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Background: Seven per cent of general waste and 20% of healthcare risk waste produced in acute hospitals in Ireland comes from operating theatres. Surgical wrap comprises 11% of operating theatre waste., Aims: The primary aim of this study was to pilot the implementation of a recycling initiative for surgical instrument set wrap in an operating theatre in Ireland. Secondary aims included quantification of the surgical wrap diverted from general waste to recycling streams over a 5-week period and estimation of the annual carbon emissions associated with gynaecology surgical wrap use in Cork., Methods: The amount of polypropylene surgical wrap generated by a single gynaecology theatre at Cork University Maternity Hospital was prospectively quantified from 24/1/22 to 1/3/22. At the end of the study period, individual sheets of polypropylene wrap were counted and dimensions were measured to calculate the total surface area of surgical wrap saved for recycling., Results: A total of 66 surgeries were performed over the 5-week study period. Two hundred twenty-one individual sheets of surgical wrap were collected, equating to 282.1 m 2 of polypropylene wrap. An estimated 11,564 m 2 of surgical wrap could be recycled annually from the gynaecology theatre service in Cork with an associated annual carbon emissions equivalent of at least 2.2 tonnes of CO 2 ., Conclusion: Diversion of surgical wrap from general waste and clinical waste streams to the recycling stream is achievable in every operating theatre. Small changes to operating theatre waste disposal practices have the potential to yield significant reductions to theatre waste outputs and to hospital carbon emissions., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Purpose: Dietary micronutrient intakes of iron, folate and vitamin B12 are known to influence hemoglobin. Low maternal hemoglobin (maternal anemia) has been linked to low birthweight and other adverse health outcomes in the fetus and infant. Our primary aim was to explore relationships between maternal dietary micronutrient intakes, maternal full blood count (FBC) parameters and fetal abdominal circumference (AC) and estimated fetal weight (EFW) growth trajectories. Secondarily, we aimed to assess relationships between maternal dietary micronutrient intakes, maternal hemoglobin values and placental weight and birthweight., Methods: Mother-child pairs (n = 759) recruited for the ROLO study were included in this analysis. Maternal dietary micronutrient intakes were calculated from food diaries completed during each trimester of pregnancy. FBC samples were collected at 13- and 28-weeks' gestation. Fetal ultrasound measurements were recorded at 20- and 34-weeks' gestation. Growth trajectories for AC and EFW were estimated using latent class trajectory mixture models., Results: Dietary intakes of iron and folate were deficient for all trimesters. Mean maternal hemoglobin levels were replete at 13- and 28-weeks' gestation. Dietary iron, folate and vitamin B12 intakes showed no associations with fetal growth trajectories, placental weight or birthweight. Lower maternal hemoglobin concentrations at 28 weeks' gestation were associated with faster rates of fetal growth and larger placental weights and birthweights., Conclusion: The negative association between maternal hemoglobin at 28 weeks' gestation and accelerated fetal and placental growth may be due to greater consumption of maternal iron and hemoglobin by fetuses' on faster growth trajectories in addition to placental biochemical responses to lower oxygen states., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Enhanced photolysis of particulate nitrate (pNO 3 ) to form photolabile species, such as gas-phase nitrous acid (HONO), has been proposed as a potential mechanism to recycle nitrogen oxides (NO x ) in the remote boundary layer ("renoxification"). This article presents a series of laboratory experiments aimed at investigating the parameters that control the photolysis of pNO 3 and the efficiency of HONO production. Filters on which artificial or ambient particles had been sampled were exposed to the light of a solar simulator, and the formation of HONO was monitored under controlled laboratory conditions. The results indicate that the photolysis of pNO 3 is enhanced, compared to the photolysis of gas-phase HNO 3 , at low pNO 3 levels, with the enhancement factor reducing at higher pNO 3 levels. The presence of cations (Na + ) and halides (Cl - ) and photosensitive organic compounds (imidazole) also enhance pNO 3 photolysis, but other organic compounds such as oxalate and succinic acid have the opposite effect. The precise role of humidity in pNO 3 photolysis remains unclear. While the efficiency of photolysis is enhanced in deliquescent particles compared to dry particles, some of the experimental results suggest that this may not be the case for supersaturated particles. These experiments suggest that both the composition and the humidity of particles control the enhancement of particulate nitrate photolysis, potentially explaining the variability in results among previous laboratory and field studies. HONO observations in the remote marine boundary layer can be explained by a simple box-model that includes the photolysis of pNO 3 , in line with the results presented here, although more experimental work is needed in order to derive a comprehensive parametrization of this process.

