Effects of weathering on the properties and fate of secondary microplastics from a polystyrene single-use cup.

In this work, we probed the changes to some physicochemical properties of polystyrene microplastics generated from a disposable cup as a result of UV-weathering, using a range of spectroscopy, microscopy, and profilometry techniques. Thereafter, we aimed to understand how these physicochemical changes affect the microplastic transport potential and contaminant sorption ability in model freshwaters. Exposure to UV led to measured changes in microplastic hydrophobicity (20-23 % decrease), density (3% increase), carbonyl index (up to 746 % increase), and microscale roughness (24-86 % increase). The settling velocity of the microplastics increased by 53 % after weathering which suggests that UV aging can increase microplastic deposition to sediments. This impact of aging was greater than the effect of the water temperature. Weathered microplastics exhibited reduced sorption capacity (up to 52 % decrease) to a model hydrophobic contaminant (triclosan) compared to unaged ones. The adsorption of triclosan to both microplastics was slightly reversible with notable desorption hysteresis. These combined effects of weathering could potentially increase the transport potential while decreasing the contaminant transport abilities of microplastics. This work provides new insights on the sorption capacity and mobility of a secondary microplastic, advances our knowledge about their risks in aquatic environments, and the need to use environmentally relevant microplastics.

Replication of the associations of positive, negative, and disorganized schizotypy with interview-assessed symptoms and impairment: Convergence with previous studies.

Schizophrenia-spectrum psychopathology appears best understood as being expressed across a continuum of clinical and subclinical symptoms and impairment referred to as schizotypy. This brief report describes a comprehensive replication study examining the associations of positive, negative, and disorganized schizotypy with interview ratings of impairment, psychopathology, and personality pathology in a sample of 161 young adults. Consistent with past studies, positive, negative, and disorganized schizotypy had distinct and hypothesized associations with symptoms and impairment. Positive schizotypy was associated with prodromal symptoms and schizotypal, paranoid, and borderline personality traits. Negative schizotypy was associated with impaired functioning, negative symptoms, and schizoid, schizotypal, and paranoid traits, as well as any broad personality disorder diagnosis; it was also associated with never having dated. Disorganized schizotypy was associated with impaired functioning, disorganized schizotypic experiences, attentional deficits, and schizotypal, paranoid, borderline, and avoidant personality traits, as well as depression. Overall, we successfully replicated findings from five previous schizotypy interview studies, supporting the construct validity of the multidimensional model of schizotypy and the Multidimensional Schizotypy Scale. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

A Just-In-Time Adaptive intervention (JITAI) for smoking cessation: Feasibility and acceptability findings.

Smoking cessation treatments that are easily accessible and deliver intervention content at vulnerable moments (e.g., high negative affect) have great potential to impact tobacco abstinence. The current study examined the feasibility and acceptability of a multi-component Just-In-Time Adaptive Intervention (JITAI) for smoking cessation. Daily smokers interested in quitting were consented to participate in a 6-week cessation study. Visit 1 occurred 4 days pre-quit, Visit 2 was on the quit day, Visit 3 occurred 3 days post-quit, Visit 4 was 10 days post-quit, and Visit 5 was 28 days post-quit. During the first 2 weeks (Visits 1-4), the JITAI delivered brief mindfulness/motivational strategies via smartphone in real-time based on negative affect or smoking behavior detected by wearable sensors. Participants also attended 5 in-person visits, where brief cessation counseling (Visits 1-4) and nicotine replacement therapy (Visits 2-5) were provided. Outcomes were feasibility and acceptability; biochemically-confirmed abstinence was also measured. Participants (N = 43) were 58.1 % female (AgeMean = 49.1, mean cigarettes per day = 15.4). Retention through follow-up was high (83.7 %). For participants with available data (n = 38), 24 (63 %) met the benchmark for sensor wearing, among whom 16 (67 %) completed at least 60 % of strategies. Perceived ease of wearing sensors (Mean = 5.1 out of 6) and treatment satisfaction (Mean = 3.6 out of 4) were high. Biochemically-confirmed abstinence was 34 % at Visit 4 and 21 % at Visit 5. Overall, the feasibility of this novel multi-component intervention for smoking cessation was mixed but acceptability was high. Future studies with improved technology will decrease participant burden and better detect key intervention moments.

Augmented reality for extinction of cue-provoked urges to smoke: Proof of concept.

