Enhanced Inactivation of Pseudoparticles Containing SARS-CoV-2 S Protein Using Magnetic Nanoparticles and an Alternating Magnetic Field.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2's (SARS-CoV-2) rapid global spread has posed a significant threat to human health, and similar outbreaks could occur in the future. Developing effective virus inactivation technologies is critical to preventing and overcoming pandemics. The infection of SARS-CoV-2 depends on the binding of the spike glycoprotein (S) receptor binding domain (RBD) to the host cellular surface receptor angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). If this interaction is disrupted, SARS-CoV-2 infection could be inhibited. Magnetic nanoparticle (MNP) dispersions exposed to an alternating magnetic field (AMF) possess the unique ability for magnetically mediated energy delivery (MagMED); this localized energy delivery and associated mechanical, chemical, and thermal effects are a possible technique for inactivating viruses. This study investigates the MNPs' effect on vesicular stomatitis virus pseudoparticles containing the SARS-CoV-2 S protein when exposed to AMF or a water bath (WB) with varying target steady-state temperatures (45, 50, and 55 °C) for different exposure times (5, 15, and 30 min). In comparison to WB exposures at the same temperatures, AMF exposures resulted in significantly greater inactivation in multiple cases. This is likely due to AMF-induced localized heating and rotation of MNPs. In brief, our findings demonstrate a potential strategy for combating the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic or future ones.

A Machine Learning Approach for Movement Monitoring in Clustered Workplaces to Control COVID-19 Based on Geofencing and Fusion of Wi-Fi and Magnetic Field Metrics.

The ubiquitous existence of COVID-19 has required the management of congested areas such as workplaces. As a result, the use of a variety of inspiring tools to deal with the spread of COVID-19 has been required, including internet of things, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and geofencing technologies. In this work, an efficient approach based on the use of ML and geofencing technology is proposed to monitor and control the density of persons in workplaces during working hours. In particular, the workplace environment is divided into a number of geofences in which each person is associated with a set of geofences that make up their own cluster using a dynamic user-centric clustering scheme. Different metrics are used to generate a unique geofence digital signature (GDS) such as Wi-Fi basic service set identifier, Wi-Fi received signal strength indication, and magnetic field data, which can be collected using the person's smartphone. Then, these metrics are utilized by different ML techniques to generate the GDS for each indoor geofence and each building geofence as well as to detect whether the person is in their cluster. In addition, a Layered-Architecture Geofence Division method is considered to reduce the processing overhead at the person's smartphone. Our experimental results demonstrate that the proposed approach can perform well in a real workplace environment. The results show that the system accuracy is about 98.25% in indoor geofences and 76% in building geofences.

Evaluation of the clinical performance of a magnetic force-assisted electrochemical immunoassay for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 antigens.

Rapid antigen (Ag) tests for the detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) provide quick results, do not require specialized technical skills or infrastructure, and can be used as a point-of-care method to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19). The performance of a magnetic force-assisted electrochemical immunoassay-based test, namely the MARK-B COVID-19 Ag test (BBB, Sungnam, Republic of Korea), was evaluated using 170 nasopharyngeal swab specimens and compared to that of RT-PCR and commercial rapid Ag test (STANDARD Q COVID-19 Ag Test, SD Biosensor, Suwon-si, Republic of Korea). The overall sensitivity and specificity of the MARK-B test were 90.0% (95% CI 79.4%-96.2%) and 99.0% (95% CI 95.0%-99.9%), respectively, with a kappa coefficient of 0.908. The correlations between the electrical current values of MARK-B and the Ct values of RT-PCR were -0.898 (E gene, 95% CI -0.938 to -0.834) and -0.914 (RdRp gene, 95% CI -0.948 to -0.860), respectively. The limit of detection of the MARK-B was measured using the viral culture reference samples and found to be 1 x 102 pfu/mL. The magnetic force-assisted electrochemical immunoassay-based Ag test can be used to rapidly detect SARS-CoV-2 infections, and the corresponding fully automated portable device can provide easy readability and semi-quantitative results.

Infusion of HLA-matched and static magnetic field-exposed allogenic lymphocytes treating lymphocytopenia and cytokine storm syndrome: A treatment proposal for COVID-19 patients.

Among haematological parameters of patients seriously ill with the coronavirus infectious disease 2019 (COVID-19), leucocytosis, lymphocytopenia, and the abnormal release of circulating cytokines, termed cytokine storm syndrome (CSS, also known as cytokine release syndrome or CRS), were found associated with disease severity. In particular, according to the serum cytokine profiling, pro-inflammatory interleukin 6 (IL-6) and anti-inflammatory interleukin 10 (IL-10) were observed to be considerably higher in patients experiencing respiratory distress, septic shock and/or multi-organ failure, namely "critical cases" requiring intensive care unit (ICU) admission, very often resulting in death. Interestingly, the production of these cytokines from human lymphocytes was found to be modulated by exposure of 24 h to a 554.2-553.8 mT inhomogeneous static magnetic field (SMF), which elicits IL-10 and suppresses IL-6. Thus, herein, with the aim of restoring lymphocyte count and physiological serum levels of IL-6 and IL-10, the infusion of human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-matched and SMF-exposed allogenic lymphocytes is proposed for the first time as an easy and affordable treatment option for COVID-19 patients. Even if the count of lymphocytes in COVID-19 patients is very low, SMF exposure may be a valuable tool for reprogramming autologous lymphocytes towards physiological conditions. Furthermore, the same procedure could be extended to include the whole autologous or allogenic white blood cells (WBCs). Time-varying/pulsed magnetic fields exerting comparable cell effects could also be employed.

Social Distance Monitor with a Wearable Magnetic Field Proximity Sensor.

Social distancing and contact/exposure tracing are accepted to be critical strategies in the fight against the COVID-19 epidemic. They are both closely connected to the ability to reliably establish the degree of proximity between people in real-world environments. We proposed, implemented, and evaluated a wearable proximity sensing system based on an oscillating magnetic field that overcomes many of the weaknesses of the current state of the art Bluetooth based proximity detection. In this paper, we first described the underlying physical principle, proposed a protocol for the identification and coordination of the transmitter (which is compatible with the current smartphone-based exposure tracing protocols). Subsequently, the system architecture and implementation were described, finally an elaborate characterization and evaluation of the performance (both in systematic lab experiments and in real-world settings) were performed. Our work demonstrated that the proposed system is much more reliable than the widely-used Bluetooth-based approach, particularly when it comes to distinguishing between distances above and below the 2.0 m threshold due to the magnetic field's physical properties.