Most Plastic Products Release Estrogenic Chemicals: A Potential Health Problem That Can Be Solved

Background: Chemicals having estrogenic activity (EA) reportedly cause many adverse health effects, especially at low (picomolar to nanomolar) doses in fetal and juvenile mammals

Medical Students’ Insight into Foundation Training (MEDSIFT): a National Cross-Sectional Online Survey reveals close to 50% are considering a career outside the NHS

Introduction: The new preference-informed allocation (PIA) system introduced for the 2024 UK cohort Foundation Programme (UKFPO) marks a shift away from the traditional meritocratic ‘ranking’ used in previous years. Instead of appointment to Foundation Programme places, PIA is a computer-generated allocation and deanery preferencing system. This change has raised numerous concerns among both students and clinicians. Aims: To investigate the opinions of medical students on the new UKFPO PIA system. Methodology: An online questionnaire was distributed to medical students graduating in 2024, 2025, or 2026 across the UK. Results: In total, 2297 responses were collected and 2288 were included in the study. Overall, 51.6% (n = 1183) of respondents felt the PIA system was unfair, 76.3% (n = 1746) felt they had lost control of their application, and 46.3% (n = 1049) had noticed a negative effect on their physical or mental health. Notably, 48.2% (n = 1094) of students who responded are now considering a career outside the National Health Service (NHS). Conclusions: Overall, the PIA system falls short of students’ expectations and has led to record numbers of students considering careers outside the NHS. Further changes to this system are needed and should aim to address fairness and equity while rewarding students for their hard work. According to these data, the PIA system risks further deteriorating workforce morale and attrition rates. Key messages: What is already known on this topic. The new preference-informed allocation (PIA) system introduced by the UK Foundation Programme was met with considerable backlash after its first allocation outcome in 2024. The opinions of medical students and recent graduates have not been investigated since on the continued use of the PIA to allocate resident doctor jobs in the UK. What this study adds. This study demonstrates that the majority of students are still unhappy with the job allocation process used by the UK Foundation Programme. A significant proportion of the medical student population is considering careers outside of the National Health Service (NHS), feeling the PIA needs urgent reform to more fairly allocate doctors to their first jobs. How this study might affect research, practice, or policy. Further changes are needed to the UK resident doctor job allocation system, and future decisions must consider the autonomy of medical students, rewarding hard work and offering more control over their first job allocation. Without future change, the NHS workforce will suffer

Twenty Years of the Polyvinyl Chloride Sustainability Challenges

Intense campaigning pressure on the UK PVC sector up to the late 1990s forced strategic engagement with sustainable development. Simplified outcomes from a detailed, consensus-based analysis by science-based NGO The Natural Step (TNS) took the form of five TNS Sustainability Challenges for PVC published in 2000. UK manufacturing companies initially used these Challenges to direct strategic progress. The Challenges have since been progressively taken up across European PVC value chains. The VinylPlus® programme uses an updated version of the five Challenges as a basis for voluntary commitments and transparent auditing of progress against published targets. Initial framing of the five TNS Sustainability Challenges for PVC were drafted consciously for generic relevance to other materials. Assessing the sustainability performance of some alternative materials to PVC against the five Sustainability Challenges reveals different sustainability performance in a range of potential applications. This highlights the danger inherent in automatic selection or deselection of materials in the absence of assessment of options on a ‘level playing field’ of sustainability principles. The five TNS Sustainability Challenges for PVC remain valid today and into the longer-term future as a basis for making stepwise, profitable progress towards the goal of sustainability for PVC and other materials

Leverage points for addressing marine and coastal pollution: a review

Despite an increasing understanding of the issue of marine pollution, humanity continues on a largely unsustainable trajectory. This study aimed to identify and classify the range of scientific studies and interventions to address coastal and marine pollution. We reviewed 2417 scientific papers published between 2000 and 2018, 741 of which we analysed in depth. To classify pollution interventions, we applied the systems-oriented concept of leverage points, which focuses on places to intervene in complex systems to bring about systemic change. We found that pollution is largely studied as a technical problem and fewer studies engage with pollution as a systemic social-ecological issue. While recognising the importance of technical solutions, we highlight the need to focus on under-researched areas pertaining to the deeper drivers of pollution (e.g. institutions, values) which are needed to fundamentally alter system trajectories.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Plant Networks for Processing Recyclable Materials

10.1287/msom.2013.0437Manufacturing and Service Operations Management154670-688MSOM

Understanding How Microplastics Affect Marine Biota on the Cellular Level Is Important for Assessing Ecosystem Function: A Review

Plastic has become indispensable for human life. When plastic debris is discarded into waterways, these items can interact with organisms. Of particular concern are microscopic plastic particles (microplastics) which are subject to ingestion by several taxa. This review summarizes the results of cutting-edge research about the interactions between a range of aquatic species and microplastics, including effects on biota physiology and secondary ingestion. Uptake pathways via digestive or ventilatory systems are discussed, including (1) the physical penetration of microplastic particles into cellular structures, (2) leaching of chemical additives or adsorbed persistent organic pollutants (POPs), and (3) consequences of bacterial or viral microbiota contamination associated with microplastic ingestion. Following uptake, a number of individual-level effects have been observed, including reduction of feeding activities, reduced growth and reproduction through cellular modifications, and oxidative stress. Microplastic-associated effects on marine biota have become increasingly investigated with growing concerns regarding human health through trophic transfer. We argue that research on the cellular interactions with microplastics provide an understanding of their impact to the organisms’ fitness and, therefore, its ability to sustain their functional role in the ecosystem. The review summarizes information from 236 scientific publications. Of those, only 4.6% extrapolate their research of microplastic intake on individual species to the impact on ecosystem functioning. We emphasize the need for risk evaluation from organismal effects to an ecosystem level to effectively evaluate the effect of microplastic pollution on marine environments. Further studies are encouraged to investigate sublethal effects in the context of environmentally relevant microplastic pollution conditions

A Liquid Xenon Ionization Chamber in an All-fluoropolymer Vessel

A novel technique has been developed to build vessels for liquid xenon ionization detectors entirely out of ultra-clean fluoropolymer. We describe the advantages in terms of low radioactivity contamination, provide some details of the construction techniques, and show the energy resolution achieved with a prototype all-fluoropolymer ionization detector

Life cycle assessment of the Seagen marine current turbine

The world's first commercial‐scale grid‐connected tidal current energy installation will feature the Seagen marine current turbine developed by Marine Current Turbines Ltd. With potential for the manufacture of significant numbers of such devices there is a need to assess their environmental impact and, in particular, their life cycle energy and carbon dioxide (CO2) performance. This paper presents an analysis of the life cycle energy use and CO2 emissions associated with the first generation of Seagen turbines. The detailed assessment covers the embodied energy and CO2 in the materials and manufacturing of components, device installation, and operation along with those for decommissioning. With relatively conservative assumptions, and despite the early stage of development, the study shows that at 214 kJ/kWh and 15 g CO2/kWh, the respective energy and carbon intensities are comparable with large wind turbines and very low relative to the 400 to 1000 g CO2/kWh typical of fossil‐fuelled generation. The energy payback period is approximately 14 months and the CO2 payback is around 8 months. The embodied energy and carbon show limited sensitivity to assumptions with environmental performance remains excellent even under the most adverse scenarios considered. Materials use is identified as the primary contributors to embodied energy and carbon with shipping also significant. Improvements in the environmental impact of the Seagen can be achieved primarily by increased structural efficiency and the use of alternative installation methods to increase recovery of steel at decommissioning