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Background Assessing the competencies of health professions educators remains a significant challenge, prompting the consideration of Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) as a potential solution. EPAs represent responsibilities that individuals can be entrusted to perform once they have demonstrated sufficient competence and reliability. Originating from the complexities of competency-based medical education, the concept of EPAs is still relatively new in the field of dentistry. To date, most published EPAs focus primarily on dental students, with limited attention given to their application for dental educators. Therefore, the rationale for this review was to systematically explore the existing literature on EPAs for dental educators, providing a foundation for the future development of structured and effective EPA frameworks tailored to dental education. Methods Addressing the research question- What are the elements of EPAs for dental educators, as described in the literature? - the review adhered to the Joanna Briggs Institute scoping review framework and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses for Scoping Reviews methodology (PRISMA-ScR). Employing a rigorous three-step search strategy across five electronic databases (PubMed, Google Scholar, Scopus, Cochrane Library and ProQuest), the review includes articles published between January 1, 2005 and October 1, 2024 with eligibility criteria targeted papers published in English with keywords/Search term (\"Entrusted Professional Activities” OR \"Entrustable Professional Activities” OR“Entrustable profession* activit*”) AND (“Dental Educator*” OR “Dental Education” OR Dentistry). The results were summarized, coded and thematically categorized and mapped to existing competency for dental educators. Results The review scoped five articles that described a total of forty-three (43) EPAs. Seven (7) of these EPAs were found to overlap; therefore, they were consolidated to four (4) EPA statements following a consensus, resulting in a total of 40 final EPA statements. The review yielded seven (7) themes: Teaching; with five EPAs, Bedside Teaching; with seven EPAs, Surgical Teaching skills; with 7 EPAs, Mentoring and coaching; with two EPAs, Research and scholarships; with eight EPAs, Educational development; with seven EPAs and Assessment; with four EPAs. Conclusions This review established a foundation for a larger study designed to develop a framework of EPAs tailored specifically for dental educators. Protocol registration The protocol have been published in JMIR Research Protocols https://doi.org/10.2196/74225 .

ABSTRACT The study was aimed to assess the role of dental surgeons in identifying dental patients with psychological problems. A cross-sectional study was conducted and a convenience sampling technique was used. The study was conducted from August 2018 to February 2019 and was approved by the ethical review board, (Ethical Approval no. BDC/ERB/2018/001). A pre-structured validated questionnaire was used for the survey. Two hundred seventy two registered GDPs and Postgraduates from different teaching hospitals present on the day of data collection were included in the study. These questionnaires were then distributed by the researchers to the dental surgeons of each designated hospital and filled up questionnaires were collected on the same day. The participants included were 208 GDPs and 64 postgraduates. The present study reported that 179(74.9%) GDP and 60(25.1%) PG encountered dental patients with psychological problems. One hundred thirty (74.3%) GDPs and 45(25.7%) PGs provided simple treatment and manage the psychological illness. Based on these findings of the study, it is concluded that dental surgeons do come across problems in identifying their dental patients with psychological problems.

PurposeThis study investigates despotic leadership (DL) as an antecedent to bullying behavior with a mediating role of moral emotions at work. Another aim is to study the moderating role of self-concordance to buffer the relationship between DL and arousal of moral emotions.Design/methodology/approachThe authors collected two-source (self-reported and supervisor reported) time-lagged data in the shape of a three-wave survey (i.e. one month time interval for each time) from 242 dyads in the health sector of Pakistan.FindingsThe results revealed that moral emotions mediated the relationship between DL and bullying behavior. Furthermore, self-concordance moderates the relationship between DL and moral emotions, such that the relationship will be stronger in the case of low self-concordance.Research limitations/implicationsManagers need to promote a culture that accommodates diversity of opinion at the organization so that everyone is able to express and share their views openly. Organizations should encourage supervisors to participate in leadership development programs aimed at eliminating DL.Originality/valueThis study establishes the role of self-concordance and moral emotions in the relationship between despotic leadership DL and bullying behavior.

