Comparative study evaluating the efficacy of topical azithromycin versus oral doxycycline in the treatment of meibomian gland dysfunction.

Objective: To assess the efficacy of topical azithromycin drops versus oral doxycycline therapy in meibomian gland dysfunction. METHODS: The prospective randomised trial was conducted from December 2019 to June 2020 at the Qazi Hussain Ahmad Medical Complex, Nowshera, Pakistan, and comprised patients of either gender aged 26-42 years having long-standing posterior blepharitis / meibomian gland dysfunction. The subjects were randomised into two equal groups. Both the groups were advised to do warm compresses and lid massage three times a day for 5 min. each for 4 weeks. In addition, group A received azithromycin 1% drops 2 times/day for 1 week, followed by once a day for 3 weeks, while group B received oral doxycycline 100mg once a day for 4 weeks. Baseline, midstream at 2 weeks and post-intervention status, including subjective symptoms, were compared. RESULTS: Of the 60 subjects enrolled, there were 30(50%) in each of the two groups; 32(53.3%) males and 28(46.4%) females. While all 30(100%) the participants in group A completed the trial without any adverse reaction to medication, 8(26.7%) in group B quit midstream owing to anorexia/nausea and gastrointestinal discomfort. Compared to baseline, reduction in both subjective and objective features of the disease in both groups were noted regardless of gender (p=0.08). No significant difference was evident in symptoms healing rate and improvement in foreign body sensation between the groups (p>0.05). Group A treatment improved eye redness, while group B proved better in respect of meibomian glands obstruction healing and corneal staining p<0.05). Conclusion: Both topical azithromycin and oral doxycycline were effective and had their own edge as far as symptomatic improvement was concerned in the treatment of meibomian gland dysfunction.

Comparison of the efficacy of Diclofenac 0.1% and Nepafenac 0.1% on anterior chamber cells in patients undergoing cataract surgery: A prospective clinical practice trial.

Objectives: To compare the efficacy of topical Nepafenac 0.1 % and Diclofenac 0.1% eye drops in reducing the aqueous cells in the anterior chamber in an un-eventful post cataract surgery. Methods: This prospective, clinical trial was conducted at an Eye OPD of Qazi Hussain Ahmad Medical Complex, Nowshera from January till December 2021. Ophthalmic assessment included Visual acuity (VA), slit-lamp examination, Intraocular pressure (IOP), Central macular thickness (CMT) by Optical coherence tomography (OCT) and anterior chamber-aqueous cells measurement pre-operatively and at day 1st, 2nd, 4th and 8th week post-operatively. Patients were randomly allocated to topical diclofenac 0.1% (TD) four times a day and nepafenac 0.1% (TN) three times a day for four weeks each along with topical steroids and antibiotics. Results: Seventy patients (70) were randomly distributed into two treatment arms of 35 each. In both the arms VA improved which achieved a level of statistical significance post-operatively, however statistically insignificant difference was observed between the groups at 8th week follow up visit (p= 0.62). However, IOP and CMT values didn't achieve statistical significance between the arms pre and post operatively. In TN arm, level of AC-cells at 2nd and 4th week post-operatively were significantly lower (10.54 ± 4.05 and 08.20 ± 4.44) than TD arm (11.28 ± 5.04 and 09. 66 ± 5.50) with statistically significant difference (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Topical Nepafenac 0.1% was more effective in suppressing the anterior chamber inflammation as compared to diclofenac during the early few post-operative weeks.

Emerging Field of Nanotechnology in Environment.

The art of utilizing and manipulating micro materials have been dated back to antient era. With the advancement in technologies, the state-of-art methods of nano technologies and nano sciences has been employed in various sectors including environment, product designing, food industry, pharmaceuticals industries to way out solve standard problem of mankind. Due to rapid industrialization and the alarming levels of pollution there has been an urgent need to address the environmental and energy issues. Environmental sustainability concerns the global climate change and pollution including air, water, soil. The field of nanotechnology has proven to be a promising field where sensing and remediation, have been dramatically advanced by the use of nanomaterials. This emergent science of surface to mass ratio is the principle theorem for manipulating structure at molecular levels. The review sums up all the advancements in the field of nanotechnology and their recent application in the environment. New opportunities and challenges have also been discussed in detail to understand the use of nanotechnology as problem-to-solution ratio. Graphical abstract: Image depicting the application of nanotechnology in environmental concerns. The combinations of technologies like bioremediations, bioaugmentations with state-of-the-art nanotechnology like carbon nanotubes and Nano capsules to answer the environmental challenges of soil quality, and plant productivity.

