Measuring the Intensity of Stress Experienced and Its Impact on Life in Patients with Diagnosed Alcohol Use Disorder.

Alcohol addiction is characterized by extensive alcohol consumption that dominates other behaviours previously important to a patient. According to data from The State Agency for Prevention of Alcohol-Related Problems, up to 900,000 people in Poland are addicted to alcohol. On average, approximately 9.7 L of pure alcohol per capita was consumed in 2021. Alcohol addiction may cause severe health problems and is one the key risk factors for various diseases. Stress plays an important role in the process of alcohol addiction and is also a predictor for lower enjoyment in life. On the other hand, sense of coherence may be a stronger protective factor. The aim of our study was to verify the relation between the level of perceived stress among patients with alcohol addiction and satisfaction with life. Because sense of coherence is a disposition that allows for managing stress effectively, the latter should be reflected in the results of multivariate analyses that take both the level of stress and sense of coherence into account. In the present study, sense of coherence and perceived stress were negatively correlated; therefore, strengthening internal resources for managing difficult and stressful situations is recommended.

Origin of Limiting and Overlimiting Currents in Bipolar Membranes.

Bipolar membranes (BPMs), a special class of ion exchange membranes with the unique ability to electrochemically induce either water dissociation or recombination, are of growing interest for environmental applications including eliminating chemical dosage for pH adjustment, resource recovery, valorization of brines, and carbon capture. However, ion transport within BPMs, and particularly at its junction, has remained poorly understood. This work aims to theoretically and experimentally investigate ion transport in BPMs under both reverse and forward bias operation modes, taking into account the production or recombination of H+ and OH-, as well as the transport of salt ions (e.g., Na+, Cl-) inside the membrane. We adopt a model based on the Nernst-Planck theory, that requires only three input parameters─membrane thickness, its charge density, and pK of proton adsorption─to predict the concentration profiles of four ions (H+, OH-, Na+, and Cl-) inside the membrane and the resulting current-voltage curve. The model can predict most of the experimental results measured with a commercial BPM, including the observation of limiting and overlimiting currents, which emerge due to particular concentration profiles that develop inside the BPM. This work provides new insights into the physical phenomena in BPMs and helps identify optimal operating conditions for future environmental applications.

Optimization of the Use of Hospital Beds as an Example of Improving the Functioning of Hospitals in Poland on the Basis of the Provincial Clinical Hospital No. 1 in Rzeszow.

An efficient health care system combines maximum accessibility with high-quality treatments, as well as cost optimization of individual health care facilities throughout the entire system. In hospitals, the critical element is the number of beds within individual wards, which generates costs and, at the same time, affects the capacity to serve patients. The aim of this article is to discuss the restructuring and optimization of hospital bed occupancy in a healthcare facility in the Podkarpackie voivodeship. The analysis covers the years 1999-2018. In the indicated period, the analyzed healthcare institution restructured the number of beds based on a forecast of the demand for services, which resulted in positive cost effects, without limiting patients' access to diagnostic and therapeutic care. The analyzed facility took part in a common trend of optimizing cost-effectiveness and efficiency of hospital operations in Poland.

Salt and Water Transport in Reverse Osmosis Membranes: Beyond the Solution-Diffusion Model.

Understanding the salt-water separation mechanisms of reverse osmosis (RO) membranes is critical for the further development and optimization of RO technology. The solution-diffusion (SD) model is widely used to describe water and salt transport in RO, but it does not describe the intricate transport mechanisms of water molecules and ions through the membrane. In this study, we develop an ion transport model for RO, referred to as the solution-friction model, by rigorously considering the mechanisms of partitioning and the interactions among water, salt ions, and the membrane. Ion transport through the membrane is described by the extended Nernst-Planck equation, with the consideration of frictions between the species (i.e., ion, water, and membrane matrix). Water flow through the membrane is governed by the hydraulic pressure gradient and the friction between the water and membrane matrix as well as the friction between water and ions. The model is validated using experimental measurements of salt rejection and permeate water flux in a lab-scale, cross-flow RO setup. We then investigate the effects of feed salt concentration and hydraulic pressure on salt permeability, demonstrating strong dependence of salt permeability on feed salt concentration and applied pressure, starkly disparate from the SD model. Lastly, we develop a framework to analyze the pressure drop distribution across the membrane, demonstrating that cross-membrane transport dominates the overall pressure drop in RO, in marked contrast to the SD model that assumes no pressure drop across the membrane.

Unravelling pH Changes in Electrochemical Desalination with Capacitive Deionization.

