ABSTRACT
Abatract: In recent years studies of nanomaterials have been explored in the field of microbiology due to the increasing evidence of antibiotic resistance. Nanomaterials could be inorganic or organic, and they may be synthesized from natural products from plant or animal origin. The therapeutic applications of nano-materials are wide, from diagnosis of disease to targeted delivery of drugs. Broad-spectrum antiviral and antimicrobial activities of nanoparticles are also well evident. The ratio of nanoparticles surface area to their volume is high and that allows them to be an advantageous vehicle of drugs in many respects. Effective uses of various materials for the synthesis of nanoparticles impart much specificity in them to meet the requirements of specific therapeutic strategies. The potential therapeutic use of nanoparticles and their mechanisms of action against infections from bacteria, fungi and viruses were the focus of this review. Further, their potential advantages, drawbacks, limitations and side effects are also included here. Researchers are characterizing the exposure pathways of nano-medicines that may cause serious toxicity to the subjects or the environment. Indeed, societal ethical issues in using nano-medicines pose a serious question to scientists beyond anything.
ABSTRACT
With the large-scale spread of COVID-19 around the world, it has caused serious damage to the health of people around the world. In addition to being transmitted by various droplets, viruses can also be transmitted by human touch of contaminated surfaces. However, as a commonly used surface antiviral method, disinfectants have the disadvantage of discontinuously inactivating viruses, which is bad for inhibiting the spread of various infectious viruses. Therefore, it is urgent to protect the surface of daily objects from virus pollution to eliminate the spread of various respiratory viruses ( such as Corona Virus Disease 2019, SARS-CoV-2). From this point of view, it is very important to design and develop effective antiviral coatings. This paper discusses the working mechanisms, performance evaluation methods, processing technologies, practical applications and research progress of nanoparticle antiviral coatings and polymer antiviral coatings for SARS-CoV-2, and also proposes some strategies to design more effective antiviral coatings from the perspective of different types of antiviral coatings. Although some of these antiviral coatings are still in the experimental stage, they still show great potential in the antiviral field.
ABSTRACT
Highly contagious COVID-19 disease is caused by a novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which poses a serious threat to global public health. Therefore, the development of a fast and reliable method for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 is an urgent research need. The Fe3O4@SiO2-Au is enriched with a variety of functional groups, which can be used to fabricate a sensitive electrochemical biosensor by biofunctionalization with angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). Accordingly, we developed a novel electrochemical sensor by chemically modifying a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) with Fe3O4@SiO2-Au nanocomposites (hereafter Fe3O4@SiO2-Au/GCE) for the rapid detection of S-protein spiked SARS-CoV-2 by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The new electrochemical sensor has a low limit detection (viz., 4.78 pg/mL) and a wide linear dynamic range (viz., 0.1 ng/mL to 10 μg/mL) for detecting the EIS response signal of S-protein. The robust Fe3O4@SiO2-Au/GCE biosensor has high selectivity, stability, and reproducibility for the detection of S-protein with good recovery of saliva samples.
ABSTRACT
Smart and Functional Textiles is an application-oriented book covering a wide range of areas from multifunctional nanofinished textiles, coated and laminated textiles, wearable e-textiles, textile-based sensors and actuators, thermoregulating textiles, to smart medical textiles and stimuli-responsive textiles. It also includes chapters on 3D printed smart textiles, automotive smart textiles, smart textiles in military and defense, as well as functional textiles used in care and diagnosis of Covid-19. • Overview of smart textiles and their multidirectional applications • Materials, processes, advanced techniques, design and performance of smart fabrics • Fundamentals, advancements, current challenges and future perspectives of smart textiles. © 2023 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston.
