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Carbon black (CB) additives commonly used to increase the electrical conductivity of electrodes in Li-ion batteries are generally believed to be electrochemically inert additives in cathodes. Decomposition of electrolyte in the surface region of CB in Li-ion cells at high voltages up to 4.9 V is here studied using electrochemical measurements as well as structural and surface characterizations. LiPF6 and LiClO4 dissolved in ethylene carbonate:diethylene carbonate (1:1) were used as the electrolyte to study irreversible charge capacity of CB cathodes when cycled between 4.9 V and 2.5 V. Synchrotron-based soft X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (SOXPES) results revealed spontaneous partial decomposition of the electrolytes on the CB electrode, without applying external current or voltage. Depth profile analysis of the electrolyte/cathode interphase indicated that the concentration of decomposed species is highest at the outermost surface of the CB. It is concluded that carboxylate and carbonate bonds (originating from solvent decomposition) and LiF (when LiPF6 was used) take part in the formation of the decomposed species. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurements and transmission electron microscopy results, however, did not show formation of a dense surface layer on CB particles. © The Author(s) 2015. Published by ECS. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (CC BY, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse of the work in any

Consensus is that fetal exposure to alcohol is harmful. Abstinence while trying to conceive and throughout pregnancy is recommended. Despite this, there are many women who consume alcohol around conception and until pregnancy recognition. The aim of this study was to explore the voice of non-pregnant women concerning alcohol consumption and its relation to pregnancy.Data were collected through seven focus groups interviews with 34 women of fertile age, who were neither pregnant nor mothers. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken, recorded and transcribed verbatim and then analysed using thematic analysis.Three main themes were identified in the analysis: an issue that cannot be ignored; awareness and uncertainty concerning alcohol and pregnancy; and transition to parenthood. Alcohol was an integral part of the women's lives. A societal expectation to drink alcohol was prevalent and the women used different strategies to handle this expectation. Most women agreed not to drink alcohol during pregnancy although their knowledge on the specific consequences was scanty and they expressed a need for more information. Most of the participants found drinking alcohol during pregnancy to be irresponsible and saw pregnancy as a start of a new way of life.Social expectations concerning women's alcohol use change with pregnancy when women are suddenly expected to abstain. Although most study participants shared an opinion for zero tolerance during pregnancy, their knowledge regarding consequences of drinking during pregnancy were sparse. In order for prospective mothers to make informed choices, there is a need for public health initiatives providing information on the relationship between alcohol consumption and reproduction.

The causes of antibiotic resistance are complex and include human behaviour at many levels of society; the consequences affect everybody in the world. Similarities with climate change are evident. Many efforts have been made to describe the many different facets of antibiotic resistance and the interventions needed to meet the challenge. However, coordinated action is largely absent, especially at the political level, both nationally and internationally. Antibiotics paved the way for unprecedented medical and societal developments, and are today indispensible in all health systems. Achievements in modern medicine, such as major surgery, organ transplantation, treatment of preterm babies, and cancer chemotherapy, which we today take for granted, would not be possible without access to effective treatment for bacterial infections. Within just a few years, we might be faced with dire setbacks, medically, socially, and economically, unless real and unprecedented global coordinated actions are immediately taken. Here, we describe the global situation of antibiotic resistance, its major causes and consequences, and identify key areas in which action is urgently needed.

AbstractInhalation of radioactive metallic mercury vapor (203H°) in the mouse resulted in an accumulation of mercury in several organs where no specific uptake was observed after i.v. injection of inorganic mercury (203Hg2+). This was true for the whole respiratory epithelium (including the lung parenchyma), myocardium, brain, retina of the eye, adrenal cortex, corpora lutea of the ovary, epididymis, brown fat and thyroid gland. It is assumed that these organs have a high capacity for oxidizing Hg° to Hg2+, which will then be retained in the tissues. Ethanol and aminotriazole (catalase inhibitors) decreased the concentration in several of these organs, although not in an exactly similar pattern. In the livers of non‐treated animals, most of the inhaled mercury accumulated in the hepatocytes in the periphery of the lobuli (periportal region), close to where the blood vessels enter the liver parenchyma. Treatment with ethanol or aminotriazole increased the liver mercury content, with more or less all the hepatocytes apparently engaged in the oxidation of Hg°.

Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) is one tick-transmitted disease where the human incidence has increased in some European regions during the last two decades. We aim to find the most important factors causing the increasing incidence of human TBE in Sweden. Based on a review of published data we presume that certain temperature-related variables and the population densities of transmission hosts, i.e. small mammals, and of primary tick maintenance hosts, i.e. cervids and lagomorphs, of the TBE virus vector Ixodes ricinus, are among the potentially most important factors affecting the TBE incidence. Therefore, we compare hunting data of the major tick maintenance hosts and two of their important predators, and four climatic variables with the annual numbers of human cases of neuroinvasive TBE. Data for six Swedish regions where human TBE incidence is high or has recently increased are examined by a time-series analysis. Results from the six regions are combined using a meta-analytical method.With a one-year time lag, the roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), red deer (Cervus elaphus), mountain hare (Lepus timidus) and European hare (Lepus europaeus) showed positive covariance; the Eurasian elk (moose, Alces alces) and fallow deer (Dama dama) negative covariance; whereas the wild boar (Sus scrofa), lynx (Lynx lynx), red fox (Vulpes vulpes) and the four climate parameters showed no significant covariance with TBE incidence. All game species combined showed positive covariance.The epidemiology of TBE varies with time and geography and depends on numerous factors, i.a. climate, virus genotypes, and densities of vectors, tick maintenance hosts and transmission hosts. This study suggests that the increased availability of deer to I. ricinus over large areas of potential tick habitats in southern Sweden increased the density and range of I. ricinus and created new TBEV foci, which resulted in increased incidence of human TBE. New foci may be established by TBE virus-infected birds, or by birds or migrating mammals infested with TBEV-infected ticks. Generally, persistence of TBE virus foci appears to require presence of transmission-competent small mammals, especially mice (Apodemus spp.) or bank voles (Myodes glareolus).

The activities of gamma‐aminobutyrate aminotransferase (GABA‐T) and monoamine oxidase (MAO) were estimated in blood platelets from 25 male chronic alcoholics and from 27 healthy male volunteers without histories of alcohol abuse. Based on clinical criteria, the alcoholics were classified into type 1 or type 2 alcoholism. The activity of GABA‐T was found to be lower both in type 1 and type 2 alcoholics than in healthy volunteers. With regard to MAO, the platelet activity was found to be significantly lower only in type 2 alcoholics in concordance with previous reports. No significant correlation was found between the activities of GABA‐T and MAO in the blood platelets of healthy volunteers. The inhibitory effect of 400 mM ethanol on the platelet MAO activity increased with decreasing concentrations of the substrate phenylethylamine. The degree of inhibition of ethanol on the platelet MAO activity, however, did not differ significantly between alcoholics and controls.

HDI is a frequently used quantitative index of human potential and welfare, developed as a comprehensive measure for the cross-sectional and temporal comparison of socioeconomic performance. The HDI is a standardised quantitative estimation of welfare comprising indicators of health, knowledge and standard of living, enabling assessment over countries, regions or time periods, in case of limited data access. The index highlights critical conditions for equity and socioeconomic development outside the group of stakeholders and researchers. The HDI provides a learning potential that may be harnessed to enhance insights into the magnitude of human potential at super-local levels. In this paper we design, implement and test the validity of a super-local variant of HDI in the context of pedagogical performance of young pupils. We compare whether HDI is a good predictor for school grades among all ninth-grade students in Sweden during the year 2014. Our results show that a super-local HDI index is performing equal to or better than the one related to standard measures of human potential, while the index can be generated on individual levels using k-nearest neighbour approaches during the index creation process.