A Robust High-Pressure RO Technology to Overcome the Barriers to Full Circularity in Cr(III) Electroplating Operations.

Electroplating is a widely used technology for anticorrosion materials and decorative coatings. In view of the transition to a circular economy, the current electroplating wastewater treatment disposing of heavy metal sludge and wastewater severely lacks sustainability. Authors recently reported the successful recycling of electroplating agents using hybrid semibatch/batch reverse osmosis technology (hybrid RO).

Correction: Quality of life in adults with Down syndrome: A mixed methods systematic review.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.

Volumetric printing and non-destructive drug quantification of water-soluble supramolecular hydrogels.

Vat photopolymerisation 3D printing is being actively explored for manufacturing personalised medicines due to its high dimensional accuracy and lack of heat application. However, several challenges have hindered its clinical translation, including the inadequate printing speeds, the lack of resins that give soluble matrices, and the need for non-destructive quality control measures. In this study, for the first time, a rapid approach to producing water-soluble vat photopolymerised matrices and a means of non-destructively verifying their drug content were investigated.

Removal and Oxidation of Low Concentration -Butanol from Potable Water using Nonthermal Plasma Coupled with Metal Oxide Adsorption.

Taste and odor are crucial factors in evaluating the quality of drinking water for consumers. Geosmin is an example of a pollutant commonly found in potable water responsible for earthy and musty taste, and odor even at low concentrations. We have investigated the use of a hybrid two-step adsorption-mineralization process for low-level volatile organic compounds removal from potable water using dielectric barrier discharge over common metal oxides (MO).

Amphiphilic Janus Particles for Aerobic Alcohol Oxidation in Oil Foams.

Amphiphilic Janus silica particles, tunable with oleophobic-oleophilic properties and low fluorine content (8 wt % F), exhibited prominent foamability for a variety of aromatic alcohols at low particle concentrations (<1 wt %) compared to randomly functionalized silica particles. When selectively loaded with Pd nanoparticles on the oleophilic hemisphere, the particles displayed more than a 2-fold increase in catalytic activity for the aerobic oxidation of benzyl alcohol compared to nonfoam bulk catalysis under ambient O pressure. The particles were conveniently recycled with high foamability and catalytic activity maintained for at least five consecutive runs.

Paediatric sleep diagnostics in the 21st century: the era of "sleep-omics"?

Paediatric sleep diagnostics is performed using complex multichannel tests in specialised centres, limiting access and availability and resulting in delayed diagnosis and management. Such investigations are often challenging due to patient size (prematurity), tolerability, and compliance with "gold standard" equipment. Children with sensory/behavioural issues, at increased risk of sleep disordered breathing (SDB), often find standard diagnostic equipment difficult.

Update on HPV Vaccination Policies and Practices in 17 Eastern European and Central Asian Countries and Territories.

Background: In 2021, a survey was conducted as part of the regional program of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Regional Office for Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA) to assess the policies and practices relating to HPV vaccination and cervical cancer screening in the 17 countries and territories included in this region. Since then, very substantial progress has been made with HPV vaccination across the region so another survey was conducted establish the current situation.

Methods: A 10 question survey covering the policies, plans and practices for HPV vaccination was prepared.

Photoinduced force microscopy as a novel method for the study of microbial nanostructures.

A detailed comparison of the capabilities of electron microscopy and nano-infrared (IR) microscopy for imaging microbial nanostructures has been carried out for the first time. The surface sensitivity, chemical specificity, and non-destructive nature of spectroscopic mapping is shown to offer significant advantages over transmission electron microscopy (TEM) for the study of biological samples. As well as yielding important topographical information, the distribution of amides, lipids, and carbohydrates across cross-sections of bacterial (, ) and fungal () cells was demonstrated using PiFM.

Sustainable Development Goals and the role of and implications for primary care physicians.

The Declaration of Alma-Ata in 1978 and the subsequent Declaration of Astana in 2018 highlight the important role of primary health care in delivering 'health for all' and supporting progress towards universal health coverage. Alongside these key declarations, the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) establish an ambitious framework aimed at promoting sustainable development worldwide by addressing poverty, inequality, climate change, health and other global challenges by 2030. There has been progress in respect of many SDGs since their launch in 2015.

Desalination, Water Re-use, and Halophyte Cultivation in Salinized Regions: A Highly Productive Groundwater Treatment System.

Groundwater salinization is a problem affecting access to water in many world regions. Though desalination by conventional reverse osmosis (RO) can upgrade groundwater quality for drinking, its disadvantages include unmanaged brine discharge and accelerated groundwater depletion. Here, we propose a new approach combining RO, forward osmosis (FO), and halophyte cultivation, in which FO optimally adjusts the concentration of the RO reject brine for irrigation of or .

