Advancing Antimicrobial Textiles: A Comprehensive Study on Combating ESKAPE Pathogens and Ensuring User Safety.

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria, ESKAPE pathogens, present a significant and alarming threat to public health and healthcare systems. This study addresses the urgent need to combat antimicrobial resistance by exploring alternative ways to reduce the health and cost implications of infections caused by these pathogens. To disrupt their transmission, integrating antimicrobial textiles into personal protective equipment (PPE) is an encouraging avenue. Nevertheless, ensuring the effectiveness and safety of these textiles remains a persistent challenge. To achieve this, we conduct a comprehensive study that systematically compares the effectiveness and potential toxicity of five commonly used antimicrobial agents. To guide decision making, a MULTIMOORA method is employed to select and rank the optimal antimicrobial textile finishes. Through this approach, we determine that silver nitrate is the most suitable choice, while a methoxy-terminated quaternary ammonium compound is deemed less favorable in meeting the desired criteria. The findings of this study offer valuable insights and guidelines for the development of antimicrobial textiles that effectively address the requirements of effectiveness, safety, and durability. Implementing these research outcomes within the textile industry can significantly enhance protection against microbial infections, contribute to the improvement of public health, and mitigate the spread of infectious diseases.

Resistive switching transparent SnO2 thin film sensitive to light and humidity.

Designing and manufacturing memristor devices with simple and less complicated methods is highly promising for their future development. Here, an Ag/SnO2/FTO(F-SnO2) structure is used through the deposition of the SnO2 layer attained by its sol via the air-brush method on an FTO substrate. This structure was investigated in terms of the memristive characteristics. The negative differential resistance (NDR) effect was observed in environment humidity conditions. In this structure, valance change memory and electrometalization change memory mechanisms cause the current peak in the NDR region by forming an OH- conductive filament. In addition, the photoconductivity effect was found under light illumination and this structure shows the positive photoconductance effect by increasing the conductivity. Memristivity was examined for up to 100 cycles and significant stability was observed as a valuable advantage for neuromorphic computing. Our study conveys a growth mechanism of an optical memristor that is sensitive to light and humidity suitable for sensing applications.

Electronic patient-reported outcome (ePRO) application for patients with prostate cancer.

INTRODUCTION: Cancer patients experience different complications and outcomes during or after medical treatments. Electronic reporting of the outcomes by patients is a solution that facilitates communication with physicians and improve patient health status. The aim of this study was to develop a smartphone-based application for electronic reporting of outcomes by patients with prostate cancer. METHODS: The present research was conducted in 2021 in two phases. In the first phase, initially, users' requirements were identified based on reviewing the related literature, existing applications, and guidelines. Then, a questionnaire was designed and the specialists' opinions about the users' requirements were investigated. The specialties included urologists, hemato-oncologists, uro-oncologists, and radiotherapists (n = 15). In the second phase, the application was designed, and patients with prostate cancer (n = 21) and specialists (n = 10) evaluated it using the post-study system usability questionnaire (PSSUQ). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. RESULTS: The findings of the first phase of the research showed that out of 108 data elements and functions proposed for the application, 91 items were found essential by the specialists. Data elements were categorized into the patient data, general complications of prostate cancer and side effects of drug therapy, surgery, chemotherapy, cryotherapy, radiation therapy, and hormone therapy. Necessary functions for the application included presenting a patient care summary, communication between the patient and the specialist, free text explanation for complications and sides effects, generating reports, reminder and alert, completing quality of life questionnaire, and calculating the score for the questionnaire. In the second phase of the research, the application was developed and evaluated. The mean value for user satisfaction was (5.95 ± 0.55) out of 7. CONCLUSION: The developed application can help to accelerate communication with the specialists. It can improve quality of care, reduce unnecessary treatment visits and side effects, and improve timely data collection for a variety of research purposes. However, further research on the cost-effectiveness and usefulness of the collected data is recommended.

Proposing magnetoimpedance effect for neuromorphic computing.