ABSTRACT
Silk Fibroin is widely used as a green biomaterial in various fields of research like textiles, biomedical engineering biotechnology, electronics, photonics and energy research. This is because SF can be reconstituted in numerous forms by physical and chemical processes in numbers of studies have attempted to incorporate addition to its unique functional aspects that can be incorporated into SF while maintaining its beneficial natural characters. This new area of biotechnology with bio-nanocomposites is the result of breakthroughs in nanoscience and nanotechnology. SF bio-nanocomposites and their innovative applications for the use of these SF bio-nanocomposites materials have been developed in recent years and these are documented in previous chapters of this book. In this chapter, we report on the advanced research of the engineering of silk fibroin bio-nanocomposites suitable for emerging technologies. Though the formulation of silk fibroin is a natural process, carried out with silkworms, it can be modified with the mulberry leaves which are the silkworm feed. Further, silk fibroin can be changed by doping rare earth elements or by incorporating their nanoparticles at different stages of its formulations. Thus, the properties of silk fibroin are engineered suitably to meet the requirements of various devices with different methods reported recently in the literature. Lastly, the hypothetical applications of silk fibroin in protecting healthcare buildings (hospitals) from pathogenic infections specifically with photocatalytic disinfection of pathogens have been reported in this chapter. This innovative emerging potential application of silk fibroin seems to be an attractive solution to control the spread of communicable diseases like COVID-19. The chapter ends with a report on a recent method based on microwave applications in which formulation of time SF bio-nanocomposites. This modification is reduced synthesis time from 52 hours to 4 hours. This alteration is predicted as a significant step towards commercialization of formulation of SF bio-nanocomposites technologies newly developed in recent years. © 2023 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.
ABSTRACT
This paper describes for the first time the surface modification of glassy carbon (GC) electrodes with bamboo-based renewable carbon (RC) and antimony nanoparticles (SbNPs) for the determination of methylparaben (MePa) in personal care products (PCPs). The synthesized RC-SbNP material was successfully characterized by scanning electron microcopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry. The proposed sensor was applied in the detection of MePa using the optimized parameters by differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). The analytical range for detection of MePa was 0.2 to 9.0 µmol L−1, with limits of detection and quantification of 0.05 µmol L−1 and 0.16 µmol L−1, respectively. The determination of MePa in real PCP samples was performed using the proposed GC/RC-SbNP sensor by DPV and UV-vis spectrophotometry as comparative methodology. The use of RC-SbNP material for the development of electrochemical sensors brings a fresh approach to low-cost devices for MePa analysis.
ABSTRACT
The demand for gloves (e.g., disposable gloves, medical gloves) is increasing due to the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Stability in the supply chain in the glove industry is important, and thus strategies are used to solve the problem of the shortage of nitrile gloves. The blending of nitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) with polyurethane (PU) and the use of the nanocomposite concept is among the feasible approaches. The present study aims to investigate the effects of nanokaolin (NK) on the tensile and chemical properties of carboxylated nitrile butadiene rubber (NBR)/polyurethane (PU) latex blends. Three different loadings of NK (10, 20, and 30 parts per hundred rubber) were added to the NBR/PU (at a blending ratio of 85/15). The zeta potential showed that all the NBR compounds exhibit good colloidal stability. The incorporation of NK increased the crosslink density and tensile strength of the NBR/PU latex blends. The highest tensile strength was achieved when the NK loading was 20 phr. All the NBR blends and nanocomposites (NBR/PU-based) possess tensile properties that fulfill the requirements for glove application. The chemical resistance of NBR compounds was increased by the incorporation of NK due to the higher crosslink density and barrier properties contributed by the NK. © The Author(s) 2023.
ABSTRACT
Current antiviral therapy research is focused on developing dosage forms that enable highly effective drug delivery, providing a selective effect in the organism, lower risk of adverse effects, a lower dose of active pharmaceutical ingredients, and minimal toxicity. In this article, antiviral drugs and the mechanisms of their action are summarized at the beginning as a prerequisite background to develop relevant drug delivery/carrier systems for them, classified and briefly discussed subsequently. Many of the recent studies aim at different types of synthetic, semisynthetic, and natural polymers serving as a favorable matrix for the antiviral drug carrier. Besides a wider view of different antiviral delivery systems, this review focuses on advances in antiviral drug delivery systems based on chitosan (CS) and derivatized CS carriers. CS and its derivatives are evaluated concerning methods of their preparation, their basic characteristics and properties, approaches to the incorporation of an antiviral drug in the CS polymer as well as CS nanoparticulate systems, and their recent biomedical applications in the context of actual antiviral therapy. The degree of development (i.e., research study, in vitro/ex vivo/in vivo preclinical testing), as well as benefits and limitations of CS polymer and CS nanoparticulate drug delivery systems, are reported for particular viral diseases and corresponding antivirotics.
