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Comparison of accusations against physicians and the practice of defensive medicine between surgical and non-surgical specialties

Background Defensive medicine has two forms: positive (assurance behavior) or negative (avoidance behavior), depending on the clinical situation. Defensive medicine minimizes the risk of litigation and tends to vary between surgical and non-surgical specialties due to the nature of the risks involved and the potential for litigation. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence and patterns of defensive medicine practice among Egyptian physicians, compare surgical versus non-surgical specialties, and examine their correlation with medico-legal complaints and occupational determinants. Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted among physicians from surgical and non-surgical specialties working in different Egyptian hospitals. A self-administered online questionnaire was distributed using the snowball sampling technique. The Defensive Medicine Behavior Scale (DMBS) was used to assess the practice of defensive medicine. Results A sample of 210 physicians with a mean age of 39 ± 7 years was included; 51.4% held the highest qualification of M.D. or Ph.D., with an equal sex distribution (1:1). There was a high level of defensive medicine practice in both surgical and non-surgical specialties: 41.7% and 39.5%, respectively. However, the difference between the two groups was not statistically significant (P-value >0.05). Regression analysis showed that working at university hospitals and having workplace insurance coverage for medico-legal claims were associated with fewer positive defensive medicine practices. Conversely, concerns about the financial implications of medico-legal claims and negative reactions from patients or families were associated with a greater prevalence of positive defensive medicine practices. Conclusion Despite the high prevalence of defensive medicine practices, no statistically significant differences were observed between the surgical and non-surgical groups regarding overall engagement in defensive medicine.

The role of childhood traumas on father-child sexual communication language: Self-esteem, social anxiety and sexual education

The aim of the study was to examine the direct and indirect associations between fathers’ childhood abuse experiences and their levels of self-esteem, social anxiety, attitudes towards sexual education and sexual communication language levels with their children. The sample of the study consisted of 587 fathers. Data were collected through ‘Childhood Trauma Questionnaire Short Form’, ‘Social Anxiety Scale Short Form’, ‘Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale’, ‘Attitude Towards Sexual Education Scale’, ‘Sexual Communication Scale for Parents’ and ‘Demographic Information Form’. The data were analyzed using Pearson correlation coefficients and path analysis conducted in SPSS 24 and R. The findings showed that childhood abuse experiences were positively correlated with social anxiety and negatively correlated with self-esteem and father’s sexual communication language with his child. As a result of the path analysis, it was found that childhood abuse experiences were positively associated with social anxiety and negatively associated with self-esteem and sexual communication language. Self-esteem was negatively associated with social anxiety and positively associated with sexual communication language; social anxiety was negatively associated with attitudes towards sexual education and sexual communication language; and attitudes towards sexual education were positively associated with sexual communication language. Childhood abuse experiences were also indirectly associated with social anxiety, attitudes towards sexual education, and sexual communication language through self-esteem and social anxiety. Overall, the findings were discussed within the framework of father-child sexual communication language and fathers’ involvement in the sexual education process.

Immunoinformatics approach to engineer a multi-epitope vaccine against SdrG in skin commensal Staphylococcus epidermidis

The human skin serves as a dynamic ecosystem for beneficial commensal bacteria such as Staphylococcus epidermidis , which play a crucial role in maintaining skin barrier integrity and modulating immune responses. Remarkably, recent research has demonstrated that the skin can function as a natural vaccination site, producing specific antibodies against commensal microbes without inducing inflammation. However, S. epidermidis can transition into an opportunistic pathogen in clinical settings, forming resilient biofilms on medical implants and exhibiting increasing resistance to antibiotics (MRSE), posing a significant healthcare challenge. To address this challenge, advanced immunoinformatics strategies were leveraged to design a novel multi-epitope vaccine targeting the SdrG protein, a key mediator of S. epidermidis biofilm formation. The vaccine’s binding dynamics with Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) were evaluated through computational analyses, including molecular docking and 500-nanosecond molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Stability assessments via Root Mean Square Deviation (RMSD), Root Mean Square Fluctuation (RMSF), and Radius of Gyration (Rg) confirmed that the vaccine-TLR4 complex achieved structural equilibrium, with TLR4 maintaining rigidity while the vaccine exhibited adaptive flexibility for optimal binding. The Molecular Mechanics/Generalized Born Surface Area (MM/GBSA) method revealed a strong binding affinity, with a peak free energy of −52.73 kcal/mol and an average of −24.72 ± 9.5989 kcal/mol over the last 50 ns, indicating a thermodynamically favorable interaction. Furthermore, in silico cloning validated the vaccine’s expressibility, with successful integration into the pET-Sangamo-His vector (8560 bp) for optimal E. coli production. These findings underscore the vaccine’s potential to elicit a robust immune response by stably engaging TLR4, a critical step in innate immune activation. By combining computational precision with immunological insights, this study lays a foundation for developing an effective prophylactic strategy against S. epidermidis biofilm-associated infections.