A Hybrid Semantic Knowledge Integration and Sharing Approach for Distributed Smart Environments.

Distributed systems provide smart functionality to everyday objects with the help of wireless sensors using the internet. Since the last decade, the industry is struggling to develop efficient and intelligent protocols to integrate a huge number of smart objects in distributed computing environments. However, the main challenge for smart and distributed system designers lies in the integration of a large number of heterogeneous components for faster, cheaper, and more efficient functionalities. To deal with this issue, practitioners are using edge computing along with server and desktop technology for the development of smart applications by using Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) where every smart object offers its functionality as a service, enabling other objects to interact with them dynamically. In order to make such a system, researchers have considered context-awareness and Quality of Service (QoS) attributes of device services. However, context modeling is a complicated task since it could include everything around the applications. Moreover, it is also important to consider non-functional interactions that may have an impact on the behavior of the complete system. In this regard, various research dimensions are explored. However, rich context-aware modeling, QoS, user priorities, grouping, and value type direction along with uncertainty are not considered properly while modeling of incomplete or partial domain knowledge during ontology engineering, resulting in low accuracy of results. In this paper, we present a semantic and logic-based formal framework (hybrid) to find the best service among many candidate services by considering the limitations of existing frameworks. Experimental results of the proposed framework show the improvement of the discovered results.

Kinetics and Molecular Docking Study of an Anti-diabetic Drug Glimepiride as Acetylcholinesterase Inhibitor: Implication for Alzheimer's Disease-Diabetes Dual Therapy.

At the present time, treatment of two most common degenerative disorders of elderly population i.e., Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a major concern worldwide. As there are several evidences that proved strong linkages between these two disorders, the idea of using dual therapeutic agent for both the diseases might be considered as a good initiative. Earlier reports have revealed that oral anti-diabetic drugs such as peroxisome proliferator activated receptor γ (PPARγ) agonists (thiazolidinediones) when used in T2DM patients suffering from AD showed improved memory and cognition. However, the underlying mechanism still needs to be deciphered. Therefore, the present study was carried out to find whether glimepiride, an oral antidiabetic drug which is a PPARγ agonist could inhibit the activity of acetylcholine esterase (AChE) enzyme. Actually, AChE inhibitors seize the breakdown of acetylcholine which forms the main therapeutic strategy for AD. Here, glimepiride showed dose dependent inhibitory activity against AChE enzyme with IC50 value of 235 µM. Kinetic analysis showed competitive inhibition, which was verified by in silico docking studies. Glimepiride was found to interact with AChE enzyme at the same locus as that of substrate acetylcholine iodide (AChI). Interestingly, amino acid residues, Q71, Y72, V73, D74, W86, N87, Y124, S125, W286, F295, F297, Y337, F338 and Y341 of AChE were found to be common for 'glimepiride-AChE interaction' as well as 'AChI-AChE interaction'. Thus the present computational and kinetics study concludes that glimepiride and other thiazolidinediones derivatives could form the basis of future dual therapy against diabetes associated neurological disorders.

Knowledge, attitudes, and practices of healthcare professionals regarding rabies in tertiary care hospitals: A cross-sectional study in Peshawar, Pakistan.