Subject(s)
Chitosan , Antiviral Agents/pharmacology , Antiviral Agents/therapeutic use , Drug Delivery Systems , Drug Carriers , PolymersABSTRACT
A novel voltammetric platform based on pencil graphite electrode (PGE) modification has been proposed, containing bimetallic (NiFe) Prussian blue analogue nanopolygons decorated with electro-polymerized glyoxal polymer nanocomposites (p-DPG NCs@NiFe PBA Ns/PGE). Cyclic voltammetry (CV), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and square wave voltammetry (SWV) were utilized to investigate the electrochemical performance of the proposed sensor. The analytical response of p-DPG NCs@NiFe PBA Ns/PGE was evaluated through the quantity of amisulpride (AMS), one of the most common antipsychotic drugs. Under the optimized experimental and instrumental conditions, the method showed linearity over the range from 0.5 to 15 × 10-8 mol L-1 with a good correlation coefficient (R = 0.9995) and a low detection limit (LOD) reached, 1.5 nmol L-1, with excellent relative standard deviation for human plasma and urine samples. The interference effect of some potentially interfering substances was negligible, and the sensing platform demonstrated an outstanding reproducibility, stability, and reusability. As a first trial, the proposed electrode aimed to shed light on the AMS oxidation mechanism, where the oxidation mechanism was monitored and elucidated using the FTIR technique. It was also found that the prepared p-DPG NCs@NiFe PBA Ns/PGE platform had promising applications for the simultaneous determination of AMS in the presence of some co-administered COVID-19 drugs, which could be attributed to the large active surface area, and high conductivity of bimetallic nanopolygons.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Graphite , Humans , Electrochemical Techniques/methods , Amisulpride , Polymers/chemistry , Reproducibility of Results , Electrodes , Graphite/chemistryABSTRACT
Poly (vinyl chloride) (PVC) is commonly used to manufacture biomedical devices and hospital components, but it does not present antimicrobial activity enough to prevent biofouling. With the emergence of new microorganisms and viruses, such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that was responsible for the global pandemic caused by Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), it is evident the importance of the development of self-disinfectant PVC for hospital environments and medical clinics where infected people remain for a long time. In this contribution, PVC nanocomposites with silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were prepared in the molten state. AgNPs are well-known as antimicrobial agents suitable for designing antimicrobial polymer nanocomposites. Adding 0.1 to 0.5 wt% AgNPs significantly reduced Young's modulus and ultimate tensile strength of PVC due to the emergence of microstructural defects in the PVC/AgNP nanocomposites, but the impact strength did not change significantly. Furthermore, nanocomposites have a higher yellowness index (YI) and lower optical bandgap values than PVC. The PVC/AgNP nanocomposites present virucidal activity against SARS-CoV-2 (B.1.1.28 strain) within 48 h when the AgNP content is at least 0.3 wt%, suitable for manufacturing furniture and hospital equipment with self-disinfectant capacity to avoid secondary routes of COVID-19 contagion.
ABSTRACT
As the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) poses a grave threat to human life and health, it is essential to develop an efficient and sensitive detection method to identify infected individuals. This study described an electrode platform immunosensor to detect SARS-CoV-2-specific spike receptor-binding domain (RBD) protein based on a bare gold electrode modified with Ag-rGO nanocomposites and the biotin-streptavidin interaction system. The Ag-rGO nanocomposites was obtained by chemical synthesis and characterized by electrochemistry and scanning electron microscope (SEM). Cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) were used to record the electrochemical signals in the electrode modification. The differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) results showed that the limit of detection (LOD) of the immunosensor was 7.2 fg mL-1 and the linear dynamic detection range was 0.015 ~ 158.5 pg mL-1. Furthermore, this sensitive immunosensor accurately detected RBD in artificial saliva with favorable stability, specificity, and reproducibility, indicating that it has the potential to be used as a practical method for the detection of SARS-CoV-2.
ABSTRACT
Hesperidin (HSP) is considered to be the most effective antimicrobial agent against SARS-CoV2 virus. The HSP was loaded onto ZnO nanoparticles that were successfully incorporated, via the hydrothermal method, into polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) for use as food packaging material. The hydrothermal method enabled the bioactive ZnO-HSP to be homogeneously dispersed in the PVA, which significantly increased the thermal stability of the matrix, while decreasing the softening temperature. The water holding capacity and water solubility of the obtained nanocomposites was reduced compared to the PVA. Finally, the ZnO-HSP antimicrobial agent contributed important antibacterial properties to the PVA and increased its antioxidant capacity against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli pathogens. In addition, the nanocomposites had no cytotoxic/proliferative effects on cancer cells. All results showed promise that the PVA/ZnO-HSP nanocomposites would be an excellent alternative for food packaging applications.
