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Background: The effects of mental and behavioral disorders (MBD) due to substance use during peri-conception and pregnancy on perinatal outcomes are unclear. The adverse perinatal outcomes of primiparous mothers admitted to hospital with MBD due to substance use before and/or during pregnancy were investigated. Method: This study linked birth and hospital records in NSW, Australia. Subjects included primiparous mothers admitted to hospital for MBD due to use of alcohol, opioids or cannabinoids during peri-conception and pregnancy. Results: There were 304 primiparous mothers admitted to hospital for MBD due to alcohol use (MBDA), 306 for MBD due to opioids use (MBDO) and 497 for MBD due to cannabinoids (MBDC) between the 12 months peri-conception and the end of pregnancy. Primiparous mothers admitted to hospital for MBDA during pregnancy or during both peri-conception and pregnancy were significantly more likely to give birth to a baby of low birthweight (AOR = 4.03, 95%CI: 1.97–8.24 for pregnancy; AOR = 9.21, 95%CI: 3.76–22.57 both periods); preterm birth (AOR = 3.26, 95% CI: 1.52–6.97 for pregnancy; AOR = 4.06, 95%CI: 1.50–11.01 both periods) and admission to SCN or NICU (AOR = 2.42, 95%CI: 1.31–4.49 for pregnancy; AOR = 4.03, 95%CI: 1.72–9.44 both periods). Primiparous mothers admitted to hospital for MBDO, MBDC or a combined diagnosis were almost three times as likely to give birth to preterm babies compared to mothers without hospital admissions for psychiatric or substance use disorders. Babies whose mothers were admitted to hospital with MBDO before and/or during pregnancy were six times more likely to be admitted to SCN or NICU (AOR = 6.29, 95%CI: 4.62–8.57). Conclusion: Consumption of alcohol, opioids or cannabinoids during peri-conception or pregnancy significantly increased the risk of adverse perinatal outcomes.

Abstract During the operation of vanadium redox flow battery, the vanadium ions diffuse across the membrane as a result of concentration gradients between the two half-cells in the stack, leading to self-discharge reactions in both half-cells that will release heat to the electrolyte and subsequently increase the electrolyte temperature. In order to avoid possible thermal precipitation in the electrolyte solution and prevent possible overheating of the cell components, the electrolyte temperature needs to be known. In this study, the effect of the self-discharge reactions was incorporated into a thermal model based on energy and mass balances, developed for the purpose of electrolyte temperature control. Simulations results have shown that the proposed model can be used to investigate the thermal effect of the self-discharge reactions on both continuous charge–discharge cycling and during standby periods, and can help optimize battery designs and fabrication for different applications.

Climate change is likely to have an effect on global food production but to examine effects on food and nutrition security, an appreciation of the dimensions of food security is required. The 1996 World Food Summit defined food security as ‘when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active healthy life’. Thus food security is largely multi-factorial and defined by context. Australia and New Zealand both have substantial agricultural profiles and there is a significant production in meat and livestock, dairy and grains from the region. Both countries are islands, surrounded by oceans with extensive fisheries, bearing in mind that the local ecology will reflect the type of fish that are available. Meeting dietary needs and food preferences in this context would mean taking into account the health profiles of the population and how these relate to the food that is available now and in the future. Layering in the effects of climate change means that the high prevalence of lifestyle related disease (obesity, heart disease, diabetes) and the vulnerability of at risk groups, particularly in remote communities in Australia, will require additional consideration. Disciplines Arts and Humanities | Life Sciences | Medicine and Health Sciences | Social and Behavioral Sciences Publication Details Tapsell, L. C., Probst, Y., Lawrence, M., Friel, S., Flood, V. M., McMahon, A. & Butler, R. (2011). Food and nutrition security in the Australia-New Zealand region: impact of climate change. World Review of Nutrition and Dietetics, 102 192-200. Authors Linda Tapsell, Yasmine Probst, Mark Lawrence, Sharon Friel, Victoria Flood, Anne McMahon, and Rosalind Butler This journal article is available at Research Online: http://ro.uow.edu.au/hbspapers/3554 Food and nutrition security Food and nutrition security in the Australia-New Zealand region: impact of climate change Linda C Tapsell, Yasmine Probst, Mark Lawrence, Sharon Friel, Victoria Flood, Anne McMahon, Rosalind Butler 1 1 University of Wollongong, Wollongong NSW Australia Australian National University, Canberra ACT Australia 3 Deakin University, Australia, Burwood VIC Australia * Corresponding author: Smart Foods Centre, University of Wollongong, Wollongong NSW 2522 Australia. P: +612 4221 3152, F: +612 4221 4844, E: ltapsell@uow.edu.au Food and nutrition security

Air pollution is a major issue all over the world because of its impacts on the environment and human beings. The present review discussed the sources and impacts of pollutants on environmental and human health and the current research status on environmental pollution forecasting techniques in detail; this study presents a detailed discussion of the Artificial Intelligence methodologies and Machine learning (ML) algorithms used in environmental pollution forecasting and early-warning systems; moreover, the present work emphasizes more on Artificial Intelligence techniques (particularly Hybrid models) used for forecasting various major pollutants (e.g., PM2.5, PM10, O3, CO, SO2, NO2, CO2) in detail; moreover, focus is given to AI and ML techniques in predicting chronic airway diseases and the prediction of climate changes and heat waves. The hybrid model has better performance than single AI models and it has greater accuracy in prediction and warning systems. The performance evaluation error indexes like R2, RMSE, MAE and MAPE were highlighted in this study based on the performance of various AI models.

