scholarly journals Microbial Contamination of Dental Unit Waterlines and Potential Risk of Infection: A Narrative Review

Pathogens ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 651
Author(s):  
Anna Maria Spagnolo ◽  
Marina Sartini ◽  
Maria Luisa Cristina
Keyword(s):  
High Speed ◽  
Microbial Contamination ◽  
High Surface ◽  
Volume Ratio ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
Risk Of Infection ◽  
Dental Staff ◽  
Dental Unit Waterlines ◽  
Main Determinants ◽  
Micro Organisms

Several studies have revealed that dental unit waterlines (DUWLs) are often contaminated by large numbers of various micro-organisms (bacteria, fungi, protozoa, viruses). Microbial contamination in DUWLs may originate from the mains water piped into the dental unit, the suck-back of patients’ saliva into the line due to the lack of adequate valves, and contamination from bottled water systems. Some of the main determinants of microbial contamination in DUWLs are: a very small lumen size (0.5–2 mm) of the tubing used, high surface-to-volume ratio (6:1), low throughput and the materials of which the tubing is made, water stagnation outside of working hours. The environmental conditions present inside the conduits of the dental unit may facilitate the proliferation of micro-organisms and the consequent formation of biofilm on the interior surface of the pipes of DUWLs. During the use of handpieces, particularly high-speed rotating instruments, a spray is thrown up in the form of aerosols or spatters containing biological material (saliva, blood and dental plaque) and micro-organisms. This means that the health of both dental staff and patients could be at risk of infection. The risk of cross-infections in dental settings can be tackled by implementing combined interventions to prevent the contamination of DUWLs.

scholarly journals Microbial contamination in dental unit waterlines

2003 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Cristina Monteiro de Souza-Gugelmin ◽  
Carolina Della Torre Lima ◽  
Sergio Narciso Marques de Lima ◽  
Henis Mian ◽  
Izabel Yoko Ito
Keyword(s):  
High Speed ◽  
Microbial Contamination ◽  
Water Reservoir ◽  
Plate Count ◽  
Plate Count Agar ◽  
Quality Of Water ◽  
Colony Forming Units ◽  
Dental Staff ◽  
Dental Unit Waterlines

The quality of water in a dental unit is of considerable importance because patients and dental staff are regularly exposed to water and aerosol generated from the dental unit. The aim of this study was to evaluate the occurrence of microbial contamination in dental unit waterlines. Water samples were collected aseptically from the waterlines (reservoir, triple-syringe, high-speed) of 15 dental units. After serial dilution to 1:10(6) in APHA, the samples were seeded by the pour-plate technique and cultured in plate count agar (Difco) for 48 h at 32ºC. Analysis was based on the number of colony forming units (CFU). The Wilcoxon non-parametric test indicated that the levels of water contamination were highest in the triple-syringe (13 of 15) and in the high-speed (11 of 15); both levels were higher than those of the water reservoir. There was no significant statistical difference between the level of contamination in the triple-syringe and the high-speed as determined by the Mann-Whitney test [p(H0) = 40.98%; Z = - 0.2281]. Because biofilm forms on solid surfaces constantly bathed by liquid where microorganisms are present, these results indicate that the water in the dental unit may be contaminated by biofilm that forms in these tubules.

scholarly journals Microbial Contamination of a Diving Suit

2018 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-74
Author(s):  
Zbigniew Dąbrowiecki ◽  
Małgorzata Dąbrowiecka ◽  
Romuald Olszański ◽  
Piotr Siermontowski
Keyword(s):  
Hydrogen Peroxide ◽  
Microbial Contamination ◽  
Gaseous Hydrogen ◽  
Transmission Route ◽  
Risk Of Infection ◽  
Hyperbaric Chamber ◽  
Single Carrier ◽  
Bacteria And Fungi ◽  
Micro Organisms

Abstract Pathogenic micro-organisms can easily transfer from the surface of a diver’s skin onto the surfaces of a protective suit. A long-term stay in a hyperbaric chamber during a saturation dive increases the risk of infection if in the chamber there is even a single carrier of disease-causing pathogens. The conducted research has confirmed that the diving equipment located in Diving Centres is a place of many different bacteria and fungi, including pathogenic ones. The vast majority of microbes found on the surfaces of wetsuits, etc. are commensals (with some being opportunistic organisms). This fact allows us to realise that the surfaces of diving equipment are an excellent “transmission route” for various dermatoses and other diseases. In order to reduce the risk of infection the diving equipment used by various people should be subject to the process of decontamination. The authors recommend decontamination with the use of gaseous hydrogen peroxide which does not cause damage to equipment.

scholarly journals Impact of Shift Work and Long Working Hours on Worker Cognitive Functions: Current Evidence and Future Research Needs

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (12) ◽  
pp. 6540
Author(s):  
Veruscka Leso ◽  
Luca Fontana ◽  
Angela Caturano ◽  
Ilaria Vetrani ◽  
Mauro Fedele ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Circadian Rhythm ◽  
Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Sleep Disturbances ◽  
Working Hours ◽  
Night Work ◽  
Current Evidence ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Long Working Hours ◽  
Main Determinants