Background Hospital waste management (HWM) practices are the core need to run a proper health care facility. This study encompasses the HWM practices in teaching hospitals of Peshawar, Pakistan and examine the enforcement of Pak HWM (2005) rules and risks through transmission of pathogens via blood fluids, air pollution during waste incineration and injuries occurring in conjunction with open burning and dumping. Methods A questionnaire based on World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations was used to survey the selected private and public teaching hospital ( n  = 16). Site visits and personnel observations were also included in the data. It was spatio-statistically analyzed using descriptive statistics, Krushkal-wallis and Fisher’s exact tests. Results The findings revealed that the lack of HWM practices in all surveyed hospitals ( p  > 0.05), besides statistical difference ( p  < 0.017) in waste generation/day. No proper segregation of waste from generation point to final disposal was practiced. However, the performance of private teaching hospitals (50%) was found better in terms of HWM personnel and practices. In surveyed hospitals, only nine hospitals (56.3%) were found with the incinerator facility while rest of the hospitals (43.7%) practiced open dumping. Moreover, operational parameters of the incinerators were not found satisfactory and located in densely populated areas and emitting hazardous gases. Conclusion Proper HWM practices are not being followed in the light of WHO guidelines. Hospital waste impose serious menace to healthcare workers and to nearby population. WHO issued documents for improving HWM practices but triggered no change in Pakistan. To improve the situation, insights in this context is need for enforcement of rules.

Music therapy has been explored as a non-pharmacological intervention for anxiety in critically ill patients, but its effectiveness remains unclear. This meta-analysis synthesized evidence from five randomized controlled trials (RCTs) involving 325 participants. A comprehensive literature search across PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane databases ensured the inclusion of high-quality studies published between 2010 and 2025. Music therapy sessions ranged from 15 to 30 min. Anxiety was assessed using validated measures, and data were analyzed with a random-effects model to calculate the mean difference (MD) in anxiety scores with 95 % confidence intervals (CI). Heterogeneity was evaluated using the I2 statistic, and sensitivity analyses were conducted to address potential bias. The pooled analysis found an MD of −1.11 (95 % CI: −12.97 to 10.75, p = 0.85; I2 = 99 %), showing no significant anxiety reduction. Heterogeneity was substantial. A sensitivity analysis, excluding two influential studies, reduced heterogeneity (I2 = 30 %) but still showed no significant effect (MD = 0.69, 95 % CI: −2.15 to 3.53, p = 0.63). A funnel plot suggested possible publication bias, but the limited number of studies hindered formal assessment. Overall, current evidence does not support music therapy as an effective stand-alone intervention for anxiety reduction in critically ill patients. Further research with standardized protocols and larger sample sizes is necessary to clarify its role in critical care settings. [Display omitted] •Music therapy is a non-drug approach for ICU anxiety relief.•ICU anxiety affects 30 %–80 % of critically ill patients.•Live or recorded music helps promote relaxation and well-being.•Used in perioperative and palliative care settings.•Not effective alone; more research is needed for ICU protocols.

Generally wastewater such agricultural runoff is considered a nuisance; however, it could be harnessed as a potential source of nutrients like nitrates and phosphates in integrated biorefinery context. In the current study, microalgae Chlorella sp. S5 was used for bioremediation of agricultural runoff and the leftover algal biomass was used as a potential source for production of biofuels in an integrated biorefinery context. The microalgae Chlorella sp. S5 was cultivated on Blue Green (BG 11) medium and a comprehensive optimization of different parameters including phosphates, nitrates, and pH was carried out to acquire maximum algal biomass enriched with high lipids content. Dry biomass was quantified using the solvent extraction technique, while the identification of nitrates and phosphates in agricultural runoff was carried out using commercial kits. The algal extracted lipids (oils) were employed in enzymatic trans-esterification for biodiesel production using whole-cell biomass of Bacillus subtilis Q4 MZ841642. The resultant fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) were analyzed using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC–MS). Subsequently, both the intact algal biomass and its lipid-depleted algal biomass were used for biogas production within a batch anaerobic digestion setup. Interestingly, Chlorella sp. S5 demonstrated a substantial reduction of 95% in nitrate and 91% in phosphate from agricultural runoff. The biodiesel derived from algal biomass exhibited a noteworthy total FAME content of 98.2%, meeting the quality standards set by American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) and European union (EU) standards. Furthermore, the biomethane yields obtained from whole biomass and lipid-depleted biomass were 330.34 NmL/g VSadded and 364.34 NmL/g VSadded, respectively. In conclusion, the findings underscore the potent utility of Chlorella sp. S5 as a multi-faceted resource, proficiently employed in a sequential cascade for treating agricultural runoff, producing biodiesel, and generating biogas within the integrated biorefinery concept.

