An economic prognostic study to examine the productivity of agricultural SMEs of Central Europe during the COVID-19 crisis

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic disturbed the world's Agri-businesses. Several economies are attempting to demonstrate attempts to maintain agribusiness, the agriculture industry, and marketplaces, but distribution networks, access to markets, and affordable farm goods are still vulnerable. The poor and various disempowered populations, particularly those with lower buying power, have been harmed by the COVID-19 outbreak. This study examines the productivity of Central Europe's agricultural SMEs during the COVID-19 pandemic. A predictive model between independent and dependent factors was used to determine and forecast the index or risk for future agricultural SMEs' functioning. The Central European agricultural SMEs' performance indicators were used, such as agricultural output, production of agriculture goods and services, vegetable and horticultural products, fixed capital consumption, agriculture determinants' actual income index, absolute net agriculture business income index, and net agricultural entrepreneurial income. Our results reveal pre and post-COVID-19 agribusiness analyses and their implications for food distribution and sustainability. Our findings also revealed a widespread influence of COVID-19 on Central European areas. The study findings can help agricultural enterprises and policymakers manage the COVID-19 outbreak by providing essential recommendations and consequences

Fabrication of Ceftriaxone-Loaded Cellulose Acetate and Polyvinyl Alcohol Nanofibers and Their Antibacterial Evaluation

Nanotechnology provides solutions by combining the fields of textiles and medicine to prevent infectious microbial spread. Our study aimed to evaluate the antimicrobial activity of nanofiber sheets incorporated with a well-known antibiotic, ceftriaxone. It is a third-generation antibiotic that belongs to the cephalosporin group. Different percentages (0, 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20%; based on polymer wt%) of ceftriaxone were incorporated with a polymer such as polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) via electrospinning to fabricate nanofiber sheets. The Kirby-Bauer method was used to evaluate the antimicrobial susceptibility of the nanofiber sheets using Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). For the characterization of the nanofiber sheets incorporated with the drug, several techniques were used, such as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Our results showed that the nanofiber sheets containing ceftriaxone had potential inhibitory activity against E. coli and S. aureus as they had inhibition zones of approximately 20–25 mm on Mueller-Hinton-agar-containing plates. In conclusion, our nanofiber sheets fabricated with ceftriaxone have potential inhibitory effects against bacteria and can be used as a dressing to treat wounds in hospitals and for other biomedical applications