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Background: Cervical cancer in pregnancy is a rare event. Diagnosis and management of cervical cancer in pregnancy is complicated and challenging in a low resource setting., Case Presentation: Herein, we present a case of cervical cancer (FIGO stage IB3) diagnosed at 28 + 5 weeks and successfully managed at 37 + 2 weeks of gestation in a 27-year-old woman., Conclusion: This is the first case report on cervical cancer in pregnancy from Bhutan. It highlights the diagnostic and management challenges in a low resource country., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

The photophysical behavior of a β-blocker drug propranolol (PPL) in micellar environments, formed by alkyltrimethylammonium bromide surfactants viz.; Cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), Tetradecyltrimethylammonium bromide (TTAB), and Dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide (DTAB), has been investigated through fluorescence and UV-visible spectroscopic techniques at pH levels of 3.5, 7.4, and 10.4. The impact of pH on the critical micelle concentration (cmc) and micropolarity of micelles were assessed using pyrene as a photophysical probe. The cmc values were found to be lower at pH 10.4 compared to pH 7.4 and pH 3.5. Fluorescence emission intensities of PPL at 323 nm, 338 nm, and 352 nm were significantly influenced by pH, hydrophobic alkyl chain length of surfactants, and their concentrations. Quenching experiments with Cetylpyridinium chloride (CpCl) indicated the localization of charged and uncharged forms of PPL within micelles, with quenching constant (Ksv) values dependent on alkyl chain length and pH. At pH < pKa, PPL is positioned near the Stern layer, whereas at pH 10.4, its naphthalene moiety resides near the hydrophobic micellar core. UV spectroscopy showed that the charged form of PPL interacted with micelles only above cmc, while the neutral form interacted even below the cmc. Density Functional Theory (DFT) reveals the HOMO of the surfactants to be localized on the hydrocarbon chains, and the LUMO localized around the quaternary ammonium unit. Upon complexation with PPL, both HOMO and LUMO shifted to the drug, thereby decreasing energy levels. The findings are explained based on weak noncovalent interactions, further supported and analyzed through Reduced Density Gradient (RDG) and Noncovalent Interaction (NCI) methods, confirming synergistic non-covalent interactions in surfactant-PPL complexes., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Introduction and Importance: Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, including preeclampsia, causes major pregnancy associated morbidity and mortality. Massive ascites is a rare complication in a severe preeclampsia. This case report high lights the importance of obstetrician being aware of such complications of severe preeclampsia, and avoid non-therapeutic interventions such as exploratory laparotomy., Case Presentation: A 39-year-old woman from remote village of Bhutan with severe preeclampsia had spontaneous vaginal delivery in the ambulance at 34 +6 weeks of gestation enroute to a tertiary care hospital. In the postpartum period, she had a massive ascites, and she underwent exploratory laparotomy., Discussion: Ascites in severe preeclampsia is a rare complication. Diagnosis and management of such a rare condition is challenging in a resource constraint setting. In addition, prevalence of tuberculosis and gynecological malignancies in our setting prompts obstetricians to perform an invasive procedure such as exploratory laparotomy in view of excluding these conditions., Conclusion: This case report highlights the importance of obstetricians to be aware of the possibility of ascites in preeclampsia which may be managed medically, without the need for surgical interventions., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The author(s) declare(s) no conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Fish stocks have declined rapidly over the past half-century due to the increased demand for seafood and unsustainable fishing practices. The incidental capture of non-target species (bycatch) is a pervasive issue in fisheries management and has led to population declines in non-target species worldwide. The fisheries sector in Guyana currently supports the livelihoods of over 10,000 Guyanese and contributes approximately 2% to the country's GDP. Bycatch is believed to be a major threat to Guyana's marine fisheries, especially the small-scale sector, due to a lack of management infrastructure and limited data and monitoring. Here, we assessed bycatch in Guyana's artisanal gillnet and Chinese seine fisheries through vessel observations and semi-structured interviews with local fishers. Most of the discarded species documented had no commercial importance to the fisheries in Guyana. Although no statistical difference was observed among the bycatch rates in the gillnet and Chinese seine fisheries, the latter generally had more discarded individuals, most of which were juveniles. The Shannon-Weiner diversity index showed a greater diversity of bycatch species in the gillnet fisheries compared to the Chinese seine. Jaccard's similarity index indicated a low similarity among the gear types. Even though most fishers were aware of bycatch, they did not view it as a major issue and were not interested in reducing their discards. We recommend a collaborative approach in exploring solutions to ensure the ecological and socioeconomic sustainability of the fisheries sector., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Lakenarine et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Interaction of neutral and charged lipophilic beta-blocker drug, propranolol (PPL) with biomimicking nanocavities formed by micelles bearing same and opposite charges namely, cationic cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), a surface-active ionic liquid 1-hexadecyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (HDMIC) and anionic sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) have been investigated using fluorescence and absorption spectroscopic techniques. Binding of PPL to SDS at pH < pKa is characterised by biphasic interactions with decrease in fluorescence intensity at lower concentrations and subsequent increase post micellization. All the surfactants show significant interactions with the neutral drug molecule at pH > pKa, which is evident from the strongest binding constant ( K b ) values at pH 10.4. Results of quenching studies indicate that the location of drug molecule is determined by its charge, which is influenced by both pH and charge on micelle surface. For PPL-CTAB and PPL-HDMIC systems, quenching was strongest at pH 10.4, moderate at pH 7.4 and was absent at pH 3.5. However, the PPL-SDS system displayed similar K SV values at all pH conditions, suggesting that the probe is at the same position regardless of pH. Non-covalent interactions, which play crucial role in biological systems, are similarly the primary driving force governing the interaction between PPL and surfactant micelles., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Arguments for a just transition are integral to debates about climate change and the drive to create a carbon-neutral economy. There are currently two broad approaches rooted in ethics and justice for framing just energy transitions. The first can be described as internal to the transition and emphasizes the anticipation, assessment, and redressing of harms created by the transition itself and the inclusion in transition governance of groups or communities potentially harmed by its disruptions. In this article, we propose a second approach to ethics and justice in an energy transition, which we describe as systemic or societal in scope. This approach complements attention to the proximate dynamics and impacts of the transition process with a focus on the distant societal and economic outcomes the transition brings into being and how they compare to conditions prior to the transition. It poses the question: do the transformative social, economic, and technological changes wrought by energy systems create more just societies and economies, or do they instead reinforce or recreate long-standing injustices and inequalities? We illustrate this approach with an assessment of one of the most significant existing forms of energy injustice: the energy-poverty nexus. We argue that the energy-poverty nexus reflects configurations of socio-energy systems that create complex, extractive feedbacks between energy insecurity and economic insecurity and, over time, reinforce or exacerbate poverty. We further argue that just energy transitions should work to disentangle these configurations and re-design them so as to create generative rather than extractive feedbacks, thus ending the energy-poverty nexus and creating long-term outcomes that are more just, equitable, and fair., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Limitations in the calculation of the lifetime of electrons experimentally give a way to calculate the lifetime of the electrons inside the grains of the polycrystalline silicon solar cells through modelling. A theoretical model to calculate the same has been reported here for the first time. Dependency of the solar cell parameters on the lifetime of electrons have been employed to do the calculation. The proposed model has been validated by using the experimentally reported values for calculation.

