Antibacterial properties of Cu-ZrO2 thin films prepared via aerosol assisted chemical vapour deposition

© 2015 The Royal Society of Chemistry. The antibacterial properties of a Cu-ZrO2 film grown via aerosol assisted chemical vapour deposition are presented. The composite film showed high activity against E. coli (Gram-negative) and S. aureus (Gram-positive) bacteria with 5 log10 (E. coli) and 4 log10 (S. aureus) decrease in viable bacteria achieved within 20 and 60 minutes respectively. These results were comparable to a pure copper film that was prepared under the same conditions. The composite film was characterized for material properties using a range of techniques including X-ray photoemission and X-ray diffraction

Cardiovascular medication adherence among patients with cardiac disease: a systematic review

© 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd Aims: The aim of this study was to critically appraise and synthesize the best available evidence on the effectiveness of interventions suitable for delivery by nurses, designed to enhance cardiac patients' adherence to their prescribed medications. Background: Cardiac medications have statistically significant health benefits for patients with heart disease, but patients' adherence to prescribed medications remains suboptimal. Design: A systematic quantitative review of intervention effects. Data Sources: We conducted systematic searches for English-language, peer-reviewed randomized controlled trial publications via Medline, EMBASE, CINAHL, the Cochrane Library, ProQuest, Web of Science and Google Scholar published between January 2004–December 2014. Review methods: According to pre-determined inclusion and exclusion criteria, eligible studies were identified and data extracted using a predefined form. Of 1962 identified papers; 14 studies met the study inclusion criteria, were assessed for risk of bias using the Cochrane Collaboration tool; and included in the review. Results: Study findings were presented descriptively; due to the heterogeneity of studies meta-analysis was not possible. Included papers described interventions categorized as: (1) multifaceted; and (2) behavioural and educational, comprising: (a) text message and mail message; (b) telephone calls; (c) motivational interviewing and (d) nurse-led counselling and education. Conclusions: Substantial heterogeneity limited the robustness of conclusions, but this review indicated that motivational interviewing, education and phone or text messaging appeared promising as means to enhance cardiac medication adherence. Future research should integrate multifaceted interventions that target individual behaviour change to enhance adherence to cardiovascular medications, to build on the beneficial outcomes indicated by this review

Behaviour change interventions to improve medication adherence in patients with cardiac disease: Protocol for a mixed methods study including a pilot randomised controlled trial

© 2017 Australian College of Nursing Ltd Background: Suboptimal adherence to medication increases mortality and morbidity; individually tailored supportive interventions can improve patients’ adherence to their medication regimens. Aims: The study aims to use a pilot randomised controlled trial (RCT) to test the hypothesis that a theory-based, nurse-led, multi-faceted intervention comprising motivational interviewing techniques and text message reminders in addition to standard care will better promote medication adherence in cardiac patients compared to standard care alone. The pilot study will assess self-reported adherence or non-adherence to cardiovascular medication in patients referred to a cardiac rehabilitation program following hospital admission for an acute cardiac event and test the feasibility of the intervention. The study will examine the role of individual, behavioural and environmental factors in predicting medication non-adherence in patients with CVD. Methods: This is a mixed- methods study including a nested pilot RCT. Twenty-eight cardiac patients will be recruited; an estimated sample of nine patients in each group will be required for the pilot RCT with 80% power to detect a moderate effect size at 5% significance, and assuming 50% loss to follow-up over the six month intervention. Participants will complete a paper-based survey (Phase one), followed by a brief semi-structured interview (Phase two) to identify their level of adherence to medication and determine factors predictive of non-adherence. Participants identified as ‘non-adherent’ will be eligible for the pilot randomised trial, where they will be randomly allocated to receive either the motivational interview plus text message reminders and standard care, or standard care alone. Discussion: Nurse-led multi-faceted interventions have the potential to enhance adherence to cardiac medications. The results of this study may have relevance for cardiac patients in other settings, and for long-term medication users with other chronic diseases

Zn and N codoped TiO2 thin films: photocatalytic and bactericidal activity.

We explore a series of Zn and N codoped TiO2 thin films grown using chemical vapor deposition. Films were prepared with various concentrations of Zn (0.4-2.9 at. % Zn vs Ti), and their impact on superoxide formation, photocatalytic activity, and bactericidal properties were determined. Superoxide (O2•-) formation was assessed using a 2,3-bis(2-methoxy-4-nitro-5-sulfophenyl)-5-[(phenylamino)carbonyl]-2H-tetrazolium sodium salt (XTT) as an indicator, photocatalytic activity was determined from the degradation of stearic acid under UVA light, and bactericidal activity was assessed using a Gram-negative bacterium E. coli under both UVA and fluorescent light (similar to what is found in a clinical environment). The 0.4% Zn,N:TiO2 thin film demonstrated the highest formal quantum efficiency in degrading stearic acid (3.3 × 10-5 molecules·photon-1), while the 1.0% Zn,N:TiO2 film showed the highest bactericidal activity under both UVA and fluorescent light conditions (>3 log kill). The enhanced efficiency of the films was correlated with increased charge carrier lifetime, supported by transient absorption spectroscopy (TAS) measurements

Enhanced photocatalytic and antibacterial ability of Cu-doped anatase TiO2 thin films: theory and experiment.