BACKGROUND: Rabies, caused by the rhabdovirus, is a fatal zoonotic disease with over 59,000 annual deaths globally. Asia and Africa account for 95%, with India leading, followed by China. In Pakistan, where it's endemic, over 50,000 cases are reported yearly. Controlling rabid dog populations through vaccination is crucial in curbing mortality. This research aimed to evaluate healthcare professionals' knowledge, attitudes, and practices concerning rabies in Peshawar, Pakistan. METHODS: The study was conducted at different tertiary care hospitals in Peshawar, Pakistan from 16 August 2021 to 15 February 2022. Cross-sectional research was conducted to gather data from a total of 100 healthcare workers representing different sections within the healthcare field, including Medical Officers, House Officers, Faculty Staff, Nurses, and Paramedics. Data on knowledge, attitudes, and practices about rabies were collected using a standardized questionnaire. The data analysis included using descriptive statistics and chi-square testing to ascertain potential correlations. RESULTS: Among the healthcare professionals, 68 (68%) were males, and 32 (32%) were females. Profession-wise, the included professionals were Nurses 31 (31%), Medical Officers 27 (27%), House officers 26 (26%), paramedical staff 13 (13%), and faculty staff 3 (3%). 91 (91%) and 9 (9%) healthcare professionals responded that dogs and cats are responsible for rabies transmission, respectively. Moreover, 82 (82%) individuals responded that animal bite plays a vital role in the transmission of rabies, whilst 76 (76%) individuals responded that rabies transferred from human to human. 82 (82%) individuals replied that the anti-rabies vaccine (ARV) is the treatment of choice for rabies. Furthermore, 78 (78%) individuals responded that ARV is safe in pregnancy and lactation. Moreover, after being asked about the perception of the health care professionals about the failure in controlling rabies, their responses were unavailability of ARV/RIG 41 (41%), lack of control of stray dogs 34 (34%), lack of awareness 20 (20%). The study revealed statistically significant correlations between healthcare occupations and variables: knowledge of animals responsible for transmitting rabies (p = 0.024) and awareness of human-to-human transmission (p = 0.007). Significant disparities were noted in understanding rabies transmission through contaminated water (p = 0.002). There were variations in attitudes and practices seen across different positions, particularly about views about home treatments (p = 0.033) and the perceived effectiveness of cleansing bite wounds (p = 0.010). Disparities in perceptions of rabies treatment and the accessibility of anti-rabies vaccines and immunoglobulin were observed, with variations based on individual roles. CONCLUSION: The present research elucidates variations in rabies knowledge, attitudes, and practices among healthcare workers, specifically concerning their respective roles. Tailored training programs and standardized practices play a crucial role in mitigating these discrepancies, fostering a greater understanding of rabies, and enhancing the quality of patient treatment. It is recommended that future studies undertake an assessment of the efficacy of therapies and advocate for the adoption of collaborative One Health strategies in the realm of rabies management.

A comprehensive bibliometric survey of micro-expression recognition system based on deep learning.

Micro-expressions (ME) are rapidly occurring expressions that reveal the true emotions that a human being is trying to hide, cover, or suppress. These expressions, which reveal a person's actual feelings, have a broad spectrum of applications in public safety and clinical diagnosis. This study provides a comprehensive review of the area of ME recognition. A bibliometric and network analysis techniques is used to compile all the available literature related to ME recognition. A total of 735 publications from the Web of Science (WOS) and Scopus databases were evaluated from December 2012 to December 2022 using all relevant keywords. The first round of data screening produced some basic information, which was further extracted for citation, coupling, co-authorship, co-occurrence, bibliographic, and co-citation analysis. Additionally, a thematic and descriptive analysis was executed to investigate the content of prior research findings, and research techniques used in the literature. The year wise publications indicated that the published literature between 2012 and 2017 was relatively low but however by 2021, a nearly 24-fold increment made it to 154 publications. The three topmost productive journals and conferences included IEEE Transactions on Affective Computing (n = 20 publications) followed by Neurocomputing (n = 17) and Multimedia tools and applications (n = 15). Zhao G was the most proficient author with 48 publications and the top influential country was China (620 publications). Publications by citations showed that each of the authors acquired citations ranging from 100 to 1225. While publications by organizations indicated that the University of Oulu had the most published papers (n = 51). Deep learning, facial expression recognition, and emotion recognition were among the most frequently used terms. It has been discovered that ME research was primarily classified in the discipline of engineering, with more contribution from China and Malaysia comparatively.

Toxicological evaluation of copper oxide nanoparticles following their intraperitoneal injection to Wistar rats.