ABSTRACT
Nanocomposite gels are novel materials mainly used in the medical field for the control drug release and distribution. In this study, the effect of the concentration of galactomannan/zinc oxide nanocomposite in a polymeric Carbopol matrix to obtain a functional nanocomposite gel was studied. The swelling, thermogravimetric, rheological, and antibacterial properties against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus were evaluated. The results indicate that there is a direct effect between the amount of the employed nanocomposite and the properties studied in the gels. In this regard, we present a formulation that demonstrates that the prepared nanocomposite gel has ideal properties to be used in the medical field as an antibacterial agent.
ABSTRACT
Similar to the pandemic COVID-19 situations, the world has been facing various infections due to innumerable pathogenic microbes in living organisms, which puts many challenges in front of policymakers, scientists, and governments as well. Among the different strategies to control infection-causing agents, the demand to develop biostatic or biocidal coatings is increasing dramatically. In addition, numerous companies have been marketing the various antimicrobial ways for inactivating or reducing infectious microbes. Among the different types of antimicrobial coatings, surface coating is one of the promising strategies to disinfect the surfaces of various objects or tools used in hospitals, homes, etc. In comparison to organic- or polymer-based agents, metal oxide nanocomposites have been emerged as antimicrobial materials because of their overriding advantages such as higher surface area, excellent stability, non-toxicity, reasonable cost, chemical inertness, etc., which leads to higher activity toward the microbes inactivation through reactive oxygen species generation, ease penetration, well integrity, etc. With these objectives, this chapter discusses the metal oxide nanocomposites-based antimicrobial coatings for controlling the microbes observed on the surfaces of objects used in different sectors, such as hospitals, paints, automobiles, food, etc. Accordingly, this chapter describes the basics of nanocomposites, antimicrobial coatings, characterizing composites, biological measurements for antimicrobial coatings used in various fields up to the future perspectives of nanocomposites-based antimicrobial coatings. Therefore, metal oxide nanocomposites-based antimicrobial coatings can be used effectively to control the microbial proliferation of various objects, devices used in common places of high-risk infections. © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
The coronavirus (SARS-CoV2) is a pathogenic virus that has become a pandemic and a threat in almost all countries worldwide. SARS-CoV2 belongs to the Coronaviridae family, with particle sizes varying around 60 nm - 140 nm. Various regulations and prevention have been designed to reduce the impact of Covid-19 by SARS-CoV2. Several technologies and studies have been developed to form nanofiber woven membranes. Cellulose and chitin/chitosan nanofibers have been studied and are known to have nanometer-sized structures smaller than SARS-CoV2. Chitin/chitosan has been investigated to have antiviral properties, especially coronavirus. Modifying nanocellulose and chitin/chitosan to become more positively charged is a strategy to increase the efficiency of virus nanofiltration. Various active agents (nanosilver, nanogold, CuO, etc.) have been known to have antimicrobial (antiviral, antimicrobial) properties used as nanofillers to enhance the performance and effectiveness of nanofibers based masks against SARS-CoV2. © 2022 Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic caused medical workers to reuse medical supplies such as N95 masks. While ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) is commonly used for sterilization, UVGI can also damage the elastomeric components of N95 masks, preventing effective fit and thus weakening filtration efficacy. Although PPE shortage is no longer an acute issue, the development of sterilizable and reusable UV-resistant elastomers remains of high interest from a long-term sustainability and health perspective. Here, graphene nanosheets, produced by scalable and sustainable exfoliation of graphite in ethanol using the polymer ethyl cellulose (EC), are utilized as UV-resistant additives in polyurethane (PU) elastomer composites. By increasing the graphene/EC loading up to 1 wt %, substantial UV protection is imparted by the graphene nanosheets, which strongly absorb UV light and hence suppress photoinduced degradation of the PU matrix. Additionally, graphene/EC provides mechanical reinforcement, such as increasing Young's modulus, elongation at break, and toughness, with negligible changes following UV exposure. These graphene/EC-PU composites remain mechanically robust over at least 150 sterilization cycles, enabling safe reuse following UVGI. Beyond N95 masks, these UVGI-compatible graphene/EC-PU composites have potential utility in other PPE applications to address the broader issue of single-use waste.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Graphite , Humans , Elastomers , Polyurethanes , Ultraviolet Rays , PandemicsABSTRACT
The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has shown that a disposable surgical face mask is a good protective wall against infection due to its ability to prevent virus transmission from sick to healthy people. Nevertheless, these surgical masks are disposable, not ecofriendly, and are single-use items. The use and disposal of traditional masks lead to high secondary risks such as environmental pollution, pathogen transmission, overload demands, and user discomfort. Nanotechnology is one of the most investigated strategies to safely and economically reuse masks in the 21st century. These strategies are based on four key elements as follows: (1) super mechanical properties that give masks flexibility, durability, and good lifetime storage;(2) high thermal properties that give masks heat self-sterilization;(3) an electric charge controller that gives masks triboelectric (TE) filtration;and (4) response to the antimicrobial effect that stays in the mask before, during, and after safe use. These properties give new-generation masks the ability to remove the drawbacks of traditional surgical masks, such as microbial growth and low filtration efficiency. The graphene family has introduced the self-sterilization and TE effects of surgical masks. Silver nanoparticles have supported antimicrobial effects. Nanofiber membranes are fabricated to have a high surface area that improves the fiber diameter and porosity ratio. A traditional mask could only block a maximum of 50% of the exhaled viruses, but a nanofiber-based mask has been tested to intercept 90% to 99% of particle viruses while breathing during use. Complex nanocomposite materials have succeeded in collecting all these advantages.
