By the end of 2017, 35 local authorities (LAs) across England had adopted takeaway management zones (or \"exclusion zones\") around schools as a means to curb proliferation of new takeaways. In this nationwide, natural experimental study, we evaluated the impact of management zones on takeaway retail, including unintended displacement of takeaways to areas immediately beyond management zones, and impacts on chain fast-food outlets. We used uncontrolled interrupted time series analyses to estimate changes from up to six years pre- and post-adoption of takeaway management zones around schools. We evaluated three outcomes: mean number of new takeaways within management zones (and by three identified sub-types: full management, town centre exempt and time management zones); mean number on the periphery of management zones (i.e. within an additional 100 m of the edge of zones); and presence of new chain fast-food outlets within management zones. For 26 LAs, we observed an overall decrease in the number of new takeaways opening within management zones. Six years post-intervention, we observed 0.83 (95% CI -0.30, -1.03) fewer new outlets opening per LA than would have been expected in absence of the intervention, equivalent to an 81.0% (95% CI -29.1, -100) reduction in the number of new outlets. Cumulatively, 12 (54%) fewer new takeaways opened than would have been expected over the six-year post-intervention period. When stratified by policy type, effects were most prominent for full management zones and town centre exempt zones. Estimates of intervention effects on numbers of new takeaways on the periphery of management zones, and on the presence of new chain fast-food outlets within management zones, did not meet statistical significance. Our findings suggest that management zone policies were able to demonstrably curb the proliferation of new takeaways. Modelling studies are required to measure the possible population health impacts associated with this change.

Physical exposure to takeaway food outlets (\"takeaways\") is associated with poor diet and excess weight, which are leading causes of excess morbidity and mortality. At the end of 2017, 35 local authorities (LAs) in England had adopted takeaway management zones (or \"exclusion zones\"), which is an urban planning intervention designed to reduce physical exposure to takeaways around schools. In this nationwide, natural experimental study, we used interrupted time series analyses to estimate the impact of this intervention on changes in the total number of takeaway planning applications received by LAs and the percentage rejected, at both first decision and after any appeal, within management zones, per quarter of calendar year. Changes in these proximal process measures would precede downstream retail and health impacts. We observed an overall decrease in the number of applications received by intervention LAs at 12 months post-intervention (6.3 fewer, 95% CI -0.1, -12.5), and an increase in the percentage of applications that were rejected at first (additional 18.8%, 95% CI 3.7, 33.9) and final (additional 19.6%, 95% CI 4.7, 34.6) decision, the latter taking into account any appeal outcomes. This effect size for the number of planning applications was maintained at 24 months, although it was not statistically significant. We also identified three distinct sub-types of management zone regulations (full, town centre exempt, and time management zones). The changes observed in rejections were most prominent for full management zones (where the regulations are applied irrespective of overlap with town centres), where the percentage of applications rejected was increased by an additional 46.1% at 24 months. Our findings suggest that takeaway management zone policies may have the potential to curb the proliferation of new takeaways near schools and subsequently impact on population health.

Estimating the consequences of environmental changes, specifically in a global change context, is essential for conservation issues. In the case of pollutants, the interest in using an evolutionary approach to investigate their consequences has been emphasized since the 2000s, but these studies remain rare compared to the characterization of direct effects on individual features. We focused on the study case of anthropogenic ionizing radiation because, despite its potential strong impact on evolution, the scarcity of evolutionary approaches to study the biological consequences of this stressor is particularly true. In this study, by investigating some particular features of the biological effects of this stressor, and by reviewing existing studies on evolution under ionizing radiation, we suggest that evolutionary approach may help provide an integrative view on the biological consequences of ionizing radiation. We focused on three topics: (i) the mutagenic properties of ionizing radiation and its disruption of evolutionary processes, (ii) exposures at different time scales, leading to an interaction between past and contemporary evolution, and (iii) the special features of contaminated areas called exclusion zones and how evolution could match field and laboratory observed effects. This approach can contribute to answering several key issues in radioecology: to explain species differences in the sensitivity to ionizing radiation, to improve our estimation of the impacts of ionizing radiation on populations, and to help identify the environmental features impacting organisms (e.g., interaction with other pollution, migration of populations, anthropogenic environmental changes). Evolutionary approach would benefit from being integrated to the ecological risk assessment process.

A long history of research has pursued the use of embryonic factors isolated during cell differentiation processes for the express purpose of transforming cancer cells back to healthy phenotypes. Recent results have clarified that the substances present at different stages of cell differentiation-which we call stem cell differentiation stage factors (SCDSFs)-are proteins with low molecular weight and nucleic acids that regulate genomic expression. The present review summarizes how these substances, taken at different stages of cellular maturation, are able to retard proliferation of many human tumor cell lines and thereby reprogram cancer cells to healthy phenotypes. The model presented here is a quantum field theory (QFT) model in which SCDSFs are able to trigger symmetry breaking processes during cancer development. These symmetry breaking processes, which lie at the root of many phenomena in elementary particle physics and condensed matter physics, govern the phase transitions of totipotent cells to higher degrees of diversity and order, resulting in cell differentiation. In cancers, which share many genomic and metabolic similarities with embryonic stem cells, stimulated redifferentiation often signifies the phenotypic reversion back to health and nonproliferation. In addition to acting on key components of the cellular cycle, SCDSFs are able to reprogram cancer cells by delicately influencing the cancer microenvironment, modulating the electrochemistry and thus the collective electrodynamic behaviors between dipole networks in biomacromolecules and the interstitial water field. Coherent effects in biological water, which are derived from a dissipative QFT framework, may offer new diagnostic and therapeutic targets at a systemic level, before tumor instantiation occurs in specific tissues or organs. Thus, by including the environment as an essential component of our model, we may push the prevailing paradigm of mutation-driven oncogenesis toward a closer description of reality.

Solute-free zones, termed \"exclusion zones\" are routinely seen next to hydrophilic surfaces in aqueous solution. Here we report similar zones next to various metals. The largest, approximately 200 µm in width, was found adjacent to zinc. Other reactive metals, including aluminum, tin, lead, and tungsten exhibited distinct but smaller exclusion zones, while precious metals such as platinum and gold did not produce any. Electrical potential measurements showed positive potentials within the exclusion zones, while pH measurements revealed an abundance of OH- groups in the aqueous regions beyond the exclusion zones. A correspondence was found between exclusion-zone size and the respective metal\'s position within the galvanic series. The presence of these interfacial exclusion zones is unexpected, and may shed new light on electrochemical processes taking place at metal interfaces.

We here examine the putative first step in the origin of life: the coalescence of dispersed molecules into a more condensed, organized state. Fresh evidence implies that the driving energy for this coalescence may come in a manner more direct than previously thought. The sun\'s radiant energy separates charge in water, and this free charge demonstrably induces condensation. This condensation mechanism puts water as a central protagonist in life rather than as an incidental participant, and thereby helps explain why life requires water.