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According to the World Drugs Report (2019) from the United Nations on Drugs and Crime there were over half a million drug related deaths, 35 million people were treated for drug use disorders across the globe, and it is estimated that more than 270 million people used drugs during 2017. Lab-on-a-Chip (LOC) technology is an increasingly popular choice of detection method for drugs of abuse. We systematically reviewed the published literature available on LOC methods for the detection of drugs of abuse including New Psychoactive Substances (NPS) from January 1999 to March 2021 and identified 45 publications. A total of 28 different drugs of abuse were investigated, with cocaine the most widely studied (58%). The LOC devices were capable of accepting a wide range of biological and non-biological samples. A total of 18 countries have been involved in LOC research into detection of drugs of abuse, with locations generally following local trends in drug use. LOC devices employed a range of detection methods with immunoassays most commonly incorporated (34%). Recommendations are made for expanding the use of real-world samples, improved validation and further analysis of practicality (in terms of providing information on cost, speed of analysis and ease of use). More than a third of all the publications included in this review were published since 2019, representing a recent increase in research using LOC devices for the detection of drugs of abuse. There is currently an extensive range of LOC approaches available offering potential for these devices as cost-effective, rapid and portable detection systems.

This review represents a comprehensive analysis on pollutants in elasmobranchs including meta-analysis on the most studied pollutants: mercury, cadmium, PCBs and DDTs, in muscle and liver tissue. Elasmobranchs are particularly vulnerable to pollutant exposure which may pose a risk to the organism as well as humans that consume elasmobranch products. The highest concentrations of pollutants were found in sharks occupying top trophic levels (Carcharhiniformes and Lamniformes). A human health risk assessment identified that children and adults consuming shark once a week are exposed to over three times more mercury than is recommended by the US EPA. This poses a risk to local fishing communities and international consumers of shark-based products, as well as those subject to the widespread mislabelling of elasmobranch products. Wider screening studies are recommended to determine the risk to elasmobranchs from emerging pollutants and more robust studies are recommended to assess the risks to human health.

The Holocene replacement of Ponto-Caspian ostracod assemblages by Mediterranean species is studied in two long composite cores, M02-45 (a composite of cores M02-45P, M02-45 T and M05-03P) and M05-50 (a composite of cores M05-50P and M05-51G), acquired at sites −69 m and −91 m deep on the southwestern Black Sea shelf. Composite core M02-45 was collected from the middle shelf and composite core M05-50 was acquired on the distal fringe of the eastern levee of a saline underflow channel emanating from the Strait of Bosphorus. Sixteen radiocarbon dates in M02-45 and nine in M05-50 are used to construct age models, which show recovery of sediments as old as 12,915 cal yr BP (M02-45 site) and 12,010 cal yr BP (M05-50 site). A total of 45 ostracod species are identified in the two cores. From ~12,000 to ~7425 cal yr BP, the ostracod assemblage is dominated by Ponto-Caspian species, mainly Loxoconcha sublepida, L. lepida and Tyrrhenocythere amnicola donetziensis. From ~7425 to ~6315 cal yr BP the assemblage consists of nearly equal abundances of Mediterranean species (Cytheroma variabilis in M02-45; Sagmatocythere littoralis in M05-50) and the Ponto-Caspian species. After ~6315 cal yr BP to the tops of the cores, the assemblage is dominated by Mediterranean species, including Palmoconcha agilis, Carinocythereis carinata, Hiltermannicythere rubra and Pterygocythereis jonesii. Cluster analysis further subdivides the stratigraphic succession into six bioecozones with different ostracod assemblages. The changes in the ostracod assemblages from one bioecozone to the next indicate that progressive environmental changes took place on the southwestern Black Sea shelf from at least 7500 cal yr BP to the present. The first hint of changing conditions at ~7500 cal yr BP lags the initial reconnection to the Mediterranean Sea through the Strait of Bosphorus by ~2000 yr, demonstrating that Black Sea salinity increased slowly and took that long to reach values tolerable to marine ostracod immigrants. Widespread colonization by Mediterranean species took even longer, ~3000 years from the time of the initial reconnection.

