scholarly journals UV-A and UV-B Can Neutralize SARS-CoV-2 Infectivity

Author(s):  
Mara Biasin ◽  
Sergio Strizzi ◽  
Andrea Bianco ◽  
Alberto Macchi ◽  
Olga Utyro ◽  
...  

We performed an in-depth analysis of the virucidal effect of discrete wavelengths: UV-C (278 nm), UV-B (308 nm), UV-A (366 nm) and violet (405 nm) on SARS-CoV-2. By using a highly infectious titer of SARS-CoV-2 we observed that the violet light-dose resulting in a 2-log viral inactivation is only 10-4 times less efficient than UV-C light. Moreover, by qPCR and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) approach we verified that the viral titer typically found in the sputum of COVID-19 patients can be completely inactivated by the long UV-wavelengths corresponding to UV- A and UV-B solar irradiation. The comparison of the UV action spectrum on SARS-CoV-2 to previous results obtained on other pathogens suggests that RNA viruses might be particularly sensitive to long UV wavelengths. Our data extend previous results showing that SARS-CoV-2 is highly susceptible to UV light and offer an explanation to the reduced incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection seen in the summer season.

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alisha Geldert ◽  
Alison Su ◽  
Allison W. Roberts ◽  
Guillaume Golovkine ◽  
Samantha M. Grist ◽  
...  

AbstractDuring public health crises like the COVID-19 pandemic, ultraviolet-C (UV-C) decontamination of N95 respirators for emergency reuse has been implemented to mitigate shortages. Pathogen photoinactivation efficacy depends critically on UV-C dose, which is distance- and angle-dependent and thus varies substantially across N95 surfaces within a decontamination system. Due to nonuniform and system-dependent UV-C dose distributions, characterizing UV-C dose and resulting pathogen inactivation with sufficient spatial resolution on-N95 is key to designing and validating UV-C decontamination protocols. However, robust quantification of UV-C dose across N95 facepieces presents challenges, as few UV-C measurement tools have sufficient (1) small, flexible form factor, and (2) angular response. To address this gap, we combine optical modeling and quantitative photochromic indicator (PCI) dosimetry with viral inactivation assays to generate high-resolution maps of “on-N95” UV-C dose and concomitant SARS-CoV-2 viral inactivation across N95 facepieces within a commercial decontamination chamber. Using modeling to rapidly identify on-N95 locations of interest, in-situ measurements report a 17.4 ± 5.0-fold dose difference across N95 facepieces in the chamber, yielding 2.9 ± 0.2-log variation in SARS-CoV-2 inactivation. UV-C dose at several on-N95 locations was lower than the lowest-dose locations on the chamber floor, highlighting the importance of on-N95 dose validation. Overall, we integrate optical simulation with in-situ PCI dosimetry to relate UV-C dose and viral inactivation at specific on-N95 locations, establishing a versatile approach to characterize UV-C photoinactivation of pathogens contaminating complex substrates such as N95s.


Sensors ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (24) ◽  
pp. 5534
Author(s):  
Yolène Sacchettini ◽  
Jean-Pierre Carrère ◽  
Romain Duru ◽  
Jean-Pierre Oddou ◽  
Vincent Goiffon ◽  
...  

Plasma processes are known to be prone to inducing damage by charging effects. For CMOS image sensors, this can lead to dark current degradation both in value and uniformity. An in-depth analysis, motivated by the different degrading behavior of two different plasma processes, has been performed in order to determine the degradation mechanisms associated with one plasma process. It is based on in situ plasma-induced charge characterization techniques for various dielectric stack structures (dielectric nature and stack configuration). A degradation mechanism is proposed, highlighting the role of ultraviolet (UV) light from the plasma in creating an electron hole which induces positive charges in the nitride layer at the wafer center, and negative ones at the edge. The trapped charges de-passivate the SiO2/Si interface by inducing a depleted interface above the photodiode, thus emphasizing the generation of dark current. A good correlation between the spatial distribution of the total charges and the value of dark current has been observed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabrizio Nicastro ◽  
Giorgia Sironi ◽  
Elio Antonello ◽  
Andrea Bianco ◽  
Mara Biasin ◽  
...  