Background: Copper oxide (Cu2O) nanoparticles (CO NPs) are in extensive use during our everyday life as antimicrobial agent, lubricant, in manufacturing electrodes of lithium ion batteries as well as for photo catalytic degradation of organic pollutants. Due to extensive and diverse use Cu2O NPs, they are likely to accumulate in the environment and to affect the live forms. Present investigation was aimed to report the biocompatibility of CO NPs in Wistar rats in sex specific manner. CO NPs, having average diameter of 14.06 nm, were synthesized by co-precipitation method and scanning electron microscopy and X ray diffraction were used for their characterization. Methods: For 14 consecutive days, Wistar rats (6 weeks old) of both sexes were intraperitoneally injected with 10 mg/mL saline/Kg body weight of CO NPs, while the control groups intraperitoneally received saline solution for same duration. Behavioral tests (open field and novel object recognition), complete blood count, selected biomarkers of oxidative stress and Copper concentration in brain and liver were determined in all subjects. Results: High mortality rates [male 40% and female 60%] were observed in rats exposed to CO NPs. A sever decrease in body weight was also observed in both male and female rats exposed to CO NPs. Female rats treated with CO NPs spent significantly more time with novel object as compared to control [P = 0.05] during second trial of novel object test. CO NPs treated female rats had higher mean corpuscular hemoglobin [P < 0.001] levels and Copper concentration in liver [P = 0.04] than control. Male rats exposed to CO NPs had significantly higher mean corpuscular volume [P = 0.02] and superoxide dismutase [SOD] [P = 0.04] in lungs than their control group. All other studied parameters non significantly varied upon comparison between CO NPs treated and untreated rats of both sex. Conclusion: In conclusion, we are reporting that intraperitoneal injections of CO NPs for 14 days can disturb complete blood count and biomarkers of oxidative stress in lungs of Wistar rats.

Comparison of Partial Meniscectomy With Meniscal Repair With Respect to Functional Outcome.

Introduction Meniscus tear is a commonly encountered sports-related injury requiring surgical intervention due to knee mobility dysfunction and discomfort. Previously, it has been thought that these are non-functional vestigial structures and they used to be excised commonly. Recent studies have shown that meniscal repair gives superior results when compared with partial meniscectomy. Methods This quasi-experimental study was conducted at the Orthopedics Department, Khyber Teaching Hospital, Peshawar, Pakistan. A total of 92 patients of both genders with meniscal injuries were included. Forty-six of them underwent meniscal repair (Group A), and 46 underwent partial meniscectomy (Group B). Functional outcome was noted after 12 weeks and recorded. Results The age range was from 18 to 50 years with a mean of 28.630±6.64 years in Group A and 29.630±8.12 years in Group B. Functional outcome was excellent in 44 (95.7%) patients who underwent meniscal repair as compared to 23 (50%) patients who underwent partial meniscectomy (P= 0.000). Conclusion It is concluded that meniscal repair should be pursued over partial meniscectomy when surgically treating meniscal tears.

Respiratory and general health complaints in subjects exposed to sandstorm at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

OBJECTIVE: Sandstorms are metrological events and frequently occur in many regions throughout the world. Sandstorms are a main source of long-distance transport of dust, air pollution and cause various health problems. This study aimed to investigate the acute respiratory and general health complaints in subjects exposed to sandstorm at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. METHODOLOGY: The present descriptive study was conducted in the Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia during the period March 2011- June 2012. We selected 517 (308 males, 59.58%) and (209 females, 40.42%), apparently healthy volunteers with mean age 28.6± 3.14 years, who had single outside exposure to sandstorm for the period of 24±2.68 minutes. The acute respiratory and general health complaints were recorded through a comprehensive questionnaire. RESULTS: A large proportion of the subjects who were exposed to sandstorm had complaints of cough 247 (47.77%), runny nose 264(51.06%), wheeze 173(33.46%), acute asthmatic attack 108 (20.88%), eye irritation / redness 252(48.74%), headache 179 (34.62%), body ache 199 (38.5%), sleep disturbance 157(30.36%) and psychological disturbances 194 (37.52%). CONCLUSION: Exposure to sandstorm causes cough, runny nose, wheeze, acute asthmatic attack, eye irritation / redness, headache, body ache, sleep and psychological disturbances. These results indicate that sandstorm is a prolific source of respiratory and general ailments. It is therefore, suggested that an unnecessary exposure to sandstorm must be avoided.