Improvement of growth, lipid metabolism and innate immune response in Pacific white shrimp (Penaeus vannamei) post-larvae through enrichment of live feeds with Schizochytrium sp., taurine and inosine monophosphate

Nutritional deficiencies during the early developmental stages of Penaeus vannamei often lead to poor growth, weak immunity and high mortality. To address these issues, this study investigated the effects of live feeds enriched with Schizochytrium sp. (SCH), taurine and inosine monophosphate (IMP) on the growth, lipid metabolism and immune response of shrimp post-larvae. Two feeding trials were conducted using rotifers (Trial 1) and Artemia (Trial 2) as live feeds. In trial 1, post-larvae (PL1–2) were fed unenriched rotifers (RN) or rotifers enriched with 0.5% SCH (RS), RS + 0.1% taurine (RS + T), RS + 0.1% IMP (RS + I) and 0.5% Chlorella powder (RCL) for 9 days. In trial 2, post-larvae (PL12–14) were fed unenriched Artemia (AN) or Artemia enriched with 0.5% SCH (AS), AS + 0.1% taurine (AS+T), AS + 0.1% IMP (AS+I) and 0.5% Chlorella powder (ACL) for 12 days. In trial 1, growth was significantly higher in RS, RS + T and RS + I groups compared to RN and RCL groups. Survival was significantly higher in RS, RS + T and RS + I groups than in RN group. In trial 2, growth performance was significantly higher in all SCH-enriched groups compared to AN and ACL groups whereas, survival did not differ significantly among the experimental groups. In both trials, whole-body docosahexaenoic acid levels increased markedly in all SCH-supplemented treatments, and the expression of lipid metabolism-related genes ( FAS , FABP , FATP and CPT1 ) and immune-related genes ( lysozyme , crustin , LGBP , Pen-3a and proPO ) was significantly upregulated. These results demonstrate that enrichment of live feeds with SCH effectively enhances growth, lipid utilization and immune function in P. vannamei post-larvae. Furthermore, combined supplementation with taurine and IMP produced synergistic immunostimulatory effects. Overall, SCH-based enrichment can serve as a promising functional nutritional fortifier for shrimp hatchery diets.

FID-YOLO: A pedestrian detection model integrating multispectral information in complex environments

The advancement of pedestrian detection technology is of great importance for various applications such as intelligent driving, object tracking, and robot navigation. Many studies in this field have demonstrated that image quality significantly contributes to the precision of detection. However, unexpected factors such as adverse weather, occlusions, and scale variations, which extremely weaken the main features of the detected objects, leading to a decrease in detection accuracy. To address these problems, we propose a Feature-enriched Image Detection-YOLO (FID-YOLO), to improve pedestrian detection performance in complex environments by integrating visible and infrared light information. Specifically, we design an illumination-aware image fusion module for visible and infrared image information fusion to generate a new image within more information to enrich pedestrian features. Then, a cascaded feature aggregation module using reparameterization and channel shuffle is introduced to enhance the model’s understanding and generalization capabilities for complex scenes. Furthermore, we exploit a scale-adaptive feature detection head for YOLO detector, which solves the problem of detecting small objects at varying object scales. Experiments on M3FD and LLVIP datasets demonstrate that FID-YOLO outperforms the benchmark models in pedestrian detection. Additionally, we validate the indispensability of each proposed module through ablation experiments.