Synergising single-cell resolution and 4sU labelling boosts inference of transcriptional bursting.

Despite the recent rise of RNA-seq datasets combining single-cell (sc) resolution with 4-thiouridine (4sU) labelling, analytical methods exploiting their power to dissect transcriptional bursting are lacking. Here, we present a mathematical model and Bayesian inference implementation to facilitate genome-wide joint parameter estimation and confidence quantification (R package: burstMCMC). We demonstrate that, unlike conventional scRNA-seq, 4sU scRNA-seq resolves temporal parameters and furthermore boosts inference of dimensionless parameters via a synergy between single-cell resolution and 4sU labelling.

HPV Vaccination and Cervical Cancer Screening Policies and Practices in 18 Countries, Territories and Entities across Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

Background: To assess readiness to achieve the WHO Global Strategy targets for HPV vaccination and cervical screening and to guide capacity building, the current status of these services in 18 Eastern European and Central Asian countries, territories and entities (CTEs) was evaluated.

Methods: In order to assess the current status of HPV vaccination and cervical cancer screening in these 18 CTEs, a 30 question survey tool was developed, covering: national policies, strategies and plans for cervical cancer prevention; status of cancer registration; status of HPV vaccination; and current practices for cervical cancer screening and treatment of precancerous lesions. As cervical cancer prevention comes within the mandate of the United Nations Fund for Population Development (UNFPA), the UNFPA offices in the 18 CTEs have regular contact with national experts who are directly involved in cervical cancer prevention actions and are well placed to provide the data required for this survey.

Quality of life in adults with Down syndrome: A mixed methods systematic review.

Background: As the life expectancy of adults (aged ≥ 18 years) with Down syndrome increases for a plethora of reasons including recognition of rights, access, and technological and medical advances, there is a need to collate evidence about their quality of life.

Objective: Using Schalock and Verdugo's multidimensional quality of life assessment model, this systematic review aimed to identify, synthesise and integrate the quantitative and qualitative evidence on quality of life in adults with Down syndrome via self-and proxy-reporting.

Methods: Five databases were systematically searched: MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Scopus, and Web of Science to identify relevant articles published between 1980 and 2022 along with grey literature and reference lists from relevant studies.

InP/ZnS quantum dot photoluminescence modulation HS interface engineering.

InP quantum dots (QDs) are attracting significant interest as a potentially less toxic alternative to Cd-based QDs in many research areas. Although InP-based core/shell QDs with excellent photoluminescence properties have been reported so far, sophisticated interface treatment to eliminate defects is often necessary. Herein, using aminophosphine as a seeding source of phosphorus, we find that HS can be efficiently generated from the reaction between a thiol and an alkylamine at high temperatures.

The effect of dissolved chlorides on the photocatalytic degradation properties of titania in wastewater treatment.

We investigate the effect of chlorides on the photocatalytic degradation of phenol by titania polymorphs (anatase and rutile). We demonstrate how solubilised chlorides can affect the hydroxyl radical formation on both polymorphs with an overall effect on their photodegradative activity. Initially, the photocatalytic activity of anatase and rutile for phenol degradation is investigated in both standard water and brines.

Siwa Oasis groundwater quality: factors controlling spatial and temporal changes.

Siwa Oasis is of great historical, environmental, and scientific importance, as it contains unique archeological and geological features. Groundwater is the main source of freshwater in that oasis. The carbonate aquifer groundwater, used for irrigation, was sampled to evaluate factors controlling quality changes spatially and temporally by applying hydrochemical and statistical analyses.

A Reverse Osmosis Process to Recover and Recycle Trivalent Chromium from Electroplating Wastewater.

Electroplating generates high volumes of rinse water that is contaminated with heavy metals. This study presents an approach for direct metal recovery and recycling from simulated rinse water, made up of an electroplating electrolyte used in industry, using reverse osmosis (RO). To simulate the real industrial application, the process was examined at various permeate fluxes, ranging from 3.

Strategies for Success: Simple Education Interventions to Equip Nursing Students in Rural Liberia.

Severe shortages of skilled health workforce remain a major barrier to universal health coverage in low income countries including Liberia where nurses and midwives form more than 50% of the health workforce. According to the 2018 Service Availability and Readiness Assessment (SARA) report, Liberia has 10.7 core healthcare workers per 10,000 people, far below the WHO benchmark of 23/10,000 people.

Feasibility of Solar Updraft Towers as Photocatalytic Reactors for Removal of Atmospheric Methane-The Role of Catalysts and Rate Limiting Steps.

Due to the alarming speed of global warming, greenhouse gas removal from atmosphere will be absolutely necessary in the coming decades. Methane is the second most harmful greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. There is an emerging technology proposed to incorporating photocatalysis with solar updraft Towers (SUT) to remove methane from the air at a planetary scale.