Spinal range of motion during different swim strokes in people with chronic low back pain: a randomised crossover trial.

AI-based Object Recognition and Risk Detection Technology for Swimming Pool Safety Prediction

Simultaneous control of organic chloramines and emerging contaminants in swimming pool water using far-UVC irradiation.

Bromoacetic acid and dibromoacetic acid induce cardiotoxicity in larval zebrafish by triggering oxidative stress.

3D-printed SPME-based wooden-tip mass spectrometry for rapid detection of organic ultraviolet absorbers in complex matrices.

Rational design of a mesoporous COF with tailored porosity for synergistic extraction and analysis of organic ultraviolet stabilizers.

Numerical analysis of the impact of water temperature setpoint and energy strategies on indoor pool performance

This study aims to analyze the development strategy of the Loka Asri Sidoarjo tourist attraction using the 6A components approach (Attraction, Accessibility, Amenities, Activities, Ancillary Services, and Available Packages) combined with SWOT analysis. The research employed a descriptive qualitative method with data collection techniques including in-depth interviews, field observations, and documentation, as well as data triangulation to enhance data validity. The findings indicate that Loka Asri has strengths in its main attractions, such as swimming pools, a lush natural environment, and outbound and educational activities. However, limitations still exist in the available facilities, insufficient directional signage, and the lack of integrated tour packages. Development opportunities arise through collaborations with schools, travel agencies, and support from local communities, while threats come from competition with similar tourist destinations. The integration of the 6A and SWOT analyses produced strategies such as improving facilities, revitalizing outdated attractions, diversifying nature- and education-based activities, strengthening supporting services, and developing integrated tour packages through digital promotion. This study concludes that directed, innovative, and sustainable development is necessary for Loka Asri to enhance its competitiveness as a tourist destination in Sidoarjo Regency.

Thermal springs have been used for therapeutic purposes in Türkiye for centuries and remain popular for both health-related treatments and recreational activities. However, the increasing use of thermal pools without strict hygiene measures has been associated with rising incidences of infections such as folliculitis, dermatitis, otitis, conjunctivitis, and respiratory, genitourinary, and gastrointestinal infections. In this study, 24 water and air samples from eight indoor spa pools were examined, yielding 205 fungal isolates. Microfungal counts ranged from 5 to 1,228 cfu/m³ in air and 2,000 to 228,000 cfu/m³ in water. The isolates belonged to genera including Aspergillus, Penicillium, Alternaria, Paecilomyces, Mucor, Rhizopus, Fusarium, Pythium, and others. The fungal community was dominated by Penicillium (35%) and Aspergillus (29%). Among the 69 Aspergillus isolates, medically important species such as A. fumigatus, A. terreus, A. niger, and A. flavus were detected. These findings demonstrate that thermal pools may serve as reservoirs for opportunistic fungi, underscoring the need for molecular surveys and stricter monitoring to minimize public health risks.

The choice of “fresh” water bodies for a cooling swim on a hot summer afternoon result in a life-threatening infection caused by a brain eating amoeba known as Naegleria fowleri. Reports of infections caused by this amoeba have recently surfaced reports from both in the United States of America, Australia and India. Naegleria fowleri is a eukaryotic free-living amoeba, which belongs to the Percolozoa phylum. This amoeba has 3 stages in its life cycle namely: a cystic from, a trophozoite form and a flagellate form. The trophozoite being the infectious stage. N. fowleri is typically found throughout our environment from bodies of fresh water to soil. The Ameoba is neurotropic and tracks along the nasal mucosa and via the olfactory nerve through the cribriform plate (which is not completely fused in the younger populous) to ultimately infect the olfactory bulbs and the brain, thus causing (primary amoebic meningoencephalitis) abbreviated as PAM. The treatment of PAM is both supportive and specific. A simple and trivial but proven method to prevent the infection is simply keeping one’s head above water when in such open bodies of fresh water. The adequate chlorination of public recreational swimming pools and bodies of water is empirical to aid in the control of the infection. Naegleria fowleri is a rare but deadly infection and the lack of an effective treatment and the associated high mortality rate can only thus be countered by increasing the publics knowledge and awareness surrounding the disease. Countries such as India are making remarkable breakthroughs with lower mortality rates, due to vigorous and intense surveillance, testing and aggressive treatment strategies. India’s success in controlling the outbreak should be used as the yardstick for other countries to follow on an international basis when trying to control this infectious Amoeba.