Particular working conditions and/or organization of working time may cause important sleep disturbances that have been proposed to be predictive of cognitive decline. In this regard, circadian rhythm misalignment induced by exposure to night work or long working hours would be responsible for cognitive impairment. Nevertheless, evidence supporting this correlation is limited and several issues still need to be elucidated. In this regard, we conducted a systematic review to evaluate the association between shift/night work and cognitive impairment and address its main determinants. Information provided by the reviewed studies suggested that night work might have serious immediate negative effects especially on cognitive domains related to attention, memory and response inhibition. Furthermore, cognitive performance would progressively worsen over consecutive night shifts or following exposure to very long work shifts. Otherwise, conflicting results emerged regarding the possible etiological role that night work chronic exposure would have on cognitive impairment. Therefore, circadian rhythm desynchronization, lack of sleep and fatigue resulting from night work may negatively impact worker’s cognitive efficiency. However, in light of the considerable methodological variability of the reviewed studies, we proposed to develop a standardized research and evaluation strategy in order to obtain a better and comprehensive understanding of this topic.

scholarly journals Electrospun Nanofibers for Sensing and Biosensing Applications—A Review

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (12) ◽  
pp. 6357
Author(s):  
Kinga Halicka ◽  
Joanna Cabaj
Keyword(s):  
High Surface ◽  
High Surface Area ◽  
Toxic Metal ◽  
Volume Ratio ◽  
Electrospun Nanofibers ◽  
Clinical Diagnostics ◽  
Loading Capacity ◽  
Electrospun Nanofiber ◽  
Sensing Platforms ◽  
Different Types

Sensors and biosensors have found applications in many areas, e.g., in medicine and clinical diagnostics, or in environmental monitoring. To expand this field, nanotechnology has been employed in the construction of sensing platforms. Because of their properties, such as high surface area to volume ratio, nanofibers (NFs) have been studied and used to develop sensors with higher loading capacity, better sensitivity, and faster response time. They also allow to miniaturize designed platforms. One of the most commonly used techniques of the fabrication of NFs is electrospinning. Electrospun NFs can be used in different types of sensors and biosensors. This review presents recent studies concerning electrospun nanofiber-based electrochemical and optical sensing platforms for the detection of various medically and environmentally relevant compounds, including glucose, drugs, microorganisms, and toxic metal ions.

scholarly journals Study of the geometry of open channels in a layer-bed-type microfluidic immobilized enzyme reactor

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cynthia Nagy ◽  
Robert Huszank ◽  
Attila Gaspar
Keyword(s):  
Immobilized Enzyme ◽  
High Surface ◽  
Volume Ratio ◽  
Volumetric Flow Rate ◽  
Enzyme Reactor ◽  
Channel Pattern ◽  
Immobilized Enzyme Reactor ◽  
Split Flow ◽  
Parallel Streams ◽  
Enzymatic Microreactors

AbstractThis paper aims at studying open channel geometries in a layer-bed-type immobilized enzyme reactor with computer-aided simulations. The main properties of these reactors are their simple channel pattern, simple immobilization procedure, regenerability, and disposability; all these features make these devices one of the simplest yet efficient enzymatic microreactors. The high surface-to-volume ratio of the reactor was achieved using narrow (25–75 μm wide) channels. The simulation demonstrated that curves support the mixing of solutions in the channel even in strong laminar flow conditions; thus, it is worth including several curves in the channel system. In the three different designs of microreactor proposed, the lengths of the channels were identical, but in two reactors, the liquid flow was split to 8 or 32 parallel streams at the inlet of the reactor. Despite their overall higher volumetric flow rate, the split-flow structures are advantageous due to the increased contact time. Saliva samples were used to test the efficiencies of the digestions in the microreactors. Graphical abstract

scholarly journals A Review on Biosensors and Recent Development of Nanostructured Materials-Enabled Biosensors

Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 1109
Author(s):  
Varnakavi. Naresh ◽  
Nohyun Lee
Keyword(s):  
High Surface ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Biological Response ◽  
Volume Ratio ◽  
Recent Decade ◽  
Disease Diagnosis ◽  
Electrical Signal ◽  
Detection Sensitivity ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Color Tunability

A biosensor is an integrated receptor-transducer device, which can convert a biological response into an electrical signal. The design and development of biosensors have taken a center stage for researchers or scientists in the recent decade owing to the wide range of biosensor applications, such as health care and disease diagnosis, environmental monitoring, water and food quality monitoring, and drug delivery. The main challenges involved in the biosensor progress are (i) the efficient capturing of biorecognition signals and the transformation of these signals into electrochemical, electrical, optical, gravimetric, or acoustic signals (transduction process), (ii) enhancing transducer performance i.e., increasing sensitivity, shorter response time, reproducibility, and low detection limits even to detect individual molecules, and (iii) miniaturization of the biosensing devices using micro-and nano-fabrication technologies. Those challenges can be met through the integration of sensing technology with nanomaterials, which range from zero- to three-dimensional, possessing a high surface-to-volume ratio, good conductivities, shock-bearing abilities, and color tunability. Nanomaterials (NMs) employed in the fabrication and nanobiosensors include nanoparticles (NPs) (high stability and high carrier capacity), nanowires (NWs) and nanorods (NRs) (capable of high detection sensitivity), carbon nanotubes (CNTs) (large surface area, high electrical and thermal conductivity), and quantum dots (QDs) (color tunability). Furthermore, these nanomaterials can themselves act as transduction elements. This review summarizes the evolution of biosensors, the types of biosensors based on their receptors, transducers, and modern approaches employed in biosensors using nanomaterials such as NPs (e.g., noble metal NPs and metal oxide NPs), NWs, NRs, CNTs, QDs, and dendrimers and their recent advancement in biosensing technology with the expansion of nanotechnology.

