Recent development in antiviral surfaces: Impact of topography and environmental conditions.

The transmission of viruses is largely dependent on contact with contaminated virus-laden communal surfaces. While frequent surface disinfection and antiviral coating techniques are put forth by researchers as a plan of action to tackle transmission in dire situations like the Covid-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 virus, these procedures are often laborious, time-consuming, cost-intensive, and toxic. Hence, surface topography-mediated antiviral surfaces have been gaining more attention in recent times. Although bioinspired hydrophobic antibacterial nanopatterned surfaces mimicking the natural sources is a very prevalent and successful strategy, the antiviral prospect of these surfaces is yet to be explored. Few recent studies have explored the potential of nanopatterned antiviral surfaces. In this review, we highlighted surface properties that have an impact on virus attachment and persistence, particularly focusing and emphasizing on the prospect of the nanotextured surface with enhanced properties to be used as antiviral surface. In addition, recent developments in surface nanopatterning techniques depending on the nano-scaled dimensions have been discussed. The impacts of environments and surface topology on virus inactivation have also been reviewed.

Analytical and biomedical applications of microfluidics in traditional Chinese medicine research

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has significant benefits in the prevention and treatment of diseases due to its unique theoretical system and research techniques. However, there are still key issues to be resolved in the full interpretation and use of TCM, such as vague active compounds and mechanism of action. Therefore, it is promising to promote the research on TCM through innovative strategies and advanced cutting-edge technologies. Microfluidic chips have provided controllable unique platforms for biomedical applications in TCM research with flexible composition and large-scale integration. In this review, the analysis and biomedical applications of microfluidics in the field of TCM are highlighted, including quality control of Chinese herbal medicines (CHMs), delivery of CHMs, evaluation of pharmacological activity as well as disease diagnosis. Finally, potential challenges and prospects of existing microfluidic technologies in the inheritance and innovation of TCM are discussed.Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V.

High sensitivity and selectivity vertically-oriented silicon nanowire array-based bioelectronic sensor platform

Silicon nanowires are next-generation high performance biosensor materials compatible with multiple types of biomolecules. Bioelectronic sensors, which output electrical signals for biological detection, have unique advantages in miniaturization, fast response, and portability. Despite that these nanomaterials have demonstrated high performance, complex fabrication methods that are not compatible with industrial production are usually implemented. This work deals with the development, fabrication, and testing of a rapid and cost-effective silicon nanowire biosensor that is less than one inch in width and suited for industrial mass production. The silicon nanowires are fabricated using a silver-assisted chemical etching which can be mass-producible and CMOS-compatible, tunable etch rate, and high consistency. The nanowire sensor is then fabricated using a series of nanofabrication instruments that are commonly used for semiconductor processing. The fabrication process is developed and modified to be suited for biosensing applications, and the scanning electron microscopy demonstrates that the fabricated sensor has etched vertical silicon nanowire arrays of around 350 nm in length and 1010 per 1 cm2 in density.The fabricated vertically-oriented silicon nanowire array-based sensor consists of a p-n diode. Since the diode type nanowire biosensors have not been thoroughly implemented and studied, in this work, in order to simulate and validate the operation mechanisms of the proposed biosensor, an operation protocol is proposed to characterize the sensor by measuring its current as a function of the applied voltage and calculating the derivative the current-voltage function. Then the mathematical and physical models of the device are studied, and a water-gate experiment is conducted to justify the models. In the case when the unexpected disturbance occurs, the model also provides with a method to eliminate the noise in the effective resistance of the sensor.The fabricated biosensors are then functionalized for the testing of three types of analytes including two cancer cell antibodies and the spike protein of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The results show that the developed sensors have high sensitivity and specificity against bovine serum albumin. Although still with a preliminary design, the proposed sensor has already been demonstrated to be able to detect clinically relevant concentrations of the target for the diagnosis of the disease. This technology offers the potential to complement conventional biosensor systems in applications of portable and rapid responding biosensing. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Surgical staples: Current state-of-the-art and future prospective

Wound closing is one of the widely performed and prominent clinical practices in the surgical intervention process. A physician or surgeon has several options ranging from surgical sutures and adhesive strips to fibrin glue for effective wound closure to close the commonly occurring surgical cuts and deep skin tissue injuries. However, all the commercially available wound closure devices have some limitations in each and another perspective. From the beginning of the late 90s, surgical staples got tremendous attention as efficient wound closure devices for their time-effective and sufficient mechanical strength, performance feasibility, fewer chances of surgical site infection and require minimal expertise characteristics in consideration of remote location. Even in the context of the recent COVID19 pandemic, the clinical acceptance and patient compliance for the staples have increased due to minimizing the chances of prolonged interaction between the patient and physicians. The surgical staples application is extensive and diversified, ranging from common external cuts to highly complex surgery procedures like laparoscopic appendectomy, intestinal anastomosis, etc. Thus, in this literature review, we try to give a comprehensive glimpse of the development and current state-of-the-art surgical staples in consideration with research from a commercial point of view. On a special note, this review also describes a very brief outline of the regulatory aspects and some common internationally acceptable 'de jure standards for the development of commercially viable surgical staples. Copyright © 2022 The Author(s)