Aims: This study was designed to explore how a newly fabricated three-tier perforated sheet aerator could enhance the growth of Common Carp (Cyprinus carpio) and maintain better water quality during culture. Study Design: A comparative experimental approach was followed to evaluate differences between aerated culture systems and traditional non-aerated systems. Place and Duration of Study: The work was carried out at the Research and Instructional Fish Farm, College of Fisheries, Mangaluru, using six cement ponds over a complete culture period. Methodology: A total of 300 fingerlings were stocked uniformly across six ponds (50 fish per pond). The aerator was operated for 3 hours daily to increase oxygen exposure during water circulation. Fish growth was monitored every two weeks by measuring length and weight, while major water quality parameters such as dissolved oxygen, pH, temperature, nitrogenous compounds, alkalinity, and hardness were evaluated following standard procedures. Data were statistically analyzed using an independent t-test at p < 0.05. Results: Fish in aerated ponds showed noticeably better performance with higher weight gain (61.77 ± 0.54 g), faster growth rates (SGR: 1.94 ± 0.03%/day; ADG: 0.46 ± 0.02 g/day), improved feed efficiency (FCR: 2.02), and slightly higher survival (87.50%) compared to the control group. Dissolved oxygen increased significantly under aeration (8.74 ± 1.06 mg/L; p = 0.000), along with improvements in nitrite, nitrate, and alkalinity levels. Conclusion: The results clearly indicate that this aerator model can strengthen fish growth and overall pond health, offering a simple and economical tool for sustainable aquaculture development.

ABSTRACT This study investigated the water quality of swimming pools in Thailand, examining the impact of chlorine (Cl), pH, and bather load on pathogenic bacterial growth. Thirty-eight water samples were collected from various swimming pools across Thailand. The water was collected 20 cm below the surface and above the pool floor, at both the pool entrance and the pool rim, between 11:00 and 13:00 h, with pH, number of bathers, and Cl levels were recorded. The water, collected in eight sterilized 250 ml centrifuge bottles with 0.25 mg sodium thiosulfate, was filtered through a 0.22 μm PES sterile disposable filter and transferred to sterile 50 ml conical tubes for DNA extraction and 16S rDNA sequencing, followed by bioinformatic analysis. Linear discriminant analysis effect size identified two bacterial species, such as Gardnerella vaginalis and Sphingomonas koreensis, which were significantly associated with high Cl (p.0.05). The analysis of relative abundance revealed that Blastomonas natatoria was present in 38.6% of commercial pools, while Rickettsia typhi was found in 63% of commercial pools. The study highlights the potential health risks associated with swimming pools, particularly for immunocompromised individuals. Precautions, e.g., maintaining hygiene and avoiding pool water ingestion are recommended to minimize the risk of infection.

Portable swimming pools present a child drowning risk; however, evidence on parental and caregiver knowledge, risk perceptions, and safety practices about these products remains limited. We conducted a cross-sectional survey of a representative sample of Australian parents and caregivers of children aged 0-5 years who owned a portable pool. Safety practices examined included pool fencing, active supervision, and emptying and storing the pool immediately after use. Descriptive statistics, non-parametric significance tests, and t-tests (comparing portable pools with in-ground pools) were used to assess knowledge, risk perceptions, and safety practices. Among 214 respondents, the majority correctly identified supervision (76%; χ2 = 56.54; p < 0.001) and emptying and storing practices (89%; χ2 = 131.89; p < 0.001) as key prevention strategies. In contrast, only 26% demonstrated knowledge of legal fencing requirements (χ2 = 50.54; p < 0.001). Risk perceptions were significantly lower for portable pools compared with in-ground pools. Only 19% reported their portable pool was fenced. While self-reported supervision and storage practices were high, compliance with fencing requirements, the most effective drowning prevention strategy, was markedly low. Stronger action is needed to promote fencing compliance and confront misconceptions about the safety of shallow portable pools.

Abstract Evidence shows that income and residential density, the latter associated with outdoor water uses such as gardens and swimming pools in single houses, are considered key factors in explaining variations of water consumption in urban areas. However, these findings tell us little on the role played by personal habits in water use. Measures adopted to minimize the spread of COVID-19 virus such as population lockdowns and recommendations for frequent hand, clothing, and food washing represent an opportunity to analyze how individuals behave in relation to water consumption under the same conditions and recommendations and regardless of their income or housing type. Using the case of a medium sized European city with mixed residential areas (Girona, Northeast Spain), this research investigates consumer behavior combining quantitative techniques such as cluster analysis with qualitative tools based on data provided by 35 face-to-face interviews conducted with residents from different neighborhoods of the city. Results show that changes in water use introduced during confinement do not picture a behavioral pattern aligned with the variables that, conventionally, help to explain domestic water consumption such as income. Hence the need to refocus urban water policies more towards residential land use models rather than towards specific socioeconomic profiles of residents.