Oscillation of physical parameters in materials can result in a peak signal in the frequency spectrum of the voltage measured from the materials. This spectrum and its amplitude/frequency tunability, through the application of bias voltage or current, can be used to perform neuron-like cognitive tasks. Magnetic materials, after achieving broad distribution for data storage applications in classical Von Neumann computer architectures, are under intense investigation for their neuromorphic computing capabilities. A recent successful demonstration regards magnetisation oscillation in magnetic thin films by spin transfer or spin orbit torques accompanied by magnetoresistance (MR) effect that can give a voltage peak in the frequency spectrum of voltage with bias current dependence of both peak frequency and amplitude. Here we use classical magnetoimpedance (MI) effect in a magnetic wire to produce such a peak and manipulate its frequency and amplitude by means of the bias voltage. We applied a noise signal to a magnetic wire with high magnetic permeability and owing to the frequency dependence of the magnetic permeability we got frequency dependent impedance with a peak at the maximum permeability. Frequency dependence of the MI effect results in different changes in the voltage amplitude at each frequency when a bias voltage is applied and therefore a shift in the peak position and amplitude can be obtained. The presented method and material provide optimal features in structural simplicity, low-frequency operation (tens of MHz-order) and high robustness at different environmental conditions. Our universal approach can be applied to any system with frequency dependent bias responses.

Freezing and thawing magnetic droplet solitons.

Magnetic droplets are non-topological magnetodynamical solitons displaying a wide range of complex dynamic phenomena with potential for microwave signal generation. Bubbles, on the other hand, are internally static cylindrical magnetic domains, stabilized by external fields and magnetostatic interactions. In its original theory, the droplet was described as an imminently collapsing bubble stabilized by spin transfer torque and, in its zero-frequency limit, as equivalent to a bubble. Without nanoscale lateral confinement, pinning, or an external applied field, such a nanobubble is unstable, and should collapse. Here, we show that we can freeze dynamic droplets into static nanobubbles by decreasing the magnetic field. While the bubble has virtually the same resistance as the droplet, all signs of low-frequency microwave noise disappear. The transition is fully reversible and the bubble can be thawed back into a droplet if the magnetic field is increased under current. Whereas the droplet collapses without a sustaining current, the bubble is highly stable and remains intact for days without external drive. Electrical measurements are complemented by direct observation using scanning transmission x-ray microscopy, which corroborates the analysis and confirms that the bubble is stabilized by pinning.

Smart Superhydrophobic Textiles Utilizing a Long-Range Antenna Sensor for Hazardous Aqueous Droplet Detection plus Prevention.

This paper demonstrates the feasibility of a long-range antenna sensor embedded underneath a liquid repellent fabric to be employed as a wearable sensor in personal protective fabrics. The sensor detects and monitors hazardous aqueous liquids on the outer layer of fabrics, to add an additional layer of safety for professionals working in hazardous environments. A modified patch antenna was designed to include a meandering-shaped resonant structure, which was embedded underneath the fabric. Superhydrophobic fabrics were prepared using silica nanoparticles and a low-surface-energy fluorosilane. 4 to 20 µL droplets representing hazardous aqueous solutions were drop-cast on the fabrics to investigate the performance of the embedded antenna sensor. Long-range (S21) measurements at a distance of 2-3 m were performed using the antenna sensor with treated and untreated fabrics. The antenna sensor successfully detected the liquid for both types of fabrics. The resonant frequency sensitivity of the antenna sensor underneath the treated fabric exhibiting superhydrophobicity was measured as 370 kHz/µL, and 1 MHz/µL for the untreated fabric. The results demonstrate that the antenna sensor is a good candidate for wearable hazardous aqueous droplet detection on fabrics.

Quasicrystalline Coatings Exhibit Durable Low Interfacial Toughness with Ice.

Ice accretion can adversely impact many engineering structures in commercial and residential sectors. Although there are many reports of low-ice-adhesion-strength materials, a scalable and durable deicing solution remains elusive, as ice detachment is dominated by interfacial toughness for large interfaces. In this work, durable metallic coatings based on Al-rich quasicrystalline alloys were prepared and applied on aluminum substrates using high-velocity oxyfuel thermal spray. X-ray diffraction patterns confirmed the quasicrystalline phases of the coating, and its large-scale deicing capability was studied by evaluating the coating's ice detachment mechanics using long lengths of ice. A toughness-controlled regime of interfacial fracture was observed for ice lengths longer than ∼2 cm, and a low shear strength of ∼30 kPa was achieved for a 20 cm ice length. The metallic coatings exhibited excellent ice repellency even after being abraded, scratched, heated, UV-irradiated, and exposed to chemical contaminations, demonstrating promising durability for real-world, large-scale ice removal.