An ex vivo functional biomarker of treatment response in pediatric low-grade glioma

Children with subtotally resected pediatric low-grade glioma (pLGG) often face multiple lines of treatment, which are seldom capable of eliminating the entire tumor. Genomics-based biomarkers are often used to select targeted therapies, but this paradigm only yields overall response rates of ~50%. Functional precision medicine (FPM), where patient-specific therapeutic efficacy is evaluated by directly treating individuals’ tumor outside their body, can predict individualized drug responses for some cancers, but pLGG is notoriously difficult to maintain outside the body, limiting development of FPM for pLGG. We describe the first platform that can maintain, treat, and analyze zero-passage pLGG tumor tissue ex vivo , facilitating FPM testing. Here, we tested pLGG tumors on our previously validated Screening Live Cancer Explants (SLiCE) platform, which allows engraftment and testing of diverse CNS tumor types atop organotypic brain slice cultures (OBSCs). After ensuring reproducible engraftment and maintenance of all three living pLGG tumor tissues on SLiCE, we measured MAPK pathway response to targeted therapies via immunoblotting. In the tested BRAF KIAA1549 fusion+ tumor, Western blot demonstrated maintenance of expected paradoxical MAPK upregulation in response to dabrafenib treatment. We then measured tumor response to targeted therapies on SLiCE. As expected, none of the BRAF KIAA1549 fusion+ pLGG tumors were sensitive to dabrafenib treatment. Two out of the three tumors demonstrated predicted sensitivity to trametinib, whereas one tumor did not. While no clinical correlates were measured in this proof-of-concept study, this mixed response to MEK inhibition on SLiCE is representative of heterogeneous real-world clinical responses. Together, these data demonstrate the feasibility of SLiCE to become a new functional biomarker of response in a tumor type where functional models are exceptionally rare, establishing a foundation for future individualized treatment strategies.

Trajectory simulation of multi-body parachute system for airdrop-capable UAVs based on fluid-structure interaction

Due to their demonstrated advantages of precision, efficiency, and low cost in disaster relief and commercial logistics, airdrop-capable unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) are rapidly becoming pivotal tools in modern delivery systems. This paper proposes a novel airdrop-capable UAV with foldable wings. To address the requirements for high-precision deployment and parachute cut-off, a 10-degree-of-freedom (10-DOF) multibody dynamics model of the parachute-UAV system is established based on Kane’s equations. The solution process incorporates sixth-order vibration equations to characterize the system’s rigid-flexible coupling effects, precisely capturing the motion trajectories under varying initial deployment parameters (initial velocity, parachute diameter). To comparatively analyze the trajectory curves derived from fluid-structure interaction (FSI) simulation and to validate the model’s effectiveness, this paper constructs a co-simulation framework. This framework couples Gamma-Theta transition model-based FSI with LS-DYNA to simulate the airdrop dynamics across multiple operating conditions. This study acquires the parachute jettison coordinates of an airdrop UAV under varying deployment parameters, elucidating their parametric dynamic coupling on airdrop trajectories and separation point selection methodology. These findings establish both theoretical principles and technical frameworks for precision guidance and flight trajectory control.

Immune cells from the gut drive development of Parkinson’s disease in the brain

Navigating the landscape of academic prose: A corpus-driven inquiry into rhetorical preferences and their pedagogical implications for advanced L2 writers

This study presents a pedagogically motivated inquiry into the cross-cultural rhetorical patterns of academic writing, focusing on the use of general nouns (GNs). The research was initiated in response to persistent difficulties observed among advanced L2 writers, who struggle to use GNs with appropriate nuance to establish an authoritative stance. Employing a corpus-driven methodology, the study analyzes two purpose-built corpora: the Chinese Academic Written English Corpus (CAWEC) and the Inner-Circle Affiliated Written English Corpus (ICAWEC). The findings reveal divergent rhetorical tendencies. Writers in the CAWEC show a statistically significant preference for “Research-group” (e.g., study , research ) and “Result-group” nouns (e.g., difference , results ). Their collocational patterns, marked by temporality ( current study ) and subjectivity ( our study ), are consistent with a conceptual metaphor of ACADEMIC PROGRESS IS A JOURNEY. In contrast, writers in the ICAWEC use “Example-group” (e.g., case , fact ) and certain “Discussion-group” nouns (e.g., argument ) more frequently, dominated by objectifying collocations ( the study ). These patterns suggest a spatialized argumentative strategy consistent with a conceptual metaphor of THE STUDY IS A KNOWLEDGE CONTAINER. By making these frameworks explicit, the study proposes a pedagogical model to expand L2 learners’ rhetorical repertoires and metacognitive awareness, equipping them to navigate Anglophone academic discourse.