Business education often overlooks the effects of neoliberal ideology in reproducing historical inequalities and disparities in public projects. Their curriculum and teaching approaches scarcely reflect and criticize the systematic, negative, and hidden predatory formations that support the logic of extraction and exclusion. This paper proposes that a responsible innovation approach facilitates questioning the practices that emerge from institutional spaces when co-producing neighborhood planning with the community. Furthermore, it holds accountable institutions in governing the conception of public spaces while preventing them from causing damage in the first place. This work describes an educational and community engagement project where we implemented a responsible innovation approach aimed at fostering inclusive, ethical, and transparent practices to oversee a public project. I use a long-term case study to first contextualize the promises, tensions, perils, complexities, and challenges of constructing a new aquatic center in North Portland. Second, to document how students reflect on the power dynamics that hinder an inclusive project approach. We collected data through interviews, co-creation sessions, reflection-in and on-action, community feedback, and archival records. Over three years, we identified various levels of transgression and power dynamics that impacted community members differently, particularly minorities, and how these factors influenced their involvement in the public project. A responsible innovation approach can support individuals within an institution in reflecting on their praxis and its impact on society. It enables them to recognize and address the apparent unforeseen consequences, make explicit the normative within the technical, coalesce plural views, and encourage collective learning.

Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) is a major foodborne pathogen, responsible for severe gastrointestinal disease and hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). Here, we report Click Detect, a novel diagnostic platform that leverages click display to efficiently produce sensing probes for sandwich-style antigen detection. Click display is an in vitro protein display technology that generates uniform and covalently linked protein–cDNA conjugates in a simple one-pot reaction format within 2 h. The captured sensing probe can be quantified by standard nucleic acid amplification assays. Using click displayed DARPin (D#20) as the sensing probe and a high-affinity nanobody (NG1) as the capture reagent, Click Detect reliably detected Shiga toxin 2 (Stx2) at 600 fM by quantitative PCR (qPCR) and 6 pM by loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP). The assay maintained comparable sensitivity in matrices containing up to 40% public swimming pool water or lettuce extract, highlighting robustness for real-world surveillance applications. Key advantages of Click Detect include simple, rapid, and cost-effective (~USD 0.04 per assay) sensing probe preparation, as well as a versatile plug-and-play probe format for detecting other targets. We believe that Click Detect has great potential as a novel sensing platform for food/environmental monitoring and point-of-care diagnostics, with potentially broad applicability to other toxins and protein targets.

An ideal water for swimming must meet the required quality standards regarding odour, taste and clarity. This study was aimed at determining the microbiological quality and residual chlorine concentration in swimming pools of selected hotels and recreational centres in Ibadan, Oyo state, Nigeria. Swimming pools from two hotels and two recreational centres were purposively selected and stratified for the study, based on high patronage, accessibility to the public and swimming pool availability. Water samples were collected from each swimming pool in the morning (8-9am) and in the evening (5-6pm). Samples were collected during peak bathing periods at weekends. A total of 48 water samples were collected from the four swimming pools over a period of six weeks. The residual chlorine in the samples was determined using standard methods, while bacteriological analysis was carried out using the pour plate method. Susceptibility of the isolates to a panel of antibiotics was carried out using the disc diffusion method, and detection of ESBL production in the isolates was done using the double disc synergy test. Questionnaires were also administered to investigate swimmers’ behavior that could serve as potential contaminants to the pool, while an in-depth interview was done with the pool operators to get information on swimming pool maintenance. The level of education of the 107 respondents was primary (1), secondary (20) and tertiary (86). The religion was Christianity (65.5%), Islam (32.7) and others (1.9%). In terms of Ethnic group, Igbo (21.5%), Yoruba (71%), Hausa (4.7%) and others (2.8%), while 70.1% and 29.9% of the participants were males and females respectively. The 16-20 years age group had the largest number of respondents with 34. Only one of the respondents swam throughout the seven days of the week. Twenty-eight bacteria: P. aeruginosa (9), E. coli (7), Klebsiella spp. (9), Citrobacter spp., Enterobacter spp. (1) were obtained. Seven of the isolates obtained were positive for ESBL production. The resistance to antibiotics was: tetracycline (14%), cefpodoxime (57%), cefotaxime (32%), ceftazidime (18%), ciprofloxacin (14%), imipenem (18%), gentamicin (32%), chloramphenicol (43%), amoxicillin-clavulanate (46%) and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (39%). There was a significant drop (P≤0.05) in the residual chlorine concentration, ranging from 59.2% to 72%, after bathers used the swimming pools. The swimming pools did not comply with the CDC and WHO standard for recreational activities due to the presence of enteric bacteria and therefore constitute serious health risks to the bathers. The detection of ESBL-producing bacteria in the pools is another budding public health threat. The pool operators should follow recreational water guidelines for proper management of the swimming pools.

