Cognitive and mood benefits of coffee are often attributed to caffeine. However, emerging evidence indicates behavioural effects of non-caffeine components within coffee, suggesting the potential for direct or synergistic effects of these compounds when consumed with caffeine in regular brewed coffee. The current randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blind, counterbalanced-crossover study compared the effects of regular coffee, decaffeinated coffee, and placebo on measures of cognition and mood. Age and sex effects were explored by comparing responses of older (61–80 years, N = 30) and young (20–34 years, N = 29) males and females. Computerised measures of episodic memory, working memory, attention, and subjective state were completed at baseline and 30 min post-drink. Regular coffee produced the expected effects of decreased reaction time and increased alertness when compared to placebo. When compared to decaffeinated coffee, increased digit vigilance accuracy and decreased tiredness and headache ratings were observed. Decaffeinated coffee also increased alertness when compared to placebo. Higher jittery ratings following regular coffee in young females and older males represented the only interaction of sex and age with treatment. These findings suggest behavioural activity of coffee beyond its caffeine content, raising issues with the use of decaffeinated coffee as a placebo and highlighting the need for further research into its psychoactive effects.

We demonstrate the potential of deploying a UAV with MSI camera to contribute useful diagnostics on potential sub-surface contamination from an operational oil reprocessing site and report the impact on the environment after 50 years of operation.

A study of the plants, and their associated poisons, in the Poison Garden at The Alnwick Garden was undertaken across a calendar year. By selecting 25 plants in the Poison Garden, we have been able to develop a single chromatographic method for the determination and quantification of 15 plant toxins by liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS). Chromatographic separation was achieved on a C18 column (3.5 µm, 100 × 4.6 mm) with a gradient method using water +0.1% formic acid and methanol +0.1% formic acid. The developed method was validated for precision, linearity, limits of detection and quantification and extraction recoveries. The method showed good linearity with a R² value of >0.995 for all 15 compounds with good precision of 10.7%, 6.7% and 0.3% for the low, medium and high calibration points, respectively. The LC-MS method was used to analyse 25 plant species, as well as their respective parts (i.e., bulb, flower, fruit, leaf, pollen, seed, stem and root), to assess the human risk assessment to children (aged 1 to <2 years) in relation to the plant toxin and its respective LD₅₀. The analysis found that the greatest potential health risks were due to the ingestion of Colchicum autumnale and Atropa belladonna. As a caution, all identified plants should be handled with care with additional precautionary steps to ensure nil contact by children because of the potential likelihood of hand-to-mouth ingestion.

Evidence suggests that tart cherry (TC) supplementation has beneficial effects on health indices and recovery following strenuous exercise. However, little is known about the mechanisms and how TC might modulate the human metabolome. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of an acute high- and low-dose of Vistula TC supplementation on the metabolomic profile in humans. In a randomised, double-blind, placebo controlled, cross-over design, 12 healthy participants (nine male and three female; mean ± SD age, stature, and mass were 29 ± 7 years old, 1.75 ± 0.1 m, and 77.3 ± 10.5 kg, respectively) visited the laboratory on three separate occasions (high dose; HI, low dose; LO, or placebo), separated by at least seven days. After an overnight fast, a baseline venous blood sample was taken, followed by consumption of a standardised breakfast and dose conditions (HI, LO, or placebo). Subsequent blood draws were taken 1, 2, 3, 5, and 8 h post consumption. Following sample preparation, an untargeted metabolomics approach was adopted, and the extracts analysed by LCMS/MS. When all time points were collated, a principal component analysis showed a significant difference between the conditions (p < 0.05), such that the placebo trial had homogeneity, and HI showed greater heterogeneity. In a sub-group analysis, cyanidine-3-O-glucoside (C3G), cyanidine-3-O-rutinoside (C3R), and vanillic acid (VA) were detected in plasma and showed significant differences (p < 0.05) following acute consumption of Vistula TC, compared to the placebo group. These results provide evidence that phenolics are bioavailable in plasma and induce shifts in the metabolome following acute Vistula TC consumption. These data could be used to inform future intervention studies where changes in physiological outcomes could be influenced by metabolomic shifts following acute supplementation.

A method for the analysis of thyroid hormones by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry was used for the dissolution testing of single- and dual-component thyroid hormone supplements via a two-stage biorelevant dissolution procedure. The biorelevant media consisted of fasted-state simulated gastric fluid and fasted state simulated intestinal fluid at 37 °C, and was investigated using an internationally recognized protocol. The dissolution profiles showed consistent solubilization for both single- and dual-component batches at pH 6.5 in the fasted-state simulated intestinal fluid.