Synergistic effects of sequential treatment using disinfectant and e-beam for inactivation of hepatitis a virus on fresh vegetables.

Hepatitis A virus (HAV) has adversely affected public health worldwide, causing an economic burden on many countries. Fresh vegetables are reported as a source of HAV infections during production, harvesting, and distribution, which cause the emergence of foodborne illnesses. Therefore, in this study, the synergistic effects of chemical (sodium hypochlorite [NaOCl] and chlorine dioxide [ClO2]) and physical (electron-beam [e-beam] irradiation) sequential treatment for HAV inactivation on fresh vegetables were investigated, and the physicochemical quality changes of vegetables were evaluated after each treatment. On bell pepper and cucumber sequentially treated with NaOCl (50-500 ppm) and e-beam (1-5 kGy), the HAV titer was reduced by 0.19-4.69 and 0.28-4.78 log10 TCID50/mL, respectively. Sequential treatment with ClO2 (10-250 ppm) and e-beam (1-5 kGy) reduced the HAV titer on bell pepper and cucumber by 0.41-4.78 and 0.26-4.80 log10 TCID50/mL, respectively. The sequential treatments steadily decreased the HAV titers on each food by a significant difference (p < 0.05) compared to the controls. The treatment combinations of 500 ppm NaOCl and 3 kGy (e-beam) on bell pepper and 150 ppm NaOCl and 1 kGy (e-beam) on cucumber provided maximum synergistic effects. It was also found that sequential treatment with 50 ppm ClO2 and 5 kGy (e-beam) on bell pepper and 10 ppm ClO2 and 5 kGy (e-beam) on cucumber most efficiently inactivated HAV. Additionally, bell pepper and cucumber showed no significant quality changes (p < 0.05) after the treatment. Therefore, the sequential treatment with NaOCl or ClO2 and e-beam is expected to effectively control HAV on fresh vegetables without changing the food quality compared to either treatment alone.

Development and efficacy assessment of hand sanitizers and polylactic acid films incorporating caffeic acid and vanillin for enhanced antiviral properties against HCoV-229E.

BACKGROUND: Although three years after the outbreak of SARS-CoV-2, the virus is still having a significant impact on human health and the global economy. Infection through respiratory droplets is the main transmission route, but the transmission of the virus by surface contact cannot be ignored. Hand sanitizers and antiviral films can be applied to control SARS-CoV-2, but sanitizers and films show drawbacks such as resistance of the virus against ethanol and environmental problems including the overuse of plastics. Therefore, this study suggested applying natural substrates to hand sanitizers and antiviral films made of biodegradable plastic (PLA). This approach is expected to provide advantages for the easy control of SARS-CoV-2 through the application of natural substances. METHODS: Antiviral disinfectants and films were manufactured by adding caffeic acid and vanillin to ethanol, isopropyl alcohol, benzalkonium chloride, and PLA. Antiviral efficacies were evaluated with slightly modified international standard testing methods EN 14,476 and ISO 21,702. RESULTS: In suspension, all the hand sanitizers evaluated in this study showed a reduction of more than 4 log within 2 min against HCoV-229E. After natural substances were added to the hand sanitizers, the time needed to reach the detection limit of the viral titer was shortened both in suspension and porcine skin. However, no difference in the time needed to reach the detection limit of the viral titer was observed in benzalkonium chloride. In the case of antiviral films, those made using both PLA and natural substances showed a 1 log reduction of HCoV-229E compared to the neat PLA film for all treatment groups. Furthermore, the influence of the organic load was evaluated according to the number of contacts of the antiviral products with porcine skin. Ten rubs on the skin resulted in slightly higher antiviral activity than 50 rubs. CONCLUSION: This study revealed that caffeic acid and vanillin can be effectively used to control HCoV-229E for hand sanitizers and antiviral films. In addition, it is recommended to remove organic matter from the skin for maintaining the antiviral activity of hand sanitizer and antiviral film as the antiviral activity decreased as the organic load increased in this study.

Innovative nonthermal technologies for inactivation of emerging foodborne viruses.