Here we present an almost complete and integrated Holocene record of marine and terrestrial palaeoenvironmental change from the NE shelf of the Black Sea. A dinoflagellate cyst record used to reconstruct Holocene sea-surface conditions highlights that the NE shelf was a brackish water environment, with a minimum salinity of 7 psu in the early-Holocene before changing at a gradual rate to a more saline environment with maximum salinities of ~18 psu being reached around 3 cal. ka. A warming phase was detected from 6 cal. ka BP, with warmest conditions between 3 and 2.5 cal. ka BP. A pollen record is used to examine the major climate and land-use changes in the eastern Black Sea region. Biome reconstructions show that the temperate deciduous forest dominates throughout the record, although with an overall decline. From early-Holocene to the first hiatus around ~9 cal. ka BP, Pinus pollen dominates, while taxa representing a mixed oak-hornbeam-beech forest are less abundant, indicating relatively cool and dry conditions. Between ~7.9 and ~6.1 cal. ka BP, a thermophilous deciduous forest established, suggesting an overall warming trend and humid conditions. From 4 cal. ka BP, Pinus dominates the pollen record, accompanied by an increase of herbs, implying an opening of the landscape, which would coincide with the beginning of the Meghalayan Age. The integrated record of the marine and terrestrial climate indicators supports the notion that this change in landscape may have been triggered by a combination of warmer and drier conditions and human activities in this region.

This paper examines the distribution of 91 modern dinoflagellate cyst taxa from 3636 locations across the world's oceans. Patterns of distributions among the taxa included bi-polarity, cosmopolitan, northern versus southern hemispheres, and geographically restricted. Of the 91 taxa, three dominate these 3636 assemblages at the global scale, Brigantedinium species, Operculodinium centrocarpum sensu Wall and Dale 1966 and some species of Spiniferites. Whereas Brigantedinium is a true cosmopolitan taxon, with high abundances in each ocean, Operculodinium centrocarpum sensu Wall and Dale 1966 shows high abundances in polar to temperate regions in the Northern Hemisphere, and in tropical to sub-tropical waters in the Southern Hemisphere. Spiniferites species show highest occurrences in the Southern Hemisphere. This study also highlights three true bi-polar species, Impagidinium pallidum, Islandinium minutum and cyst of Polarella glacialis. Only a few taxa are strictly endemic, either being relics of ancient seas such as the Paratethys (Spiniferites cruciformis) or linked to specific environmental conditions. However, recent studies have shown recent worldwide dispersal of these endemic species possibly due to human activities. Overall, this compilation has highlighted the progress made since the early 1970s on our understanding of these important tracers of environmental conditions but also gaps in our knowledge of their distribution in pelagic regions of the Pacific and Indian Oceans as well as under Arctic sea ice.

Ghana is one of the top pesticide users and highest persistent organic pollutant (POP) emitters in sub-saharan Africa. Despite recent increases in published data, there is limited information on how POP concentrations have changed, post ratification of the Stockholm Convention. As a result, this review aims to address these knowledge gaps by collating available data that reported POPs in Ghanaian environmental matrices, identify spatial and temporal trends, and establish potential health risks. It is worth noting that Ghana has not developed its own regulatory standards for POPs, but adapts United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) standards. Results obtained showed concentrations in excess of USEPA regulatory standards for per- and poly-fluoroalkyl sulphonates (PFASs) and dichlorodiphenyldichloroethane (DDD) in water, polychlorinated and polybrominated dibenzo-p-dioxins and furans (PCDD/Fs and PBDD/Fs) in e-waste soils, and polybrominated diphenyl ethers in aquatic organisms and dairy products. The published studies do not cover major regions nationwide. The inconsistency in methods and analytes measured, along with data scarcity in some regions, makes it challenging to identify temporal trends. However, the data did indicate decreasing concentrations of some legacy POPs in soil/sediment and aquatic organisms, with increasing concentrations of some POPs in water, fish, fruits and vegetables. Studies that performed health risks assessments were limited although the data indicated risks to e-waste workers, some farmers and vulnerable sub-populations. This review identified potential human health risks from POPs in the Ghanaian environment and the need for more consistent and widespread monitoring program.

© 2018 Elsevier Ltd The role of the environment in shaping agricultural origins is still not fully understood, despite a century of debate on this topic. Comparison of the expected prevalence of a resource in the landscape with actual archaeological presence of the same resource can provide a metric for assessing resource choice in prehistory. However, the palaeoenvironmental data that would allow resource choice to be evaluated in this way are rarely available. Species Distribution Modelling (SDM) techniques allow independent palaeoenvironmental datasets to be computed, which when compared to actual species’ presence at sites as attested by archaeological datasets, can provide data on resource choice. Following recent calls for SDM to be applied more widely in archaeological contexts, we outline a simple method for predicting the presence of plant species in prehistory using modern analogues and palaeoclimatic datasets. These modelled distributions provide an independent dataset for comparison with archaeological data, thus providing a window into human resource choice in prehistory. We outline the method with specific reference to the transition from foraging to farming in the Neolithic of Central Anatolia, but the method could be applied to any period or region. We have used exclusively open source data and provided all code in our online supplementary materials, so that our method can be utilized by researchers interested in human resource choice in any region of the world and any period.

