Maintaining and Controlling an Extrinsic Biofilm for Pathogen Removal in Dental Unit Water Lines

The control of biofilm formation is a major concern for industrial, environmental, and public health. Undesirable biofilms can harbor different disease-causing pathogens and shorten the operational life of different equipment. On the other hand, beneficial biofilms are also used in various applications and managing its growth and activity can be desirable. Killing the biofilm does not usually incorporate the removal of the dead biofilm structure that is adhered to the surface. Therefore, the aim of this thesis is to control biofilm formation; to be able to remove, inhibit, and enhance biofilm formation. This thesis investigated the use of norspermidine, D-amino acids, and selected enzymes for the control of biofilm formation. Biofilm was pre-grown in 96-well microtiter plates and the different treatments were applied for 24 h. Biofilm formation was quantified before and after treatments using crystal violet stain. The results obtained in this thesis showed that norspermidine had a dual effect on biofilms formation. A concentration of 1 mM norspermidine removed 39% of nonactive biofilm, while for active biofilm norspermidine enhanced the biofilm growth by 73%. D-amino acids can inhibit biofilm growth at a low concentration of 5 µM. The two D-amino acids used in this study, D-tryptophan (15 mM) and D-tyrosine (20 µM), removed 28% and 31% of biofilm, respectively. No clear synergetic effects were noticed from mixed D-amino acids treatment. The enzymes Savinase and Pectinex showed the highest biofilm removal among the different tested industrial enzymes. Savinase removed 68% and 84% while Pectinex removed 74% and 55% of biofilm formed by Bacillus species and Pseudomonas fluorescens, respectively. The optimized enzymatic treatment containing both Savinase (19.6 and 23.7 U/mL) and Pectinase (63.8 and 48.8 U/mL) showed the highest biofilm removal for Bacillus sp. biofilm at pH 6 and P. fluorescens at pH 8

Relationship Between Work-Family Conflict, Job Embeddedness, Workplace Flexibility, and Turnover Intentions

The present study seeks to propose and test a research model that investigates job embeddedness as a mediator and workplace flexibility as a moderator of the effect of family-work conflict on turnover intentions. This study uses a survey method and a structured questionnaire to collect data from 187 nurses working in various hospitals in Islamabad, Pakistan. The results showed that on-the-job embeddedness partially mediated the effect of work-family conflict on nurses\u27 turnover intention. Furthermore, workplace flexibility moderated the relationship between work-family conflict and turnover intention. Management of the hospitals should take decisive steps to establish and maintain a supportive and flexible work environment because such an environment would help nurses to balance their work (family) and family (work) roles and lead to increased job embeddedness. Otherwise, it would be very difficult to retain high performing nurses in the workplace. The current study contributes to the existing knowledge base by testing job embeddedness as a mediator and workplace flexibility as a moderator of the impact of work-family conflict on turnover intentions of nurses

CRT-101.10 Outcomes of Underlying Infiltrative Cardiomyopathy in Percutaneous Coronary Intervention

Background: Evidence on the prognosis of infiltrative cardiomyopathy in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has not been well established. Our objective was to assess the prevalence of infiltrative cardiomyopathy including amyloidosis, sarcoidosis and hemochromatosis in PCI patients and its effect on mortality. Methods: National Inpatient Sample 2016-2019 was used to conduct a retrospective analysis by identifying a cohort of patients who underwent PCI with infiltrative cardiomyopathy using respective ICD-10 codes. Primary outcome was the effect of infiltrative cardiomyopathy on mortality in patients undergoing PCI. Secondary outcomes were the independent predictors of mortality. Multivariate logistic regression model was used for analysis. Results: 1.93 million patients were hospitalized for undergoing PCI, out of which 6270 patients had infiltrative cardiomyopathy (prevalence 0.33%). Subgroup analysis showed that 710 patients had underlying amyloidosis (prevalence 0.04%), 4300 patients had sarcoidosis (prevalence 0.23%) and 1280 patients had hemochromatosis (prevalence 0.07%). Mean age of patients undergoing PCI with infiltrative cardiomyopathy was 61 years, 54% were females and 53.5% were white. Patients undergoing PCI were predominantly males (67%) but patient with infiltrative cardiomyopathy who underwent PCI were predominantly females (54%). Underlying amyloidosis was associated with two fold increased odds of mortality in patients undergoing PCI (OR 2.13, 95% CI 1.08-4.23, p=0.029). While sarcoidosis (OR 1.11, 95% CI 0.73-1.7, p=0.6) and hemochromatosis (OR 0.79, 95% CI 0.32-1.92, p=0.6) were not significantly associated with mortality in patients undergoing PCI. The independent predictors of mortality in patients undergoing PCI with infiltrative cardiomyopathy are arrhythmias (OR 2.59, OR 1.14-5.9, p=0.02), cardiac arrest (OR 10.3, CI 3.8-27.6, p=0.00), pulmonary embolism (OR 5.8, CI 1.06-32.4, p=0.04), kidney disease (OR 4.5, CI 1.99-10.3, p=0.00) and liver disease OR 3.5, CI 1.34-9.1, p=0.01). Conclusion: Prevalence of infiltrative cardiomyopathy in patients undergoing PCI is 0.33%. Amyloidosis is associated with significantly increased odds of mortality in patients undergoing PCI while sarcoidosis and hemochromatosis are not significantly associated with mortality. Arrhythmias, cardiac arrest, pulmonary embolism, kidney and liver disease are independently associated with increased mortality in infiltrative cardiomyopathy patients undergoing PCI