Various foodborne viruses have been associated with human health during the last decade, causing gastroenteritis and a huge economic burden worldwide. Furthermore, the emergence of new variants of infectious viruses is growing continuously. Inactivation of foodborne viruses in the food industry is a formidable task because although viruses cannot grow in foods, they can survive in the food matrix during food processing and storage environments. Conventional inactivation methods pose various drawbacks, necessitating more effective and environmentally friendly techniques for controlling foodborne viruses during food production and processing. Various inactivation approaches for controlling foodborne viruses have been attempted in the food industry. However, some traditionally used techniques, such as disinfectant-based or heat treatment, are not always efficient. Nonthermal techniques are considered a new platform for effective and safe treatment to inactivate foodborne viruses. This review focuses on foodborne viruses commonly associated with human gastroenteritis, including newly emerged viruses, such as sapovirus and Aichi virus. It also investigates the use of chemical and nonthermal physical treatments as effective technologies to inactivate foodborne viruses.

The Therapeutic Potential of Anticoagulation in Organ Fibrosis.

Fibrosis, also known as organ scarring, describes a pathological stiffening of organs or tissues caused by increased synthesis of extracellular matrix (ECM) components. In the past decades, mounting evidence has accumulated showing that the coagulation cascade is directly associated with fibrotic development. Recent findings suggest that, under inflammatory conditions, various cell types (e.g., immune cells) participate in the coagulation process causing pathological outcomes, including fibrosis. These findings highlighted the potential of anticoagulation therapy as a strategy in organ fibrosis. Indeed, preclinical and clinical studies demonstrated that the inhibition of blood coagulation is a potential intervention for the treatment of fibrosis across all major organs (e.g., lung, liver, heart, and kidney). In this review, we aim to summarize our current knowledge on the impact of components of coagulation cascade on fibrosis of various organs and provide an update on the current development of anticoagulation therapy for fibrosis.

Near-Field Communication in Biomedical Applications.

Near-field communication (NFC) is a low-power wireless communication technology used in contemporary daily life. This technology contributes not only to user identification and payment methods, but also to various biomedical fields such as healthcare and disease monitoring. This paper focuses on biomedical applications among the diverse applications of NFC. It addresses the benefits of combining traditional and new sensors (temperature, pressure, electrophysiology, blood flow, sweat, etc.) with NFC technology. Specifically, this report describes how NFC technology, which is simply applied in everyday life, can be combined with sensors to present vision and opportunities to modern people.

Wireless, Skin-Mountable EMG Sensor for Human-Machine Interface Application.

The development of advanced technologies for wireless data collection and the analysis of quantitative data, with application to a human-machine interface (HMI), is of growing interest. In particular, various wearable devices related to HMIs are being developed. These devices require a customization process that considers the physical characteristics of each individual, such as mounting positions of electrodes, muscle masses, and so forth. Here, the authors report device and calculation concepts for flexible platforms that can measure electrical signals changed through electromyography (EMG). This soft, flexible, and lightweight EMG sensor can be attached to curved surfaces such as the forearm, biceps, back, legs, etc., and optimized biosignals can be obtained continuously through post-processing. In addition to the measurement of EMG signals, the application of the HMI has stable performance and high accuracy of more than 95%, as confirmed by 50 trials per case. The result of this study shows the possibility of application to various fields such as entertainment, the military, robotics, and healthcare in the future.

DS-ARP: a new detection scheme for ARP spoofing attacks based on routing trace for ubiquitous environments.

Despite the convenience, ubiquitous computing suffers from many threats and security risks. Security considerations in the ubiquitous network are required to create enriched and more secure ubiquitous environments. The address resolution protocol (ARP) is a protocol used to identify the IP address and the physical address of the associated network card. ARP is designed to work without problems in general environments. However, since it does not include security measures against malicious attacks, in its design, an attacker can impersonate another host using ARP spoofing or access important information. In this paper, we propose a new detection scheme for ARP spoofing attacks using a routing trace, which can be used to protect the internal network. Tracing routing can find the change of network movement path. The proposed scheme provides high constancy and compatibility because it does not alter the ARP protocol. In addition, it is simple and stable, as it does not use a complex algorithm or impose extra load on the computer system.