Increasing emissions from sources such as construction and burning of biomass from crop residues, roadside and municipal solid waste have led to a rapid increase in the atmospheric concentrations of fine particulate matter (≤2.5 μm; PM 2.5 ) over many Indian cities. Analyses of their chemical profiles are important for receptor models to accurately estimate the contributions from different sources. We have developed chemical source profiles for five important pollutant sources - construction (CON), paved road dust (PRD), roadside biomass burning (RBB), solid waste burning (SWB), and crop residue burning (CPB) - during three intensive campaigns (winter, summer and post-monsoon) in and around Delhi. We obtained chemical characterisations of source profiles incorporating carbonaceous material such as organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC), water-soluble ions (F - , Cl - , NO 2 - , NO 3 - , SO 4 2- , PO 4 3- , Na + and NH 4 + ), and elements (Mg, Al, Si, P, S, Cl, K, Ca, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Br, Rb, Sr, Ba, and Pb). CON was dominated by the most abundant elements, K, Si, Fe, Al, and Ca. PRD was also dominated by crustal elements, accounting for 91% of the total analysed elements. RBB, SWB and CPB profiles were dominated by organic matter, which accounted for 94%, 86.2% and 86% of the total PM 2.5 , respectively. The database of PM emission profiles developed from the sources investigated can be used to assist source apportionment studies for accurate quantification of the causes of air pollution and hence assist governmental bodies in formulating relevant countermeasures., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Successful emergence from the soil is essential for plant establishment in natural and farmed systems. It has been assumed that the absence of light in the soil is the preeminent signal perceived during early seedling development, leading to a distinct morphogenic plan (skotomorphogenesis) [1], characterized by traits providing an adaptive advantage until emergence and photomorphogenesis. These traits include suppressed chlorophyll synthesis, promotion of hypocotyl elongation, and formation of a closed apical hook that protects the stem cell niche from damage [2, 3]. However, absence of light by itself is not a sufficient environmental signal for early seedling development [4, 5]. Reduced oxygen levels (hypoxia) can occur in water-logged soils [6-8]. We therefore hypothesized that below-ground hypoxia may be an important, but thus far undiscovered, ecological component regulating seedling development. Here, we show that survival and establishment of seedlings following darkness depend on their ability to sense hypoxia, through enhanced stability of group VII Ethylene Response Factor (ERFVII) transcription factors. Hypoxia is perceived as a positive environmental component in diverse taxa of flowering plants, promoting maintenance of skotomorphogenic traits. Hypoxia greatly enhances survival once light is perceived, while oxygen is necessary for the subsequent effective completion of photomorphogenesis. Together with light perception, oxygen sensing therefore allows an integrated response to the complex and changing physical microenvironment encountered during early seedling growth. We propose that plants monitor the soil's gaseous environment after germination, using hypoxia as a key external cue to protect the stem cell niche, thus ensuring successful rapid establishment upon emergence above ground., (Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Injections of horseradish peroxidase into the dorsal lateral telencephalon of the weakly electric mormyrid fish Gnathonemus petersii resulted in retrogradely filled cells and anterogradely labelled terminals in the 'nucleus rotundus' of the ipsilateral rostral diencephalon. This connection courses via the lateral part of the lateral forebrain bundle. The present results suggest a particularly close relationship between the Dla cell group of the lateral telencephalon and the 'nucleus rotundus'.