Population structure and phylogenetic analysis of Vibrio cholerae non-O1/O139 by whole genome sequencing

Toxigenic Vibrio cholerae serogroups O1 and O139 are well known for causing excessive diarrhea leading to devastating cholera epidemics and pandemics. Over 200 other serogroups, usually lacking the cholera toxin, are denoted non-O1/O139 V. cholerae (NOVC), and cause vibriosis leading to sporadic gastroenteritis and other extraintestinal infections. NOVC infections are not a notifiable disease in Canada and thus underreported. From 2010 to 2023, 160 cases and a small 2018 outbreak were reported in Canada caused by NOVC, provoking considerable public health concern. In this study, 242 Canadian V. cholerae isolates were sequenced, characterized and compared with over 1500 other V. cholerae isolates from around the world to determine their genetic relationships. All Canadian NOVC and two O139 isolates lacked the cholera toxin-producing genes typically harbored by pathogenic O1 and O139. All 14 Canadian O1 isolates were identified from travel-related cases as members of the toxigenic 7 th pandemic lineage, whereas one O139 isolate was acquired domestically. Phylogenetic analysis based on core genome single nucleotide polymorphisms classified the Canadian isolates into five clades. Eight new lineages of NOVC, denoted CAD1–8, were identified from the Canadian isolates. A new lineage was defined as clusters formed by three or more isolates in the phylogeny. These lineages were comprised of isolates from clinical origin alone, environmental origin, or a mixture of both. Some lineages spanned multiple years and regions. CAD-2 was comprised of clinical and environmental isolates associated with the 2018 outbreak. Several virulence genes were detected among NOVC, including hemolysins, toxins and secretion system encoding genes. A proportion of virulence genes differed between isolation source (clinical or environmental) and clinical manifestations (gastrointestinal or extraintestinal). Our study identified environmental sources of NOVC with the potential to cause human infection. Tracking the emergence of NOVC with pathogenic potential is essential for understanding the risk to Canadians.

The impact of cognitive impairment and low muscle mass on all-cause mortality among older adults in China: An empirical analysis based on CLHLS cohort data

Background Cognitive impairment and low muscle mass are prevalent conditions in later life, and each has been independently associated with adverse health outcomes. Both conditions are heterogeneous and may arise from multiple underlying etiologies. However, evidence regarding their combined association with all-cause mortality remains limited, particularly among older adults in China. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the independent and joint associations of cognitive impairment and low muscle mass with all-cause mortality using data from a large prospective cohort. Methods Data from the China Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS) collected between 2011 and 2018 were analyzed. Kaplan–Meier survival analyses and log-rank tests were conducted, and Cox proportional hazards models were applied to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for all-cause mortality. Subgroup and sensitivity analyses were additionally performed to evaluate the robustness of the findings. Results A total of 5,625 participants were included and classified into four groups: neither cognitive impairment (CI) nor low muscle mass (LMM) (CI − /LMM − , n = 1,698; 30.2%), low muscle mass only (CI − /LMM + , n = 2,795; 49.7%), cognitive impairment only (CI + /LMM − , n = 341; 6.1%), and both cognitive impairment and low muscle mass (CI + /LMM + , n = 791; 14.1%). Kaplan–Meier survival analyses and multivariable Cox proportional hazards models demonstrated that participants in the CI + /LMM+ group had the highest risk of all-cause mortality (p < 0.001). Compared with the CI − /LMM− group, the adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) were 1.29 (95% CI: 1.01–1.51) for the CI − /LMM+ group, 1.92 (95% CI: 1.50–2.45) for the CI + /LMM− group, and 2.54 (95% CI: 2.11–3.05) for the CI + /LMM+ group. Sensitivity analyses confirmed the robustness of the main findings, revealing a significant increasing trend in mortality risk across the four groups (trend p < 0.001). In subgroup analyses, the CI + /LMM+ group was significantly associated with an elevated risk of all-cause mortality among women and participants aged <80 years. Conclusions The coexistence of cognitive impairment and low muscle mass was associated with a substantially increased risk of all-cause mortality, particularly among women and individuals younger than 80 years. The concurrent presence of these conditions may help identify a subgroup of older adults at heightened risk of adverse outcomes, underscoring the importance of comprehensive geriatric assessment and enhanced clinical surveillance in aging populations.

Brains of ‘super agers’ are strong producers of new neurons

Longitudinal assessment of fluorescence stability shows fluorescence intensity decreases over time: implications for fluorescence microscopy studies

Immunohistochemistry (IHC) is one of the most widely used techniques across basic, translational, and clinical sciences. Key considerations need to be made to achieve reliable and robust IHC staining, however what has been understudied is the stability of IHC signal intensity over time. Changes in signal intensity over time have significant implications for data analysis and interpretation and ultimately impact scientific conclusions. In order to explore changes in IHC signal, the stability of fluorescence intensity was assessed over the course of six weeks using widefield or confocal microscopy. Results indicate that fluorescence intensity can decrease over this time course and that whether this decrease occurs and to what extent is influenced by the selection of the primary antibody as well as that of the secondary antibody, primary-secondary antibody combination, and utilization of chemical staining versus IHC staining. This investigation reinforces best practices for imaging fluorescent staining to ensure accurate and reliable data collection, be it for cell counting, assessing protein expression levels, or marker colocalization.

