Effect of Relative Humidity on Transfer of Aerosol-Deposited Artificial and Human Saliva from Surfaces to Artificial Finger-Pads.

Surface to hand transfer of viruses represents a potential mechanism for human exposure. An experimental process for evaluating the touch transfer of aerosol-deposited material is described based on controlling surface, tribological, and soft matter components of the transfer process. A range of high-touch surfaces were evaluated. Under standardized touch parameters (15 N, 1 s), relative humidity (RH) of the atmosphere around the contact transfer event significantly influenced transfer of material to the finger-pad. At RH < 40%, transfer from all surfaces was <10%. Transfer efficiency increased markedly as RH increased, reaching a maximum of approximately 50%. The quantity of material transferred at specific RHs above 40% was also dependent on roughness of the surface material and the properties of the aerosol-deposited material. Smooth surfaces, such as melamine and stainless steel, generated higher transfer efficiencies compared to those with textured roughness, such as ABS pinseal and KYDEX® plastics. Pooled human saliva was transferred at a lower rate compared to artificial saliva, indicating the role of rheological properties. The artificial saliva data were modeled by non-linear regression and the impact of environmental humidity and temperature were evaluated within a Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment model using SARS-CoV-2 as an example. This illustrated that the trade-off between transfer efficiency and virus survival may lead to the highest risks of fomite transmissions in indoor environments with higher humidity.

Sharing Our Journey: Implementing a Multicounty Substance Use Prevention Program in Area Schools.

The purpose of this article is to describe an interprofessional, evidence-based, nurse-led, substance use prevention program implemented in local and surrounding county school settings by university nursing and other health science students and to explore these students' perceptions of their training and implementation of the program. This program was developed from a community assessment revealing the rise of adolescent substance use and the need for ongoing substance use prevention. This program's journey encompasses a 4-year period with feedback from students in four university departments (nursing, psychological and brain sciences, public health, and social work) who learned and implemented the Say It Straight program targeting elementary and middle school-aged children. This program was taught over six weeks, with 45-minute lessons per week. Feedback collected over the period of the program reveals what is felt to be the most useful parts of the training, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the model implementation. School nurses are child advocates and often serve as leaders in developing health policies and programs in the school setting. This nurse-led, interprofessional, health promotion project can be viewed as a model for school nurses in establishing university partnerships to address community health needs.

Investigative study into whether an insect repellent has virucidal activity against SARS-CoV-2.

A small-scale study with Mosi-guard Natural spray, an insect repellent containing Citriodiol, was performed to determine if it has virucidal activity against SARS-CoV-2. A liquid test examined the activity of the insect repellent and the individual components for virucidal activity. A surface contact test looked at the activity of the insect repellent when impregnated on a latex surface as a synthetic skin for potential topical prophylactic application. Both Mosi-guard Natural spray and Citriodiol, as well as other components of the repellent, had virucidal activity in the liquid contact test. On a latex surface used to simulate treated skin, the titre of SARS-CoV-2 was less over time on the Mosi-guard Natural-treated surface but virus was still recovered.

Tripodal molecules for the promotion of phosphoester hydrolysis.

A series of low molecular weight tripodal amide/histidine-containing compounds (1-2) have been synthesised and shown to increase the rate of bis-(p-nitrophenyl) phosphate (BNPP) and soman (GD) breakdown in buffered aqueous solution.