Collaboration is the key to innovation

Collaboration is defined as the act of working with someone to produce or create something. When it comes to the water industry, Technology Approval Groups (TAG) are innovation forums that can be found around the world. They were first launched in the United Kingdom in 2005 TAG accelerates the market update of "step-change" technologies by engaging the industry during the pre-commercial stages of development and by leveraging the power of collective leading end-users to collaborate around shared interests and priorities. TAG is a low-risk option for utilities looking to collect information not commonly found at conferences or other public forums. Even though such groups are not new, the concept is new to most New England utilities. The U.S. program comprises more than 75 utilities and is growing exponentially. The author's experience with these forums provides a unique perspective to the region's needs and the key drivers for those needs. Adaptation is the new normal since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. New England utilities are focused on asset management, distribution and collection system maintenance, stormwater, and reservoir management. This paper will describe how the TAG model rooted in collaboration can assist utilities along with water and wastewater professionals throughout the region to think outside the box and learn about qualified solutions becoming available with each passing day. © 2021 New England Water Environment Association. All rights reserved.

Modular Printed Powered Air Purifying Respirator

At present, the world is undergoing a pandemic spawning from the advent of a new coronavirus outbreak known as COVID-19. As a result, hospital staff, paramedics, first responders, and the general world population have been forced to wear personal protective equipment (PPE) and take special measures to prevent catching the virus. Furthermore, because of this necessity, increasing demand on the PPE supply chain has generated many shortages, especially seen in masks designed to stop the inhalation of COVID-19 particles in the air. This inspired our group to design something that could help make PPE more accessible and affordable for the average person. The proposed is an almost entirely 3D printed design to help keep costs down and make it simplistic, such that anyone with a 3D printer has the potential to duplicate it. We hope that with the design, we can help combat the shortage and keep more people safe from COVID-19. Copyright © 2021 by ASME.

How we approach thrombosis risk in children with COVID-19 infection and MIS-C.

Thrombosis within the microvasculature and medium to large vessels is a serious and common complication among critically ill individuals with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). While children are markedly less likely to develop severe disease than adults, they remain at risk for thrombosis during acute infection and with the post-acute inflammatory illness termed multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children. Significant knowledge deficits in understanding COVID-19-associated coagulopathy and thrombotic risk pose clinical challenges for pediatric providers who must incorporate expert opinion and personal experience to manage individual patients. We discuss clinical scenarios to provide framework for characterizing thrombosis risk and thromboprophylaxis in children with COVID-19.

Immunization with Human Cytomegalovirus Core Fusion Machinery and Accessory Envelope Proteins Elicit Strong Synergistic Neutralizing Activities.

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) core fusion machinery proteins gB and gH/gL, and accessory proteins UL128/UL130/UL131A, are the key envelope proteins that mediate HCMV entry into and infection of host cells. To determine whether these HCMV envelope proteins could elicit neutralizing activities synergistically, we immunized rabbits with individual or various combinations of these proteins adsorbed to aluminum hydroxide mixed with CpG-ODN. We then analyzed serum neutralizing activities with multiple HCMV laboratory strains and clinical isolates. HCMV trimeric gB and gH/gL elicited high and moderate titers of HCMV neutralizing activity, respectively. HCMV gB in combination with gH/gL elicited up to 17-fold higher HCMV neutralizing activities compared to the sum of neutralizing activity elicited by the individual proteins analyzed with both fibroblasts and epithelial cells. HCMV gB+gH/gL+UL128/UL130/UL131A in combination increased the neutralizing activity up to 32-fold compared to the sum of neutralizing activities elicited by the individual proteins analyzed with epithelial cells. Adding UL128/UL130/UL131A to gB and gH/gL combination did not increase further the HCMV neutralizing activity analyzed with fibroblasts. These data suggest that the combination of HCMV core fusion machinery envelope proteins gB+gH/gL or the combination of gB and pentameric complex could be ideal vaccine candidates that would induce optimal immune responses against HCMV infection.