OBJECTIVE: Cue-exposure therapy (CET) aims to extinguish conditioned cue reactivity (CR) to aid in smoking cessation. A key disadvantage of extant CET is its limited ability to generalize extinction to the real world. Our team developed a set of augmented reality smoking-related and neutral cues that can appear in real-time in smokers' natural environments as viewed through a smartphone screen. Prior to deployment as a clinical tool, the present study tested the ability of AR smoking cues to extinguish CR in a controlled laboratory study with an AR smartphone application developed for this project. We hypothesized that daily smokers who completed a single session of cue exposure with AR smoking cues (extinction condition) would demonstrate lower cue-provoked urge to smoke at posttest compared to those who viewed AR neutral cues (control condition). METHOD: Daily smokers (N = 129, 46.5% female, Mage = 47.6, Mcigarettes/day = 19.1) in acute abstinence were randomized to either the extinction or control condition comprising 28 AR trials. RESULTS: As hypothesized, we found a Time × Condition interaction indicating that posttest urge ratings were lower in the extinction condition than in the control condition (p = .034). A secondary hypothesis that participants in the extinction condition would show a longer latency to smoke when provided a cigarette was not supported. CONCLUSIONS: These laboratory findings provide evidence supporting the potential clinical efficacy of AR cues for cue-exposure trials, setting the stage for testing in smokers' naturalistic environments. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Smoking Cessation Using Wearable Sensors: Protocol for a Microrandomized Trial.

BACKGROUND: Cigarette smoking has numerous health consequences and is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States. Mindfulness has the ability to enhance resilience to stressors and can strengthen an individual's ability to deal with discomfort, which may be particularly useful when managing withdrawal and craving to smoke. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to evaluate feasibility results from an intervention that provides real-time, real-world mindfulness strategies to a sample of racially and ethnically diverse smokers making a quit attempt. METHODS: This study uses a microrandomized trial design to deliver mindfulness-based strategies in real time to individuals attempting to quit smoking. Data will be collected via wearable sensors, a study smartphone, and questionnaires filled out during the in-person study visits. RESULTS: Recruitment is complete, and data management is ongoing. CONCLUSIONS: The data collected during this feasibility trial will provide preliminary findings about whether mindfulness strategies delivered in real time are a useful quit smoking aid that warrants additional investigation. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinicaltrials.gov NCT03404596; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03404596. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/22877.

Testing Augmented Reality for Eliciting Cue-Provoked Urges to Smoke: Toward Moving Cue-Exposure Into the Real World.

BACKGROUND: Cue exposure for extinguishing conditioned urges to smoking cues has been promising in the laboratory, but difficult to implement in natural environments. The recent availability of augmented reality (AR) via smartphone provides an opportunity to overcome this limitation. Testing the ability of AR to elicit cue-provoked urges to smoke (ie, cue reactivity [CR]) is the first step to systemically testing the efficacy of AR for cue exposure therapy. OBJECTIVES: To test CR to smoking-related AR cues compared to neutral AR cues, and compared to in vivo cues. METHODS: A 2 × 2 within-subject design comparing cue content (smoking vs. neutral) and presentation modality (AR vs. in vivo) on urge response. Seventeen smokers viewed six smoking-related and six neutral cues via AR smartphone app and also six smoking and six neutral in vivo cues. Participants rated their urge to smoke and reality/co-existence of the cue. RESULTS: Average urge to smoke was higher following smoking-related AR images (Median = 7.50) than neutral images (Median = 3.33) (Z = -3.44; p = .001; d = 1.37). Similarly, average urge ratings for in vivo smoking-related cues (Median = 8.12) were higher than for neutral cues (Median = 2.12) (Z = -3.44; p = .001; d = 1.64). Also, greater CR was observed for in vivo cues than for AR cues (Z = -2.67, p = .008; d = .36). AR cues were generally perceived as being realistic and well-integrated. CONCLUSIONS: CR was demonstrated with very large effect sizes in response to AR smoking cues, although slightly smaller than with in vivo smoking cues. This satisfies the first criterion for the potential use of AR for exposure therapy. IMPLICATIONS: This study introduces AR as a novel modality for presenting smoking-related stimuli to provoke cue reactivity, and ultimately to conduct extinction-based therapy. AR cues presented via a smartphone have the advantage over other modes of cue presentation (pictures, virtual reality, in vivo, etc.) of being easily transportable, affordable, and realistic, and they can be inserted in a smokers' natural environment rather than being limited to laboratory and clinic settings. These AR features may overcome the generalizability barriers of other methods, thus increasing clinical utility for cue exposure therapies.