Shade plays an important role in designing pedestrian-friendly outdoor spaces in hot desert cities. This study investigates the impact of photovoltaic canopy shade and tree shade on thermal comfort through meteorological observations and field surveys at a pedestrian mall on Arizona State University's Tempe campus. During the course of 1 year, on selected clear calm days representative of each season, we conducted hourly meteorological transects from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and surveyed 1284 people about their thermal perception, comfort, and preferences. Shade lowered thermal sensation votes by approximately 1 point on a semantic differential 9-point scale, increasing thermal comfort in all seasons except winter. Shade type (tree or solar canopy) did not significantly impact perceived comfort, suggesting that artificial and natural shades are equally efficient in hot dry climates. Globe temperature explained 51 % of the variance in thermal sensation votes and was the only statistically significant meteorological predictor. Important non-meteorological factors included adaptation, thermal comfort vote, thermal preference, gender, season, and time of day. A regression of subjective thermal sensation on physiological equivalent temperature yielded a neutral temperature of 28.6 °C. The acceptable comfort range was 19.1 °C-38.1 °C with a preferred temperature of 20.8 °C. Respondents exposed to above neutral temperature felt more comfortable if they had been in air-conditioning 5 min prior to the survey, indicating a lagged response to outdoor conditions. Our study highlights the importance of active solar access management in hot urban areas to reduce thermal stress.

The strong trends in climate change already evident, the likelihood of further changes occurring, and the increasing scale of potential climate impacts give urgency to addressing agricultural adaptation more coherently. There are many potential adaptation options available for marginal change of existing agricultural systems, often variations of existing climate risk management. We show that implementation of these options is likely to have substantial benefits under moderate climate change for some cropping systems. However, there are limits to their effectiveness under more severe climate changes. Hence, more systemic changes in resource allocation need to be considered, such as targeted diversification of production systems and livelihoods. We argue that achieving increased adaptation action will necessitate integration of climate change-related issues with other risk factors, such as climate variability and market risk, and with other policy domains, such as sustainable development. Dealing with the many barriers to effective adaptation will require a comprehensive and dynamic policy approach covering a range of scales and issues, for example, from the understanding by farmers of change in risk profiles to the establishment of efficient markets that facilitate response strategies. Science, too, has to adapt. Multidisciplinary problems require multidisciplinary solutions, i.e., a focus on integrated rather than disciplinary science and a strengthening of the interface with decision makers. A crucial component of this approach is the implementation of adaptation assessment frameworks that are relevant, robust, and easily operated by all stakeholders, practitioners, policymakers, and scientists.