Air pollution and brain health:defining the research agenda

Purpose of review: The literature on air pollution and brain health is rapidly expanding and it is a universal finding that greater exposure to air pollution is associated with worse outcomes, whatever the measure of brain health used (clinical dementia, neuroimaging correlates, or cognitive impairment). However, there are a number of important questions which the studies currently published are not able to answer: when in the life course does exposure to air pollution most have the most impact?; which pollutant(s) or components are most important?; and since dementia describes a heterogeneous group of conditions, which is most affected by exposure to air pollution? Recent findings: We briefly review and discuss the nine articles which have been published so far in 2018, so recently that they were not included in the four review articles also published this year. We highlight the variation in estimates of air pollution used but the consistency in deriving them from residential address (with or without some knowledge of an individual's previous home locations). Summary: We are now at the stage when the research agenda needs to be agreed and we believe these three questions should be the focus of future research

Development of a biomarker for penconazole: a human oral dosing study and a survey of UK residents’ exposure

Penconazole is a widely used fungicide in the UK; however, to date, there have been no peer-reviewed publications reporting human metabolism, excretion or biological monitoring data. The objectives of this study were to i) develop a robust analytical method, ii) determine biomarker levels in volunteers exposed to penconazole, and, finally, to iii) measure the metabolites in samples collected as part of a large investigation of rural residents’ exposure. An LC-MS/MS method was developed for penconazole and two oxidative metabolites. Three volunteers received a single oral dose of 0.03 mg/kg body weight and timed urine samples were collected and analysed. The volunteer study demonstrated that both penconazole-OH and penconazole-COOH are excreted in humans following an oral dose and are viable biomarkers. Excretion is rapid with a half-life of less than four hours. Mean recovery of the administered dose was 47% (range 33%–54%) in urine treated with glucuronidase to hydrolyse any conjugates. The results from the residents’ study showed that levels of penconazole-COOH in this population were low with >80% below the limit of detection. Future sampling strategies that include both end of exposure and next day urine samples, as well as contextual data about the route and time of exposure, are recommended

Determination of optimal conditions for pressure oxidative leaching of Sarcheshmeh Molybdenite concentrate using Taguchi method

The present research work is based on finding the optimum conditions for pressure oxidative leaching of the molybdenite concentrate to produce technical-grade molybdic oxide (MoO3) with high recovery through further treatment of the filtrate solution. The Taguchi method was used to design and minimize the number of experiments. By using Taguchi orthogonal (L25) array, five parameters (time, temperature, oxygen pressure, pulp density and acid concentration) at five levels were selected for 25 experiments. The experiments were designed and carried out in a high-pressure reactor in the presence of nitric acid as solvent and oxidizing agent for the molybdenite concentrate and its ReS2 content. The optimum conditions for pressure leaching of molybdenite were obtained through using Signal to Noise analysis and modified by using Minitab software prediction tool. Furthermore, the optimum condition for an economical pressure leaching of rhenium sulfide (ReS2) was achieved with the same process. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that the pulp density is of paramount importance in this process

Метод преобразования обычной разводки печатных плат в полигональную

Описан метод преобразования традиционной разводки печатной платы в полигональную с предварительным рассмотрением вопросов построения триангуляции Делоне, диаграммы Вороного и эквидистанты к контуру.Описаний метод дозволяє автоматизувати процес полігонального розведення друкованих плат, що потрібен при проектуванні потужних радіопередавачів, а також багатошарових друкованих плат, коли на опорному шарі є присутними декілька різних кіл живлення.The described method allows to automate the polygonal interconnection process, which is essential for powerful radio transmitters designing, and also for multi-layer printed circuit boards designing, when the reference layer includes several different circuits

Dustiness and deagglomeration testing: interlaboratory comparison of systems for nanoparticle powders

Different types of aerosolization and deagglomeration testing systems exist for studying the properties of nanomaterial powders and their aerosols. However, results are dependent on the specific methods used. In order to have well-characterized aerosols, we require a better understanding of how system parameters and testing conditions influence the properties of the aerosols generated. In the present study, four experimental setups delivering different aerosolization energies were used to test the resultant aerosols of two distinct nanomaterials (hydrophobic and hydrophilic TiO2). The reproducibility of results within each system was good. However, the number concentrations and size distributions of the aerosols created varied across the four systems; for number concentrations, e.g., from 10(3) to 10(6) #/cm(3). Moreover, distinct differences were also observed between the two materials with different surface coatings. The article discusses how system characteristics and other pertinent conditions modify the test results. We propose using air velocity as a suitable proxy for estimating energy input levels in aerosolization systems. The information derived from this work will be especially useful for establishing standard operating procedures for testing nanopowders, as well as for estimating their release rates under different energy input conditions, which is relevant for occupational exposure

An Ecological Study of COVID-19 Infection Rates within the UK Food and Drink Processing Industry.

OBJECTIVES: Food processing facilities represent critical infrastructure that have stayed open during much of the COVID-19 pandemic. Understanding the burden of COVID-19 in this sector is thus important to help reduce the potential for workplace infection in future outbreaks. METHODS: We undertook a workplace survey in the UK food and drink processing sector and collected information on workplace size, characteristics (e.g. temperature, ventilation), and experience with COVID-19 (e.g. numbers of positive cases). For each site, we calculated COVID-19 case rates per month per 1000 workers. We performed an ecological analysis using negative binomial regression to assess the association between COVID-19 rates and workplace and local risk factors. RESULTS: Respondents from 33 companies including 66 individual sites completed the survey. COVID-19 cases were reported from the start of the pandemic up to June 2021. Respondents represented a range of industry subgroups, including grain milling/storage (n = 16), manufacture of malt (n = 14), manufacture of prepared meals (n = 12), manufacture of beverages (n = 8), distilling (n = 5), manufacture of baked goods (n = 5), and other (n = 6), with a total of 15 563 workers across all sites. Average monthly case rates per 1000 workers ranged from 0.9 in distilling to 6.1 in grain milling/storage. Incidence rate ratios were partially attenuated after adjusting for several local and workplace factors, though risks for one subgroup (grain milling/storage) remained elevated. Certain local and workplace characteristics were related to higher infection rates, such as higher deprivation (5 km only), a lower proportion of remote workers, lower proportion of workers in close proximity, and higher numbers of workers overall. CONCLUSIONS: Our analysis suggests some heterogeneity in the rates of COVID-19 across sectors of the UK food and drink processing industry. Infection rates were associated with deprivation, the proportions of remote workers and workers in close proximity, and the number of workers