Recent findings about the evolution of palaeogeographic conditions of the Black Sea during the Holocene have significantly improved our understanding of the profound environmental changes that took place around 9 ka ago, when the Neoeuxinian Lake reconnected to the global ocean. In contrast to the western and southeastern regions where numerous studies have been recently performed, the northeast region remains relatively under investigated. We carried out the first multi-proxy continuous study of a sediment core (Ak-2575) from the northeastern Black Sea shelf that includes benthic calcareous fossils (ostracods, molluscs and foraminifers), dinoflagellate cysts (dinocysts) and sedimentology, thus providing reconstructions of surface and bottom-water conditions. The age model of the core is based on 10 AMS-14C dates. Calibrated ages are used throughout the manuscript. The first appearance of Mediterranean elements is documented at 9.6 cal. ka BP. Our data provide evidence of sustained cohabitation of benthic species of Caspian and Mediterranean origins, represented by different ontogenetic stages, from at least ~ 7.8 (or even 8.8) to 6.7 cal. ka BP with the gradual disappearance of brackish species suggesting a gradual increase in salinity and most likely a change in the salt composition. Dinocyst assemblages show species succession that is coherent across the Black Sea basin, with brackish taxa dominating until ~ 8.5 cal. ka BP and being slowly replaced by euryhaline species. The occurrences of authigenic gypsum crystals, especially abundant at ~ 7.4 and 6.5 cal. ka BP, suggest the temporal appearance of hydrogen sulphide at the shelf edge which during certain periods appears to reduce the abundance of benthic fauna.

A comprehensive multi-proxy study of mini-core Ash-2009-08 from the inner shelf of the northeastern Black Sea, allowed us to define recent environmental changes in the area, on a sub-decadal resolution. The age model of the core based on radionuclide (210Pb and 137Cs) measurements suggests an average sedimentation rate of 2 mm/y and, consequently, a sedimentary record spanning the last ∼140 years. Overall, four fossil groups studied from the core indicate subtle environmental changes. The dinocyst assemblages show stable surface water conditions with a possible cooling in the 1930s-1950s and a slight decline in salinity from the 1960s, which corresponds to an increase in precipitation and the fresh water balance of the Black Sea, known from the published instrumental data. A gradually increasing abundance of the heterotroph species suggests a nutrient increase from the 1920s. Ostracods and molluscs demonstrate rather stable bottom-water salinity and biotopes over the last ∼75 years. Changes in abundance of ostracods and benthic foraminifers, as well as changes in the mollusc diversity, most likely reflect variations in trophic conditions with the higher food supply to the sea floor in the 1940s–1960s and from the late 1990s. Enhanced bottom-water energy is inferred from the mollusc enrichment and a relatively high content of the fine sand grain-size fraction in the 1990s. In the pollen assemblages, trees mainly represented by Pinus strongly prevail over herbs throughout the record. However, the trees to herbs ratio demonstrates a slight decline from the 1920s, most likely resulting from human impact on the vegetation of the nearby land.

This paper presents a pollen and charcoal record from a forest hollow located in northern Germany. The initial stand-scale colonization and subsequent expansion of the species Fagus sylvatica (European Beech) is examined and compared with examples from southern Scandinavia. In the early Holocene, a diverse forest stand is present. The recording of Fagus sylvatica in nine contiguous samples over the time period 8600–7950 cal. yr BP, constrained by three AMS dates, suggests its presence close to the hollow. This early occurrence is critiqued against the current paradigm of mid- to late-Holocene Fagus sylvatica spread in northern Central Europe. Between 6200 and 2900 cal. yr BP, Fagus sylvatica was a minor constituent of the forest community but did not expand despite periods of favorable conditions including relatively open forest landscape, wetter-cooler climatic conditions and a suitable fire regime. The eventual expansion of Fagus sylvatica, around 2900 cal. yr BP, is initiated by significant anthropogenic disturbance around the hollow. After the initial phase of expansion, its growing importance in the forest was potentially aided by a period of wetter-cooler conditions and a switch in the fire regime from one of regular episodes, to one of sporadic occurrence. Two fire events and an increase in anthropogenic activity occur at the same time as the decline in the relative abundance of Fagus sylvatica at 1200 cal. yr BP. This site highlights the strong anthropogenic influence on the species dynamics throughout the late Holocene.

