Decision-making and ethical dilemmas experienced by hospital physicians during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Czech Republic.

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, global healthcare systems faced unprecedented challenges, with a lack of resources and suboptimal patient care emerging as primary concerns.

Methods: Our research, using a comprehensive 24-item electronic questionnaire, "Reflections on the Provision of Healthcare during the COVID-19 Pandemic," delved into the experiences of 938 physicians across the Czech Republic.

Results: Over fifty per cent observed a "lower standard of care" compared to pre-pandemic levels.

Factors influencing the end-of-life decisionmaking process about care in hospitalized patients.

The quality of end-of-life care of hospitalized patients is an important topic, but so far little explored in the Czech Republic. The aim of this study was to map the factors influencing the end-of-life care decision-making process in selected Czech hospitals and to describe it based on data from medical records and from the perspective of a doctor. The research included data obtained from the medical records of 240 deceased patients (mean age 76.

A global-scale screening of non-native aquatic organisms to identify potentially invasive species under current and future climate conditions.

The threat posed by invasive non-native species worldwide requires a global approach to identify which introduced species are likely to pose an elevated risk of impact to native species and ecosystems. To inform policy, stakeholders and management decisions on global threats to aquatic ecosystems, 195 assessors representing 120 risk assessment areas across all six inhabited continents screened 819 non-native species from 15 groups of aquatic organisms (freshwater, brackish, marine plants and animals) using the Aquatic Species Invasiveness Screening Kit. This multi-lingual decision-support tool for the risk screening of aquatic organisms provides assessors with risk scores for a species under current and future climate change conditions that, following a statistically based calibration, permits the accurate classification of species into high-, medium- and low-risk categories under current and predicted climate conditions.

Nymphs of Are More Sensitive to Deet Than Adult Females.

The use of repellents is a unique measure of personal protection, which can avoid tick attachment and thus reduce the risk of tick-borne infections. In the European Union, the efficacy of the repellents coming onto the market has to be evaluated according to the guidelines published by the European Chemical Agency before registration. The United States Environmental Protection Agency has a similar role.