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The removal of oil from solid surfaces, such as textiles and plates, remains a challenge due to the strong binding affinity of the oil. Conventional methods for surface cleaning often require surfactants and mechanical abrasion to enhance the cleaning process. However, in excess, these can pose adverse effects on the environment and to the material. This study investigated how bulk nanobubble water can clean oil microdroplets deposited on surfaces like glass coverslips and dishes. Microscopy imaging and further image analysis clearly revealed that these microdroplets detached from both hydrophobic and hydrophilic surfaces when washed with bulk nanobubble water within a fluidic microchannel. Oil contaminant cleaning was also conducted in water as mobile phase to mimic the circumstances that occur in a dishwasher and washing machine. Cleaning on a larger scale also proved very successful in the removal of oil from a porcelain bowl. These results indicate that nanobubble water can easily remove oil contaminants from glass and porcelain surfaces without the assistance of surfactants. This is in stark contrast to negligible results obtained with a control solution without nanobubbles. This study indicates that nanobubble technology is an innovative, low-cost, eco-friendly approach for oil removal, demonstrating its potential for broad practical applications.
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The fourth wave of the United States overdose crisis-driven by the polysubstance use of fentanyl with stimulants and other synthetic substances-has driven sharply escalating racial/ethnic inequalities in drug overdose death rates. Here the authors present a detailed portrait of the latest overdose trends and synthesize the literature to describe where, how, and why these inequalities are worsening. By 2022 overdose deaths among Native and Black Americans rose to 1.8 and 1.4 times the rate seen among White Americans, respectively. This reflects that Black and Native Americans have been disproportionately affected by fentanyl and the combination of fentanyl and stimulants at the national level and in virtually every state. The highest overdose deaths rates are currently seen among Black Americans 55-64 years of age as well as younger cohorts of Native Americans 25-44 years of age. In 2022-the latest year of data available-deaths among White Americans decreased relative to 2021, whereas rates among all other groups assessed continued to rise. Moving forward, Fundamental Cause Theory shows us a relevant universal truth of implementation science: in socially unequal societies, new technologies typically end up favoring more privileged groups first, thereby widening inequalities unless underlying social inequalities are addressed. Therefore, interventions designed to reduce addiction and overdose death rates that are not explicitly designed to also improve racial/ethnic inequalities will often unintentionally end up worsening them. Well-funded community-based programs, with Black and Native leadership, providing harm reduction resources, naloxone, and medications for opioid use disorder in the context of comprehensive, culturally appropriate healthcare and other services, represent the highest priority interventions to decrease inequalities.
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Overdose de Drogas , Adulto , Humanos , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Indígena Americano ou Nativo do Alasca , Negro ou Afro-Americano/estatística & dados numéricos , Overdose de Drogas/etnologia , Overdose de Drogas/mortalidade , Fentanila/intoxicação , Desigualdades de Saúde , Fatores Socioeconômicos , Estados Unidos/epidemiologia , BrancosRESUMO
This cross-sectional study examines trends in deaths of despair by race and ethnicity from 1999 to 2022.
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Etnicidade , Feminino , Humanos , Masculino , Negro ou Afro-Americano/estatística & dados numéricos , Etnicidade/estatística & dados numéricos , Hispânico ou Latino/estatística & dados numéricos , Mortalidade/etnologia , Mortalidade/tendências , Grupos Raciais/estatística & dados numéricos , Estados Unidos/epidemiologia , Brancos/estatística & dados numéricos , Indígena Americano ou Nativo do Alasca/estatística & dados numéricos , Pessoa de Meia-IdadeRESUMO
PROBLEM: Stigma in health care toward people who inject drugs (PWID) is a well-described, significant barrier to quality care, resulting in poor health outcomes. Harm reduction offers a person-centered counter-framework for minimizing harm for people who use drugs. Despite the evidence in support of harm reduction, medical students typically receive minimal training on harm reduction and the care of PWID. APPROACH: To fill this gap, medical students at the University of California, Los Angeles organized around the principles of harm reduction to improve the medical school curriculum related to PWID. Students screened lectures for stigmatizing language and collaborated with faculty to improve lecture materials. They partnered with a community organizer and hosted a mandatory 1-hour lecture and 30-minute discussion introducing the principles of harm reduction within an overdose prevention, recognition, and response training for first-year medical students during medical school orientation in August 2022. An anonymous online pretest and posttest survey, assessing student attitudes toward PWID, was used to evaluate the effects of the training. OUTCOMES: A total of 156 students completed the pretest survey, and 107 students completed the pretest and posttest survey (68.5% response rate). The overall posttest mean stigma score was 1.8 (standard deviation [SD] = 0.5) and was significantly lower than the pretest mean of 2.1 (SD = 0.7; P < .0001), indicating a reduction in stigma among medical student attitudes after the course. There was statistically significant improvement in attitudes for 7 of 13 component measures. NEXT STEPS: This analysis demonstrated that the mandatory class has the capacity to improve medical student attitudes toward PWID. The authors plan to further evaluate the program's effectiveness through measuring and reporting outcomes for future student cohorts. The authors are working with curriculum directors to further incorporate harm reduction principles into other lectures and problem-based learning exercises.