Augmented Reality for Smoking Cessation: Development and Usability Study.

BACKGROUND: The recent widespread availability of augmented reality via smartphone offers an opportunity to translate cue exposure therapy for smoking cessation from the laboratory to the real world. Despite significant reductions in the smoking rates in the last decade, approximately 13.7% of the adults in the United States continue to smoke. Smoking-related cue exposure has demonstrated promise as an adjuvant therapy in the laboratory, but practical limitations have prevented its success in the real world. Augmented reality technology presents an innovative approach to overcome these limitations. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to develop a smartphone app that presents smoking-related augmented reality images for cue exposure. Smokers provided feedback on the images and reported on the perceived urge to smoke, qualities of reality/coexistence, and general feedback about quality and functioning. The feedback was used to refine the augmented reality images within the app. METHODS: In collaboration with an augmented reality design company, we developed 6 smoking-related images (cigarette, lighter, ashtray, lit cigarette in ashtray, etc) and 6 neutral images similar in size or complexity for comparison (pen, eraser, notebook, soda bottle with droplets, etc). Ten smokers completed a survey of demographic characteristics, smoking history and behavior, dependence on nicotine, motivation to quit smoking, and familiarity with augmented reality technology. Then, participants viewed each augmented reality image and provided ratings on 10-point Likert scales for urge to smoke and reality/coexistence of the image into the scene. Participants were also queried with open-ended questions regarding the features of the images. RESULTS: Of the 10 participants, 5 (50%) had experienced augmented reality prior to the laboratory visit, but only 4 of those 5 participants used augmented reality at least weekly. Although the sample was small (N=10), smokers reported significantly higher urge to smoke after viewing the smoking-related augmented reality images (median 4.58, SD 3.49) versus the neutral images (median 1.42, SD 3.01) (Z=-2.14, P=.03; d=0.70). The average reality and coexistence ratings of the images did not differ between smoking-related and neutral images (all P>.29). Augmented reality images were found on average to be realistic (mean [SD] score 6.49 [3.11]) and have good environmental coexistence (mean [SD] score 6.93 [3.04]) and user coexistence (mean [SD] score 6.38 [3.27]) on the 10-point scale. Participant interviews revealed some areas of excellence (eg, details of the lit cigarette) and areas for improvement (eg, stability of images, lighting). CONCLUSIONS: All images were generally perceived as being realistic and well-integrated into the environment. However, the smoking augmented reality images produced higher urge to smoke than the neutral augmented reality images. In total, our findings support the potential utility of augmented reality for cue exposure therapy. Future directions and next steps are discussed.

Understanding and Improving Microplastic Removal during Water Treatment: Impact of Coagulation and Flocculation.

The efficacy of plastic particle removal by municipal water treatment plants is currently uncertain, and the mechanisms involved in microplastic (MP) coagulation and flocculation have only been superficially investigated. The removal of pristine versus weathered plastic debris and the impact of plastic particle size on removal remain largely unexplored. In this study, coagulation, flocculation, and settling performances were investigated using pristine and weathered MPs (polyethylene (PE) and polystyrene (PS) microspheres, and polyester (PEST) fibers). Weathering processes that changed the surface chemistry and roughness of MPs impacted MP affinity for coagulants and flocculants. A quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring was used to identify the mechanisms involved during MP coagulation and flocculation. Measured deposition rates confirmed the relatively low affinity between plastic surfaces and aluminum-based coagulants compared to cationic polyacrylamide (PAM). In every case examined, coagulant efficiency increased when the plastic surface was weathered. Removals of 97 and 99% were measured for PEST and weathered PE, respectively. Larger pristine PE MPs were the most resistant to coagulation and flocculation, with 82% removal observed even under enhanced coagulation conditions. By understanding the interaction mechanisms, the removal of weathered MPs was optimized. Finally, this study explored the use of settled water turbidity as a possible indicator of MP removal.

Primary and Secondary Plastic Particles Exhibit Limited Acute Toxicity but Chronic Effects on Daphnia magna.