Assessment of bauxite residue as secondary resource for rare earth metal and valorization challenges: A perspective

Bauxite residue (BR), simultaneously an environmental challenge as well as known to be a secondary resource for resources various valuable metals like Ti, V, Ga, and rare earth metal (REM). Lack of understanding and technology detects BR to be stockpiled which is counterproductive considering the environment, land scarcity, and management of BR inventories. As BR remains unexploited, significant amounts of REMs in BR remain unlocked, which are critical metals from green energy, environmental sustainability, and supply chain bottleneck perspective. Our current investigation analyses the potential of BR as secondary resources and quantity and worth of REM being remains unlocked. The quantitative content of global bauxite, alumina, and BR production during the last 5 decades have been analyzed. Also, plausible BR generation in the next 3 decades has been estimated. Considering the content of REM in BR amount of REM either stockpiled or to be stockpiled along with BR has been analyzed. Our study indicated about 9.14 million tons of REM remain locked in the stockpiled BR, 31.24 million tons of REM remain locked in the bauxite reserve. The worth of worldwide REM oxide remains unexploited in bauxite reserves and locked in stockpiled BR could be approximately $5000 billion, potentially can meet current and project demand of REM abundantly.

High sensitivity and selectivity vertically-oriented silicon nanowire array-based bioelectronic sensor platform

Silicon nanowires are next-generation high performance biosensor materials compatible with multiple types of biomolecules. Bioelectronic sensors, which output electrical signals for biological detection, have unique advantages in miniaturization, fast response, and portability. Despite that these nanomaterials have demonstrated high performance, complex fabrication methods that are not compatible with industrial production are usually implemented. This work deals with the development, fabrication, and testing of a rapid and cost-effective silicon nanowire biosensor that is less than one inch in width and suited for industrial mass production. The silicon nanowires are fabricated using a silver-assisted chemical etching which can be mass-producible and CMOS-compatible, tunable etch rate, and high consistency. The nanowire sensor is then fabricated using a series of nanofabrication instruments that are commonly used for semiconductor processing. The fabrication process is developed and modified to be suited for biosensing applications, and the scanning electron microscopy demonstrates that the fabricated sensor has etched vertical silicon nanowire arrays of around 350 nm in length and 1010 per 1 cm2 in density.The fabricated vertically-oriented silicon nanowire array-based sensor consists of a p-n diode. Since the diode type nanowire biosensors have not been thoroughly implemented and studied, in this work, in order to simulate and validate the operation mechanisms of the proposed biosensor, an operation protocol is proposed to characterize the sensor by measuring its current as a function of the applied voltage and calculating the derivative the current-voltage function. Then the mathematical and physical models of the device are studied, and a water-gate experiment is conducted to justify the models. In the case when the unexpected disturbance occurs, the model also provides with a method to eliminate the noise in the effective resistance of the sensor.The fabricated biosensors are then functionalized for the testing of three types of analytes including two cancer cell antibodies and the spike protein of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The results show that the developed sensors have high sensitivity and specificity against bovine serum albumin. Although still with a preliminary design, the proposed sensor has already been demonstrated to be able to detect clinically relevant concentrations of the target for the diagnosis of the disease. This technology offers the potential to complement conventional biosensor systems in applications of portable and rapid responding biosensing. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Microfluidic devices for the detection of viruses: aspects of emergency fabrication during the COVID-19 pandemic and other outbreaks.

Extensive testing of populations against COVID-19 has been suggested as a game-changer quest to control the spread of this contagious disease and to avoid further disruption in our social, healthcare and economical systems. Nonetheless, testing millions of people for a new virus brings about quite a few challenges. The development of effective tests for the new coronavirus has become a worldwide task that relies on recent discoveries and lessons learned from past outbreaks. In this work, we review the most recent publications on microfluidics devices for the detection of viruses. The topics of discussion include different detection approaches, methods of signalling and fabrication techniques. Besides the miniaturization of traditional benchtop detection assays, approaches such as electrochemical analyses, field-effect transistors and resistive pulse sensors are considered. For emergency fabrication of quick test kits, the local capabilities must be evaluated, and the joint work of universities, industries, and governments seems to be an unequivocal necessity.