This article investigates the sociality of Scandinavian public swimming halls through Jean-Paul Sartre’s reworking of Marxist alienation as seriality. Drawing on fifty-nine personal narratives, it explores how behaviors of mutual semi-unawareness in settings involving multiple activities and (partial) nudity among strangers intersect with fundamentally diverse and ambiguous experiences. Combining Iris Marion Young’s feminist reading of “seriality” with Sartre’s concept of “the look,” the article conceptualizes three forms of seriality: serial behavior, serial space, and serial being. Against the understanding of spatial alienation as exclusively the property of socially marginalized consciousness, seriality offers a deeper understanding of alienation as a general yet historical-geographical social structure. Although seriality is traditionally conceived as something normatively negative, this study demonstrates how social alienation can also foster individual relief and senses of community. Furthermore, the theory of seriality is developed by asking what it feels like to partake in a sociospatial series from different perspectives, and it is argued that in these kind of series, the notion of the Other’s look is unsurmountable. Contributing to critical phenomenology in geography, the article offers a spatially grounded account of diverse experiences within a single kind of public space, highlighting how serial spaces mediate difference, vulnerability, and coexistence.

Neuropsychological testing is the standard of care in the United States for assessing functional deficits related to cognitive impairment. However, there are well-known limitations of neuropsychological testing, including issues of reliability and validity, appropriate norming, predictive and ecological validity, and cultural appropriateness. The goal of this case example is to differentiate assessment from testing and to describe how assessment of brain-behavior relationships can be conducted when testing data are not available. This case example describes a neuropsychological differential diagnosis where the individual being examined was unable to participate in any standardized testing and had no available brain imaging. By necessity, the entirety of the differential diagnosis rests on the history and behavioral observations. This case is presented as a fact-finding exercise, as it would be in a board examination to assess neuropsychological competencies. The diagnostic value of history and behavioral observations are discussed in the context of disease base rates to rule in/rule out differential diagnoses involving the peripheral and central nervous systems. Clearly, standardized neuropsychological testing would add important data to revise and refine diagnoses and to develop treatment interventions. Neuropsychological competency examinations usually observe clinicians in a controlled environment with comprehensive information, similar to demonstrating swimming skills in a swimming pool. However, neuropsychologists should also be able to swim in the ocean, where the setting is not well controlled, comprehensive information may not be available, and the waters are often murky, such as when assessing patients where standardized testing is not possible. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Trihalomethanes (THMs), a class of disinfection by-products (DBPs) formed during the chlorination of swimming pool water, have raised substantial public health concerns owing to their potential genotoxicity and carcinogenicity. This study assessed the multi-pathway lifetime cancer risks and non-cancer hazard indices of THMs in indoor swimming pools in Shenzhen, China. THMs were quantified in water (30 cm depth) and air (1.2 m height) using headspace gas chromatography (HS-GC-ECD) and thermal desorption gas chromatography (TD-GC), respectively, across six geographically distributed pools. Swimmer exposure parameters were determined through questionnaire surveys and Monte Carlo simulations, with risks evaluated under central tendency exposure (CTE) and reasonable maximum exposure (RME) scenarios according to the Risk Assessment Guidance for Superfund, Part A, E, and F. Median THM concentrations were 48.85 μg/L (IQR: 39.91–63.06) in water and 35.32 µg/m³ (IQR: 18.22–98.27) in air. Inhalation was the dominant exposure pathway, contributing 82% of cancer risk and 73% of non-cancer hazard index. Lifetime cancer risks reached 3.62 × 10−6 (CTE) and 1.10 × 10−5 (RME), between the USEPA’s tolerable risk range (10−6 to 10−4), and the non-cancer hazard indices were 6.35 × 10−3 (CTE) and 1.91 × 10−2 (RME), below the unacceptable level (1.0). The present study indicates that carcinogenic risks and non-cancer hazard index from chronic THM exposure in Shenzhen’s indoor swimming pools remain within acceptable limits as defined by regulatory guidelines.