AbstractSolar UV-C photons do not reach Earth’s surface, but are known to be endowed with germicidal properties that are also effective on viruses. The effect of softer UV-B and UV-A photons, which copiously reach the Earth’s surface, on viruses are instead little studied, particularly on single-stranded RNA viruses. Here we combine our measurements of the action spectrum of Covid-19 in response to UV light, Solar irradiation measurements on Earth during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemics, worldwide recorded Covid-19 mortality data and our “Solar-Pump” diffusive model of epidemics to show that (a) UV-B/A photons have a powerful virucidal effect on the single-stranded RNA virus Covid-19 and that (b) the Solar radiation that reaches temperate regions of the Earth at noon during summers, is sufficient to inactivate 63% of virions in open-space concentrations (1.5 × 103 TCID50/mL, higher than typical aerosol) in less than 2 min. We conclude that the characteristic seasonality imprint displayed world-wide by the SARS-Cov-2 mortality time-series throughout the diffusion of the outbreak (with temperate regions showing clear seasonal trends and equatorial regions suffering, on average, a systematically lower mortality), might have been efficiently set by the different intensity of UV-B/A Solar radiation hitting different Earth’s locations at different times of the year. Our results suggest that Solar UV-B/A play an important role in planning strategies of confinement of the epidemics, which should be worked out and set up during spring/summer months and fully implemented during low-solar-irradiation periods.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alisha Geldert ◽  
Alison Su ◽  
Allison W. Roberts ◽  
Guillaume Golovkine ◽  
Samantha M. Grist ◽  
...  

AbstractDuring public health crises like the COVID-19 pandemic, ultraviolet-C (UV-C) decontamination of N95 respirators for emergency reuse has been implemented to mitigate shortages. However, decontamination efficacy across N95s is poorly understood, due to the dependence on received UV-C dose, which varies across the complex three-dimensional N95 shape. Robust quantification of UV-C dose across N95 facepieces presents challenges, as few UV-C measurement tools have sufficient 1) small, flexible form factor, and 2) angular response. To address this gap, we combine optical modeling and quantitative photochromic indicator (PCI) dosimetry with viral inactivation assays to generate high-resolution maps of “on-N95” UV-C dose and concomitant SARS-CoV-2 viral inactivation across N95 facepieces within a commercial decontamination chamber. Using modeling to rapidly identify on-N95 locations of interest, in-situ measurements report a 17.4 ± 5.0-fold dose difference across N95 facepieces, yielding 2.9 ± 0.2-log variation in SARS-CoV-2 inactivation. UV-C dose at several on-N95 locations was lower than the lowest-dose locations on the chamber floor, highlighting the importance of on-N95 dose validation. Overall, we couple optical simulation with in-situ PCI dosimetry to relate UV-C dose and viral inactivation at specific


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elaine A. Kelly ◽  
Judith E. Houston ◽  
Rachel Evans

Understanding the dynamic self-assembly behaviour of azobenzene photosurfactants (AzoPS) is crucial to advance their use in controlled release applications such as<i></i>drug delivery and micellar catalysis. Currently, their behaviour in the equilibrium <i>cis-</i>and <i>trans</i>-photostationary states is more widely understood than during the photoisomerisation process itself. Here, we investigate the time-dependent self-assembly of the different photoisomers of a model neutral AzoPS, <a>tetraethylene glycol mono(4′,4-octyloxy,octyl-azobenzene) </a>(C<sub>8</sub>AzoOC<sub>8</sub>E<sub>4</sub>) using small-angle neutron scattering (SANS). We show that the incorporation of <i>in-situ</i>UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy with SANS allows the scattering profile, and hence micelle shape, to be correlated with the extent of photoisomerisation in real-time. It was observed that C<sub>8</sub>AzoOC<sub>8</sub>E<sub>4</sub>could switch between wormlike micelles (<i>trans</i>native state) and fractal aggregates (under UV light), with changes in the self-assembled structure arising concurrently with changes in the absorption spectrum. Wormlike micelles could be recovered within 60 seconds of blue light illumination. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time the degree of AzoPS photoisomerisation has been tracked <i>in</i><i>-situ</i>through combined UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy-SANS measurements. This technique could be widely used to gain mechanistic and kinetic insights into light-dependent processes that are reliant on self-assembly.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 403-411
Author(s):  
Youliang Cheng ◽  
Mingjie Wang ◽  
Changqing Fang ◽  
Ying Wei ◽  
Jing Chen ◽  
...  