Efficacy Of Injecting Intra-Vitreal Moxifloxacin In Acute Post-Operative Endophthalmitis.

Intra-vitreal Vancomycin (IV-V) and ceftazidime (IV-C) are commonly in the treatment of acute post operative endophthalmitis. But there are suboptimal responses in some cases due to the emergence of antibiotic resistant micro-organisms. Moxifloxacin is a wide range antibacterial drug that is available as an eye drops for topical use for different types of ocular infections including post-operative endophthalmitis. But it has not been explored extensively as an intra-vitreal drug for post-operative endophthalmitis. We unveiled its broad spectrum anti-bacterial properties by giving it as an intra-vitreal route of delivery so to see its efficacy in post-operative endophthalmitis case. A 65 years old diabetic male presented with acute painful loss of vision in his right eye 2 days following his cataract extraction with posterior chamber intraocular lens implantation (PC IOL). His visual acuity (VA) on presentation was just counting finger close to eye. Slim lamp examination (SLE) revealed swollen lids, discharge in the inferior conjunctival fornix, conjunctival redness and chemosis, hazy cornea, fibrinous exudate in AC along with hypopyon, there was marked vitritis with yellowish fundal glow apparent. The patient was injected with intra-vitreal moxifloxacin 0.5mg/0.2 ml, along with topical and oral antibiotics in combination with steroids. VA reached to 6/24 and follow-up at 4th week didn't show any of intra ocular inflammatory changes on SLE. Intra-vitreal moxifloxacin mono-therapy is a better substitute to combination of vancomycin and ceftazidime due to its broad-spectrum coverage in acute post-operative endophthalmitis.

Restoration of reproductive capacity in a male patient with congenital adrenal hyperplasia and bilateral testicular adrenal rest tumors (TARTs) after six months of glucocorticoid intensification: A case report.

RATIONALE: Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) is considered one of the most common inherited disorders. In about more than 95% of all CAH cases, the deficient enzyme is 21-hydroxylase. Infertility is an important complication of this disease, and although this topic has been studied more frequently in females, cases, and literature reviews of the causes of infertility in male patients are constantly increasing. PATIENT CONCERNS: A 28 old male with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (we assume to be a nonclassical type) presented to our institution with infertility and suspected bilateral testicular masses after 4 years of stopping dexamethasone. DIAGNOSIS: Testicular adrenal rest tumors. INTERVENTIONS: Dexamethasone was reapplied in a supraphysiologic dose (1.5 mg before bedtime) with periodic monitoring of the patient. OUTCOMES: Treatment with supraphysiologic dose of dexamethasone led to regression of these tumors and significant improvement in sperm count, resulting in being capable of having a child. LESSONS: There are many suspected causes of reduced male fertility in male CAH patients and the presence of testicular adrenal rest tumors is the main cause of infertility in this population. These benign tumors are believed to arise from ectopic adrenal cells in the testes, that grow under adrenocorticotropic hormone stimulation in poorly controlled patients. Annual scrotal ultrasound is recommended in all males with CAH for detection and treatment of these tumors as early as possible before they cause permanent damage to the seminiferous tubules and irreversible infertility.

3D-QCNet - A pipeline for automated artifact detection in diffusion MRI images.

Artifacts are a common occurrence in Diffusion MRI (dMRI) scans. Identifying and removing them is essential to ensure the accuracy and viability of any post-processing carried out on these scans. This makes quality control (QC) a crucial first step prior to any analysis of dMRI data. Several QC methods for artifact detection exist, however they suffer from problems like requiring manual intervention and the inability to generalize across different artifacts and datasets. In this paper, we propose an automated deep learning (DL) pipeline that utilizes a 3D-Densenet architecture to train a model on diffusion volumes for automatic artifact detection. Our method is validated on 9000 volumes sourced from 7 large clinical datasets spanning different acquisition protocols (with different gradient directions, high and low b-values, single-shell and multi-shell acquisitions) from multiple scanners. Additionally, they represent diverse subject demographics including age, sex and the presence or absence of pathologies. Our QC method is found to accurately generalize across this heterogenous data by correctly detecting 92% artifacts on average across our test set. This consistent performance over diverse datasets underlines the generalizability of our method, which currently is a significant barrier hindering the widespread adoption of automated QC techniques. Thus, 3D-QCNet can be integrated into diffusion pipelines to effectively automate the arduous and time-intensive process of artifact detection.

