Rudolph, the kids' ward reindeer: a scoping review of the effects of support animals on the well-being of healthcare staff.

BACKGROUND: Many systematic reviews identify support animals or animal assisted activity as a beneficial and standard practice in several medical disciplines for patients (children, adolescents, and adults) and residents in care homes. A variety of animals are used such as dogs, cats, ponies, horses, alpacas, reindeer, penguins, rabbits, and tarantulas. Our objective was to explore the evidence regarding effects of animal assisted activity on a further population of interest; namely, healthcare staff. METHODS: We asked the question "how do support animals in healthcare settings affect the well-being of healthcare staff?" As an addendum, we were also interested in what - possibly more unique - animals have visited healthcare settings at Christmas time in particular. We conducted a scoping literature review using PubMed and Web of Science (search as of 26 April 2023).  RESULTS: Twenty studies (in the USA, Australia, Europe; dogs: n = 19; cats: n = 1) since 2002 included: studies with biological measures (n = 3), longitudinal survey studies with analyses (n = 5), cross-sectional survey studies with analyses (n = 2), and cross-sectional survey studies with descriptive statistics (n = 10). Overall, animal assisted activities appear to be well-received by staff and there do not seem to be negative impacts on staff well-being. CONCLUSIONS: Relevant positive effects and avenues of research are identified. Our review suggests that, but not exactly how, animal assisted activity benefits staff. Study evidence is limited with most studies being cross-sectional, descriptive, having low participant numbers, and mostly only involving dogs. Nonetheless, the evidence is mostly positive. The potential of animal assisted activities impacting positively on staff well-being warrants systematic research. Gaps in hard-fact-evidence should not deter us - especially at the festive season - to encourage work with, and systematic research regarding, support animals that provide warmth, empathy, comfort, and more in healthcare settings.

Occurrence and in vitro toxicity of organic compounds in urban background PM2.5.

This study describes the chemical composition and in vitro toxicity of the organic fraction of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) at an urban background site, which receives emissions either from Frankfurt international airport or the city centre, respectively. We analysed the chemical composition of filter extracts (PM2.5) using ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography coupled to a high-resolution mass spectrometer, followed by a non-target analysis. In parallel, we applied the bulk of the filter extracts to a Microtox and acetylcholinesterase-inhibition assay for in vitro toxicity testing. We find that both the chemical composition and toxicity depend on the prevailing wind directions, and the airport operating condition, respectively. The occurrence of the airport marker compounds tricresyl phosphate and pentaerythritol esters depends on the time of the day, reflecting the night flight ban as well as an airport strike event during November 2019. We compared the organic aerosol composition and toxicity from the airport wind-sector against the city centre wind-sector. We find that urban background aerosol shows a higher baseline toxicity and acetylcholinesterase inhibition compared to rural PM2.5 that is advected over the airport. Our results indicate that the concentration and individual composition of PM2.5 influence the toxicity. Suspected drivers of the acetylcholinesterase inhibition are i.e. organophosphorus esters like triphenyl phosphate and cresyldiphenyl phosphate, and the non-ionic surfactant 4-tert-octylphenol ethoxylate. However, further research is necessary to unambiguously identify harmful organic air pollutants and their sources and quantify concentration levels at which adverse effects in humans and the environment can occur.

Incubation in Wastewater Reduces the Multigenerational Effects of Microplastics in Daphnia magna.

The aging of microplastics in the environment changes their physicochemical properties. While this may affect their toxicity, comparative data on the effects of aged compared to pristine microplastics are scarce. One of those aging processes is the sorption of chemicals, which has mainly been studied for individual pollutants present in marine ecosystems. To investigate how the sorption of a complex mixture of freshwater pollutants affects the toxicity of microplastics, we incubated irregular polystyrene particles (≤63 µm) in either wastewater or ultrapure water. We exposed Daphnia magna to these aged microplastics and their pristine counterparts (80, 400, 2000, and 10,000 particles mL-1) over four generations using food limitation as an additional, environmentally realistic stressor. Both particle types affect the survival, reproduction, adult and neonate body lengths, and growth. An exposure to pristine microplastics results in the extinction of the third generation of daphnids. In contrast, wastewater-incubated particles induced a lower mortality. The incubation with wastewater does not change the microplastics' size, surface charge, and structure. Consistent with the literature, we assume that the adsorption of dissolved organic matter is a key aging process reducing the toxicity of microplastics. Consequently, toxicity testing using pristine microplastics may overestimate the effects of plastic particles in nature.