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This study assessed the hand hygiene performance in French nursing homes using the consumption of alcohol-based hand rubs (AHRs) as a surrogate. Nursing homes from the 17 French regions were contacted to collect their AHR consumption and occupancy in 2018 and 2019. A total of 1290 nursing homes from 15 French regions participated in the survey. The estimated median number of hand hygiene actions per resident-day was 1.48 (interquartile range: 1.04-2.03) in 2018 and 1.60 (1.10-2.26) in 2019. A significantly higher AHR consumption was observed in public nursing homes with an infection control team or link nurse.

Interfacial resistance at electrode‐high Li+ conductive solid electrolytes must be reduced well to develop high‐power all‐solid‐state batteries using oxide‐based solid electrolytes (Ox‐SSBs). Herein, crystalline electrode films of LiCoO2 (LCO) are formed on a high Li+ conductive crystalline‐glass solid electrolyte sheet, Li1.3Al0.3Ti2(PO4)3 (LATP) (σ25 °C = 1 × 10−4 S cm−1), at room temperature by aerosol deposition (AD), and the effects of the annealing temperature on the interfacial resistivities (Rint) at the LCO/LATP are investigated. The Rint visibly increases by annealing over 500 °C with the growth of Co3O4 as a reactant. In contrast, Rint is reduced to ≈100 Ω cm2 by low‐temperature annealing at 250–350 °C due to superior contact through the structural rearrangement of an artificial metastable interface formed by the AD. These results are applied to bulk‐type Ox‐SSB, Li/Li7La3Zr2O12(LLZ)/LCO–LATP, and our best Ox‐SSB delivers a discharge capacity of 100 mA cm−2 at 100 °C.

This review presents recent advancements in high-voltage rechargeable aqueous batteries employing water-in-salt and modified water-in-salt electrolytes.

Abstract Globally, three-quarter of a billion people live without electricity. Besides, hundreds of million use a solar lantern for less than 4 h a day. Most of the access-deprived are in the Global South, predominantly in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. The United Nations framed the seventh Sustainable Development Goal to improve access. Solar photovoltaic powered mini-grids are increasingly extending better service to deprived regions. However, poor load-factor and expensive storage adversely affect viability. Also, these mini-grids do not support infrequent large loads to avoid further loss of load-factor. Electric cooking is efficient and non-polluting; water treatment facilities can save millions from contaminant and pathogen by providing clean water. Besides, both electric cooking and water treatment are less expensive than alternatives. But mini-grids frequently do not support these. Indeed, the presence of sustained productive loads favourably influences the mini-grid economy. This study investigates the role of critical household loads to deliver similar bearing on the mini-grid economy. Results underscore realisation of desirable impact with household collaboration under a demand-response program. Collaborative consumption can lower initial investment by 62% and reduce the unit energy cost to $0.23. Also, cooperation improves the mini-grid load factor and promotes viability. Additionally, fast deployment needs during and after Covid-19 remains inherently supported while mitigating the pandemic induced financial stress of both consumer and mini-grid operator. This study of 88 nation-states underscores that demand response in a mini-grid can not only improve affordability for all consumers, but it can also bring 186 million people within affordable access.

