This study confirms the findings of previous in vitro and in vivo studies which demonstrated the essential oil mouthrinse to have significant biocidal activity against oral micro-organisms. These studies all support the primacy of a bactericidal mechanism in producing the plaque and gingivitis reductions observed in numerous clinical trials conducted on the essential oil mouthrinse.

Current extraction methods often extract DNA and RNA separately, and few methods are capable of co-extracting DNA and RNA from sputum. We established a nucleic acid co-extraction method from sputum based on magnetic beads and optimized the method by evaluating influencing factors, such as the guanidinium thiocyanate (GTC) and dithiothreitol (DTT) concentrations, magnetic bead amount, incubation temperature, lysis buffer pH and RNA carrier type. The feasibility of the simultaneous nucleic acid co-extraction method was evaluated by amplifying DNA and RNA viruses from a single clinical specimen with a multiplex RT-qPCR method. Both DNA and RNA were most efficiently extracted when the GTC and DTT concentrations were 2.0 M and 80 mM, respectively, 20 μl magnetic beads were added, the incubation temperature was 80 °C, the pH was 8 or 9, and RNA carrier A was used. Therefore, we established a simple method to extract nucleic acids from two important respiratory viruses compared with other commercial kits. This magnetic beads-based co-extraction method for sputum followed by a multiplex RT-qPCR can rapidly and precisely detect DNA and RNA viruses from a single clinical specimen and has many advantages, such as decreased time, low cost, and a lack of harmful chemicals.

The effectiveness of amine fluoride and stannous fluoride in the prophylaxis of caries and gingivitis is well-known from the literature. The aim of this study was to assess whether these agents could be recommended for long-term use. Under conditions of a clinical double-blind study, the influence of an amine/stannous fluoride rinse on gingivitis, plaque accumulation and the composition of the supragingival plaque was tested over a period of 7 months. 102 persons with signs of chronic gingivitis participated in the study. Gingival indices (GI, SBI) and plaque indices (PlI, API) were recorded at baseline, after 3.5 and 7 months. The composition of the supragingival plaque was evaluated by dark-field microscopy. During the 7 months, the GI decreased in the test group from 1.36 to 0.95, and the SBI from 52.0% to 29.3%. The PlI fell from 1.17 to 0.68, and the API from 61.3% to 50.6% (p < 0.001). No significant changes were recorded in the control group. In the test group, the proportion of cocci in the plaque increased from 58.4% to 68.9% (p < 0.001) while the proportion of rods and other plaque bacteria underwent a significant decrease (p < 0.001). The microflora was stable in the control group throughout the study period. No side-effects of the drug were reported by the probands. The results suggest that long-term use of the amine/stannous fluoride rinse is of benefit to gingival health.

Using a three-dimensional (3D) Li-ion conducting ceramic network, such as Li7La3Zr2O12 (LLZO) garnet-type oxide conductor, has proved to be a promising strategy to form continuous Li ion transfer paths in a polymer-based composite. However, the 3D network produced by brittle ceramic conductor nanofibers fails to provide sufficient mechanical adaptability. In this manuscript, we reported a new 3D ion-conducting network, which is synthesized from highly loaded LLZO nanoparticles reinforced conducting polymer nanofibers, by creating a lightweight continuous and interconnected LLZO-enhanced 3D network to outperform conducting heavy and brittle ceramic nanofibers to offer a new design principle of composite electrolyte membrane featuring all-round properties in mechanical robustness, structural flexibility, high ionic conductivity, lightweight, and high surface area. This composite-nanofiber design overcomes the issues of using ceramic-only nanoparticles, nanowires, or nanofibers in polymer composite electrolyte, and our work can be considered as a new generation of composite electrolyte membrane in composite electrolyte development.