Basic Findings of Incidence of Breast Cancer in Allied Hospital Faisalabad, Pakistan: A Retrospective Study.

Background: Breast cancer is the most common malignancy among women worldwide. We aimed to know the past trends of age-specific breast cancer incidence rates in Faisalabad city. Methods: A retrospective study was designed at Allied Hospital Faisalabad (AHF), Pakistan from 2014-2018. Overall, 12742 cancer patients presented throughout these years, out of which 3390 were breast cancer cases. Descriptive statistics were computed and the results were presented as counts and percentage for categorical variables. Means and standard errors were computed for the continuous variables. For testing the association among categorical variables, a chi-square test of independence was used and the p-values less than 0.05 are reported as significant. Results: 84.70% patients were diagnosed with invasive breast carcinoma and 15.30% were all other types reported in the Allied Hospital Faisalabad. The incidence of breast cancer was outrageous in the 40-49 year-old age group (1021 patients, 30.12%) and the mean age is 45 in all years. An increase of 34.86% was observed from 2014 to 2018. The comprehensive four-year data (2015 to 2018) were further analyzed for histology, surgery, staging and grading pattern as 2014 files data was insufficient to discuss. The stage III and grade III were most common throughout the years from 2015 to 2018 with 33.9% and 55.71% respectively. Conclusion: Breast cancer is diagnosed more commonly in women than in any other type of cancers in Faisalabad city. There is a need to upgrade the existing hospital facilities to make the women diagnose the cancer at an earlier stage.

Intravascular Papillary Endothelial Hyperplasia Involving the Hand: A Case Report of a Rare Entity.

Masson's tumor, also named intravascular papillary endothelial hyperplasia (IPEH), is a rare, benign vascular tumor. Evaluation by clinical features can be confused with other soft tissue tumors. Therefore, the diagnosis should be confirmed by histopathological examination. The patient reported here is 67 years old and came to us with a small painful lesion over the left thumb of about two months duration. Histopathological examination was consistent with Masson's tumor (IPEH) following excisional biopsy, with good functional outcomes. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of this entity from Kuwait. Dermatologists and surgeons should know about this rare entity and its unusual presentation, to be able to distinguish it from similar presenting serious conditions, especially angiosarcoma. Through this report, we purport to facilitate recognition of this condition apart from some other conditions it may mimic.

Fabrication and Characterization of PVA-WPI Based Nanofiber Mats for Improved Viability of Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG.

In the current study, whey protein-based nanofibers were fabricated to encapsulate Lactobacillus rhamnosus. Purposely, different ratios of PVA (polyvinyl alcohol) and WPI (whey protein isolate) were blended to fabricate nanofibers. Nanofiber mats were characterized in terms of particle size, diameter, tensile strength, elongation at break, and loading efficiency. Morphological and molecular characterizations were carried out using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR). Moreover, in vitro viability under simulated gastrointestinal (GI) conditions and thermal stability were also assessed. The results reveal that by increasing the PVA concentration, the conductivity increased while the viscosity decreased. SEM micrographs showed that probiotics were successfully loaded within the nanofiber. The FTIR spectra show strong bonding between the encapsulating materials with the addition of probiotics. In vitro and thermal analyses revealed that the survival of encapsulated probiotics significantly (p < 0.05) improved. In a nutshell, PVA-WPI composite nanofibers have promising potential when used to enhance the viability and stability of probiotics under adverse conditions.

Development of Sustainable Hydrophilic Azadirachta indica Loaded PVA Nanomembranes for Cosmetic Facemask Applications.

