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Multiple classes of environmental contaminants have been found in aquatic environments, globally. Understanding internalised concentrations in the organism could further improve the risk assessment process. The present study is concerned with the determination of several contaminant classes (107 compounds) in Gammarus pulex collected from 15 sites covering 5 river catchments across Suffolk, UK. Quantitative method performance was acceptable for 67 compounds including pharmaceuticals, pesticides, illicit drugs and drugs of abuse. A total of 56 compounds were detectable and ranged from

Objectives The authors studied healthy UK Indian Asian and European white subjects to assess whether functional, structural and geometrical properties of the left heart are intrinsically related to ethnicity. Background Quantitative assessment of cardiac function and structure is necessary to diagnose heart failure syndromes and is validated to refine risk prediction. A better understanding of the demographic factors that influence these variables is required. Methods 458 healthy subjects were recruited from the London Life Sciences Prospective Population (LOLIPOP) study. They underwent 2-D and tissue Doppler echocardiography for quantification of left ventricular (LV) function, LV volumes, left atrial volume index (LAVI), left ventricular mass index (LVMI) and relative wall thickness (RWT). Results Indian Asians had attenuated mitral annular systolic velocity (8.9 cm/s vs 9.5 cm/s, p<0.001), lower mitral annular early diastolic velocity (10.3 cm/s vs 11.0 cm/s, p<0.001) and higher E/Ea ratio (7.9 vs 7.0, p<0.001) compared to European white subjects. Although Indian Asians had significantly smaller left heart volumes and LVMI, they had a significantly higher RWT (0.37 vs 0.35, p<0.001). After adjustment for covariates, these ethnicity-related differences remained highly significant (p<0.001). Conclusion Compared to European white people, Indian Asians had attenuated longitudinal LV function, higher LV filling pressure and demonstrated a greater degree of concentric remodelling independent of other demographic and clinical parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The frequency of anorectal symptoms amongst pregnant women has not been objectively investigated in the United Kingdom. The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of anorectal symptoms during each trimester of pregnancy. Women attending the antenatal clinics at a London teaching hospital were asked to complete a questionnaire. The presence or absence of common anorectal symptoms experienced both before and during the current pregnancy together with demographic and pregnancy data was collected. Statistical analysis was performed using Fisher’s exact test. Two hundred seventeen patients (first trimester n = 75, second trimester n = 70 and third trimester n = 72) participated. A significant increase in the frequency of symptoms was observed in the third (43.1%) compared to the first (16.0%, p < 0.001) and second (22.9%, p = 0.013) trimesters. The incidence of per rectal bleeding was significantly greater in the third trimester (30.6%) compared to the first (10.6%, p = 0.004) and the second (12.9%, p = 0.014) trimesters. Similarly, anal pain was significantly more frequent in the third trimester (34.7%) compared to the first (13.3%, p = 0.003) and the second (12.9%, p = 0.003) trimesters. The frequency of anorectal symptom reporting appears to increase as pregnancy progresses. Further investigation and research is warranted to determine the configuration of services that may be required to treat those affected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the use of Web 2.0 technology to assess the risk of depression in young people in Australia, Great Britain and New Zealand. It discusses the use of data warehousing technologies and text mining in determining and monitoring depressed bloggers who are prone to suicide risk. It provides a literature review on the affective and emotional content text mining as well as suicide research. Studies show that text mining technologies can be used in determining depressed bloggers. It points out that identifying at-risk bloggers and offering appropriate interventions can prevent tragic consequences.

The fate of many chemicals in the environment, particularly contaminants of emerging concern (CEC), have been characterised to a limited extent with a major focus on occurrence in water. This study presents the characterisation, distribution and fate of multiple chemicals including pharmaceuticals, recreational drugs and pesticides in surface water, sediment and fauna representing different food web endpoints in a typical UK estuary (River Colne, Essex, UK). A comparison of contaminant occurrence across different benthic macroinvertebrates was made at three sites and included two amphipods (Gammarus pulex & Crangon crangon), a polychaete worm (Hediste diversicolor) and a gastropod (Peringia ulvae). Overall, multiple contaminants were determined in all compartments and ranged from; −1 in surface water (n = 59 compounds), −1 in sediment (n = 39 compounds) and −1 biota (n = 33 compounds). H. diversicolor and P. ulvae (sediment dwellers) showed greater chemical body burden compared with the two swimming amphipod species sampled (up to 2.5 - 4-fold). The most frequently determined compounds in biota (100%, n = 36 samples) included; cocaine, benzyoylecgonine, carbamazepine, sertraline and diuron. Whilst some of the highest concentrations found were in species H. diverscolor and P. ulvae for psychoactive pharmaceuticals including citalopram (91 ng g−1), sertraline (69 ng g−1), haloperidol (66 ng g−1) and the neonicotinoid, imidacloprid (33 ng g−1) Sediment was noted as an important exposure route for these benthic dwelling organisms and will be critical to monitor in future studies. Overall, the analysis of multiple species and compartments demonstrates the importance of including a range of exposure pathways in order to appropriately assess chemical fates and associated risks in the aquatic environment. Image 1 • Multi-compartmental monitoring across three sites of an estuarine habitat is presented. • The most impacted site was next to a WWTP discharge point. • Emerging contaminants across four different macroinvertebrates reached up to 91 ng g−1. • Infaunal species showed greater accumulation of contaminants than epibenthic organisms. • A high proportion of contaminants determined in biota were psychoactive drugs. Multi-class contaminants of emerging concern were determined across surface water, sediment and macroinvertebrate species demonstrating widespread exposure in the aquatic environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Rapid, direct LC–MS/MS of 135 analytes in filtered wastewater demonstrated in 5 min. • Quantitative performance was excellent over several orders of magnitude. • Median limits of detection of 9 ng L−1 with standard injection volumes and flow rates. • Excellent chromatographic definition with ∼20−30 datapoints/peak. • 56 compounds quantified in small samples of raw wastewater from UK, USA and Mexico. A rapid quantitative method for 135 contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) in untreated wastewater enabled with direct injection liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry is presented. All compounds were analysed within 5 min on a short biphenyl cartridge using only 10 μL of filtered sample per injection. Up to 76 compounds were monitored simultaneously during the gradient (including mostly two transitions per compound and stable isotope-labelled analogues) while yielding >10 data points per peak. Evaluation of seven solid phase extraction sorbents showed no advantage for wastewater matrix removal. Excellent linearity, range, accuracy and precision was achieved for most compounds. Matrix effects were <11 % and detection limits were <30 ng L−1 on average. Application to untreated wastewater samples from three wastewater treatment works in the UK, USA and Mexico, enabled quantification of 56 compounds. Banned and EU 'watch-list' substances are critically discussed, including pesticides, macrolide antibiotics, diclofenac, illicit drugs as well as multiple pharmaceuticals and biocides. This high-throughput method sets a new standard for the speedy and confident determination of over a hundred CECs in wastewater at the part-per-trillion level, as demonstrated by performing over 260 injections per day. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to develop an optimal scheduling scheme for an Energy Storage System (ESS), in a grid-connected microgrid, which is used for two main energy services, namely Operating Cost Minimization Service (OCMS) and Contracted Service (CS). OCMS refers to minimizing the overall operating cost of the microgrid. CS is a specified balancing service for the grid operator in UK to manage the actual demand when the demand is greater than forecast or generation availability. In this service, a constant contracted level of power is delivered by the ESS on instruction from the grid. A linear programming (LP) based optimization method is proposed to effectively combine these two services. Different simulation studies are conducted to test the effectiveness of the proposed method under variations in the renewable energy sources such as photovoltaic (PV) and wind in given microgrid. The proposed method is compared with a conventionally used Fuzzy Logic Control (FLC) based optimization method and is also experimentally validated. Simulation and experimental studies show that LP based optimization method can achieve a lower operating cost (up to 20%) in the microgrid and thus maximize the economic benefits of using an ESS by effectively managing different energy services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To evaluate the value of fetal scalp blood sampling (FBS) as an adjunct test to cardiotocography, to predict adverse neonatal outcomes.Study Design: A multicentre service evaluation observational study in forty-four maternity units in the UK. We collected data retrospectively on pregnant women with singleton pregnancy who received FBS in labour using a standardised data collection tool. The primary outcome was prediction of neonatal acidaemia diagnosed as umbilical cord arterial pH < 7.05, the secondary outcomes were the prediction of Apgar scores<7 at 1st and 5th minutes and admission to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). We evaluated the correlation between the last FBS blood gas before birth and the umbilical cord blood and adjusted for time intervals. We constructed 2 × 2 tables to calculate the sensitivity, specificity, positive (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) and generated receiver operating curves to report on the Area Under the Curve (AUC).Results: In total, 1422 samples were included in the analysis; pH values showed no correlation (r = 0.001, p = 0.9) in samples obtained within an hour (n = 314), or within half an hour from birth (n = 115) (r=-0.003, p = 0.9). A suboptimal FBS pH value (<7.25) had a poor sensitivity (22%) and PPV (4.9%) to predict neonatal acidaemia with high specificity (87.3%) and NPV (97.4%). Similar performance was noted to predict Apgar scores <7 at 1st (sensitivity 14.5%, specificity 87.5%, PPV 23.4%, NPV 79.6%) and 5th minute (sensitivity 20.3%, specificity 87.4%, PPV 7.6%, NPV 95.6%), and admission to NICU (sensitivity 20.3%, specificity 87.5%, PPV 13.3%, NPV 92.1%). The AUC for FBS pH to predict neonatal acidaemia was 0.59 (95%CI 0.59-0.68, p = 0.3) with similar performance to predict Apgar scores<7 at 1st minute (AUC 0.55, 95%CI 0.51-0.59, p = 0.004), 5th minute (AUC 0.55, 95%CI 0.48-0.62, p = 0.13), and admission to NICU (AUC 0.58, 95%CI 0.52-0.64, p = 0.002). Forty-one neonates had acidaemia (2.8%, 41/1422) at birth. There was no significant correlation in pH values between the FBS and the umbilical cord blood in this subgroup adjusted for sampling time intervals (r = 0.03, p = 0.83).Conclusions: As an adjunct tool to cardiotocography, FBS offered limited value to predict neonatal acidaemia, low Apgar Scores and admission to NICU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]