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This study examined the microbial diversity and community assembly of oral microbiota in periodontal health and disease and after nonsurgical periodontal treatment. The V4 region of 16S rRNA gene from DNA of 238 saliva and subgingival samples of 21 healthy and 48 diseased subjects was amplified and sequenced. Among 1979 OTUs identified, 28 were overabundant in diseased plaque. Six of these taxa were also overabundant in diseased saliva. Twelve OTUs were overabundant in healthy plaque. There was a trend for disease-associated taxa to decrease and health-associated taxa to increase after treatment with notable variations among individual sites. Network analysis revealed modularity of the microbial communities and identified several health- and disease-specific modules. Ecological drift was a major factor that governed community turnovers in both plaque and saliva. Dispersal limitation and homogeneous selection affected the community assembly in plaque, with the additional contribution of homogenizing dispersal for plaque within individuals. Homogeneous selection and dispersal limitation played important roles, respectively, in healthy saliva and diseased pre-treatment saliva between individuals. Our results revealed distinctions in both taxa and assembly processes of oral microbiota between periodontal health and disease. Furthermore, the community assembly analysis has identified potentially effective approaches for managing periodontitis.

Introduction: Initially developed by New Zealand Rugby in 2014, the Blue Card initiative in rugby enables match officials to remove athletes from play if they are suspected to have sustained a concussion. Considerable attention has been paid by sport and health advocates to the possibilities and limitations of this initiative in safeguarding athlete health. However, little if any attention has been paid to the well-being of those responsible for administering the Blue Card (i.e., match officials). The aim of this paper was to examine match officials’ experiences with and perspectives on implementing the Blue Card initiative in Ontario, Canada, with focused attention on the tensions around their ability to manage games and participants (e.g., athletes, coaches) while attempting to safeguard athlete well-being. Methods: Using Relational Coordination Theory (RCT) as a guiding framework and qualitative research method, we highlight the rich accounts of 19 match officials’ perspectives and experiences regarding sport-related concussion (SRC) management and the Blue Card protocol. Results: Four themes were derived from the data, reflecting latent assumptions embedded within the concussion management process, which include: assumptions of trust, respect, and cooperation; assumptions of shared responsibility; assumptions of shared understanding; and assumptions of harassment-free sport. Discussion: Our findings emphasize the need to attend to social relations in concussion management and provide insight into match officials’ fraught experiences on the frontlines of concussion management. We identify factors affecting match official well-being and provide considerations for concussion management initiatives designed to improve athlete safety, such as the Blue Card. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Blue Card protocol was introduced to domestic amateur rugby competitions to bring Rugby Canada into compliance with provincial concussion legislation. The Blue Card protocol formalises how match officials can remove an athlete with a suspected concussion from play and prevents athletes from returning to sport without medical clearance. This exploratory study examined the experiences of Canadian rugby match officials with the novel Blue Card process. Semi-structured interviews conducted with six Canadian rugby match officials were subjected to Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis. Findings revealed interpersonal (e.g. stakeholder collaboration and peer support) and intrapersonal (e.g. concerns about personal liability and comfort with the administration of the Blue Card) factors related to the successful implementation of concussion management protocols. Match officials distinguished actions from members of the rugby community as either supporting (e.g. information sharing) or actively resisting (e.g. questioning match official decisions regarding the Blue Card) efforts to implement the Blue Card protocol. Those who had personal experience removing an athlete from play due to a suspected concussion or who administered a Blue Card during the 2019 season reported feeling more comfortable with the process than less experienced peers. However, in this early policy implementation phase, 50% of participants expressed concerns about their personal liability associated with the Blue Card process. Implications for the design and implementation of sport-related concussion research and policy at the amateur level are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The aim of the study is to describe cost and frequency of work-related musculoskeletal disorders in Kansas. Methods: Data were provided by the Kansas Department of Labor and included all closed workers' compensation claims entailing indemnity and medical costs from 2014 to 2022. Results: Work-related musculoskeletal disorder claims entailed a median total cost of $20,097. Medical comprised 48.4% of costs, indemnity 46.4%, and legal 5.2%. The most frequently injured and costliest body part was the shoulder. Manufacturing comprised 28.4% of claims, followed by health care and office. Lifting was the most common cause, generating 32.0% of claims. Education, transportation, and mining were among industries with above average claim rates. Conclusions: Very few studies use workers' compensation data to assess work-related musculoskeletal disorder costs. This study introduces a state not yet analyzed and presents more recent years of data than available in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gravity and magnetic surveys have been extensively employed in various fields like regional geology studies, environmental engineering, and mineral exploration. However, interpreting the data from these surveys remains a challenge because the potential field inversion lacks uniqueness. To address this issue, combining gravity and magnetic data in a joint inversion helps to narrow down the possible solutions. This study introduces a method for jointly inverting gravity and magnetic data, specifically focusing on the sediment–basement interface. Within this framework, a 3D voxel-type inversion using joint Gramian-based techniques incorporates a depth-to-basement model as a guiding constraint. This approach was applied to gravity and magnetic data collected around the Victoria Mine area in Nevada, USA. The joint inversion successfully produced 3D models representing the density and susceptibility of both unconsolidated sediments and the basement underlying the surveyed region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]