Ethanol is associated with oxidative stress. Exposure to ethanol during childhood may lead to neurological disorders. Congenital disorders induced by alcohol are mainly caused by an oxidative-inflammatory cascade due to extensive apoptotic neurodegeneration in the brain, particularly in the hippocampus. Simvastatin, which acts as an inhibitor of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA), is widely used to manage cardiovascular diseases. Recently, the neuroprotective effects of simvastatin against nervous system disorders have been introduced. In this study, we examined the protective effects of simvastatin on ethanol-related neurotoxicity in the hippocampus of rat pups. Ethanol (5.27 g/kg) in a milk solution (27.8 mL/kg) was administered to male rat pups via intragastric intubation at 2-10 days after birth. Also, 10 and 20 mg/kg of simvastatin were injected to the animals. By using Morris water maze task, the hippocampus-dependent memory and spatial learning was evaluated 36 days after birth. An ELISA assay was performed to investigate the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of simvastatin by measuring the levels of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and antioxidant enzymes. To assess the expression levels of Iba1 immunohistochemical staining and caspase-3 immunofluorescence staining was performed. The current study demonstrated that administration of simvastatin significantly attenuates spatial memory impairment (P < 0.01) after ethanol neurotoxicity. Also simvastatin could considerably increase the total superoxide dismutaseand glutathione levels (P < 0.01). Moreover, it was associated with a greater reduction in malondialdehyde (P < 0.05) and TNF-α levels, compared to the ethanol group (P < 0.01). Furthermore, in the simvastatin group, the hippocampal level of caspase-3 and the level of Iba1-positive cells, reduced (P < 0.01). This study demonstrated that apoptotic signaling, mediated by the oxidative-inflammatory cascade, could be inhibited by simvastatin in rat pups with ethanol exposure in the postnatal period.

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) can lead to environmental pollution and threaten human health due to their toxic and carcinogenic nature. The emission of VOCs increases dramatically with the accelerated industrialization and economic growth. Adsorption is identified as one of the most promising recovery technologies owing to its cost-effectiveness, flexible operation, and low energy consumption. In particular, adsorption-based technologies have a high potential to recycle both adsorbents and adsorbates, typically to capture valuable aromatic VOCs from industrial exhaust. Porous materials such as carbon-based materials, zeolite-based materials, and organic polymers and their composites have been extensively developed for VOCs adsorption focusing in adsorption capacity, hydrophobic property, thermal stability and regenerability. Among them, porous carbons as VOCs adsorbents have attracted increasingly attention, because they can be regulated by tuning the pore structure for VOCs accessibility during the adsorption process. Moreover, porous carbons can adsorb target VOCs by controlling the pore structure and surface functional groups. Significantly, the pore size distribution of porous carbons mostly controls the VOCs sorption process. Micropores provide the main adsorption sites, while mesopores enhance the diffusion of VOCs. In this review, the adsorption mechanism of VOCs onto porous carbons was generally concluded. Porous carbons can be designed as a specific structure for adsorption of aromatic VOCs by controlling the pore structure, hydrophobic sites, π-electronic structure, and surface functional groups. Since there are limited review literatures on porous carbons derived from renewable resources for VOCs adsorption, this paper will provide an overview on the synthesis of porous carbons from biomass and other organic wastes for VOCs adsorption or integrated oxidation processes (e.g., photocatalysis, non-thermal plasma catalysis, chemical catalysis) under ambient conditions with the objective of guiding ...

AbstractAutotrophs play an essential role in the cycling of carbon and nutrients, yet disease‐ecosystem relationships are often overlooked in these dynamics. Importantly, the availability of elemental nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus impacts infectious disease in autotrophs, and disease can induce reciprocal effects on ecosystem nutrient dynamics. Relationships linking infectious disease with ecosystem nutrient dynamics are bidirectional, though the interdependence of these processes has received little attention. We introduce disease‐mediated nutrient dynamics (DND) as a framework to describe the multiple, concurrent pathways linking elemental cycles with infectious disease. We illustrate the impact of disease–ecosystem feedback loops on both disease and ecosystem nutrient dynamics using a simple mathematical model, combining approaches from classical ecological (logistic and Droop growth) and epidemiological (susceptible and infected compartments) theory. Our model incorporates the effects of nutrient availability on the growth rates of susceptible and infected autotroph hosts and tracks the return of nutrients to the environment following host death. While focused on autotroph hosts here, the DND framework is generalizable to higher trophic levels. Our results illustrate the surprisingly complex dynamics of host populations, infection patterns, and ecosystem nutrient cycling that can arise from even a relatively simple feedback between disease and nutrients. Feedback loops in disease‐mediated nutrient dynamics arise via effects of infection and nutrient supply on host stoichiometry and population size. Our model illustrates how host growth rate, defense, and tissue chemistry can impact the dynamics of disease–ecosystem relationships. We use the model to motivate a review of empirical examples from autotroph–pathogen systems in aquatic and terrestrial environments, demonstrating the key role of nutrient–disease and disease–nutrient relationships in real systems. By assessing existing evidence and uncovering data gaps and apparent mismatches between model predictions and the dynamics of empirical systems, we highlight priorities for future research intended to narrow the persistent disciplinary gap between disease and ecosystem ecology. Future empirical and theoretical work explicitly examining the dynamic linkages between disease and ecosystem ecology will inform fundamental understanding for each discipline and will better position the field of ecology to predict the dynamics of disease and elemental cycles in the context of global change.