Safari Science: assessing the reliability of citizen science data for wildlife surveys

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/140025/1/jpe12921.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/140025/2/jpe12921_am.pd

Correlation of Atrial Fibrillation with Left Atrial Volume in Patients with Mitral Stenosis. a Single Centre Study From Pakistan

Background: Rheumatic heart disease has a strong association with mitral valve stenosis. Atrial fibrillation is one of the most common complications of this condition and is a poor prognostic factor. Early detection and prompt management of atrial fibrillation can help to improve the quality of life and increase the life expectancy of the patients. We carried out this study to investigate the significance of left atrial volumetric changes in mitral stenosis and its correlation with atrial fibrillation. Methodology: We audited the data of 60 patients of rheumatic heart disease who had mitral valve stenosis. The patients were randomized into atrial fibrillation (Group A) and normal sinus rhythm (Group B). We conducted this cross-sectional analytical study at Cardiology Department, Mayo Hospital, Lahore, from 1st February 2017 to 31st January 2018. We only included those patients who consented to be a part of this study and fulfilled our predefined inclusion criteria. Left atrial volume was measured by prolate ellipse method and biplane methods on echocardiography. The Data was analyzed on SPSS v20. Results: Sixty patients were included in the study. Among the subjects, thirty-six (60%) were males, and twenty-four (40%) were females. Atrial fibrillation was noted in 43.33% of the patients of mitral valve stenosis. There was a marked difference in the mean volume of the left atrium among the two groups. We observed that the mean area of the mitral valve for Group A patients was larger than that of patients in Group B. Our study showed an inverse correlation between left atrial volume and mitral valve area among Group A patients. Conclusion: Patients of mitral stenosis are at an increased risk of developing atrial fibrillation if the left atrial volume is increasing. All patients with mitral stenosis should have routine echocardiography & measurement of left atrial volumes, so that proper treatment can be started if the left atrial volume is increasing, to prevent atrial fibrillation

Asylum Seekers in a Non-immigrant State and the Absence of Regional Asylum Seekers Mechanism: a Case Study of Rohingya Asylum Seekers in Aceh-Indonesia and ASEAN Response

The problem of asylum seekers has become a global humanitarian issues. Demands regarding the handling mechanisms based on the values of human rights is getting stronger voiced by the International community. In the Southeast Asian region, the number of ethnic Rohingya asylum seekers has increased and has started to demand settlement in non-immigrant countries like Indonesia. Although Indonesia does not have International legal obligations to receive asylum seekers, constitutionally, Indonesia has an obligation to guarantee the right of everyone to obtain asylum which has been included in the constitution. In a global perspective, humanitarian issues on the handling of asylum seekers started to be driven into the handling model based on regionalism. Therefore, ASEAN\u27s response to the issue of asylum seekers should start a discourse given the number of asylum seekers in Southeast Asia began to rise. This paper deals with the immigration policy on asylum seekers of Rohingya people in Aceh province of Indonesia who plight in 2015 “boat people crisis” with regionalism approach

The COVID-19 pandemic and stock market performance of transportation and travel services firms: a cross-country study

This paper examined the firm-specific abnormal returns of transportation and travel services sectors from the USA, UK, France, China, India, Mexico, Turkey, and Thailand in response to Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) using event study methodology. Our results revealed that investors in developed countries provide significant long term abnormal returns for the first 101 days. Furthermore, no significant cumulative average abnormal returns (CAAR) were found in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, travel restrictions, lockdown, stimulus package, and historical decline in oil prices except in the case of the USA. It is concluded that with the gradual increase in new cases and deaths, abnormal returns are also adjusted, making the effects of these events insignificant at the time of their occurrence. Results also showed that firms in developing countries recognized significant negative abnormal returns in response to the second wave of COVID-19. These results are useful for investors in devising investment strategies relevant to contextual settings