The microbiomes of a XVIII century mummy from the castle of Krásna Hôrka (Slovakia) and its surrounding environment.

This microbiological survey was performed to determine the conservation state of a mummy in the Slovak castle of Krásna Hôrka and its surrounding environment. Culture-dependent identification was coupled with biodegradation assays on keratin, gelatin and cellulose. Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) using Illumina platform was used for a deeper microbial investigation. Three environmental samples were collected: from the glass of the sarcophagus, from the air inside it, and from the air of the chapel where the mummy is located. Seven different samples were taken from mummy's surface: from the left ear, left-hand palm, left-hand nail, left instep, right hand, abdomen and mineral crystals embedded within the skin. Three internal organ samples, from the lung, pleura and stomach, were also included in this study. Together, the culture-dependent and culture-independent analyses revealed that the bacterial communities present had fewer taxa than the fungal ones. The mycobiome showed the largest variability and included Epicoccum nigrum, Penicillium spp., Alternaria spp., Aspergillus spp., Cladosporium spp. and Aureobasidium pullulans; many other Ascomycota and Basidiomycota genera were detected by NGS. The most interesting results came from the skin mineral crystals and the internal organs. The hydrolytic assays revealed those microorganisms which might be considered dangerous 'mummy pathogens'. © 2018 Society for Applied Microbiology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Nanofriction Properties of Mono- and Double-Layer Ti3C2Tx MXenes.

Unique structure and ability to control the surface termination groups of MXenes make these materials extremely promising for solid lubrication applications. Due to the challenging delamination process, the tribological properties of two-dimensional MXenes particles have been mostly investigated as additive components in the solvents working in the macrosystem, while the understanding of the nanotribological properties of mono- and few-layer MXenes is still limited. Here, we investigate the nanotribological properties of mono- and double-layer Ti3C2Tx MXenes deposited by the Langmuir-Schaefer technique on SiO2/Si substrates. The friction of all of the samples demonstrated superior lubrication properties with respect to SiO2 substrate, while the friction force of the monolayers was found to be slightly higher compared to double- and three-layer flakes, which demonstrated similar friction. The coefficient of friction was estimated to be 0.087 ± 0.002 and 0.082 ± 0.003 for mono- and double-layer flakes, respectively. The viscous regime was suggested as the dominant friction mechanism at high scanning velocities, while the meniscus forces affected by contamination of the MXenes surface were proposed to control the friction at low sliding velocities.