Designing scalable elastomeric anti-fouling coatings: Shear strain dissipation via interfacial cavitation.

HYPOTHESIS: Soft elastomers are promising anti-fouling materials and this has been demonstrated for many small elastomer/foulant interfaces. Toughness should control the adhesive fracture of large interfaces, although this has never been shown for elastomers. We hypothesized that energy-dissipative processes like interfacial cavitation are largely responsible for the absence of toughness-mediated fracture for larger elastomer/foulant interfaces. EXPERIMENTS: Rigid and transparent model foulants of various length were adhered to elastomers exhibiting three different moduli. The length of the foulant and the height above the interfacial plane of the applied force were systematically varied. A phase diagram was established for designing low-modulus, anti-fouling materials as a function of foulant thickness and length. FINDINGS: A new regime of interfacial detachment was observed, where foulants remained partially attached to the surface and interfacial cavitation initiated from the edge of the detached region. Interfacial cracks were arrested before de-bonding the foulant and the majority of the applied energy was dissipated as cavitation bubbles. Our analysis showed that the use of elastomers as anti-fouling materials is limited for large scale applications. Foulant dimensions constrain the design of anti-fouling elastomeric coatings as an applied shear stress can only be exerted at a height above the interface that is less than the foulant thickness. Design rules are presented for the correct fabrication of elastomers to be used as anti-fouling coatings over large interfacial areas.

Frequency of cytomegalovirus in fertile and infertile men, referring to Afzalipour Hospital IVF Research Center, Kerman, IRAN: A case-control study.

BACKGROUND: Cytomegalovirus (CMV) virus can hide in urinary genital tract cells and affect male infertility disorders. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate frequency of CMV in the semen samples of men with infertility problems referring to a in vitro fertilization (IVF) center in Kerman, Iran and its association with the parameters of semen. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this case-control study, Real time polymerase chain reaction test was performed for detection of human cytomegalovirus in 100 fertile men compared to 100 infertile men referred to the IVF center of Afzalipour Hospital, Kerman, Iran. RESULTS: Out of 200 samples, 30 samples (15%) were positive for CMV DNA virus (23/100 men (23%) in case group and 7/100 men (7%) in the control group). Sperm counts and motility in the control group were more than the case group (p˂0.0001). There was a significant relationship between the prevalence of CMV infection and male infertility (p˂0.001). CONCLUSION: Our finding showed that, prevalence of CMV infection was higher in infertile men compared to fertile men and CMV infection can be considered as an important part of male infertility. So; antiviral treatment of positive cases can be effective in improving sperm quality and successful IVF. The relationship between CMV infection in semen and infertility was obtained in previous studies and was confirmed by our study.

Designing magnetic droplet soliton nucleation employing spin polarizer.

We show by means of micromagnetic simulations that spin polarizer in nano-contact (NC) spin torque oscillators as the representative of the fixed layer in an orthogonal pseudo-spin valve can be employed to design and to control magnetic droplet soliton nucleation and dynamics. We found that using a tilted spin polarizer layer decreases the droplet nucleation time which is more suitable for high speed applications. However, a tilted spin polarizer increases the nucleation current and decreases the frequency stability of the droplet. Additionally, by driving the magnetization inhomogenously at the NC region, it is found that a tilted spin polarizer reduces the precession angle of the droplet and through an interplay with the Oersted field of the DC current, it breaks the spatial symmetry of the droplet profile. Our findings explore fundamental insight into nano-scale magnetic droplet soliton dynamics with potential tunability parameters for future microwave electronics.

Confined dissipative droplet solitons in spin-valve nanowires with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy.

Magnetic dissipative droplets are localized, strongly nonlinear dynamical modes excited in nanocontact spin valves with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. These modes find potential application in nanoscale structures for magnetic storage and computation, but dissipative droplet studies have so far been limited to extended thin films. Here, numerical and asymptotic analyses are used to demonstrate the existence and properties of novel solitons in confined structures. As a nanowire's width is decreased with a nanocontact of fixed size at its center, the observed modes undergo transitions from a fully localized two-dimensional droplet into a two-dimensional droplet edge mode and then a pulsating one-dimensional droplet. These solitons are interpreted as dissipative versions of classical, conservative solitons, allowing for an analytical description of the modes and the mechanisms of bifurcation. The presented results open up new possibilities for the study of low-dimensional solitons and droplet applications in nanostructures.