Abstract To change the optical properties and improve the antibacterial performances of carbon quantum dots (CQDs) and Ag NPs, mesoporous SiO2 spheres were combined with them to form the composites. In this paper, CQDs with a uniform size of about 3.74 nm were synthesized using glucose as carbon source. Then, CQDs/mesoporous SiO2/Ag NPs composites were obtained in situ under UV light irradiating by using mesoporous SiO2 and Ag NO3 as the carrier and silver resource, respectively. The diameter of CQDs/mesoporous SiO2/Ag NPs particles was in the range of 200–250 nm. With the increase in irradiating time, the red-shift in the UV-Vis spectrum for as-prepared CQDs/mesoporous SiO2/Ag NPs composites was found, and the adsorption peak was widened. In addition, the composites showed a high antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli via disc diffusion method. These results indicated that inhibition circles for Ag NPs/mesoporous SiO2/CQDs and mesoporous SiO2/Ag NPs were similar in diameter. Furthermore, the two composites had a better bactericidal performance compared with other particles. Therefore, as-prepared CQDs/mesoporous SiO2/Ag NPs composites in this paper have great potential applications for fluorescent materials and antibacterial materials.


2019 ◽  
Vol 82 (11) ◽  
pp. 1896-1900
Author(s):  
A. M. JONES-IBARRA ◽  
C. Z. ALVARADO ◽  
CRAIG D. COUFAL ◽  
T. MATTHEW TAYLOR

ABSTRACT Chicken carcass frames are used to obtain mechanically separated chicken (MSC) for use in other further processed food products. Previous foodborne disease outbreaks involving Salmonella-contaminated MSC have demonstrated the potential for the human pathogen to be transmitted to consumers via MSC. The current study evaluated the efficacy of multiple treatments applied to the surfaces of chicken carcass frames to reduce microbial loads on noninoculated frames and frames inoculated with a cocktail of Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis and Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium. Inoculated or noninoculated frames were left untreated (control) or were subjected to treatment using a prototype sanitization apparatus. Treatments consisted of (i) a sterile water rinse, (ii) a water rinse followed by 5 s of UV-C light application, or (iii) an advanced oxidation process (AOP) combining 5 or 7% (v/v) hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) with UV-C light. Treatment with 7% H2O2 and UV-C light reduced numbers of aerobic bacteria by up to 1.5 log CFU per frame (P &lt; 0.05); reductions in aerobic bacteria subjected to other treatments did not statistically differ from one another (initial mean load on nontreated frames: 3.6 ± 0.1 log CFU per frame). Salmonella numbers (mean load on inoculated, nontreated control was 5.6 ± 0.2 log CFU per frame) were maximally reduced by AOP application in comparison with other treatments. No difference in Salmonella reductions obtained by 5% H2O2 (1.1 log CFU per frame) was detected compared with that obtained following 7% H2O2 use (1.0 log CFU per frame). The AOP treatment for sanitization of chicken carcass frames reduces microbial contamination on chicken carcass frames that are subsequently used for manufacture of MSC.


Solar Energy ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 120 ◽  
pp. 603-619 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Pillot ◽  
Marc Muselli ◽  
Philippe Poggi ◽  
João Batista Dias

1989 ◽  
Vol 44 (10) ◽  
pp. 877-882 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Fechtig

Abstract Properties of cometary dust particles are better known since the space missions to Comet Halley. Their properties (densities, atomic composition) are compared with relevant observations from lunar microcraters and in-situ experiments. At 1 AU in the eliptic, 2/3 of the dust grains are normal density particles, presumably of asteroidal origin and irregularly shaped, while the remaining 1/3 are low density particles, presumably of cometary origin, but due to solar irradiation in a processed state (corresponding to “Brownlee”-particles). Beyond the asteroidal belt only black cometary dust grains are observed which have recently been released from comet nuclei orbiting on highly eccentric trajectories.


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