Membrane capacitive deionization (MCDI) is a water desalination technology employing porous electrodes and ion-exchange membranes. The electrodes are cyclically charged to adsorb ions and discharged to desorb ions. During MCDI operation, a difference in pH between feed and effluent water is observed, changing over time, which can cause the precipitation of hardness ions and consequently affect the long-term stability of electrodes and membranes. These changes can be attributed to different phenomena, which can be divided into two distinct categories: Faradaic and non-Faradaic. In the present work, we show that during long-term operation, as the electrodes age over time, the magnitude and direction of pH changes shift. We studied these changes for two different feed water solutions: a NaCl solution and a tap water solution. Whereas we observe a pH decrease during the regeneration with a NaCl solution, we observe an increase during regeneration with tap water, potentially resulting in the precipitation of hardness ions. We compare our experimental findings with theory and conclude that with aged electrodes, non-Faradaic processes are the prominent cause of pH changes. Furthermore, we find that for desalination with tap water, the adsorption and desorption of HCO3-and CO32- ions affect the pH changes.

Desalination of Complex Multi-Ionic Solutions by Reverse Osmosis at Different pH Values, Temperatures, and Compositions.

For a thorough mechanistic understanding of reverse osmosis (RO), data on ion retention obtained by desalination of multi-ionic solutions are needed. In this paper, we show how to obtain such data under controlled laboratory conditions at any nonextreme pH. For that, we propose a simple method where we use N2 and CO2 gas control to set the composition of a gas phase in equilibrium with the feedwater solution. By increasing the CO2 partial pressure, the pH of the solution will decrease and vice versa. We applied this method of CO2 gas control to extend and validate an existing data set on ion retention of multi-ionic brackish water with 10 different ionic species, whereas conditions in the prior data set were slightly uncontrolled; in our new analysis, we performed experiments at precisely controlled pH and temperature. We run experiments at pH 6.73 and pH 7.11 and in a temperature range of T = 15-31 °C. Our results show that when pH is decreased, or temperature increased, the ion retention of most ions decreases. We also tested the influence of the Na+ to Ca2+ concentration ratio in this multi-ionic solution on ion retention at pH 6.73 and T ∼ 31 °C. We noticed that this ratio has a larger effect on ion retention for cations than for anions. We compare our data with the earlier reported data and describe similarities and differences. The improved data set will be an important tool for future development of accurate and validated RO ion transport models. Such RO models that describe desalination performance in detail are important for successful commercial application of the RO technology. We also discuss a relevant preparation method for water slightly oversaturated with barely soluble CaCO3 by solution preparation at high CO2 pressure, after which the solution is brought to the required pH by the N2 and CO2 gas control method.

Role of body mass category in the development of faulty postures in school-age children from a rural area in south-eastern Poland: a cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to assess the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and the incidence of abnormalities in selected parameters measured in the trunk area. DESIGN: Cross-sectional studies. SETTING: The research was conducted in a primary school in the Trzebownisko Municipality, a rural area in south-eastern Poland. PARTICIPANTS: A group of 464 children, ranging in age from 6 to 16 years (234 boys and 230 girls), was recruited to participate in the study. OUTCOME MEASURES: The examination of their body postures was conducted with the use of the Zebris system. Body mass was determined using a body mass analyser Tanita MC-780 MA. BMI was calculated based on the acquired data. RESULTS: It was noticed that the children with overweight and obesity tended to have an incorrect position of the shoulders and pelvis in comparison to children with normal body weight. It was found that greater body mass (higher BMI) coincided with a larger distance of the scapulae from the frontal plane (p=0.009). CONCLUSIONS: Increase in children's BMI produces adverse effects in the position of the shoulder blades, reflected by their greater distance from the frontal plane. Increase in BMI is not significantly related to the position of the shoulder joints or pelvis; however, the subjects with overweight or obesity presented a greater difference in the position of the shoulder joints and pelvis.

Exceptional Water Desalination Performance with Anion-Selective Electrodes.

Capacitive deionization (CDI) typically uses one porous carbon electrode that is cation adsorbing and one that is anion adsorbing. In 2016, Smith and Dmello proposed an innovative CDI cell design based on two cation-selective electrodes and a single anion-selective membrane, and thereafter this design was experimentally validated by various authors. In this design, anions pass through the membrane once, and desalinated water is continuously produced. In the present work, this idea is extended, and it is experimentally shown that also a choice for anion-selective electrodes, in combination with a cation-selective membrane, leads to a functional cell design that continuously desalinates water. Anion-selective electrodes are obtained by chemical modification of the carbon electrode with (3-aminopropyl)triethoxysilane. After chemical modification, the activated carbon electrode shows a substantial reduction of the total pore volume and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area, but nevertheless maintains excellent CDI performance, which is for the first time that a low-porosity carbon electrode is demonstrated as a promising material for CDI.