Abstract A high temperature polymer electrolyte membrane water electrolyser (PEMWE) was investigated at temperatures between 80 and 130 °C and pressures between 0.5 and 4 bar. Nanometer size Ru 0.7 Ir 0.3 O 2 and Pt/C were employed as anode and cathode catalysts respectively. The catalyst coated on membrane (CCM) method was used to fabricate the membrane electrode assemblies. The membrane, oxygen evolution catalysts and MEAs were characterized with SEM, XRD and TEM. The influence of high temperature and pressure was investigated using in situ electrochemical measurements. Increasing temperature and pressure produced higher current densities for oxygen evolution, and smaller terminal voltages. The high temperature PEMWE achieved a voltage of 1.51 V at a current density of 1 A cm −2 , at 130 °C and 4 bar pressure.

Objective and design:To assess the role of alcohol in drowning associated with recreational aquatic activity by reviewing the English language literature published up to October 2003.Results:Alcohol is widely used in association with recreational aquatic activity in the United States, but there is minimal information regarding the extent of use elsewhere. A priori and anecdotal evidence suggests that alcohol is an important risk factor for drowning associated with recreational aquatic activity. Specific studies provide good evidence supporting this, but the extent of increased risk associated with alcohol use, and the attributable risk due to alcohol use, is not well characterised. Drowning appears to be the overwhelming cause of death associated with recreational aquatic activity with alcohol detected in the blood in 30%–70% of persons who drown while involved in this activity. The few relevant studies on degree of increased risk suggest persons with a blood alcohol level of 0.10 g/100 ml have about 10 times the risk of death associated with recreational boating compared with persons who have not been drinking, but that even small amounts of alcohol can increase this risk. The population attributable risk seems to be in the range of about 10%–30%.Conclusions:Alcohol consumption significantly increases the likelihood of immersions resulting in drowning during aquatic activities. However, more information is required if appropriate prevention activities are to be planned, initiated, and evaluated. This includes better information on alcohol use, and attitudes to alcohol use, in association with recreational aquatic activity, and the nature and extent of increased risk associated with alcohol use. Evaluation of interventions is also needed.

To assess the relationship between blood alcohol concentration (BAC) and injury severity in an unselected population of road accident victims, case notes of 820 consecutive road accident victims presenting to hospital in a 12 month period were reviewed retrospectively. Five hundred and thirty-five of these were eligible for BAC analysis and results, obtained from the Victoria Police and the Road Safety and Traffic Bureau were available in 429 cases. These were expressed as mg/100 ml (per cent). Injury severity was quantified using the Injury Severity Score (ISS). BAC was compared with injury severity in three ways. First, Spearman's correlation coefficient (rho) of 0.27 indicated a highly significant correlation (P < 0.01). Second, the median ISS for intoxicated patients (4) was significantly higher than that for sober patients (1) (P < 0.05). Third, when patients were grouped according to ISS, the prevalence of intoxication in each group rose with increasing injury severity (chi 2: P < 0.01). We conclude that there is a significant positive correlation between BAC and injury severity in road accident victims treated at a Melbourne hospital.

Alcohol and nicotine (in the form of tobacco) are often taken together, with increased negative health consequences. Co-use may modify intake of one or both of the drugs, or the effects of drugs used to treat nicotine or alcohol addiction. Varenicline is commonly prescribed as an aid to enhance quitting smoking. More recently it has been shown to reduce alcohol intake in humans and laboratory animals. There is little work investigating the role of co-exposure to alcohol and nicotine in the effects of varenicline. In pilot clinical studies, it has been reported that smoking enhances varenicline's effectiveness as a treatment for alcohol misuse, but this relationship has not been systematically investigated. To help resolve this, we examined if the effects of varenicline on alcohol and nicotine self-administration (SA) in rats are modified when the two drugs are taken together. Rats were trained on alcohol SA, and some were implanted with i.v. catheters for nicotine SA. Groups of animals then lever pressed for alcohol or nicotine alone, and another group lever pressed for alcohol and nicotine, using a two lever choice procedure. Varenicline did not affect alcohol SA. Varenicline reduced nicotine SA modestly. Access to both alcohol and nicotine reduced self-administration of either drug, but did not change the effects of varenicline. We found that in rats with a history of alcohol SA, varenicline reduced reinstatement of extinguished alcohol seeking induced by exposure to an alcohol prime combined with cues previously associated with alcohol.