Synergistic catalysis for promoting selective C-C/C-O cleavage in plastic waste: structure-activity relationship and rational design of heterogeneous catalysts for liquid hydrocarbon production.

Ever-increasing consumption of plastic products and poor waste management infrastructure have resulted in a massive accumulation of plastic waste in environments, causing adverse effects on climate and living organisms. Although contributing ∼10% towards the total plastic waste management infrastructure, the chemical recycling of plastic waste is considered a viable option to valorize plastic waste into platform chemicals and liquid fuels. Among the various chemical upcycling processes, catalytic hydroprocessing has attracted interest due to its potential to offer higher selectivity than other thermal-based approaches.

Proportional impact prediction model of coating material on nitrate leaching of slow-release Urea Super Granules (USG) using machine learning and RSM technique.

An accurate assessment of nitrate leaching is important for efficient fertiliser utilisation and groundwater pollution reduction. However, past studies could not efficiently model nitrate leaching due to utilisation of conventional algorithms. To address the issue, the current research employed advanced machine learning algorithms, viz.

Thermal Comfort in School Classes in the Era of Global Warming: A Prospective Multicenter Study.

Background: We investigated adolescents' feelings of thermal comfort during the educational process in various geographical locations far apart and present recommendations for the adjustment of the thermal environment in schools.

Methods: The prospective international multicenter study took place in 8 locations on different continents. The survey in the form of a questionnaire was carried out among 2800 healthy high school students.

Knowledge and attitudes of adolescents to e-cigarettes: an international prospective study.

Purpose: The aim of the study was to assess the familiarity of adolescents with e-cigarettes. We performed a survey to investigate the frequency of their contact with e-cigarettes, beliefs about this sort of smoking (vaping), and their real knowledge of its effects.

Methods: The survey was carried out among 1600 high school students in the USA, Israel, Ukraine and Australia.

Challenges in the development of prescription opioid abuse-deterrent formulations.

Opioid analgesics remain the cornerstone of effective management for moderate-to-severe pain. In the face of persistent lack of access to opioids by patients with legitimate pain problems, the rate of prescription opioid abuse in the United States has escalated over the past 15 years. Abuse-deterrent opioid products can play a central role in optimizing the risk-benefit ratio of opioid analgesics--if these products can be developed cost-effectively without compromising efficacy or creating new safety issues for the target treatment population.

Foundations of opioid risk management.

Increased abuse and diversion of prescription opioids has been a consequence of the increased availability of opioids to address the widespread problem of undertreated pain. Opioid risk management refers to the effort to minimize harms associated with opioid therapy while maintaining appropriate access to therapy. Management of these linked public health issues requires a coordinated and balanced effort among a disparate group of stakeholders at the federal, state, industry, practitioner, and patient levels.

The impact of technology on the analgesic gap and quality of acute pain management.

National surveys continue to document the undertreatment of acute postoperative pain, despite the availability of evidence-based, clinical practice guidelines and the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations standards. This article surveys factors that contribute to persistent gaps during the acute pain management process, including deficiencies in providing continuous analgesia, disparities in access to medical care, the acute pain medicine culture itself, a lack of adequate pain assessment, health care provider biases, and limited health care resources. The role of technology in increasing patients' control over their own pain management and narrowing these gaps is discussed.

The future of pain management in managed care.

Pain management has made great strides in clinical practice and education, and in research documenting its effectiveness on pain relief, functional improvement, and cost. The profile of pain in managed care settings has recently been raised, notably because of the trend toward replacing inexpensive generic drugs with new and expensive drugs for pain treatment. Managed care organizations have greater motivation to focus on pain care because of recent regulatory initiatives, new accreditation standards, and legal precedents.

[Is headache a women's disease?].

Headache is experienced by the majority of people in the population. The prevalence of migraine in women is greater than in men, and there are indications that this is also the case for non-migrainous headache. We reviewed available literature on headache epidemiology for documented knowledge on the prevalence of non-migrainous headache in men and women and severity of the disease.

Hypericum treatment of mild depressions with somatic symptoms.

In a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind study, 39 patients with depression with somatic symptoms were treated with hypericum extract LI 160. The therapy lasted for 4 weeks; the dosage was 300 mg three times daily. At the onset of the study as well as after 2 and 4 weeks, the following criteria were analyzed: HAMD, B-L, CGI, and vegetative symptoms.

Multiple domains of botulinum neurotoxin contribute to its inhibition of transmitter release in Aplysia neurons.

The binding, internalization, and inhibition of transmitter release by botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT) was investigated using the intact toxin, its heavy (HC) or light (LC) chains, and a proteolytic fragment thereof. In Aplysia neurons, blockade of acetylcholine release upon external application of BoNT types A or E was prevented by reducing the temperature to 10 degrees C, due to arresting intoxication at the membrane binding step. At this low temperature, type A HC, H2 (comprised of the N-terminal of HC), or H2L (H2 disulfide-linked to LC) antagonized the neuroparalytic action of BoNT A or E, indicating that the latter bind saturably to common ecto-acceptor via the H2 region.

Effects of botulinum neurotoxin and Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome IgG at mouse nerve terminals.

The interaction between two presynaptically acting agents, Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome (LEMS) immunoglobulin G (IgG) and purified botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT) type A, was studied. Intracellular microelectrode recordings were carried out on mouse muscles after injection with LEMS IgG. BoNT was either injected before recordings were made or applied in vitro.

High-performance displacement chromatography of melanotropins and their derivatives.

Mixtures containing derivatives of the biological active peptide alpha-melanocyte stimulating hormone (alpha-MSH) or beta-melanocyte stimulating hormone (beta-MSH) were purified by using reversed-phase chromatography in the displacement mode. On a 250 x 4.6 mm octadecyl silica column and with instrumentation used in analytical high-performance liquid chromatography about 30 mg of the peptide mixture were separated by using an aqueous solution of benzyldimethyldodecylamonium bromide as the displacer in a single chromatographic run.

The effects of in vitro application of purified botulinum neurotoxin at mouse motor nerve terminals.

1. Purified botulinum neurotoxin type A (10 nM) was applied in vitro to mouse diaphragm muscles. Intracellular micro-electrode recordings were made continuously in single fibres.

Differentiation between classically conditioned and cognitively based neurotic fears: two pilot studies.

The ability of clinical trainees to learn to distinguish between classically conditioned and cognitively based neurotic fears was examined in two small-scale studies. The first study showed that they readily learned to make the distinction on the basis of transcripts of key excerpts of actual patient sessions, and that ability to do so increased with training. The second study showed a high degree of inter-rater reliability among assessor ratings of fear type on the basis of independent interviews of phobic patients.