The primary function of personal protection equipment (PPE), including facemasks and gloves, is to filter out nanoparticulate aerosols, which are present in the air. PPE is widely used in medical research, law enforcement, healthcare, and military applications. Conventional PPEs can only filter nanoparticles whose size is above 300 nm and fails to block harmful [...]
What goes on inside planets like Neptune and Uranus? To find out, an international team headed by the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), the University of Rostock and France's École Polytechnique conducted a novel experiment. They fired a laser at a thin film of simple PET plastic and investigated what happened using intensive laser flashes. One [...]
Among men diagnosed with COVID-19, those with low testosterone levels are more likely to become seriously ill and end up in the hospital than men with normal levels of the hormone, according to a study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Saint Louis University School of Medicine. The [...]
Although combining radiation therapy (RT) with immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) could activate an in situ vaccine effect, RT limits the tumor antigen presentation and cannot overcome suppressive mechanisms in the tumor microenvironment (TME), limiting the vaccine effect. An article published in the journal Nature Communications presented a solution to overcome the above challenges by developing PIC multifunctional nanoparticles [...]
A joint research team led by Prof. Wang Hui, Prof. Zhang Xin and Prof. Qian Junchao from the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science (HFIPS) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has proposed a new kind of near-infrared-triggered nanozyme based on iron oxide nanocrystals embedded in N-doped carbon nanosheets (IONCNs), which is promising for [...]
Several difficulties have been associated with developing robust nanoscale coating on the surface of electrospun nanofibers. In a recent study published in Nature Communications, scientists have successfully produced a facile, controllable, and versatile method to develop superlubricated nano-skin (SLNS) on the single electrospun nanofiber in situ. Electrospun Nanofibers Nanofibers synthesized through electrospinning are commonly applied in several [...]
Over 2.8 million Americans get antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections annually, and about 35,000 of those patients do not make it through their infection, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Hongjun (Henry) Liang, Ph.D., of the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) Department of Cell Physiology and Molecular Biophysics, has largely focused his research [...]
There may soon be a new weapon in our centuries-old battle against germs: the first durable coating that can quickly kill bacteria and viruses and keep on killing them for months at a time. Developed by a team of University of Michigan engineers and immunologists, it proved deadly to SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes [...]
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become a deadly pandemic with surging mortality rates and no cure. COVID-19 is caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) with a range of clinical symptoms, including cough, fever, chills, headache, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, muscle pain, and a loss of smell or [...]
A recent study published in Scientific Reports has demonstrated the antiviral effectiveness of cetylpyridinium chloride against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Cetylpyridinium chloride is an ammonium compound commonly present in mouthwash. Background Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causative pathogen of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, is an enveloped, positive-sense, single-stranded [...]