ABSTRACT
The advancements in nanotechnology and nanomedicine are projected to solve many glitches in medicine, especially in the fields of cancer and infectious diseases, which are ranked in the top five most dangerous deadly diseases worldwide by the WHO. There is great concern to eradicate these problems with accurate diagnosis and therapies. Among many developed therapeutic models, near infra-red mediated phototherapy is a non-invasive technique used to invade many persistent tumors and bacterial infections with less inflammation compared with traditional therapeutic models such as radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and surgeries. Herein, we firstly summarize the up-to-date research on graphene phototheranostics for a better understanding of this field of research. We discuss the preparation and functionalization of graphene nanomaterials with various biocompatible components, such as metals, metal oxides, polymers, photosensitizers, and drugs, through covalent and noncovalent approaches. The multifunctional nanographene is used to diagnose the disease with confocal laser scanning microscopy, magnetic resonance imaging computed tomography, positron emission tomography, photoacoustic imaging, Raman, and ToF-SMIS to visualize inside the biological system for imaging-guided therapy are discussed. Further, treatment of disease by photothermal and photodynamic therapies against different cancers and bacterial infections are carefully conferred herein along with challenges and future perspectives.
Subject(s)
Bacterial Infections , Graphite , Nanocomposites , Neoplasms , Bacterial Infections/diagnostic imaging , Bacterial Infections/therapy , Cell Line, Tumor , Graphite/therapeutic use , Humans , Multimodal Imaging , Nanocomposites/therapeutic use , Neoplasms/drug therapy , Neoplasms/therapy , Phototherapy , Theranostic Nanomedicine/methodsABSTRACT
Due to the worldwide impact of viruses such as SARS-CoV-2, researchers have paid extensive attention to antiviral reagents against viruses. Despite extensive research on two-dimensional (2D) transition metal carbides (MXenes) in the field of biomaterials, their antiviral effects have received little attention. In this work, heparan sulfate analogue (sodium 3-mercapto-1-propanesulfonate, MPS) modified 2D MXene nanocomposites (Ti3C2-Au-MPS) for prevention of viral infection are prepared and investigated using severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pseudovirus and porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) as two model viruses. Ti3C2-Au-MPS nanocomposites are shown to possess antiviral properties in the different stages of PRRSV proliferation, such as direct interaction with PRRS virions and inhibiting their adsorption and penetration in the host cell. Additionally, Ti3C2-Au-MPS nanocomposites can strongly inhibit the infection of SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus as shown by the contents of its reporter gene GFP and luciferase. These results demonstrate the potential broad-spectrum antiviral property of Ti3C2-Au-MPS nanocomposites against viruses with the receptor of heparin sulfate. This work sheds light on the specific antiviral effects of MXene-based nanocomposites against viruses and may facilitate further exploration of their antiviral applications.
ABSTRACT
Bacterial infection is a major threat to public health around the world. Currently, antibiotics remain the most extensive mode of medical treatment for bacterial infection. However, the overuse and misuse of antibiotics have exacerbated the emergence of antibiotic-resistant strains, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, the improper and excessive use of biocides and disinfectants has a catastrophic impact on antibiotic management plans worldwide. Therefore, there is an urgent need for alternative antibacterial treatments to alleviate this crisis. In recent years, nanozymes have become promising new antibacterial agents because of their broad-spectrum antibacterial activity, less drug resistance, and high stability. This review focuses on the classification of nanozymes and research progress of nanozymes as antibacterial agents, as well as perspectives for future research in this field.