause harm are in their bodies? Are there links with coughs and other breathing symptoms? We conducted surveys of > 12,000 16- to 19-year-olds at least every year between 2017 and 2022, including over 9500 who vaped in England, Canada or the United States. In the United States, banning flavours in some vaping products was not associated with a change in flavours used, and more youth used disposables not covered by this ban. In England, about half of all who vaped used a specific brand, mainly because of its flavours. Nicotine concentrations in vapes varied across the countries, which is in line with the different regulations. To compare nicotine and harmful substances, we collected and tested urine from over 500 youth in England, Canada and the United States. Youth who vaped had nicotine levels like youth who smoked, but their levels of other substances were often very close to youth who did not vape or smoke. Responses from over 39,000 youth surveyed in 2020 or 2021 showed that symptoms like coughing and shortness of breath were similarly common among youth who vaped and youth who smoked, and these were less common among youth who did neither. Nicotine salts, a form of nicotine, were linked with higher nicotine levels in people’s bodies. Links with breathing symptoms were possible, but many people were unsure about whether nicotine salts were used. Youth who vaped had nicotine levels like youth who smoked, but they had much lower levels of other harmful substances. Youth who vape reported breathing issues. Different products may have different effects. Regulations should consider all product types to achieve their aims.
Omega-3, a long-chain fatty acid critical for brain structure and function, has been argued to be effective in reducing antisocial behavior, but findings are variable. This meta-analysis examines 25 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with a total of 2,889 participants. This study was registered with PROSPERO (CRD42021256959). Two separate analyses were conducted where the unit of analysis was independent studies and independent laboratories. Significant effect sizes (p < .001) were observed for both analyses (g = .13, .14 respectively) and in the direction of omega-3 supplementation reducing antisocial behavior. There was equivocal evidence of publication bias. Study quality was good. Stratified analyses were nonsignificant for age, gender, dose, sample size, and study quality, although the effect size was larger for unmedicated participants. Combining these data with a recent meta-analysis on aggressive behavior produced an overall effect size of g = .22 for externalizing behavior based on 36 nonoverlapping RCTs. Given that omega-3 supplementation is relatively cheap, easy to implement, transfers well from the research environment to community settings, and has additional health benefits, it is suggested that it may be considered as an adjunctive intervention for the treatment of antisocial and externalizing behavior.
Benzimidazole derivatives are very important in many different industries. Some can work like medicines that fight germs, fungi, and cancer. They can help reduce fever, allergies, and inflammation. They can also protect against radiation, help with diabetes, lower blood pressure, and fight malaria and HIV. Pimobendan and Omeprazole are type of medicines that helps the man to cure the disease. The first benzimidazole, 2,6- dimethylbenzimidazole, was made by Huberker in 1872 by reducing 2-nitro-4-methyl acetanilide. Later, Ladenberg made a similar chemical by heating 3,4-diaminotoluene with acetic acid. The other processes were used to synthesize benzimidazole. This process usually needs a strong acid and sometimes high heat or microwave energy. Another lack was severe conditions and low yield of product. For this reason, a lot of attempts were carried out to prepare benzimidazoles in new conditions. An organic-inorganic hybrid catalyst named Fe3O4@SiO2Pr@vanillin/bis thioglycolic acid was synthesized and analyzed through several methods, such as FT-IR, VSM, TEM, EDX, and FE-SEM. Then, it was used for the synthesis of benzimidazoles by reacting different aldehydes with 1,2-diaminobenzene. All of the synthesized organic compounds were characterized by mp, FT-IR, NMR, and elemental analysis. This is the first report that uses Fe3O4@SiO2pr@Vanillin/bisthioglycolic acid to create beno[d]imidazoles by reacting different aldehydes with 1,2-diaminobenzene. All the organic compounds that were made have been closely examined. The reaction time is short, and this method works well. The reaction was done without any liquids and in a safe and eco-friendly manner. The method described is completely new. In summary, a new process has been created to make benzo[d]imidazoles using a catalytic method. This approach offers numerous advantages, such as a straightforward process for completing tasks and tidying up without relying on complicated methods. It works under gentle conditions, uses cheap and readily available starting materials, allows the catalyst to be reused, produces a lot of final product, and takes a short time to react. We believe this method could be a helpful new option for the current techniques in this field.
