BACKGROUND, AIMS, AND SCOPE Heavy metal contaminants in environment, especially in drinking water, are always of great concern due to their health impact. Due to the use of heavy metals as catalysts during plastic syntheses, particularly antimony, human exposure to metal release from plastic bottles has been a serious concern in recent years. The aim and scope of this study were to assess metal...

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 ...

Visual and tactile stimulation are known to affect the experience of eating and drinking. In this study, we focused on the vibration of a Japanese Sake bottle when used to pour liquid. We manufactured a device that can be attached to the neck of any plastic bottle and investigated how beverage consumption was affected by the vibration. We found that presentation of the vibration affected the am...

AIMS To investigate (1) aerosol lung deposition obtained from two small volume conventional spacers (Babyhaler and Aerochamber) and a home made spacer (modified 500 ml plastic cold drink bottle); (2) the effect of using a face mask or mouthpiece; and (3) the relation between age and pulmonary deposition. METHODS Lung deposition of aerosolised technetium-99m DTPA inhaled via spacer was measure...

The cleanliness of feeding bottles is vital for child health (1, 2). Because of versatile, light, sturdy, reusable, and cost-efficient, plastic bottles, rather than conventional glass bottles are increasingly being utilized in the reusable feeding bottles. Although the machine cleaning of bottles in the food industry has been established (3, 4), the results may not pertain to the cleaning condu...

Oxygen saturation is lower during bottle feeding than during breastfeeding in preterm infants. Our objective was to compare two different bottle systems in healthy preterm infants before discharge in terms of SpO(2) and oral feeding efficiency (rate of milk intake). Infants without supplement oxygen needs were evaluated twice on the same day during two consecutive feeds, by the same nurse. Infa...

Eco -friendly architectural principles are being incorporated into more buildings every day in the world but they are still out of reach of many people due to lack of knowledge and awareness. Nevertheless, many traditional societies learned to build collaborating with nature, basing their buildings on an intuitive knowledge of the environment and climate, constructing buildings at a very low co...