Background Concerns regarding potential neurological complications of COVID-19 are being increasingly reported, primarily in small series. Larger studies have been limited by both geography and specialty. Comprehensive characterisation of clinical syndromes is crucial to allow rational selection and evaluation of potential therapies. The aim of this study was to investigate the breadth of complications of COVID-19 across the UK that affected the brain. Methods During the exponential phase of the pandemic, we developed an online network of secure rapid-response case report notification portals across the spectrum of major UK neuroscience bodies, comprising the Association of British Neurologists (ABN), the British Association of Stroke Physicians (BASP), and the Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych), and representing neurology, stroke, psychiatry, and intensive care. Broad clinical syndromes associated with COVID-19 were classified as a cerebrovascular event (defined as an acute ischaemic, haemorrhagic, or thrombotic vascular event involving the brain parenchyma or subarachnoid space), altered mental status (defined as an acute alteration in personality, behaviour, cognition, or consciousness), peripheral neurology (defined as involving nerve roots, peripheral nerves, neuromuscular junction, or muscle), or other (with free text boxes for those not meeting these syndromic presentations). Physicians were encouraged to report cases prospectively and we permitted recent cases to be notified retrospectively when assigned a confirmed date of admission or initial clinical assessment, allowing identification of cases that occurred before notification portals were available. Data collected were compared with the geographical, demographic, and temporal presentation of overall cases of COVID-19 as reported by UK Government public health bodies.

We used a modeling approach to explore how toxicokinetics and food-web trophodynamics affect MeHg bioaccumulation in the Beaufort Sea shelf.

Cities are drivers of the global economy, containing products and industries that emit many chemicals. Here, we use the Multimedia Urban Model (MUM) to estimate atmospheric emissions and fate of organophosphate esters (OPEs) from 19 global mega or major cities, finding that they collectively emitted ~81,000 kg yr−1 of ∑10OPEs in 2018. Typically, polar “mobile” compounds tend to partition to and be advected by water, while non-polar “bioaccumulative” chemicals do not. Depending on the built environment and climate of the city considered, the same compound behaves like either a mobile or a bioaccumulative chemical. Cities with large impervious surface areas, such as Kolkata, mobilize even bioaccumulative contaminants to aquatic ecosystems. By contrast, cities with large areas of vegetation fix and transform contaminants, reducing loadings to aquatic ecosystems. Our results therefore suggest that urban design choices could support policies aimed at reducing chemical releases to the broader environment without increasing exposure for urban residents.

Cities are drivers of the global economy, containing products and industries that emit many chemicals. We used the Multimedia Urban Model (MUM) to estimate atmospheric emissions and fate of organophosphate esters (OPEs) from 19 global “mega or major cities,” finding that they collectively emitted ~ 81,000 kg yr− 1 of ∑10OPEs in 2018. Typically, polar "mobile" compounds tend to partition to and be advected by water, while non-polar "bioaccumulative" chemicals do not. Depending on the built environment and climate of the city considered, the same compound behaved like either a "mobile" or a "bioaccumulative" chemical. Cities with large impervious surface areas, such as Kolkata, mobilized even “bioaccumulative” contaminants to aquatic ecosystems. By contrast, cities with large areas of vegetation fixed and transformed contaminants, reducing loadings to aquatic ecosystems. Our results therefore suggest that urban design choices could support policies aimed at reducing sources of emissions to reduce chemical releases to the broader environment without increasing exposure for urban residents.

The authors review recent studies conducted across the Great Lakes of North America to assess the quantity and type of microplastic waste found in these waters, sediments, and beaches. Findings from their own studies are shared, sampling plastic pollution from remote and secluded Nature Reserves in Lake Erie (ON), and the Ottawa River watershed (QC), showing significant accumulation of microbeads. Spherical ‘microbeads’ made of plastics are now ubiquitous in a wide range of personal healthcare and cleansing products, used by the average North American consumer now at upwards of quadrillions per day. Designed to be flushable, these plastic microbeads inevitably end up in municipal wastewater streams, and then to a large extent leak into our freshwater ecosystems. Recent studies throughout the important Great Lakes system of North America have reported microbeads at essentially all locations examined. On the shorelines, in surface waters, throughout water columns, and in sediments of these freshwater systems, microbeads are now ever-present, and are accumulating in significant amounts. Their small and stable shape and composition, and limited pathways to degradation produce a long lifespan, with the capacity to remain in the freshwater environment for potentially hundreds of years. This review collects and compares initial microbead studies between 2013–2021 in the Great Lakes region to provide a snapshot of the current levels and locations, and to serve as a baseline for future tracking to assess progress as the microbead contamination and accumulation problem is addressed. We as well present findings from our own local study of microplastic/bead accumulation downstream of the Great Lakes, in the St. Lawrence and Ottawa rivers near Montreal. Aspects of microbead contamination represent a unique subset of the worldwide microplastic problem, in that much control remains over their life cycle and eventual fate. Consequently, the power to address this microbead problem can rest with polymer chemists and engineers, who, armed with a better understanding of the relevant physical polymer properties of the beads that govern their movement into the aquatic environment, hold the ability to rationally redesign microbead composition and develop removal techniques.