Abstract Aims Alcohol use alters the reward signaling processes contributing to the development of addiction. We studied the effects of alcohol use disorder (AUD) on brain regions and blood of deceased women and men to examine sex-dependent differences in epigenetic changes associated with AUD. We investigated the effects of alcohol use on the gene promoter methylation of GABBR1 coding for GABAB receptor subunit 1 in blood and brain. Methods We chose six brain regions associated with addiction and the reward pathway (nucleus arcuatus, nucleus accumbens, the mamillary bodies, amygdala, hippocampus and anterior temporal cortex) and performed epigenetic profiling of the proximal promoter of the GABBR1 gene of post-mortem brain and blood samples of 17 individuals with AUD pathology (4 female, 13 male) and 31 healthy controls (10 female, 21 male). Results Our results show sex-specific effects of AUD on GABBR1 promoter methylation. Especially, CpG −4 showed significant tissue-independent changes and significantly decreased methylation levels for the AUD group in the amygdala and the mammillary bodies of men. We saw prominent and consistent change in CpG-4 across all investigated tissues. For women, no significant loci were observed. Conclusion We found sex-dependent differences in GABBR1 promoter methylation in relation to AUD. CpG-4 hypomethylation in male individuals with AUD is consistent for most brain regions. Blood shows similar results without reaching significance, potentially serving as a peripheral marker for addiction-associated neuronal adaptations. Further research is needed to discover more contributing factors in the pathological alterations of alcohol addiction to offer sex-specific biomarkers and treatment.

AbstractIn Mexico, plants are commonly used to alleviate various ailments, including controlling some chronic degenerative diseases through the regular consumption of decoctions, infusions, and teas. However, there is little scientific evidence consolidating traditional medicine within health systems. Therefore, this work determined the phytochemical profile of the most used plants to treat various ailments (Cedro rojo, Cancerina, Ortiguilla, Hierba de la golondrina, Hierba de arlomo) and their general consumption as infusions. Aqueous and ethanolic extracts were generated, while the phytochemical compound content in the extracts obtained was quantified. The results indicate that the ethanolic extracts showed the highest phenolic compound and tannin content, with the highest contents for Cedro rojo (831.04 mg L−1) and Cancerina (864.80 mg L−1). The antioxidant activity was also determined, and a significant difference was observed (p<0.05). The extracts with the highest antioxidant capacity were the ethanolic extracts ranging from 250 to 907 μMET mL−1, while the aqueous extracts ranged from 112 to 390 μMET mL−1. The compounds identified by high‐performance liquid chromatography characterization on the aqueous extracts highlighted the presence of chlorogenic acid>cinnamic acid>quercetin. In ethanolic extracts, the presence of chlorogenic acid>cinnamic acid>quercetin>gallic acid>ferulic acid>coumaric acid was highlighted. The correlation between bioactive compounds, type of extract, and antioxidant activity suggests a significant affinity of these phytochemical compounds for the ethanol solvent. The results indicate that these plants are good sources of antioxidant phenolics and can be incorporated for use as functional beverages. However, more studies are needed to corroborate their beneficial effect.