Performance metrics for the objective assessment of capacitive deionization systems.

In the growing field of capacitive deionization (CDI), a number of performance metrics have emerged to describe the desalination process. Unfortunately, the separation conditions under which these metrics are measured are often not specified, resulting in optimal performance at minimal removal. Here we outline a system of performance metrics and reporting conditions that resolves this issue. Our proposed system is based on volumetric energy consumption (Wh/m3) and throughput productivity (L/h/m2) reported for a specific average concentration reduction, water recovery, and feed salinity. To facilitate and rationalize comparisons between devices, materials, and operation modes, we propose a nominal standard separation of removing 5 mM from a 20 mM NaCl feed solution at 50% water recovery. We propose this particular separation as a standard, but emphasize that the rationale presented here applies irrespective of separation details. Using our proposed separation, we compare the desalination performance of a flow-through electrode (fte-CDI) cell and a flow between membrane (fb-MCDI) device, showing how significantly different systems can be compared in terms of generally desirable desalination characteristics. In general, we find that performance analysis must be considered carefully so to not allow for ambiguous separation conditions or the maximization of one metric at the expense of another. Additionally, for context and clarity, we discuss a number of important underlying performance indicators and cell characteristics that are not performance measures in and of themselves but can be examined to better understand differences in performance.

Liquid-liquid displacement in slippery liquid-infused membranes (SLIMs).

Liquid-infused membranes inspired by slippery liquid-infused porous surfaces (SLIPS) have been recently introduced to membrane technology. The gating mechanism of these membranes is expected to give rise to anti-fouling properties and multi-phase transport capabilities. However, the long-term retention of the infusion liquid has not yet been explored. To address this issue, we investigate the retention of the infusion liquid in slippery liquid-infused membranes (SLIMs) via liquid-liquid displacement porometry (LLDP) experiments combined with microscopic observations of the displacement mechanism. Our results reveal that pores will be opened corresponding to the capillary pressure, leading to preferential flow pathways for water transport. The LLDP results further suggest the presence of liquid-lined pores in SLIM. This hypothesis is analyzed theoretically using an interfacial pore flow model. We find that the displacement patterns correspond to capillary fingering in immiscible displacement in porous media. The related physics regarding two-phase flow in porous media is used to confirm the permeation mechanism appearing in SLIMs. In order to experimentally observe liquid-liquid displacement, a microfluidic chip mimicking a porous medium is designed and a highly ramified structure with trapped infusion liquid is observed. The remaining infusion liquid is retained as pools, bridges and thin films around pillar structures in the chip, which further confirms liquid-lining. Fractal dimension analysis, along with evaluation of the fluid (non-wetting phase) saturation, further confirms that the fractal patterns correspond to capillary fingering, which is consistent with an invasion percolation with trapping (IPT) model.

Capacitive Deionization using Biomass-based Microporous Salt-Templated Heteroatom-Doped Carbons.

Invited for this month's cover are the groups of Tim-Patrick Fellinger (MPI Potsdam) and Volker Presser (INM Saarbrücken and Saarland University). The image shows the dynamic process of ion electrosorption: anions are attracted and cations repelled from electrically charged electrodes based on carbons with heteroatoms. This process of capacitive deionization is particularly attractive for facile low-energy water treatment applications.

Capacitive Deionization using Biomass-based Microporous Salt-Templated Heteroatom-Doped Carbons.

Microporous carbons are an interesting material for electrochemical applications. In this study, we evaluate several such carbons without/with N or S doping with regard to capacitive deionization. For this purpose, we extent the salt-templating synthesis towards biomass precursors and S-doped microporous carbons. The sample with the largest specific surface area (2830 m(2) g(-1) ) showed 1.0 wt % N and exhibited a high salt-sorption capacity of 15.0 mg g(-1) at 1.2 V in 5 mM aqueous NaCl. While being a promising material from an equilibrium performance point of view, our study also gives first insights to practical limitations of heteroatom-doped carbon materials. We show that high heteroatom content may be associated with a low charge efficiency. The latter is a key parameter for capacitive deionization and is defined as the ratio between the amounts of removed salt molecules and electrical charge.