ABSTRACT
Wound infection hinders adequate healing, being particularly grievous and prevalent in burn wounds and chronic wounds. Wound infection extends inflammation, preventing epithelialization and angiogenesis. Therefore, infection prolongs healing time, steeply increases treatment costs and degrades patients wellbeing. One successful strategy to control wound infection is to apply an active wound dressing, able to eliminate or significantly reduce the microbial population present at the infection site. Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are a multipurpose antimicrobial agent with a wide scope of applications which include wound dressings. Nevertheless, several studies denote AgNPs dose-dependent cytotoxicity, and their capability to bypass the blood-brain barrier and induce a neurotoxic effect. Hence, we propose to adopt two different strategies to attempt the simultaneously immobilize and increase the load of AgNPs within the wound dressing fabric. Thus, the envisaged objective is to prevent potential systemic cytotoxicity/through immobilization and to improve its antimicrobial capability due to the higher concentration of AgNPs. Two different approaches were used: i. AgNPs were suspended in an alginate (ALG) solution, ii. AgNPs were embedded in Mordenite (MOR) zeolite, followed by the addition of an ALG solution. Both suspensions were incorporated into polyester fabric assisted by its surface activation by dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma treatment. The bactericidal and virucidal effectiveness of each composite was tested against bacteria species known to induce nosocomial infections and a bacteriophage that is a potential surrogate of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Two distinct antimicrobial analyses were used to provide insights on the antimicrobial effectiveness of the obtained composites and to indirectly assess the release of AgNPs.
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic brought an unparalleled opportunity for spatial analysis. Moil:people than ever are creating maps to document the space-time diffusion of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, despite recent technical and computational improvements, spatial analysis of epidemiological surveillance data is still affected by a number of challenges, especially when dealing with near-real-time data of an emergent disease. "his peer summarizes the key challenges for the spatial analysis of the COVID-19 pandemic and possible solutions.
ABSTRACT
In the absence of effective pharmacological interventions against COVID-19, many governments have implemented lockdowns and other measures of social isolation. However, these measures are associated with a deterioration in the mental health and well-being of the population. The deleterious effects of lockdowns in the mental health of the population may be more pronounced in cities, in socially disadvantaged communities and among vulnerable demographic groups, such as children and the elderly. Though, the use and contact with urban green spaces (e.g. urban parks, public and private gardens) and other natural spaces (e.g. beaches, riverside areas) can reduce the stress caused by the lockdown and provide opportunities for relaxation, promoting urhan resilience. This paper aims to discuss the theoretical models underlying this hypothesis, summarize scientific evidence on the topic and launch possible solutions.