Cross-Contamination Risk of Dental Tray Adhesives: An In Vitro Study

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the risk of cross-contamination in dental tray adhesives with reusable brush systems. Methods: Four dental tray adhesives with different disinfectant components were examined for risk as a potential transmission medium for Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Streptococcus oralis, and Candida albicans. Bacterial and fungal strains were mixed with artificial saliva. The contaminated saliva was intentionally added to tray adhesive liquid samples. At baseline and up to 60 min, 100 microliters of each sample were collected and cultivated aerobically on Columbia and Sabouraud agar for 24 or 48 h, respectively. Results: At baseline, contamination with Staphylococcus aureus and Candida albicans could be identified in three out of four adhesives. In the subsequent samples, low counts of up to 20 colony-forming units per milliliter could be observed for Staphylococcus aureus. All other strains did not form colonies at baseline or subsequently. Adhesives with isopropanol or ethyl acetate as disinfectant additives were most effective in preventing contamination, while adhesives with hydrogen chloride or acetone as a disinfectant additive were the least effective. Conclusion: Within 15 min, the tested adhesives appeared to be sufficiently bactericidal and fungicidal against all microorganisms tested

Validity of energy social research during and after COVID-19: challenges, considerations, and responses

Measures to control the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are having unprecedented impacts on people’s lives around the world. In this paper, we argue that those conducting social research in the energy domain should give special consideration to the internal and external validity of their work conducted during this pandemic period. We set out a number of principles that researchers can consider to give themselves and research users greater confidence that findings and recommendations will still be applicable in years to come. Largely grounded in existing good practice guidance, our recommendations include collecting and reporting additional supporting contextual data, reviewing aspects of research design for vulnerability to validity challenges, and building in longitudinal elements where feasible. We suggest that these approaches also bring a number of opportunities to generate new insights. However, we caution that a more systemic challenge to validity of knowledge produced during this period may result from changes in the kinds of social research that it is practicable to pursue

Underestimation of personal carbon footprint inequality in four diverse countries

Extensive research highlights global and within-country inequality in personal carbon footprints. However, the extent to which people are aware of these inequalities remains unclear. Here we use an online survey distributed across four diverse countries: Denmark, India, Nigeria and the USA, to show widespread underestimation of carbon footprint inequality, irrespective of participants’ country and income segment. Of the 4,003 participants, within each country, 50% of participants were sampled from the top 10% income group. Our results show links between carbon footprint inequality perceptions and climate policy support, but with significant variations observed across the four countries and with participants’ income segments. Furthermore, there are links to the perceived fairness of actual carbon footprint inequality, highlighting the need to raise awareness about carbon footprint inequality and further unpack its implications for climate justice and policy

Social and economic value in emerging decentralized energy business models: A critical review

In recent years, numerous studies have explored the opportunities and challenges for emerging decentralized energy systems and business models. However, few studies have focussed specifically on the economic and social value associated with three emerging models: peer-to-peer energy trading (P2P), community self-consumption (CSC) and transactive energy (TE). This article presents the findings of a systematic literature review to address this gap. The paper makes two main contributions to the literature. Firstly, it offers a synthesis of research on the social and economic value of P2P, CSC and TE systems, concluding that there is evidence for a variety of sources of social value (including energy independence, local benefits, social relationships, environmental responsibility and participation and purpose) and economic value (including via self-consumption of renewable electricity, reduced electricity import costs, and improved electricity export prices). Secondly, it identifies factors and conditions necessary for the success of these models, which include willingness to participate, participant engagement with technology, and project engagement of households and communities, among other factors. Finally, it discusses conflicts and trade-offs in the value propositions of the models, how the three models differ from one another in terms of the value they aim to deliver and some of the open challenges that require further attention by researchers and practitioners

Small-Scale Communities Are Sufficient for Cost- and Data-Efficient Peer-to-Peer Energy Sharing