Nanoplastics (NPs; <0.1 µm) are speculated to be a bigger ecological threat due to their predicted wider distribution, higher concentrations, and bioavailability. Primary NPs are manufactured to be that size, while secondary NPs originate from fragmentation of bigger debris. To date, the long-term impact of NPs in freshwater systems, particularly secondary NPs, is not well-understood. Thus, we employed a freshwater invertebrate, Daphnia magna, to investigate the chronic effects of model primary NPs, fluorescent polystyrene nanospheres (PS-NPs; 20 nm), and water leachate of weathered single-use plastics that contained micro- and nanosized particles. In experiment 1, parent Daphnia (F0) were exposed to 1 and 50 mg/L PS-NPs until the production of the neonates (F1) followed by a two-generation recovery. PS-NPs were mainly detected in the intestine and brood chamber in F0 and transferred to F1 and F2. PS-NPs significantly decreased the appendage curling and heartbeat rate in F0 and reduced reproduction in F2. In experiment 2, the plastic leachate also reduced the appendage curling rate but increased growth and reproduction. The results suggest that the acute toxicity of primary and secondary plastic particles is low even at high concentrations, but their chronic and sublethal effects should not be overlooked.

Evaluating the Humpty Dumpty Fall Scale: An International, Multisite Study.

BACKGROUND: The Humpty Dumpty Falls Prevention Program was developed to address an unmet need to identify pediatric patients at risk of a fall event. PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of the Humpty Dumpty Fall Scale-Inpatient (HDFS) across a diverse, international pediatric population. In addition, the characteristics of patients who experienced a fall were analyzed. METHODS: A retrospective, cross-sectional design was used to assess fall risk across 16 hospitals and 2238 pediatric patients. Multiple and simple logistic regressions were performed to evaluate association of individual scale items and total score with falls during hospitalization. Reliability, sensitivity, and specificity of the HDFS were also assessed. RESULTS: Several of the HDFS items were significantly associated with the risk of falls in the pediatric population, but specificity of the tool is a concern to consider for future tool enhancement. CONCLUSIONS: Characteristics for further refinement of the HDFS were identified.

Surface tension anomaly observed for chemically-modified Janus particles at the air/water interface.

The behavior of Janus particles fabricated from core silica particles decorated with gold nanoparticles on one hemisphere is studied at the air/water interface. An unexpected reduction in the effective surface tension is observed in the presence of these chemically-modified Janus particles. Experiments on the interfacial behavior of a variety of control particles, including the physically-modified Janus particles made from the same core silica particles coated with a thin gold layer, do not exhibit significant surface tension effects. We hypothesize that the chemical modification of particles in form of a Janus structure is needed to alter the surface tension and attribute the surfactant-like behavior of these particles to the presence of immersion forces.

Plastic Teabags Release Billions of Microparticles and Nanoparticles into Tea.

The increasing presence of micro- and nano-sized plastics in the environment and food chain is of growing concern. Although mindful consumers are promoting the reduction of single-use plastics, some manufacturers are creating new plastic packaging to replace traditional paper uses, such as plastic teabags. The objective of this study was to determine whether plastic teabags could release microplastics and/or nanoplastics during a typical steeping process. We show that steeping a single plastic teabag at brewing temperature (95 °C) releases approximately 11.6 billion microplastics and 3.1 billion nanoplastics into a single cup of the beverage. The composition of the released particles is matched to the original teabags (nylon and polyethylene terephthalate) using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The levels of nylon and polyethylene terephthalate particles released from the teabag packaging are several orders of magnitude higher than plastic loads previously reported in other foods. An initial acute invertebrate toxicity assessment shows that exposure to only the particles released from the teabags caused dose-dependent behavioral and developmental effects.

Separation and Analysis of Microplastics and Nanoplastics in Complex Environmental Samples.

