Manufacture and Characterization of Alginate-CMC-Dextran Hybrid Double Layer Superabsorbent Scaffolds

This study focused on the manufacturing of functional superabsorbent sponges using natural polymers. An alginate/CMC-embedded dextran hybrid dual-layer formulation was prepared using the freeze-drying method. The physical properties of the formulation were characterized using a field emission scanning electron microscope and a universal testing machine, and the swelling ratio was calculated. Cell viability assays were performed using keratinocytes (HaCaT cells). The results showed that this formulation can absorb a large amount of moisture and provide morphological stability through its tensile strength and uniform porosity, and this was verified by its biocompatibility. We believe that in the future, by combining this novel hybrid dual-layer superabsorbent sponge with antibacterial agents with excellent porosity, it would serve as a medical material for producing bandages that can absorb blood and body fluids, feminine hygiene products, and functional antibacterial masks.

BmK86-P1, a New Degradation Peptide with Desirable Thermostability and Kv1.2 Channel-Specific Activity from Traditional Chinese Scorpion Medicinal Material

Thermally processed Buthus martensii Karsch scorpions are a traditional Chinese medical material for treating various diseases. However, their pharmacological foundation remains unclear. Here, a new degraded peptide of scorpion toxin was identified in Chinese scorpion medicinal material by proteomics. It was named BmK86-P1 and has six conserved cysteine residues. Homology modeling and circular dichroism spectra experiments revealed that BmK86-P1 not only contained representative disulfide bond-stabilized α-helical and β-sheet motifs but also showed remarkable stability at test temperatures from 20–95 °C. Electrophysiology experiments indicated that BmK86-P1 was a highly potent and selective inhibitor of the hKv1.2 channel with IC50 values of 28.5 ± 6.3 nM. Structural and functional dissection revealed that two residues of BmK86-P1 (i.e., Lys19 and Ile21) were the key residues that interacted with the hKv1.2 channel. In addition, channel chimeras and mutagenesis experiments revealed that three amino acids (i.e., Gln357, Val381 and Thr383) of the hKv1.2 channel were responsible for BmK86-P1 selectivity. This research uncovered a new bioactive peptide from traditional Chinese scorpion medicinal material that has desirable thermostability and Kv1.2 channel-specific activity, which strongly suggests that thermally processed scorpions are novel peptide resources for new drug discovery for the Kv1.2 channel-related ataxia and epilepsy diseases.

Agro-Industrial Avocado (Persea americana) Waste Biorefinery

Significant problems have arisen in the last years, such as climate change, global warming, and hunger. These complications are correlated with the depletion and exploitation of natural resources and environmental contamination. Due to overcrowding, the list of challenges for the next few years is growing. A comprehensive approach was made to the agro-industrial production of Avocado (Persea americana) and the management of all its biomass waste. So, bioprocesses and biorefinery can be used to produce high added-value products. A large number of residues are composed of lignin and cellulose. They have many potentials to be exploited sustainably for chemical and biological conversion; physical, chemical, and natural treatments improve the following operations. There are some applications to many fields such as pharmaceutical, medical, material engineering, and environmental remediation. Possible pathways are mentioned to take advantage of Avocado as biofuels, drugs, bioplastics, and even in the environmental part and emerging technologies such as nanotechnology using bioprocesses and biotech. In conclusion, Avocado and its waste could be transformed into high value-added products in industries above to mitigate global warming and save non-renewable energy.

Optimization on Medical Material Distribution Management System Based on Artificial Intelligence Robot

The traditional medical material distribution management system method lacks systematic analysis and relies heavily on the subjective judgment of related operators, and it is easy to cause excessive or too little inventory, which leads to waste of operating costs. This study builds on a dedicated system for artificial intelligence robot logistics and aims to minimize the total cost of medical material ordering and distribution operations. In addition, in view of the constraints in the actual operation of the hospital, this study uses the concept of the spatiotemporal network to construct an ordering and distribution scheduling planning model of single material certainty, single material stochastic, and multiple material stochastic to help the hospital make optimal decisions and ensure the hospital's continuous and stable operation. In addition, after building the system, this study designs experiments to analyze the performance of this study system. The research shows that the model constructed in this paper has a certain effect and can provide a reference for the follow-up medical material distribution management system.

A Novel Combinatorial Shield Design for Eye and Face Protection in COVID-19

The World Health Organization emphasized the importance of goggles and face shields for protection of medical personnel at the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Unsurprisingly, almost all countries suffered from a critical supply shortage of goggles and face shields, as well as many other types of personal protective equipment (PPE), for a long period, owing to the lack of key medical material supplies and the inefficiency of existing fabrication methods arising from the need to avoid crowds during the outbreak of COVID-19. In this context, we propose a novel combined shield design for eye and face protection that can be rapidly fabricated using three-dimensional printing technology. The designed prototype eye–face shield is accessible to the general public , offering more possibilities for yield improvement in PPE during emergent infectious disease events such as COVID-19.

Improving the Predictive Value of Prion Inactivation Validation Methods to Minimize the Risks of Iatrogenic Transmission With Medical Instruments

Prions are pathogenic infectious agents responsible for fatal, incurable neurodegenerative diseases in animals and humans. Prions are composed exclusively of an aggregated and misfolded form (PrPSc) of the cellular prion protein (PrPC). During the propagation of the disease, PrPSc recruits and misfolds PrPC into further PrPSc. In human, iatrogenic prion transmission has occurred with incompletely sterilized medical material because of the unusual resistance of prions to inactivation. Most commercial prion disinfectants validated against the historical, well-characterized laboratory strain of 263K hamster prions were recently shown to be ineffective against variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease human prions. These observations and previous reports support the view that any inactivation method must be validated against the prions for which they are intended to be used. Strain-specific variations in PrPSc physico-chemical properties and conformation are likely to explain the strain-specific efficacy of inactivation methods. Animal bioassays have long been used as gold standards to validate prion inactivation methods, by measuring reduction of prion infectivity. Cell-free assays such as the real-time quaking-induced conversion (RT-QuIC) assay and the protein misfolding cyclic amplification (PMCA) assay have emerged as attractive alternatives. They exploit the seeding capacities of PrPSc to exponentially amplify minute amounts of prions in biospecimens. European and certain national medicine agencies recently implemented their guidelines for prion inactivation of non-disposable medical material; they encourage or request the use of human prions and cell-free assays to improve the predictive value of the validation methods. In this review, we discuss the methodological and technical issues regarding the choice of (i) the cell-free assay, (ii) the human prion strain type, (iii) the prion-containing biological material. We also introduce a new optimized substrate for high-throughput PMCA amplification of human prions bound on steel wires, as translational model for prion-contaminated instruments.