Chest tube drainage is often a life-saving procedure, especially in trauma. The ideal drainage system is not readily available in our environment and sometimes, if available, it is not affordable. The use of an improvised chest tube drain is a common practice, simple to construct, cheap, and readily available. However, its outcome has not been studied in our environment. To determine the outcome of an improvised chest tube drainage system. This was an observational study over an 18-month period, conducted at a Federal Teaching Hospital in Northeast Nigeria. The improvisation was by an appropriate-sized Foley catheter, tubing of two urine bags constructed, and a 1.5 L bottled water as the underwater seal. The patients who met the indications were counselled and recruited for the study. The data were analysed using SPSS Version 20. A total of 35 patients were recruited with a mean age of 37 (±16) years; females were 37%, and males were 63%. The most frequent indication was trauma (42.9%), and others were infective causes (31.4%), malignant (22.9%), and one (2.9%) was due to congestive cardiac failure. The size of the catheter used ranged from 16 to 24 Fr. The Registrars performed 60.0% of the procedure; the Senior Registrars did 25.7%, the Consultants 8.6%, and the House Officers did 5.7%. The mean duration of drainage was 9 (±6) days, 74.3% was the resolution rate, and the complication rate was 65.7%. An improvised chest tube drainage has a favourable outcome and can be safely used in the absence of the ideal.
Pesticide residues represent an important group of chemical contaminants in agricultural commodities and require reliable analytical strategies for accurate monitoring. In this study, a high-throughput analytical workflow was applied for the determination of 210 pesticide residues in gherkins. Sample preparation was performed using the quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe (QuEChERS) method, including extraction followed by dispersive solid-phase extraction clean-up. Residue determination was carried out using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) and gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS). The analytical methods were comprehensively validated in the gherkin matrix in accordance with the SANTE 11312/2021 v2 guidelines. Limits of quantification were ≤0.01 mg kg-1 for all compounds. Recovery values ranged from 75.7% to 113.7%, while precision values remained below 20%, demonstrating satisfactory method accuracy and precision. Expanded measurement uncertainty values ranged between 7.6% and 41.3%, confirming the robustness of the validated analytical workflow. The validated methods were subsequently applied to a large-scale monitoring dataset comprising 905 gherkin samples collected from five major production regions in Türkiye. Pesticide residues were detected in 67.6% of the analysed samples, and 37 different compounds were identified. The most frequently detected pesticides were flonicamid (36.2%) and propamocarb (27.5%). Multi-residue contamination was frequently observed, reflecting complex pesticide application patterns in gherkin cultivation systems. Although chronic exposure estimates remained well below toxicological thresholds for both adults and children, certain exposure scenarios indicated that acute exposure for children may warrant further attention.
The biotransformation and bioaccumulation of pesticide residues in food animals poses significant hazards to the safety of animal-derived food products. However, conventional monitoring primarily focuses on the parent compounds, while the risks associated with their metabolites are frequently neglected. A sensitive multi-residue method was developed and validated for the simultaneous quantification of difenoconazole, thiabendazole, and their key metabolites, difenoconazole-alcohol and 5-hydroxythiabendazole, in six animal-derived food matrices. The analytical procedure involved first extraction of​ the analytes from the matrices with an improved quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe (QuEChERS) method, followed by their determination​ via HPLC-MS/MS. Parameters affecting the extraction efficiency were systematically evaluated. Under the optimized conditions, the method demonstrated a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.3-2.0 μg kg-1. The limit of quantitation (LOQ) was set at the lowest spiking level of 2.0 μg kg-1 (except for difenoconazole-alcohol, which is 5.0 μg kg-1). A good linear relationship was observed, with correlation coefficients greater than 0.9993. The accuracy and precision were verified in six matrices (pork, beef, mutton, chicken, duck, and fish), and obtained recoveries ranged from 71.4 % to 104.9 % with relative standard deviations (RSDs) between 2.1 % and 9.8 %. Moreover, the developed method was successfully applied to the determination of pesticide and metabolite residues in market samples, thereby confirming its excellent performance for quantitative analysis in complex animal-derived food matrices.