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Currículo , Educação de Graduação em Medicina , Redução do Dano , Estigma Social , Estudantes de Medicina , Abuso de Substâncias por Via Intravenosa , Humanos , Estudantes de Medicina/psicologia , Abuso de Substâncias por Via Intravenosa/psicologia , Educação de Graduação em Medicina/métodos , Feminino , Masculino , Los Angeles , Adulto , Atitude do Pessoal de Saúde , Inquéritos e QuestionáriosRESUMO
This commentary on the special issue of Global Public Health on structural competency in global perspective asks: what is specific to the U.S. about structural competency, and what is its utility beyond the U.S., especially in the 'global south'? Why are biomedical practitioners the focus of U.S. structural competency? And what can U.S. structural competency advocates learn from the deep and rich social medicine traditions of Latin America? And is there anything that Latin American and other non-U.S. social medicine traditions might learn from U.S. structural competency? The commentary identifies the crucial insights from international comparisons include that racial justice movements are Social Medicine innovators in the U.S., that cultivating allies within biomedicine can enhance the impact of community health movements, and that cross-fertilising U.S. Structural Competency and social medicine traditions across regions should be a priority for the fields.
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Medicina Social , Humanos , Saúde Pública , Justiça Social , América Latina , Saúde GlobalRESUMO
Manipulation, focusing, and separation of submicron- and nanoparticles such as extracellular vesicles (EVs), viruses and bacteria have broad applications in disease diagnostics and therapeutics. Viscoelastic microfluidic technology emerges as a promising technique, and it shows an unparalleled capacity to manipulate and separate submicron particles in a high resolution based on the elastic effects of non-Newtonian mediums. The maximum particle separation resolution for the reported state-of-the-art viscoelastic microfluidics is around 200 nm. To further enhance the reseparation resolution, this work develops a viscoelastic microfluidic device that can achieve a finer separation resolution up to 100 nm, by optimising the operating conditions such as flow rate, flow rate ratio and polyethylene oxide (PEO) concentration. With these optimised conditions, we separated a ternary mixture of 100 nm, 200 nm and 500 nm polystyrene particles, with purities above 90%, 70% and 82%, respectively. Furthermore, we also applied the developed viscoelastic microfluidic device for the separation of cancer cell-secreted extracellular vesicles (EVs) into three different size groups. After single processing, the separation efficiencies for small EVs (sEVs, <150 nm), medium EVs (mEVs, 150-300 nm), and large EVs (>300 nm) were 86%, 80% and 50%, respectively. The enrichment factors for the three EV groups were 2.4, 1.1 and 1.3, respectively. Moreover, we observed an unexpected effect of high PEO concentrations (2000-5000 ppm) on the lateral migration of nanoparticles where nanoparticles of up to 50 nm surprisingly can migrate and concentrate at the middle of the microchannel. This simple and label-free viscoelastic microfluidic device possesses excellent potential for sorting submicron particles for various chemical, biological, medical and environmental applications.
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Vesículas Extracelulares , Microfluídica , Polietilenoglicóis , Dispositivos Lab-On-A-ChipRESUMO
Black individuals in the USA experience disparities in mental health that lead to unfavorable health outcomes and increased morbidity from mental illness due to centuries of racism. We emphasize the need to understand the roots of racial injustice to achieve racial equity. Historical factors such as European imperialism, enslavement, the myth of Black inferiority, and scientific racial classification have all perpetuated disparities, leading to the current underestimation, misdiagnosis, and inadequate treatment of mental illness in Black populations. Many of the issues discussed herein apply to Black people globally; however, our focus is on Black Americans and the inequities that result from the current US mental health system. We discuss the limitations of using the DSM-5 classification system and common epidemiological surveys, which do not capture or call for a comprehensive analysis of the systems producing mental health issues, to understand mental illness among Black Americans.