scholarly journals Water uptake of various electrospun nonwovens

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 155-158
Author(s):  
Katharina Wulf ◽  
Volkmar Senz ◽  
Thomas Eickner ◽  
Sabine Illner
Keyword(s):  
Contact Angle ◽  
Surface Modification ◽  
Water Absorption ◽  
Water Uptake ◽  
Biomedical Applications ◽  
High Surface ◽  
Volume Ratio ◽  
Polymer Composition ◽  
Water Wetting ◽  
Morphology Changes

AbstractIn recent years, nanofiber based materials have emerged as especially interesting for several biomedical applications, regarding their high surface to volume ratio. Due to the superficial nano- and microstructuring and the different wettability compared to nonstructured surfaces, the water absorption is an important parameter with respect to the degradation stability, thermomechanic properties and drug release properties, depending on the type of polymer [1]. In this investigation, the water absorption of different non- and plasma modified biostable nanofiber nonwovens based on polyurethane, polyester and polyamide were analysed and compared. Also, the water absorption by specified water wetting, the contact angle and morphology changes were examined. The results show that the water uptake is highly dependent on the surface modification and the polymer composition itself and can therefore be partially changed.

scholarly journals Solar-blind ultraviolet photodetector based on vertically aligned single-crystalline β-Ga2O3 nanowire arrays

Nanophotonics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (15) ◽  
pp. 4497-4503
Author(s):  
Liying Zhang ◽  
Xiangqian Xiu ◽  
Yuewen Li ◽  
Yuxia Zhu ◽  
Xuemei Hua ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Inductively Coupled Plasma ◽  
Light Trapping ◽  
High Surface ◽  
Volume Ratio ◽  
Average Diameter ◽  
Nanowire Arrays ◽  
Etching Technique ◽  
Inductively Coupled ◽  
Solar Blind ◽  
Vertically Aligned

AbstractVertically aligned nanowire arrays, with high surface-to-volume ratio and efficient light-trapping absorption, have attracted much attention for photoelectric devices. In this paper, vertical β-Ga2O3 nanowire arrays with an average diameter/height of 110/450 nm have been fabricated by the inductively coupled plasma etching technique. Then a metal-semiconductor-metal structured solar-blind photodetector (PD) has been fabricated by depositing interdigital Ti/Au electrodes on the nanowire arrays. The fabricated β-Ga2O3 nanowire PD exhibits ∼10 times higher photocurrent and responsivity than the corresponding film PD. Moreover, it also possesses a high photocurrent to dark current ratio (Ilight/Idark) of ∼104 and a ultraviolet/visible rejection ratio (R260 nm/R400 nm) of 3.5 × 103 along with millisecond-level photoresponse times.

scholarly journals Design Considerations for Borehole Thermal Energy Storage (BTES): A Review with Emphasis on Convective Heat Transfer

Geofluids ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helge Skarphagen ◽  
David Banks ◽  
Bjørn S. Frengstad ◽  
Harald Gether
Keyword(s):  
Energy Storage ◽  
Thermal Energy ◽  
Thermal Energy Storage ◽  
Theoretical Calculations ◽  
High Surface ◽  
High Surface Area ◽  
Volume Ratio ◽  
Thermal Recovery ◽  
Conductive Heat ◽  
Geological Environment

Borehole thermal energy storage (BTES) exploits the high volumetric heat capacity of rock-forming minerals and pore water to store large quantities of heat (or cold) on a seasonal basis in the geological environment. The BTES is a volume of rock or sediment accessed via an array of borehole heat exchangers (BHE). Even well-designed BTES arrays will lose a significant quantity of heat to the adjacent and subjacent rocks/sediments and to the surface; both theoretical calculations and empirical observations suggest that seasonal thermal recovery factors in excess of 50% are difficult to obtain. Storage efficiency may be dramatically reduced in cases where (i) natural groundwater advection through the BTES removes stored heat, (ii) extensive free convection cells (thermosiphons) are allowed to form, and (iii) poor BTES design results in a high surface area/volume ratio of the array shape, allowing high conductive heat losses. The most efficient array shape will typically be a cylinder with similar dimensions of diameter and depth, preferably with an insulated top surface. Despite the potential for moderate thermal recovery, the sheer volume of thermal storage that the natural geological environment offers can still make BTES a very attractive strategy for seasonal thermal energy storage within a “smart” district heat network, especially when coupled with more efficient surficial engineered dynamic thermal energy stores (DTES).

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