Alcohol-related acute medical reviews in an acute hospital before and immediately after the introduction of minimum unit pricing.

BACKGROUND: Minimum unit pricing (MUP) is one aspect of the Public Health (Alcohol) Act 2018 to limit the detrimental health impacts of alcohol use. Alcohol withdrawal syndrome (AWS) can occur within hours to days after alcohol cessation. This audit assesses two periods to see if the introduction of MUP had a significant impact on acute alcohol-related medical reviews mediated through a change in the incidence of AWS. METHODS: The medical inpatient handover documents all acute medical reviews of patients in Tipperary University Hospital in the preceding 24 h. Documents were retrospectively reviewed for two 28-day time periods 5th January to 1st February 2021 and 2022. Patients were assessed for presentations related to alcohol. RESULTS: 518 patients were reviewed by the acute medical service between 5th January and 1st February 2021. 28 patients presented with alcohol-related medical complaints. 637 patients were reviewed by the acute medical service between 5th January and 1st February 2022. 24 patients presented with alcohol-related medical complaints. The proportion of patients presenting with alcohol-related medical conditions, 5.41% for the first assessment period and 3.77% for the second period, was compared using MedCalc software. This demonstrated a difference of 1.64% (95% confidence interval - 0.78 to 4.24%, P = 0.18). CONCLUSION: At this institution, the introduction of MUP did not result in increased presentations with alcohol-related medical complaints. It is unlikely that it leads to an increase in the incidence of AWS.

Synthetic factors affecting the stability of methylammonium lead halide perovskite nanocrystals.

Lead halide perovskite nanocrystals (PNCs) have emerged as promising candidates for use in optoelectronic devices. Significant focus has been directed towards optimising synthetic conditions to obtain PNCs with tunable emission properties. However, the reproducible production of stable PNC dispersions is also crucial for fabrication and scale-up of these devices using liquid deposition methods. Here, the stability of methylammonium lead halide (MAPbX3 where X = Br, I) PNCs produced via the ligand-assisted reprecipitation process is explored. We have focussed on understanding how different combinations of specific synthetic factors - dilution, halide source and ratio as well as capping-ligand concentration - affect the stability of the resultant PNC dispersion. Photoluminescence spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy and dynamic light scattering studies revealed that subtle changes in the reaction conditions lead to significant changes in the particle morphology and associated optical properties, often with catastrophic consequences on stability. This study highlights the importance of designing PNC dispersions in order to make more efficient and reliable optoelectronic devices.

Flexible Optical Amplifier for Visible-Light Communications Based on Organic-Inorganic Hybrids.

Visible-light communications (VLCs) based on white light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are emerging as a low-cost and energy-efficient alternative solution to wireless communications. As white emitting LEDs use a combination of a long-lived yellow emission combined with the faster response of a blue emitting LED (∼460 nm), VLC technology requires amplification of the blue component to improve the signal-to-noise ratio. We report the fabrication and characterization of planar and channel waveguides based on a blue-emitting polyfluorene conjugated polyelectrolyte, namely, poly[9,9-bis(4-sulfonylbutoxyphenyl)fluorene-2,7-diyl-alt-1,4-phenylene] (PBS-PFP) incorporated into diureasil organic-inorganic hybrids for optical amplification in VLC. Taking advantage of the diureasil host as a UV self-patternable material, direct UV laser writing was used to pattern channel waveguides with a larger refractive index (Δn=0.09) compared to the nonexposed region, enabling confinement and guidance of the PBS-PFP emission with a maximum optical gain efficiency value of 1.62 ± 0.02 cm µJ-1. This value is among the best figures of merit known for polymeric materials with additional advantages added by the diureasil hybrid host, namely, mechanical flexibility, thermal stability, and low insertion losses due to the nearly null refractive index contrast between the optical fiber and the amplification device, establishing the proposed approach as a promising cost-effective solution for optical amplification in VLCs.

Towards Efficient Spectral Converters through Materials Design for Luminescent Solar Devices.

Single-junction photovoltaic devices exhibit a bottleneck in their efficiency due to incomplete or inefficient harvesting of photons in the low- or high-energy regions of the solar spectrum. Spectral converters can be used to convert solar photons into energies that are more effectively captured by the photovoltaic device through a photoluminescence process. Here, recent advances in the fields of luminescent solar concentration, luminescent downshifting, and upconversion are discussed. The focus is specifically on the role that materials science has to play in overcoming barriers in the optical performance in all spectral converters and on their successful integration with both established (e.g., c-Si, GaAs) and emerging (perovskite, organic, dye-sensitized) cell types. Current challenges and emerging research directions, which need to be addressed for the development of next-generation luminescent solar devices, are also discussed.