Crystallization of jarosite in the presence of amino acids

Jarosite was formed in the presence of five amino acids at two pHs, namely 1.75 and 2.9, to determine what impact amino acids have on its formation. It was found that at the lower pH glycine was the most potent in terms of morphological and yield impacts. XRD analysis showed that incorporation of the amino acid occurs at this low pH for glycine and proline. Dynamic light scattering studies showed that glycine impacts significantly on the jarosite nucleation rate while proline and alanine do not. At the higher pH all of the amino acids had much less impact on morphology or yield. At pH 3 the solids were found to be a 3-phase system consisting of goethite, schwertmannite and jarosite. In this case, alanine appeared to stabilise the presence of schwertmannite more than the other amino acids

Development and use of a directed acyclic graph (DAG) for conceptual framework and study protocol development exploring relationships between dwelling characteristics and household transmission of COVID-19 – England, 2020

Background: Household settings are high risk for COVID-19 transmission. Understanding transmission factors associated with environmental dwelling characteristics is important in informing public health and building design recommendations. We aimed to develop a directed acyclic graph (DAG) to inform a novel analytical study examining the effect of dwelling environmental characteristics on household transmission of COVID-19. Methods: Key demographic, behavioural and environmental dwelling characteristics were identified by a multidisciplinary team. Using the DAG to visually display risk factors, and using expert knowledge of available datasets we reached a consensus on the factors included and directionality of relationships to build the final conceptual framework. Factors were displayed as nodes and relationships as pathways. Results: Of 34 potential factors, 16 were included in the DAG, with 13 causal and three biasing pathways. Three variables were not measurable using retrospective datasets. The DAG enabled us to select data sources for the pilot study period and to inform the analysis plan. Key exposure nodes were energy efficiency or dwelling age; dwelling type or number of storeys; and dwelling size. We determined direct and proxy confounders which we could adjust for, potential interactions terms we could test in model building, and co-linear variables to omit in the same model. Conclusions: The DAG helped identify key variables and datasets. It prioritised key nodes and pathways to formalise complex relationships between variables. It was pivotal in identifying unobserved variables, confounders, co-linearity and potential interactions. It has supported data selection and design of a retrospective pilot study analysis plan

Variability in the chemistry of private drinking water supplies and the impact of domestic treatment systems on water quality.

Tap water from 497 properties using private water supplies, in an area of metalliferous and arsenic mineralisation (Cornwall, UK), was measured to assess the extent of compliance with chemical drinking water quality standards, and how this is influenced by householder water treatment decisions. The proportion of analyses exceeding water quality standards were high, with 65 % of tap water samples exceeding one or more chemical standards. The highest exceedances for health-based standards were nitrate (11 %) and arsenic (5 %). Arsenic had a maximum observed concentration of 440 µg/L. Exceedances were also high for pH (47 %), manganese (12 %) and aluminium (7 %), for which standards are set primarily on aesthetic grounds. However, the highest observed concentrations of manganese and aluminium also exceeded relevant health-based guidelines. Significant reductions in concentrations of aluminium, cadmium, copper, lead and/or nickel were found in tap waters where households were successfully treating low-pH groundwaters, and similar adventitious results were found for arsenic and nickel where treatment was installed for iron and/or manganese removal, and successful treatment specifically to decrease tap water arsenic concentrations was observed at two properties where it was installed. However, 31 % of samples where pH treatment was reported had pH < 6.5 (the minimum value in the drinking water regulations), suggesting widespread problems with system maintenance. Other examples of ineffectual treatment are seen in failed responses post-treatment, including for nitrate. This demonstrates that even where the tap waters are considered to be treated, they may still fail one or more drinking water quality standards. We find that the degree of drinking water standard exceedances warrant further work to understand environmental controls and the location of high concentrations. We also found that residents were more willing to accept drinking water with high metal (iron and manganese) concentrations than international guidelines assume. These findings point to the need for regulators to reinforce the guidance on drinking water quality standards to private water supply users, and the benefits to long-term health of complying with these, even in areas where treated mains water is widely available

Urinary arsenic profiles reveal exposures to inorganic arsenic from private drinking water supplies in Cornwall, UK

Private water supplies (PWS) in Cornwall, South West England exceeded the current WHO guidance value and UK prescribed concentration or value (PCV) for arsenic of 10 μg/L in 5% of properties surveyed (n = 497). In this follow-up study, the first of its kind in the UK, volunteers (n = 207) from 127 households who used their PWS for drinking, provided urine and drinking water samples for total As determination by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and urinary As speciation by high performance liquid chromatography ICP-MS (HPLC-ICP-MS). Arsenic concentrations exceeding 10 μg/L were found in the PWS of 10% of the volunteers. Unadjusted total urinary As concentrations were poorly correlated (Spearman’s ρ = 0.36 (P < 0.001)) with PWS As largely due to the use of spot urine samples and the dominance of arsenobetaine (AB) from seafood sources. However, the osmolality adjusted sum, U-AsIMM, of urinary inorganic As species, arsenite (AsIII) and arsenate (AsV), and their metabolites, methylarsonate (MA) and dimethylarsinate (DMA), was found to strongly correlate (Spearman’s ρ: 0.62 (P < 0.001)) with PWS As, indicating private water supplies as the dominant source of inorganic As exposure in the study population of PWS users

Cricket, migration and diasporic communities

Ever since different communities began processes of global migration, sport has been an integral feature in how we conceptualise and experience the notion of being part of a diaspora. Sport provides diasporic communities with a powerful means for creating transnational ties, but also shapes ideas of their ethnic and racial identities. In spite of this, theories of diaspora have been applied sparingly to sporting discourses. Due mainly to its central role in spreading dominant white racial narratives within the British Empire, and the various ways different ethnic groups have ‘played’ with the meanings and associations of the sport in the (post-)colonial period, cricket is an interesting focus for academic research. Despite W.G. Grace’s claim that cricket advances civilisation by promoting a common bond, binding together peoples of vastly different backgrounds, to this day cricket operates strict symbolic boundaries; defining those who do, and equally, do not belong. C.L.R. James’ now famous metaphor of looking ‘beyond the boundary’ captures the belief that, to fully understand the significance of cricket, and the sport’s roles in changing and shaping society, one must consider the wider social and political contexts within which the game is played. The collection of papers in this special issue does just that. Cricket acts as the point of departure in each, but the way in which ideas of power, representation and inequality are ‘played out’ is unique in each

Acting on incidental findings in research imaging

No abstract available