Joint impact of key air pollutants on COVID-19 severity: prediction based on toxicogenomic data analysis.

Considering that some researchers point to a possible influence of air pollution on COVID-19 transmission, severity, and death rate, the aim of our in silico study was to determine the relationship between the key air pollutants [sulphur dioxide (SO), carbon monoxide (CO), 2particulate matter (PMx), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and ozone (O3)] and COVID-19 complications using the publicly available toxicogenomic analytical and prediction tools: (i) Comparative Toxicogenomic Database (CTD) to identify genes common to air pollutants and COVID-19 complications; (ii) GeneMANIA to construct a network of these common and related genes; (iii) ToppGene Suite to extract the most important biological processes and molecular pathways; and (iv) DisGeNET to search for the top gene-disease pairs. SO2, CO, PMx, NO2, and O3 interacted with 6, 6, 18, 9, and 12 COVID-19-related genes, respectively. Four of these are common for all pollutants (IL10, IL6, IL1B, and TNF) and participate in most (77.64 %) physical interactions. Further analysis pointed to cytokine binding and cytokine-mediated signalling pathway as the most important molecular function and biological process, respectively. Other molecular functions and biological processes are mostly related to cytokine activity and inflammation, which might be connected to the cytokine storm and resulting COVID-19 complications. The final step singled out the link between the CEBPA gene and acute myelocytic leukaemia and between TNFRSF1A and TNF receptor-associated periodic fever syndrome. This indicates possible complications in COVID-19 patients suffering from these diseases, especially those living in urban areas with poor air quality.

Biocidal Effectiveness of Selected Disinfectants Solutions Based on Water and Ozonated Water against Listeria monocytogenes Strains.

The aim of this study was to compare the biocidal effectiveness of disinfectants solutions prepared with ozonated and non-ozonated water against Listeria monocytogenes. Six L. monocytogenes strains were the research material (four isolates from food: meat (LMO-M), dairy products (LMO-N), vegetables (LMO-W), and fish (LMO-R); one clinical strain (LMO-K) and reference strain ATCC 19111). The evaluation of the biocidal effectiveness of disinfectant solutions (QAC-quaternary ammonium compounds; OA-oxidizing agents; ChC-chlorine compounds; IC-iodine compounds; NANO-nanoparticles) was carried out, marking the MBC values. Based on the obtained results, the effectiveness coefficient (A) were calculated. The smaller the A value, the greater the efficiency of disinfection solutions prepared on the basis of ozonated versus non-ozonated water. Ozonated water showed biocidal efficacy against L. monocytogenes. Among tested disinfectentants, independent on type of water used for preparation, the most effective against L. monocytogenes were: QAC 1 (benzyl-C12-18-alkydimethyl ammonium chlorides) (1.00 × 10-5-1.00 × 10-4 g/mL) in quaternary ammonium compounds, OA 3 (peracetic acid, hydrogen peroxide, bis (sulphate) bis (peroxymonosulfate)) (3.08 × 10-4 -3.70 × 10-3 g/mL) in oxidizing agents, ChC 1 (chlorine dioxide) (5.00 × 10-8 -7.00 × 10-7 g/mL) in chlorine compounds, IC 1 (iodine) (1.05-2.15 g/mL) in iodine compounds, and NANO 1 (nanocopper) (1.08 × 10-4 - 1.47 × 10-4 g/mL) in nanoparticles. The values of the activity coefficient for QAC ranged from 0.10 to 0.40, for OA-0.15-0.84, for ChC-0.25-0.83, for IC-0.45-0.60, and for NANO-0.70-0.84. The preparation of disinfectants solution on the basis of ozonated water, improved the microbicidal efficiency of the tested disinfectant, especially the quaternary ammonium compounds. An innovative element of our work is the use of ozonated water for the preparation of working solutions of the disinfection agents. Use ozonated water can help to reduce the use of disinfectant concentrations and limit the increasing of microbial resistance to disinfectants. This paper provides many new information to optimize hygiene plans in food processing plants and limit the spread of microorganisms such as L. monocytogenes.