Nanofiber-based facial masks have attracted the attention of modern cosmetic applications due to their controlled drug release, biocompatibility, and better efficiency. In this work, Azadirachta indica extract (AI) incorporated electrospun polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) nanofiber membrane was prepared to obtain a sustainable and hydrophilic facial mask. The electrospun AI incorporated PVA nanofiber membranes were characterized by scanning electron microscope, Ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis) drug release, water absorption analysis, 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) scavenging, and antibacterial activity (qualitative and quantitative) at different PVA and AI concentrations. The optimized nanofiber of 376 ± 75 nm diameter was obtained at 8 wt/wt% PVA concentration and 100% AI extract. The AI nanoparticles of size range 50~250 nm in the extract were examined through a zeta sizer. The water absorption rate of ~660% and 17.24° water contact angle shows good hydrophilic nature and water absorbency of the nanofiber membrane. The UV-Vis also analyzed fast drug release of >70% in 5 min. The prepared membrane also exhibits 99.9% antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and has 79% antioxidant activity. Moreover, the membrane also had good mechanical properties (tensile strength 1.67 N, elongation 48%) and breathability (air permeability 15.24 mm/s). AI-incorporated nanofiber membrane can effectively be used for facial mask application.

Nano-Silica Bubbled Structure Based Durable and Flexible Superhydrophobic Electrospun Nanofibrous Membrane for Extensive Functional Applications.

Nanoscale surface roughness has conventionally been induced by using complicated approaches; however, the homogeneity of superhydrophobic surface and hazardous pollutants continue to have existing challenges that require a solution. As a prospective solution, a novel bubbled-structured silica nanoparticle (SiO2) decorated electrospun polyurethane (PU) nanofibrous membrane (SiO2@PU-NFs) was prepared through a synchronized electrospinning and electrospraying process. The SiO2@PU-NFs nanofibrous membrane exhibited a nanoscale hierarchical surface roughness, attributed to excellent superhydrophobicity. The SiO2@PU-NFs membrane had an optimized fiber diameter of 394 ± 105 nm and was fabricated with a 25 kV applied voltage, 18% PU concentration, 20 cm spinning distance, and 6% SiO2 nanoparticles. The resulting membrane exhibited a water contact angle of 155.23°. Moreover, the developed membrane attributed excellent mechanical properties (14.22 MPa tensile modulus, 134.5% elongation, and 57.12 kPa hydrostatic pressure). The composite nanofibrous membrane also offered good breathability characteristics (with an air permeability of 70.63 mm/s and a water vapor permeability of 4167 g/m2/day). In addition, the proposed composite nanofibrous membrane showed a significant water/oil separation efficiency of 99.98, 99.97, and 99.98% against the water/xylene, water/n-hexane, and water/toluene mixers. When exposed to severe mechanical stresses and chemicals, the composite nanofibrous membrane sustained its superhydrophobic quality (WCA greater than 155.23°) up to 50 abrasion, bending, and stretching cycles. Consequently, this composite structure could be a good alternative for various functional applications.

Mechanical and Structural Properties of Polyhydroxybutyrate as Additive in Blend Material in Additive Manufacturing for Medical Applications.

Today, additive manufacturing (AM) is considered one of the vital tenets of the industry 4.0 revolution due to its high productivity, decentralized production and rapid prototyping. This work aims to study the mechanical and structural properties of polyhydroxybutyrate as an additive in blend materials and its potential in medical applications. PHB/PUA blend resins were formulated with 0 wt.%, 6 wt.%, 12 wt.% and 18 wt.% of PHB concentration. Stereolithography or an SLA 3D printing technique were used to evaluate the printability of the PHB/PUA blend resins. Additionally, from FESEM analysis, a change was observed in PUA's microstructure, with an additional number of voids spotted. Furthermore, from XRD analysis, as PHB concentration increased, the crystallinity index (CI) also increased. This indicates the brittleness properties of the materials, which correlated to the weak performance of the tensile and impact properties. Next, the effect of PHB loading concentration within PHB/PUA blends and aging duration towards the mechanical performance of tensile and impact properties was also studied by using analysis of variance (ANOVA) with a two-way method. Finally, 12 wt.% of PHB/PUA was selected to 3D print the finger splint due to its characteristics, which are compatible to be used in finger bone fracture recovery.