Assessing spatial variability and source identification of heavy metals in agricultural soils: A geostatistical and multivariate analysis of coastal eastern Zhejiang, China

Heavy metal pollution in coastal agricultural soils poses significant threats to food security, human health, and marine ecosystems. Effective prevention and control require systematic analysis of their spatial distribution and sources. This study integrated geostatistics, principal component analysis (PCA), positive matrix factorization (PMF), and finite mixture modeling (FMM) to comprehensively analyze the spatial variability and sources of five heavy metals (Cr, Pb, Cd, Hg, As) across 877 sampling sites in the coastal area of eastern Zhejiang. The results indicate that overall soil quality is good, though enrichment occurs at some sites due to anthropogenic activities. Pollution displays a spatial pattern of lower levels in the south and higher levels in the north. Pb is widely distributed, while Cd, Hg, and As are concentrated in agricultural plain areas. PMF-based source apportionment revealed that mobile sources (traffic) contributed the most (52.5%), followed by industrial sources (30.4%) and agricultural sources (17.1%). The consistency of multi-model results validated the reliability of source identification. By implementing precise management strategies based on pollution source contributions, it is expected to effectively curb the further deterioration of heavy metal pollution in agricultural soils in Zhejiang Province, gradually improve soil environmental quality, and ensure the safety of agricultural products and the sustainable development of agriculture.

Evolutionary insights into a skin fold

Collective intelligence for AI-assisted chemical synthesis

Moving north: Warmer waters expand populations of deep-water cartilaginous fishes into Arctic waters

Continental shelf and deep ocean ecosystems are increasingly exposed to anthropogenic pressures including commercial fishing and climate change related environmental stressors. Among the most vulnerable taxa are chondrichthyans due to their life histories with low reproductive output and therefore lower rebound potentials. In temperate regions, many chondrichthyan species are expected to undergo poleward distributional shifts in response to ocean warming. However, the extent and drivers of these shifts remain poorly understood, particularly in deep-water environments. This study aims to assess long-term trends in distribution and abundance for three cartilaginous fish species in the Northeast Atlantic Ocean: the rabbitfish ( Chimaera monstrosa ), the velvet-belly lanternshark ( Etmopterus spinax ), and the blackmouth catshark ( Galeus melastomus ). Focusing on the northern fringe of their distribution, 26 years (1995–2020) of standardised data from Norwegian scientific bottom trawl surveys were analysed using generalized additive models and GIS-based spatial mapping. The results indicate that all three species have undergone significant northward shifts in abundance over the past two decades, although the magnitude and rate varied among species. Several of their prey species exhibited similar latitudinal shifts, suggesting a potential trophic linkage in response to changing thermal regimes. These findings support the hypothesis that warming waters in northern latitudes are driving the poleward redistribution of deep-water chondrichthyans as they seek to remain within their thermal preference ranges. Understanding these spatial responses is critical for informing conservation strategies and future fisheries management in rapidly changing high-latitude marine ecosystems.

Identification of key macrophage-related genes in systemic sclerosis–associated interstitial lung disease based on single-cell and bulk transcriptomic data

