Purpose Dupuytren contracture (DC) is a common benign fibroproliferative hand disorder, causing progressive flexion contractures of the finger joints. DC is a chronic condition with no definitive cure, and treatment is primarily surgical, although percutaneous options also exist. We assessed the safety of DC treatments by analyzing national compensation claims. Methods This retrospective registry study included all compensation claims related to the treatment of DC submitted to the Finnish Patient Insurance Center between 2010 and 2023. The number of filed and compensated claims, the types of treatment injuries claimed, and the proportion of avoidable injuries were analyzed. The national incidence of claimed treatment injuries was calculated using annual procedure volumes. Injury avoidability was assessed retrospectively by expert review. Results During the 14-year study period, 54 compensation claims were filed following treatment for DC, corresponding to an incidence of 4.0 claimed injuries per 1,000 operations. The most frequently reported injuries were nerve injuries, tendon injuries, infections, and recurrent contractures. Of the 54 claims, 20 resulted in compensation, most commonly for nerve injuries, tendon injuries, amputations, and infections. Based on the retrospective assessment, 29.6% of the cases were considered avoidable. Conclusions The number of claims and compensated treatment injuries was low in relation to the total number of procedures performed. Type of study/level of evidence Therapeutic IV.
Customer education in sales (CEd) is an emerging research area, yet the literature remains fragmented across multiple fields with inconsistent terminology and conceptualizations. This fragmentation has hindered the development of cumulative knowledge and left fundamental questions about CEd’s effectiveness, mechanisms, and theoretical foundations unanswered. We conduct a systematic literature review of 42 journal articles, examining CEd research across four dimensions: (1) industry contexts and business settings, (2) delivery modes and their outcomes, (3) mechanisms and boundary conditions, and (4) the application of pedagogical theories. Our analysis reveals that across seven distinct delivery modes, CEd generally produces positive, sales-supporting outcomes, such as customer loyalty. Frontline interactions are the most studied mode, while formal programs show the strongest return on investment. However, significant gaps remain: B2C research predominates, direct financial outcomes are understudied, and few studies engage with pedagogical theory. We offer several avenues for future research.
The growing demand for sustainable textile manufacturing has intensified the search for renewable alternatives to petroleum-based dyes and binders used in textile printing. However, the industrial adoption of natural dyes remains limited by poor dye fixation, inadequate durability, and the lack of bio-based binder systems capable of delivering high printing performance. In this study, a bio-based, water-borne printing paste was developed by combining a chitosan–cationic starch binder with a natural dye extracted from sea buckthorn pomace, an agricultural by-product, for screen printing of cellulosic textiles. The formulation was optimized using zeta potential, quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation (QCM-D), and rheological analyses to understand dye–binder interactions and establish suitable printing conditions. At 3% dye concentration, the biobased paste produced uniform prints with approximately twice the color strength of the commercial polyurethane-based binder (K/S = 3.07 vs. 1.53). The printed textiles also demonstrated good wash, rub, and perspiration fastness, with tactile comfort comparable to that of the commercial system. In addition, the bio-based formulation exhibited antimicrobial activity against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, which was retained in the printed textiles after washing. The sea buckthorn dye showed no skin-sensitizing potential under the tested conditions, while cytotoxicity and oxidative stress were observed only at high concentrations. Overall, this study demonstrates that agricultural waste-derived natural dyes, combined with a biobased binder, can produce durable, multifunctional, and skin-compatible printed textiles, offering a promising platform for biobased textile printing systems with natural dyes.
The increasing reliance on biomass for residential heating presents environmental benefits and challenges. Its combustion emits significant amounts of particulate matter (PM) and gaseous pollutants (CO2, CO, NOx, and organic gaseous emissions). Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is widely used to evaluate the environmental impacts of anthropogenic activities. Existing databases are useful in the macroscopic perspective of residential heating; however, the diversity of small-scale biomass combustion in various decentralized applications may affect life cycle impact assessment. This pioneer study investigates the influence of biomass types by measuring particle and gaseous emissions from a residential wood boiler. Pollutant-specific emission factors (EFs) of four biomass fuels, including wood chips and pellets made of hardwood and softwood, were determined and integrated into the LCA. The results reveal up to two-fold differences in key impact categories (particulate matter, ozone formation, and terrestrial acidification potential). This study points out the need to integrate region-specific data derived from real measurements within LCA frameworks to improve the applicability and support decision-making in sustainable residential heating.
Landscape fire is among the largest sources of aerosols and trace gases globally. However, the emissions are highly variable and strongly affected by the type of biomass and combustion characteristics. We investigated the effect of combustion characteristics on the burning emissions from three biomass types: woody plants and grasses from southern African savannah and European boreal forest surface based on experiments at the ILMARI combustion facility in Kuopio, Finland. Considering emission factors (EF) for organic aerosol (OA) and for the sum of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), we observed a linear increase in the EF with decreasing modified combustion efficiency (MCE) down to MCE of 0.6. For instance, for woody plants from savannah flaming combustion EFOA is 6.1 g kg-1 at MCE of 0.94, while extreme smoldering EFOA at MCE of 0.67 is 54 g kg-1. Interestingly, the effect of biomass type was minor compared to MCE, which was also seen for aerosol particle number size distributions. Likewise, the absorption & Aring;ngstr & ouml;m exponent increased with decreasing MCE. Furthermore, OA in our experiments is absorbing not only at the short wavelengths, which is typical of brown carbon, but even at the longest wavelengths (880 and 950 nm), which are often considered to represent only absorption by black carbon. The biomass type impacted the OA and VOC composition, especially in higher O:C ratio for savannah grass emissions, irrespective of combustion characteristics.