Multifunctional thin films which can display both photocatalytic and antibacterial activity are of great interest industrially. Here, for the first time, we have used aerosol assisted chemical vapour deposition (AACVD) to deposit highly photoactive thin films of Cu-doped anatase TiO2 on glass substrates. The films displayed much enhanced photocatalytic activity relative to pure anatase, and showed excellent antibacterial (vs S.Aureus and E.Coli) ability. Using a combination of transient absorption spectroscopy (TAS), photoluminescence (PL) measurements and hybrid density functional theory calculations, we have gained nanoscopic insights into the improved properties of the Cu-doped TiO2 films. Our analysis has highlighted that the interactions between substitutional and interstitial Cu in the anatase lattice can explain the extended exciton lifetimes observed in the doped samples, and the enhanced UV/visible light photoactivities observed

Photobactericidal activity activated by thiolated gold nanoclusters at low flux levels of white light

The emergence of antibiotic resistant bacteria is a major threat to the practice of modern medicine. Photobactericidal agents have obtained significant attention as promising candidates to kill bacteria, and they have been extensively studied. However, to obtain photobactericidal activity, an intense white light source or UV-activation is usually required. Here we report a photobactericidal polymer containing crystal violet (CV) and thiolated gold nanocluster ([Au25(Cys)18]) activated at a low flux levels of white light. It was shown that the polymer encapsulated with CV do not have photobactericidal activity under white light illumination of an average 312 lux. However, encapsulation of [Au25(Cys)18] and CV into the polymer activates potent photobactericidal activity. The study of the photobactericidal mechanism shows that additional encapsulation of [Au25(Cys)18] into the CV treated polymer promotes redox reactions through generation of alternative electron transfer pathways, while it reduces photochemical reaction type-ІІ pathways resulting in promotion of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) production

The mediating role of attention deficit in relationship between insomnia and social cognition tasks among nurses in Saudi Arabia: a cross-sectional study

Purpose: Insomnia-related affective functional disorder may negatively affect social cognition such as empathy, altruism, and attitude toward providing care. No previous studies have ever investigated the mediating role of attention deficit in the relationship between insomnia and social cognition. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was carried out among 664 nurses (M age = 33.03 years; SD ± 6.93 years) from December 2020 to September 2021. They completed the Scale of Attitude towards the Patient (SAtP), the Athens Insomnia Scale (AIS), a single-item numeric rating scale assessing the increasing severity of attention complaints, and questions relating to socio-demographic information. The analysis was carried out by examining the mediating role of attention deficit in the relationship between insomnia and social cognition. Results: The prevalence of insomnia symptoms was high (52% insomnia using the AIS). Insomnia was significantly correlated with attention problems (b = 0.18, standard error (SE) = 0.02, p < 0.001). Attention problems were significantly negatively correlated with nurses' attitudes towards patients (b = −0.56, SE = 0.08, p < 0.001), respect for autonomy (b = −0.18, SE = 0.03, p < 0.001), holism (b = −0.14, SE = 0.03, p < 0.001), empathy (b = −0.15, SE = 0.03, p < 0.001), and altruism (b = −0.10, SE = 0.02, p < 0.001). Attention problems indirectly mediated the effect of insomnia on attitudes toward patients (99% CI = −0.10 [−0.16 to −0.05]), respect for autonomy (99% CI = −0.03 [−0.05 to −0.02]), holism (99% CI = −0.02 [−0.04 to −0.01]) empathy (99% CI = −0.03 [−0.04 to −0.01]), and altruism (99% CI = −0.02 [−0.03 to −0.01]). Conclusion: Nurses with insomnia-related attention problems are likely to have poor explicit social cognition such as attitude toward patients, altruism, empathy, respect for autonomy, and holism

Photocatalytic and electrically conductive transparent Cl-doped ZnO thin films: Via aerosol-assisted chemical vapour deposition

A simple, economical and effective solution-based chemical vapour deposition (CVD) technique, aerosol-assisted CVD, has been successfully applied to produce inexpensive Cl-doped ZnO films using Zn acetate dihydrate and FeCl3. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and the increase in cell parameters from powder X-ray diffraction determined that Cl had been doped into the wurtzite ZnO lattice. The Cl-doping had a significant effect on the morphology of the thin films synthesised and resulted in an improvement in the visible light transmission and lower electrical resistance (typical resistivities of doped films ∼10−2 Ω cm). The highest transmittance (% T) of 85% was obtained when 7 mol% FeCl3 was used in the precursor solution and the lowest resistivity of 4.28 ± 0.41 × 10−2 Ω cm was obtained with 5 mol% FeCl3. The greatest photocatalytic activity of stearic acid degradation under UVA irradiation was obtained on using 10 mol% FeCl3, resulting in the highest formal quantum efficiency (FQE) of 3.0 ± 0.1 × 10−4 molecule per photon. These films, therefore, display transparent conducting oxide and photocatalytic properties, giving multifunctional characteristics and promising applications

Advances in Pediatric Neurovirology

Viral infections of the pediatric central nervous system (CNS) encompass a broad spectrum of both perinatally and postnatally acquired diseases with potentially devastating effects on the developing brain. In children, viral infections have been associated with chronic encephalopathy, encephalitis, demyelinating disease, tumors, and epilepsy. Older diagnostic techniques of biopsy, viral culture, electron microscopy, gel-based polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and viral titer quantification are being replaced with more rapid, sensitive, and specific real-time and microarray-based PCR technologies. Advances in neuroimaging technologies have provided for earlier recognition of CNS injury without elucidation of specific viral etiology. Although the mainstay therapy of many pediatric neurovirologic diseases, aside from HIV, includes intravenous acyclovir, much work is being done to develop novel antiviral immunotherapies aimed at both treating and preventing pediatric CNS viral disease