Design spherical particles of potassium peroxymonosulfate compound salt with high stability and good powder properties via an agglomeration-dissolution mechanism

With the outbreak of COVID-19, disinfection protection has become a necessary measure to prevent infection. As a new type of disinfectant, potassium peroxymonosulfate compound salt (PMS) has the advantages of good bactericidal effect, non-toxicity, high safety and stability. However, the current PMS products with irregular particle shapes lead to poor flowability, high hygroscopicity, poor stability of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and serious caking problems. In this work, an agglomeration-dissolution mechanism was designed to prepare spherical PMS particles with large size (>300 mm) and high sphericity (up to 90%), effectively addressing the above problems. Shaping (dissolution and abrasion) is the key to improving sphericity, which is mainly controlled by the design of the heating mode, residence time and stirring rate. Compared with the irregular PMS particles, the large spherical particles present better flowability (angle of repose decreased by 35.80%, Carr's index decreased by 64.29%, Hausner's ratio decreased by 19.14%), lower hygroscopicity (decreased by 38.0%), lower caking ratio (decreased by 84.50%), and higher stability (the monthly loss of ROS was reduced by 61.68%). The agglomeration -dissolution mechanism demonstrates the crystallization, agglomeration, dissolution and abrasion pro-cess of inorganic salt crystals, providing an opportunity to prepare high-end inorganic crystal materials with high-quality morphologies.(c) 2022 Chinese Society of Particuology and Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

[Consensus of experts on the oral health management and medical risk prevention for the patients with chronic airway diseases (2022 edition)].

Today, there is greater awareness on the association between oral diseases and respiration diseases after the outbreak of COVID-19. However, confusion regarding the oral health management and medical risk prevention for patients with chronic airway diseases has been remained among dental clinicians. Therefore, the dental experts of the Fifth General Dentistry Special Committee, Chinese Stomatological Association, combined with the experts of respiratory and critical care medicine, undertook the formation of consensus on the oral health management of patients with chronic airway diseases in order to help dental clinicians to evaluate medical risks and make better treatment decision in clinical practice. In the present consensus report, the relationship of oral diseases and chronic airway diseases, the oral health management and the treatment recommendations of patients with chronic airway diseases are provided.

Transgene Delivery to Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Using Nanoparticles

Human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) and hiPSCs-derived cells have the potential to revolutionize regenerative and precision medicine. Genetically reprograming somatic cells to generate hiPSCs and genetic modification of hiPSCs are considered the key procedures for the study and application of hiPSCs. However, there are significant technical challenges for transgene delivery into somatic cells and hiPSCs since these cells are known to be difficult to transfect. The existing methods, such as viral transduction and chemical transfection, may introduce significant alternations to hiPSC culture which affect the potency, purity, consistency, safety, and functional capacity of hiPSCs. Therefore, generation and genetic modification of hiPSCs through non-viral approaches are necessary and desirable. Nanotechnology has revolutionized fields from astrophysics to biology over the past two decades. Increasingly, nanoparticles have been used in biomedicine as powerful tools for transgene and drug delivery, imaging, diagnostics, and therapeutics. The most successful example is the recent development of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines at warp speed to combat the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19), which brought nanoparticles to the center stage of biomedicine and demonstrated the efficient nanoparticle-mediated transgene delivery into human body. Nanoparticles have the potential to facilitate the transgene delivery into the hiPSCs and offer a simple and robust approach. Nanoparticle-mediated transgene delivery has significant advantages over other methods, such as high efficiency, low cytotoxicity, biodegradability, low cost, directional and distal controllability, efficient in vivo applications, and lack of immune responses. Our recent study using magnetic nanoparticles for transfection of hiPSCs provided an example of the successful applications, supporting the potential roles of nanoparticles in hiPSC biology. This review discusses the principle, applications, and significance of nanoparticles in the transgene delivery to hiPSCs and their successful application in the development of COVID-19 vaccines.

An update on the status of COVID-19: a comprehensive review.

The last two decades have witnessed two large-scale pandemics caused by coronaviruses, including severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). At the end of 2019, another novel coronavirus, designated as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), hit Wuhan, a city in the center of China, and subsequently spread rapidly to the whole world. Latest reports revealed that more than 800 thousand people in over 200 countries are involved in the epidemic disease by SARS-CoV-2. Due to the high mortality rate and the lack of optimum therapeutics, it is crucial to understand the biological characteristics of the virus and its possible pathogenesis to respond to the SARS-CoV-2. Rapid diagnostics and effective therapeutics are also important interventions for the management of infection control. However, the rapid evolution of SARS-CoV-2 exerted tremendous challenges on its diagnostics and therapeutics. Therefore, there is an urgent need to summarize the existing research results to guide decision-making on the prioritization of resources for research and development. In this review, we focus on our current understanding of epidemiology, pathogenesis, diagnostics and therapeutics of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).