Biodiesel production from non-edible feedstocks, e.g., Jatropha curcas, by lipase-producing bacteria is considered a sustainable measure to reduce food versus fuel competition and dependency on fossil fuels. In this study, lipase-producing bacterial strains were isolated from soil contaminated with oil. Their biochemical and molecular identification was performed and their capacity to produce biodiesel from J. curcas seed oil was determined. Plackett-Burman and central composite designs were employed to optimize various factors for whole cell-based transesterification of J. curcas seed oil. Brevibacterium SB11 MH715025 and Pseudomonas SB15 MH715026 strains produced the highest volumetric yield of biodiesel (~ 97%). Pseudomonas SB15 MH715026 was identified as the most potent strain with the most optimum biodiesel yield on 37 °C, oil to methanol molar ratio of 1:9, and agitation at 100 rpm. Confirmation of fatty acid methyl esters was done through Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The infrared spectra were in the ranges 1735–1750 at cm−1 and 1300–1000 cm−1 that corresponds to C=O and C-O functional groups, respectively. The quality of biodiesel was evaluated and the fuel properties were determined for acid value, pour and cloud point, peroxide value, boiling point, and specific gravity. The values were 0.44 ± 0.1 mg potassium hydroxide (KOH)/g, 3 ± 0.1 °C, 4.1 ± 0.4 °C, 1.41 ± 0.1 milliequivalent (Meq) O2/kg, 260 ± 1 °C, and 0.87 ± 0.02 kg/m3, respectively. The fuel properties of biodiesel produced during this study were in accordance with quality standards specified by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM D6751) and European Norms (EN-14103).

Software project outcomes heavily depend on natural language requirements, often causing diverse interpretations and issues like ambiguities and incomplete or faulty requirements. Researchers are exploring machine learning to predict software bugs, but a more precise and general approach is needed. Accurate bug prediction is crucial for software evolution and user training, prompting an investigation into deep and ensemble learning methods. However, these studies are not generalized and efficient when extended to other datasets. Therefore, this paper proposed a hybrid approach combining multiple techniques to explore their effectiveness on bug identification problems. The methods involved feature selection, which is used to reduce the dimensionality and redundancy of features and select only the relevant ones; transfer learning is used to train and test the model on different datasets to analyze how much of the learning is passed to other datasets, and ensemble method is utilized to explore the increase in performance upon combining multiple classifiers in a model. Four National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and four Promise datasets are used in the study, showing an increase in the model’s performance by providing better Area Under the Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve (AUC-ROC) values when different classifiers were combined. It reveals that using an amalgam of techniques such as those used in this study, feature selection, transfer learning, and ensemble methods prove helpful in optimizing the software bug prediction models and providing high-performing, useful end mode.

In this article, we introduced and studied exponentiated generalized Kumaraswamy distribution. We derived mathematical properties including quantile function, moment generating function, ordinary moments, probability weighted moments, incomplete moments, and Rényi entropy. The expressions of order statistics are also derived. Here we discuss the parameter estimation by using the method of maximum likelihood. We showed resilience of the introduced distribution over existing some well-known distributions by using real dataset applications.

Synthesis of 2,5-bisarylthiophenes was accomplished by sequential Suzuki cross coupling reaction of 2-bromo-5-chloro thiophenes. Density functional theory (DFT) studies were carried out at the B3LYP/6-31G(d, p) level of theory to compare the geometric parameters of 2,5-bisarylthiophenes with those from X-ray diffraction results. The synthesized compounds are screened for in vitro bacteria scavenging abilities. At the concentration of 50 and 100 μg/mL, compounds 2b, 2c, 2d, 3c, and 3f with IC50-values of 51.4, 52.10, 58.0, 56.2, and 56.5 μg/mL respectively, were found most potent against E. coli. Among all the synthesized compounds 2a, 2d, 3c, and 3e with the least values of IC50 77, 76.26, 79.13 μg/mL respectively showed significant antioxidant activities. Almost all of the compounds showed good antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli, whereas 2-chloro-5-(4-methoxyphenyl) thiophene (2b) was found most active among all synthesized compound with an IC50 value of 51.4 μg/mL. All of the synthesized compounds were screened for nitric oxide scavenging activity as well. Frontier molecular orbitals (FMOs) and molecular electrostatic potentials of the target compounds were also studied theoretically to account for their relative reactivity