Aiming for renewable polymers with potential recyclability and biodegradability, polyesters are very promising due to an increasing number of available biobased monomers and ester bonds that can be hydrolyzed under specific conditions. Citric acid, for example, is a biobased, nontoxic, cheap, and easily available resource. Its multifunctionality enables the synthesis of polyesters with free carboxy groups, thus providing possibilities for further functionalization and cross-linking. Citric acid and dimethylolpropionic acid were used to synthesize water-soluble polyesters via melt polycondensation at 150 °C without the need for potentially hazardous catalysts. The resulting polyesters displayed a significant amount of free carboxylic acid groups (8 mmol gpolyester -1), and reasonable number-average molar masses up to 5200 g mol-1. Via postsynthetical (partial) neutralization procedures using KOH, charged moieties could be successfully incorporated to further increase hydrophilicity. The degree of neutralization proved to be well controllable. This enables tunability of the final properties, as remaining free carboxy groups can be used for further modifications. Alternative to carboxylate moieties, the introduction of sulfonate groups promotes hydrophilicity. For this purpose, unsaturated polyesters were synthesized that contained varying amounts of maleic anhydride as a third monomer. Postsynthetical sulfonation was performed via the Michael addition of sodium sulfite, introducing a significant number of sulfonate groups. Neutralization and sulfonation were performed in aqueous solution, leading to slight decreases in molar mass due to hydrolysis. The extent of the reduction was successfully reduced by optimizing both procedures. The synthesized water-soluble polyesters carry a substantial number of functional groups. They have high potential as precondensates for cross-linked, water-absorbing materials to be used in agriculture and biomedicine, for which biodegradability is a crucial property.
Guanidines are well-known π-electron-conjugated organic bases used widely in synthesis as well as in industry, with more than 150 years of history. Hence, a plethora of synthetic approaches leading to the formation of the central N3C motif has been published, from conventional methods to more sophisticated catalysts. Despite this, some substrates are still not easily obtainable, and the reported procedures lack simplicity and universality. Here, procedures yielding guanidines from carbodiimides and various amines are provided. Thermally conducted reactions of aliphatic amines and carbodiimides led to guanidines, but efforts to extend this method to anilines failed, even with basic or some acidic catalysts. However, when HCl was added to the reaction media at >80 °C, guanidine products were successfully prepared. Thorough mechanistic investigations revealed the complexity of the guanylation, including several proton transfers, the unconventional switch of the reaction mechanism to electrophilic addition, and the regeneration of the catalytically active species. The process was optimized and applicable to a series of various substrates with the use of substoichiometric or even catalytic amounts of HCl. Guanidine structures, the guanylation mechanism, and prototropic tautomerism of aryl-substituted guanidines in solution were investigated by scXRD, NMR spectroscopy, and DFT calculations. An optimized, easy, cheap, and high-yield metal-free procedure catalyzed by HCl was described.
Infrared thermography is a non-contact tool for monitoring inflammatory processes in the diabetic foot, but quantitative bedside use remains challenging with low-cost thermal infrared cameras due to radiometric drift, non-uniformity (vignetting), geometric distortions, and visible-thermal parallax. This paper presents an end-to-end clinical and instrumental framework built around a cheap thermal camera to ensure reproducible acquisition and physically consistent temperature estimation. The approach combines a standardized mobile acquisition setup and measurement protocol, extraction of embedded radiometric data from raw images, radiometric inversion with atmospheric correction, vignette correction performed in the radiometric domain, and geometric calibration of both visible and infrared sensors using dedicated (thermal) calibration targets. Accurate visible-infrared registration is obtained from hybrid heated markers, enabling reliable overlay and downstream analysis. The full processing chain yields quantitative thermograms with radiometric errors below 0.15 °C and sub-pixel multimodal alignment, supporting the detection of clinically relevant plantar temperature asymmetries and paving the way for routine calibrated low-cost thermography in diabetic foot care.
Electrospray ionization (ESI) is one of the most widely used ionization methods in commercial mass spectrometry. However, it is challenging to effectively ionize most nonpolar plastics. In this study, a low-cost, rapid, free of complex sample preparation, and capable of generating easily interpretable characteristic peaks method for MP identification was developed. It integrates cheap pyrolysis modules with conventional electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (PESI-MS) and operates with a minimal sample input of μm-scale in size and μg-scale in mass. It presents a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.1 μg and achieves a linear quantitative range of 0.2-1 μg with a coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.99, supporting accurate quantitative analysis of target MPs. Within 2.4 s, the polymer vapor generated during atmospheric pyrolysis at an optimal temperature of 400 °C was effectively ionized to provide characteristic backbone information. The method was initially applied to representative MPs, including polyolefins (polyethylene PE, polypropylene PP), polyacrylate (poly(methyl methacrylate) PMMA), polyesters (polyethylene terephthalate PET, polylactide PLA), nylon (polyamide 6, PA6), and polyformaldehyde (POM). Principal component analysis (PCA) of the PESI-MS data revealed distinct spectral features for each MP type. In addition, Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient (PPMC) analysis elucidates both similarities and differences among the polymers and enables precise identification of MPs. Finally, the combined application of PESI-MS and PPMC analysis was used to comprehensively analyze nonplastic, plastic, and real-life samples, thereby validating the effectiveness of this approach in identifying environmental MPs.