This paper presents two dinoflagellate cyst records from the south-western shelf of the Black Sea. A new site, MAR05-13, from the Sakarya shelf is described and placed into context with site MAR02-45, ∼250 km distant on the Thracian shelf. The records provide a centennial resolution of surface water conditions in the Holocene. Analysis of the data suggests that the surface salinity of the south-western shelf increased in a gradual and progressive manner. In the period ∼11 000–9000 cal a BP the assemblages suggest surface-water salinities between 7–13 psu. The initial arrival of euryhaline species, ∼8100 cal a BP, is linked to the reconnection of the Black Sea and Marmara Sea. The suggested surface water changes related to the reconnection took approximately 1000 years. Following this initial change in assemblages, a further increase in the number of euryhaline species is noted between 5000 and 4000 cal a BP. This is linked to the establishment of more saline surface-water conditions, close to present-day values. The record for MAR05-13 highlights the complexity of the changes in cyst assemblages during the mid-Holocene. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Reconstruction of salinity in the Holocene Black Sea has been an ongoing debate over the past four decades. Here we calibrate summer surface water salinity in the Black Sea, Sea of Azov and Caspian Sea with the process length of the dinoflagellate cyst Lingulodinium machaerophorum. We then apply this calibration to make a regional reconstruction of paleosalinity in the Black Sea, calculated by averaging out process length variation observedatfourcore sites fromtheBlack Seawithhigh sedimentation rates anddatedbymultiple mollusk shell ages. Results show averygradual change of salinity from w14 � 0.91 psu around 9.9 cal ka BP to a minimum w12.3 � 0.91 psu around 8.5 cal ka BP, reaching current salinities ofw17.1 � 0.91 psu around

Aim To test the hypothesis that dispersal characteristics alone can explain the past migration patterns of Fagus sylvatica and Picea abies observed in southern Scandinavia. Location Scandinavia, Europe. Methods The spreading dynamics of both species were analysed using a quantitative data–model comparison approach. Pollen data recording the arrival of the two species at 24 small forest-hollow sites distributed across the study area were compared with simulated arrival times. The simulations were based on diffusive spread combined with long-distance dispersal events. By systematically applying different parameter combinations yielding the desired colonization speeds we could identify values for the long-distance dispersal component that minimized deviations from the observed arrival times. Results According to the minimization process, the optimal spreading rates were 100 m year−1 for F. sylvatica and 250 m year−1 for P. abies. Simulated dispersal alone could adequately explain the wave-like spread of P. abies but failed to explain the scattered establishment pattern observed for F. sylvatica in Scandinavia. At the fine scale of stand establishment, local microclimatic conditions or site disturbance might be more important. The estimated spreading rates are high because the species colonized Scandinavia from different geographic directions and the rates slowed when their ranges overlapped. We present new estimates for the distance and frequency of long-distance dispersal events for our modelled species. Main conclusions Our analyses suggest that the late Holocene spread of P. abies in Scandinavia was fairly rapid and was limited only by biological processes of dispersal, while that of F. sylvatica was limited by other factors probably controlled by site properties. Picea abies has maintained a rapid and constant rate of spread throughout at least the last 4000 years, despite significant changes in climate. There is uncertainty about the precise relationship between P. abies and climate in Scandinavia, so future distributions are not easy to forecast. For F. sylvatica in Scandinavia, site quality appears to have been a limiting factor, so future land use is likely to dictate its future distribution dynamics in combination with climatic factors.

This volume provides an overview of current research on fossil and modern dinoflagellates, as well as highlighting research areas for future collaboration, following the DINO9 International Conference in Liverpool. The volume is organized into four themes, with a review paper for each theme written by the key-note speaker. Each theme also includes a future research foci note following discussion during the conference. The contributions are organized into the following sections: environmental change, ecology/palaeoecology, life cycles and diversity, and stratigraphy and evolution. Also included are notes from two workshops: culture experiments and dinocysts as palaeoceanographic tracers. This volume will be of interest to both the biological and Micropalaeontological communities.

To introduce the concept and design characteristics of pregnancy registries and to discuss opportunities for pharmacist involvement.Previous and ongoing pregnancy registry studies that assess the safety of pharmaceutical agents in pregnant women were identified from the medical literature, Internet, abstracts from professional meetings, and personal communications.The development and use of the pregnancy registry study for evaluating drug safety is described. Then, to illustrate the application of scientific principles to this unique study design, examples are given from previous and ongoing pregnancy registry studies.Pregnancy registry studies are increasingly used to assess the safety of drugs and other therapeutic agents during pregnancy. In a pregnancy registry, women who took the study drug while pregnant are identified soon after that exposure and followed until their pregnancy ends and its outcome is determined. Information is compiled from hundreds or thousands of pregnancies and used to make a safety assessment.Pharmacists can explain pregnancy registries to pregnant women and encourage enrollment. Also, pharmacists can use information derived from these studies to help patients and health care providers manage inadvertent drug exposures and optimize pharmaceutical therapy during pregnancy.