After injections of the posterior part of the lateral zone of the area dorsalis telencephalic (Dlp) with either horseradish peroxidase or the newly available carbocyanine dye DiI, efferent cells were labeled in the valvula cerebelli of the mormyrid fish, Gnathonemus petersii. This may be a unique connection for this group of electrosensory teleosts, since no other vertebrate has ever been reported before to have a direct cerebello-telencephalic projection.

Goldfish (Carassius auratus) were presented with a "light-on" stimulus at 2-min intervals, and their cardiac and ventilatory responses were monitored. Normal fish, fish with sham operations for telencephalic lesions, and fish with bilateral electrolytic lesions of the telencephalon (anterior commissural and posterior telencephalic groups) were compared for responsiveness and habituation to regularly presented stimuli. There was no evident difference in responsiveness between the four groups, though 3 fish with lesions in the regions ventralis pars dorsalis and ventralis pars ventralis gave fright responses to novel stimuli. Lesions in posterior telencephalic regions dorsalis pars centralis and ventralis pars intermedialis and at the telencephalic/diencephalic border close to the habenula caused significant impairment of habituation.

Intramuscular injection of sodium penicillin in roach (Rutilus rutilus) caused delayed habituation of arousal responses to repeated presentation of the onset of illumination or of a 'tap' stimulus. Topical application of aluminum hydroxide to the telencephalon of roach had a similar effect but was shown, also, to induce electroencephalographic seizures, in which the EEG amplitude was elevated from 4-20 times its normal level. Both treatments caused intermittent, abnormal 'weaving' behaviour and sporadic, violent, uncoordinated motor activity. In goldfish, Carassius auratus, topical application of aluminum hydroxide also caused delayed habituation of quantitatively measured, cardiac arousal responses to a moving shadow stimulus, compared to controls. This delayed habituation was, however, largely a result of the elevated magnitude of these arousal responses. The results are discussed in relation to brain mechanisms normally operative during arousal which may be hyperactive in epilepsy.

Recordings were made of cardiac and ventilatory responses of goldfish to the onset of 10 sec illumination presented at 2 min intervals. These responses were measured by increases in cardiac interbeat interval, ventilatory interbreath interval and by reductions in ventilatory amplitude. Four groups of fish were subjected to intensities of 52, 78, 90 and 160 lux. Habituation of responses was considered to have occurred when its magnitude fell within the limits of normal variation of the physiological variable. It was found that the more intense the stimulus the greater was the magnitude of the initial physiological response and correlated with this the number of stimulus presentations required for habituation. The relationship between stimulus intensity, initial response magnitude and resistance to habituation was consistent for cardiac responses. The results are discussed with respect to current knowledge of arousal and its habituation.

The effects of olfactory bulb ablation on the cardiac and ventilatory arousal responses to the onset of illumination and habituation of these responses were investigated in goldfish. Bulbectomy did not effect the magnitude of response on novel stimulus presentation. Normal, sham operated, and olfactory bulb-ablated animals showed similar rates of habituation. These results suggest that deficits in feeding and sexual behavior in goldfish are due to the loss of specific olfactory influences on lower brain centers and not due to a decrease in general responsiveness.

Goldfish Carassius auratus were presented with a moving shadow stimulus at 2-min intervals and their cardiac and ventilatory responses were monitored. Normal fish, fish with their telencephalon ablated, and those with sham operations were compared for responsiveness and habituation to repeatedly presented stimuli over the 3-day test period. While all groups showed increased habituation on successive days testing, fish with their telencephalon ablated showed significantly slower response habituation within the daily test sessions when compared with the control groups. Subjects with their telencephalon ablated also showed a tendency for increased responsiveness on initial stimulus presentation and poorer retention between days of information relating to the eliciting test stimulus.