This communication proposes two indices to quantify hydrogen utilization efficiency and compare biofuels and e-fuels on a common energy basis: Hydrogen-Energy Share coefficient, HES [MJH2/kgfuel], and its complementary, Hydrogen Energy fraction, HES% [MJH2/MJfuel]. Mass- and energy-balanced data sets are normalized to 1 MJ of produced-fuel (lower heating value). External-energy demand is disaggregated into feedstock provision, synthesis-plant operation, and renewable power for green hydrogen (G-H2) electrolysis. Then, the metrics are applied across 11 industrially relevant pathways, 5 e-fuels, and 6 biomass-to-liquids biofuels, as a compact demonstration data set. The analysis is restricted to liquid fuel routes; hydrogen storage vectors (e.g., ammonia and LOHCs) are outside the present scope. Total energy input spans an order of magnitude, from 0.19 MJH2/MJHVO to 2.62 MJH2/MJe‑FT. In e-fuel pathways, most input is the electricity used to produce G-H2 (1.6-2.0 MJH2/MJe‑fuel) with HES up to 60 MJH2/kge‑CH4 and HES% ≥ 100%. Bioroutes use little electrolytic hydrogen but depend on sustainable biomass y (0.08-1.06 MJbiomass/MJbiofuel); HES ranges 3-38 MJH2/kgbiofuel and HES% ≤ 80%. Defined purely from energy balances, HES/HES% are proposed as first-order hydrogen-energy metrics to be used alongside, rather than instead of, detailed techno-economic and environmental assessments. These indexes make the electricity-versus-biomass trade-off explicit and intuitive in the deployment discussion: bioroutes where low-carbon power is scarce but biomass is available, electrofuels where cheap clean power and concentrated CO2 are colocated.
Female sex workers (FSWs) in Zimbabwe, where sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are managed syndromically, are at high risk of STIs and HIV. We conducted a respondent-driven sampling (RDS) survey to assess the prevalence, engagement in HIV care and factors associated with STIs among FSWs in two cities of Zimbabwe. Participants self-completed an audio computer-assisted self-interview. Participants were offered HIV testing, and if positive, were tested for HIV viral load. Additionally, 45% were randomly selected and screened for syphilis, gonorrhoea (GC), chlamydia (CT) and trichomonas (TV). RDS-II weighted HIV and STI prevalence and 95% CIs were calculated. The HIV treatment cascade was determined for FSWs living with HIV. Factors associated with having at least one STI (GC/CT/TV) were determined using modified Poisson regression. We recruited 3006 FSWs from Harare and Bulawayo. HIV prevalence was 41.3% (95% CI 38.1% to 44.6%). Among FSWs living with HIV, 83.4% (95% CI 79.0% to 87.0%) reported being aware of their status. Of those aware, 97.3% (95% CI 94.4% to 98.8%) reported being on antiretroviral therapy (ART), and of those on ART, 93.1% (95% CI 89.3% to 95.7%) were virally suppressed. Overall, 90.1% (95% CI 86.6% to 92.7%) of FSWs living with HIV were virally suppressed. The prevalence of active syphilis was 4.4% (95% CI 3.2% to 6.0%), gonorrhoea was 13.4% (95% CI 11.3% to 15.9%), CT was 20.7% (95% CI 18.2% to 23.5%) and TV was 23.7% (95% CI 21.0% to 26.6%). Of the 598 FSWs with a current STI, 52.4% (95% CI 47.4% to 57.3%) did not have HIV infection. Factors associated with increased relative risk of having at least one STI, after adjusting for age and city, included being divorced/separated, living with HIV and reporting STI symptoms in the past year. While there have been huge gains in identifying and treating FSWs living with HIV, many STIs remain undetected, and a significant proportion of HIV-negative FSWs are affected by these infections, suggesting an urgent need for improved STI management including access to cheap point of care diagnostics.
Vasmol, a commonly used hair dye containing paraphenylenediamine (PPD), has emerged as a potential toxic agent when ingested. Easy availability and cheap price make it easily accessible for self-harm purposes. The present case report describes the lethal presentation of the ingestion of the Vasmol dye and highlights the critical importance of early airway management in a woman who presented with respiratory distress and cervico-facial oedema along with systemic toxicity and multiorgan involvement. Despite tracheostomy and best resuscitative efforts, the patient succumbed due to systemic toxicity. Early recognition, airway management and comprehensive monitoring for systemic toxicity (cardiac, renal and liver) may improve prognosis as no specific antidote exists and treatment is supportive care.