Reforestation is needed globally to help restore degraded sites, combat desertification, protect watersheds, and provide forest products. This involves planting forest tree seedlings grown in local nurseries, but technologies to produce quality seedlings are lacking in developing countries. Modern nursery containers used to propagate seedlings have internal-surface barriers (ribs or ridges) or ...

BACKGROUND Chemicals having estrogenic activity (EA) reportedly cause many adverse health effects, especially at low (picomolar to nanomolar) doses in fetal and juvenile mammals. OBJECTIVES We sought to determine whether commercially available plastic resins and products, including baby bottles and other products advertised as bisphenol A (BPA) free, release chemicals having EA. METHODS We ...

Due to its chemical inertness and physical properties PET is particularly suitable for food packaging applications, especially for drinking water. More bottled water is consumed than other bottled beverages. This article is a survey and toxicological investigation of chemical compounds, which are able to diffuse from PET bottles to water. The exact detailed chemical composition of plastic mater...

Most studies of coral reproductive biology to date have focused on oocyte numbers and sizes. Only one (ex situ) study has enumerated sperm numbers, even though these data have multiple potential applications. We quantified total coral sperm and eggs per gamete bundle collected from six species in situ during a synchronous spawning event in Singapore. Egg-sperm bundles were captured midwater as ...

BACKGROUND Sodium hypochlorite (bleach) solutions are widely used as irrigants in endodontics. Their tendency to deteriorate is worsened by environmental influences which could cause loss of available chlorine content. METHODS This study measured the loss of available chlorine concentration in a range of sodium hypochlorite solutions under conditions which mimic clinical usage and storage. Do...

We report two cases of penile strangulation that presented to our emergency department. In the first case, a 60-year-old man, the object of strangulation was a metallic ring that was extricated using an orthopaedic cutter in the operating theatre. The patient recovered uneventfully. In the second case, a 77-year-old man, the object of strangulation was a plastic bottle, which was extricated usi...

INTRODUCTION Foreign bodies in the upper aerodigestive tract often get lost following inappropriate attempts at removal. Children may present late with localized infection, posing a challenge to the otolaryngologists in a referral set-up in diagnosing and retrieving such foreign bodies. CASE REPORT A two-year-old boy presented with refractory purulent rhinorrhea and intermittent low-grade fev...

Decomposing plastics, including plastic bottles, is a very difficult process because it takes 50-100 years. Every year, the use of bottles increasing, but only few people are willing to treat bottle waste. In this study, waste used as substitute fine aggregate and shaped in such way have sand-like gradation. The variations graded 0%, 5%, 10%, 12%. test objects for each variation consist three s...

Human exposure to endocrine disruptors is well documented by biomonitoring data. However, this information is limited to few chemicals like bisphenol A or phthalate plasticizers. To account for so-far unidentified endocrine disruptors and potential mixture effects we employ bioassays to detect endocrine activity in foodstuff and consequently characterize the integrated exposure to endocrine act...