Due to ever lower cost, investments in renewable electricity generation and storage have become more attractive to electricity consumers in recent years. At the same time, electricity generation and storage have become something to share or trade locally in energy communities or microgrid systems. In this context, peer-to-peer (P2P) sharing has gained attention, since it offers a way to optimize the cost-benefits from distributed resources, making them financially more attractive. However, it is not yet clear in which situations consumers do have interests to team up and how much cost is saved through cooperation in practical instances. While introducing realistic continuous decisions, through detailed analysis based on large-scale measured household data, we show that the financial benefit of cooperation does not require an accurate forecasting. Furthermore, we provide strong evidence, based on analysis of the same data, that even P2P networks with only 2--5 participants can reach a high fraction (96% in our study) of the potential gain, i.e., of the ideal offline (i.e., non-continuous) achievable gain. Maintaining such small communities results in much lower associated costs and better privacy, as each participant only needs to share its data with 1--4 other peers. These findings shed new light and motivate requirements for distributed, continuous and dynamic P2P matching algorithms for energy trading and sharing

Angiographic findings and clinical implications of persistent primitive hypoglossal artery

BACKGROUND: The primitive hypoglossal artery (PHA) is a rare vascular anomaly, which belongs to the group of carotid-basilar anastomosis that may occur in adults. CASE PRESENTATION: Herein is presented a case of a patient with a PHA, who had undergone a cerebral angiography due to investigation of subarachnoid hemorrhage. Additionally, the diagnostic alternatives for detection and assessment of PHA and the spectrum of diseases related to its presence are discussed. CONCLUSIONS: The presence of a persistent PHA can be recognized as an incidental finding in a cerebral angiography without any other clinical implication or may be associated with certain clinical entities such as aneurysm formation and atherosclerotic disease

Increased betulinic acid induced cytotoxicity and radiosensitivity in glioma cells under hypoxic conditions

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Betulinic acid (BA) is a novel antineoplastic agent under evaluation for tumor therapy. Because of the selective cytotoxic effects of BA in tumor cells (including gliomas), the combination of this agent with conservative therapies (such as radiotherapy and chemotherapy) may be useful. Previously, the combination of BA with irradiation under hypoxic conditions had never been studied.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In this study, the effects of 3 to 30 μM BA on cytotoxicity, migration, the protein expression of PARP, survivin and HIF-1α, as well as radiosensitivity under normoxic and hypoxic conditions were analyzed in the human malignant glioma cell lines U251MG and U343MG. Cytotoxicity and radiosensitivity were analyzed with clonogenic survival assays, migration was analyzed with Boyden chamber assays (or scratch assays) and protein expression was examined with Western blot analyses.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Under normoxic conditions, a half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀) of 23 μM was observed in U251MG cells and 24 μM was observed in U343MG cells. Under hypoxic conditions, 10 μM or 15 μM of BA showed a significantly increased cytotoxicity in U251MG cells (p = 0.004 and p = 0.01, respectively) and U343MG cells (p < 0.05 and p = 0.01, respectively). The combination of BA with radiotherapy resulted in an additive effect in the U343MG cell line under normoxic and hypoxic conditions. Weak radiation enhancement was observed in U251MG cell line after treatment with BA under normoxic conditions. Furthermore, under hypoxic conditions, the incubation with BA resulted in increased radiation enhancement. The enhancement factor, at an irradiation dose of 15 Gy after treatment with 10 or 15 μM BA, was 2.20 (p = 0.02) and 4.50 (p = 0.03), respectively. Incubation with BA led to decreased cell migration, cleavage of PARP and decreased expression levels of survivin in both cell lines. Additionally, BA treatment resulted in a reduction of HIF-1α protein under hypoxic conditions.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our results suggest that BA is capable of improving the effects of tumor therapy in human malignant glioma cells, particularly under hypoxic conditions. Further investigations are necessary to characterize its potential as a radiosensitizer.</p