Health impact assessment of waste management facilities in three European countries

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Policies on waste disposal in Europe are heterogeneous and rapidly changing, with potential health implications that are largely unknown. We conducted a health impact assessment of landfilling and incineration in three European countries: Italy, Slovakia and England.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A total of 49 (Italy), 2 (Slovakia), and 11 (England) incinerators were operating in 2001 while for landfills the figures were 619, 121 and 232, respectively. The study population consisted of residents living within 3 km of an incinerator and 2 km of a landfill. Excess risk estimates from epidemiological studies were used, combined with air pollution dispersion modelling for particulate matter (PM₁₀) and nitrogen dioxide (NO₂). For incinerators, we estimated attributable cancer incidence and years of life lost (YoLL), while for landfills we estimated attributable cases of congenital anomalies and low birth weight infants.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>About 1,000,000, 16,000, and 1,200,000 subjects lived close to incinerators in Italy, Slovakia and England, respectively. The additional contribution to NO₂levels within a 3 km radius was 0.23, 0.15, and 0.14 μg/m³, respectively. Lower values were found for PM₁₀. Assuming that the incinerators continue to operate until 2020, we are moderately confident that the annual number of cancer cases due to exposure in 2001-2020 will reach 11, 0, and 7 in 2020 and then decline to 0 in the three countries in 2050. We are moderately confident that by 2050, the attributable impact on the 2001 cohort of residents will be 3,621 (Italy), 37 (Slovakia) and 3,966 (England) YoLL. The total exposed population to landfills was 1,350,000, 329,000, and 1,425,000 subjects, respectively. We are moderately confident that the annual additional cases of congenital anomalies up to 2030 will be approximately 2, 2, and 3 whereas there will be 42, 13, and 59 additional low-birth weight newborns, respectively.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The current health impacts of landfilling and incineration can be characterized as moderate when compared to other sources of environmental pollution, e.g. traffic or industrial emissions, that have an impact on public health. There are several uncertainties and critical assumptions in the assessment model, but it provides insight into the relative health impact attributable to waste management.</p

Influence of solvent polarity and supersaturation on template-induced nucleation of carbamazepine crystal polymorphs

Studies on the use of template surfaces to induce heterogeneous crystal nucleation have gained momentum in recent years-with potential applications in selective crystallisation of polymorphs and in the generation of seed crystals in a continuous crystallisation process. In developing a template-assisted solution crystallisation process, the kinetics of homogeneous versus heterogeneous crystal nucleation could be influenced by solute-solvent, solute-template, and solvent-template interactions. In this study, we report the effect of solvents of varying polarity on the nucleation of carbamazepine (CBZ) crystal polymorphs, a model active pharmaceutical ingredient. The experimental results demonstrate that functionalised template surfaces are effective in promoting crystallisation of either the metastable (form II) or stable (form III) polymorphs of CBZ only in moderately (methanol, ethanol, isopropanol) and low polar (toluene) solvents. A solvent with high polarity (acetonitrile) is thought to mask the template effect on heterogeneous nucleation due to strong solute-solvent and solvent-template interactions. The current study highlights that a quality-by-design (QbD) approach-considering the synergistic effects of solute concentration, solvent type, solution temperature, and template surface chemistry on crystal nucleation-is critical to the development of a template-induced crystallisation process

Template-induced nucleation for controlling crystal polymorphism: from molecular mechanisms to applications in pharmaceutical processing

Over the last two decades, the use of template surfaces to induce heterogeneous crystal nucleation has been explored primarily to address two different goals: first, as an alternative to the conventional seeding technique used for polymorph control and, second, as a technique to promote the nucleation rate in novel crystallisation processes and formulations. The former need conceivably arises due to the risk of crystallising a new polymorph despite pre-seeding the solution with the desired crystal form. In this context, we review ongoing efforts in the research area of template-induced crystallisation, covering both experimental and simulation studies directed towards deeper understanding of the underpinning mechanisms. In addition, we report on the use of template-induced crystal nucleation as a process intensification technology for formulating drug substances and as a technique for enabling nucleation and polymorphic control during continuous manufacturing of active pharmaceutical ingredients

Overlooked flower-visiting Orthoptera in Southeast Asia

The study of insect–plant interactions such as flower visitors, pollinators, and florivores, are important for understanding the natural world. However, not all flower-visiting insects are equally well known, especially in the biodiverse Southeast Asian region. One group is the orthopterans, comprising of grasshoppers, crickets, and katydids. Natural history observations were made around Southeast Asia to document flower-visiting orthopterans. Owing to the limited studies on the ecology of orthopterans in Southeast Asia, we provide here the first documentation of flower-visiting orthopterans from Southeast Asia and the most extensive one for the Tropics. Based on 140 incidences of orthopteran visiting flowers, 41 orthopteran species have so far been recorded to visit 35 different plant species, in mainly Singapore, Malaysia, part of Thailand, and Brunei Darussalam. We conclude that orthopterans are indeed overlooked flower-visitors in this region and warrant further investigation