Background Systemic sclerosis–associated interstitial lung disease (SSc-ILD) is a major clinical challenge with no effective treatments. It is also the leading cause of death in patients with systemic sclerosis. Thus, understanding its underlying molecular mechanisms, particularly those related to macrophage-related gene functions, is critical to address this urgent medical need. Methods In this study, single-cell and transcriptomic data retrieved from a public database were analyzed to investigate the underlying molecular mechanisms of SSc-ILD. A series of comprehensive analyses was conducted, including cell–cell communication analysis, pseudotime trajectory analysis, and high-dimensional weighted gene co-expression network analysis, to identify pertinent genes linked to macrophage modules. Candidate genes were determined by intersecting differentially expressed genes (DEGs) with macrophage module genes. Subsequently, key genes were identified through protein–protein interaction (PPI) network analysis and gene expression validation. Various analytical procedures were used to evaluate the function of the key genes in the regulatory roles of SSc-ILD, including enrichment analysis, immune infiltration analysis, drug prediction, and molecular docking. Results Of the 1515 DEGs and 400 macrophage module genes intersected, 50 candidate genes were identified. In particular, ARG2 , ELF3 , and NKX2–1 emerged as key genes through subsequent PPI network analyses and gene expression evaluations. Enrichment analyses revealed a notable co-enrichment of the lysosomal pathway with these key genes. Moreover, immune infiltration analysis revealed a strong negative correlation between NKX2–1 and monocytes, whereas ELF3 and ARG2 exhibited a positive association with activated dendritic cells. The molecular docking results showed that the binding energies of ARG2-SKA-111/cyclophosphamide and ELF3–voruciclib/cyclophosphamide were less than − 5 kcal/mol. Conclusion The findings of this study highlight the key roles of ARG2, ELF3, and NKX2−1 in macrophage-related mechanisms of SSc-ILD, providing insights into potential therapeutic targets. Further research is necessary to explore their functional implications in disease progression and treatment.

Effects of increasing molybdenum under low nitrogen input on yield, nitrogen-metabolizing enzymes and nitrogen use efficiency of winter wheat cultivars

In wheat production, improving resource utilization and grain yield has been a longstanding goal that researchers have been pursuing. This study aimed to investigate whether regulated nitrogen (N) and molybdenum (Mo) fertilizer management could enhance wheat yield and nitrogen use efficiency (NUE). This study reports the effects of three N application levels (N0: 0 kg N ha −1 , N1: 75 kg N ha −1 , N2: 150 kg N ha −1 ) and a combination of three Mo application levels (Mo1: 0 kg Na 2 MoO 4 ha −1 , Mo2: 0.75 kg Na 2 MoO 4 ha −1 , Mo3: 1.5 kg Na 2 MoO 4 ha −1 ) on N metabolism, NUE, and yield in wheat. The results showed that average grain yield increased by 61.78% under the different N input, and 11.71% under the different Mo input levels. Nitrogen agronomic efficiency (NAE), nitrogen recovery efficiency (NRE) and partial factor productivity (PEPN) significantly (P < 0.01) increased at the low N rates (N1) but significantly (P < 0.05) decreased at high N rates (N2). NAE and PEPN were significantly (P < 0.01) different among different Mo input levels. NAE significantly decreased with the increasing Mo input. Conversely, PEPN increased with increaseing Mo input, the N1 + Mo3 had the highest PEPN.With the increase of Mo, the leaf area index and net photosynthetic rate increased significantly at all growth stages. Compared with Mo1, the leaf area index (LAI) of Mo2 and Mo3 increased by 13.68% and 19.33%, respectively, and the photosynthetic rate increased by 26.47% and 45.07%. Compared with Mo0(control), NR, GS and GOGAT increased by 1.15%, 4.60%, and 1.95% in N1 and by 3.80%, 7.31%, and 4.94% in N2, respectively. We conclude that high Mo and low nitrogen input could prolong the duration of green leaves, enhance the activity of nitrogen metabolism enzymes during the middle and late growth stages, and improve spikelets number per spike and N metabolism, thereby having potential to increase wheat yield and NUE.

Chlorine dioxide flushing protocols for microbial reduction in dental chair units

Dental chair unit (DCU) waterlines are often microbiologically contaminated. This poses infection risks for patients and dental staff if they are not regularly rinsed and disinfected. This clinical hygiene study evaluated chlorine dioxide (ClO₂) rinsing protocols for microbial and biofilm reduction in DCUs. Automated protocols were tested with varying ClO₂ concentrations and flushing frequencies. Flow cytometry and agar culturing were used to assess microbial load. Continuous low-dose rinsing (1.2 mg/L ClO₂) achieved sustainable microbial reduction (up to 2.51 log₁₀), whereas single high-dose shock disinfections (22.7 mg/L) resulted in transient reductions. ClO₂ was effective in biofilm removal, but its depletion during stagnation highlights the need for continuous application. ClO 2 seems to be a suitable disinfectant for removing both microbiological contamination and biofilms of DCUs; however, depletion effects of active ClO 2 were evident underlining the importance of a stable permanent ClO 2 application. Our results prove that permanent low-dose ClO 2 application of DCU waterlines is recommended for sustainable water disinfection. A high-concentrated shock disinfection on a periodically basis can be used for biofilm removal, which was demonstrated with experimentally grown biofilm of P. aeruginosa .