The vast amount of plastic waste emitted into the environment and the increasing concern of potential harm to wildlife has made microplastic and nanoplastic pollution a growing environmental concern. Plastic pollution has the potential to cause both physical and chemical harm to wildlife directly or via sorption, concentration, and transfer of other environmental contaminants to the wildlife that ingest plastic. Small particles of plastic pollution, termed microplastics (>100 nm and <5 mm) or nanoplastics (<100 nm), can form through fragmentation of larger pieces of plastic. These small particles are especially concerning because of their high specific surface area for sorption of contaminants as well as their potential to translocate in the bodies of organisms. These same small particles are challenging to separate and identify in environmental samples because their size makes handling and observation difficult. As a result, our understanding of the environmental prevalence of nanoplastics and microplastics is limited. Generally, the smaller the size of the plastic particle, the more difficult it is to separate from environmental samples. Currently employed passive density and size separation techniques to isolate plastics from environmental samples are not well suited to separate microplastics and nanoplastics. Passive flotation is hindered by the low buoyancy of small particles as well as the difficulty of handling small particles on the surface of flotation media. Here we suggest exploring alternative techniques borrowed from other fields of research to improve separation of the smallest plastic particles. These techniques include adapting active density separation (centrifugation) from cell biology and taking advantage of surface-interaction-based separations from analytical chemistry. Furthermore, plastic pollution is often challenging to quantify in complex matrices such as biological tissues and wastewater. Biological and wastewater samples are important matrices that represent key points in the fate and sources of plastic pollution, respectively. In both kinds of samples, protocols need to be optimized to increase throughput, reduce contamination potential, and avoid destruction of plastics during sample processing. To this end, we recommend adapting digestion protocols to match the expected composition of the nonplastic material as well as taking measures to reduce and account for contamination. Once separated, plastics in an environmental sample should ideally be characterized both visually and chemically. With existing techniques, microplastics and nanoplastics are difficult to characterize or even detect. Their low mass and small size provide limited signal for visual, vibrational spectroscopic, and mass spectrometric analyses. Each of these techniques involves trade-offs in throughput, spatial resolution, and sensitivity. To accurately identify and completely quantify microplastics and nanoplastics in environmental samples, multiple analytical techniques applied in tandem are likely to be required.

Epidemiology and geo-referencing of the dengue fever in a hospital of second level in Colombia, 2010-2014.

BACKGROUND: Dengue fever is a priority problem for public health in Colombia. The Department of Tolima and the municipality of El Espinal bring a considerable proportion of the cases to national statistics, becoming a representative area for studying the behavior of this pathology. OBJECTIVE: Determine the epidemiological behavior and the geographic distribution of dengue fever cases treated in the San Rafael Hospital in the municipality of the El Espinal, from 2010 to 2014. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The following is a retrospective cross-sectional case report study of the population with dengue fever treated in San Rafael Hospital. We analyzed data from the mandatory clinical reports of the SIVIGILA (National public health surveillance system, in Spanish) using Excel, EpiInfo and EpiMap were analyzed. The epidemiological analysis encompassed morbidity, mortality, fatality, endemicity and cartograms of georeferencing, among others. RESULTS: The totality of cases was 3264, with an incidence of 5.84 per 1000 inhabitants, mortality of 0.12 cases per 10,000 inhabitants, and lethality of 0.11 per 100 diagnosed cases. 71.6% of the patients were between 1 and 24 years, 53.8% were male and 46.2% female. The endemic behaviour was bimodal, Max in epidemiological periods 3-4 and 12-13. The distribution geographic of cases spanned the whole of the municipality and is related apparently with the population density in an area defined. CONCLUSIONS: The results found are above local, national and international parameters on incidence, mortality, and case-fatality. Through the analysis of endemic behavior and geographic distribution, times and specific areas are provided to optimize public health measures.

Microplastics and Nanoplastics in Aquatic Environments: Aggregation, Deposition, and Enhanced Contaminant Transport.

Plastic litter is widely acknowledged as a global environmental threat, and poor management and disposal lead to increasing levels in the environment. Of recent concern is the degradation of plastics from macro- to micro- and even to nanosized particles smaller than 100 nm in size. At the nanoscale, plastics are difficult to detect and can be transported in air, soil, and water compartments. While the impact of plastic debris on marine and fresh waters and organisms has been studied, the loads, transformations, transport, and fate of plastics in terrestrial and subsurface environments are largely overlooked. In this Critical Review, we first present estimated loads of plastics in different environmental compartments. We also provide a critical review of the current knowledge vis-à-vis nanoplastic (NP) and microplastic (MP) aggregation, deposition, and contaminant cotransport in the environment. Important factors that affect aggregation and deposition in natural subsurface environments are identified and critically analyzed. Factors affecting contaminant sorption onto plastic debris are discussed, and we show how polyethylene generally exhibits a greater sorption capacity than other plastic types. Finally, we highlight key knowledge gaps that need to be addressed to improve our ability to predict the risks associated with these ubiquitous contaminants in the environment by understanding their mobility, aggregation behavior and their potential to enhance the transport of other pollutants.