Risk of drowning in people with Parkinson's disease

© 2018 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder SocietySwimming is a common activity, practiced by both healthy and nonhealthy people of all ages. It is a complex activity that requires coordination of breathing with continued and harmonic upper and lower limb movements. Because of the unique properties of water, aquatic activities are usually associated with facilitated movements and therapeutic properties.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Pretreatment of textiles through atmospheric plasma

There are several technologies available for the treatment of textile substrates. In a context where more environmentally and sustainable attitudes need to be adopted, industries must find technologically advanced solutions towards it, such as waterless technologies. An example is the atmospheric plasma, which allows the continuous and uniform pre-treatment of textile substrates, to make the next step – functionalization – more efficient. This alternative technology allows cleaning textile surfaces, remove organic contaminants and low molecular weight materials, as well as increase surface energy with the improvement of adhesion and creation of active chemical groups for prior bonding. This technology presents many advantages, like the speed of treatment, the possibility of cleaning and activation the surface in a single step, reduction of energy consumption, maintenance of the intrinsic properties of textile substrates, no need of water or chemical reagents and, consequently, no liquid effluents are generated; being, in general, a cleaner process. PLASMAMED project exemplifies the application of this specific technology. The goal is to produce a new generation of coatings containing bionanocomposites with controllable antibacterial activity on medical textiles, using plasma at atmospheric pressure for the pretreatment of textile substrates, aiming to obtain antimicrobial dressing for pressure injury. Thus, different substrates (cotton, polyester, polyamide) have been pretreated by atmospheric plasma technology, where different conditions of speed and discharge power have been tested, as well as various gases (such as helium, oxygen, nitrogen, or synthetic air), using argon as carrier gas. In general, water contact angle measurements and wicking tests confirmed that plasma modification increased the wettability of textiles substrates, with lower values of contact angle and greater wetting distance achieved, when compared with standard values of the substrates without pretreatment. Additionally, this treatment proved to be more effective than common washing, in removing surface impurities, allowing better results by both methods. After optimizing plasma treatment conditions, polyester-based textiles were functionalized with nanoparticles, enzymes as antimicrobial agents, immobilized using mordenite zeolites and polysaccharide-based matrixes to mitigate cytotoxicity. Antimicrobial tests showed high antimicrobial activity. Therefore, the results show the possibilities of using plasma in the modification of polymeric surfaces, through the increase of surface energy, as for specific functionalization, compared to the absence of pretreatment

Innovative eco-sustainable photocontrolable and reversibly photoswitchable fluorescent bio-inks

Colour-changing materials with controllable properties are highly desirable for technical, smart innovative products. Current developments commonly incorporate photo/thermochromic inks based on molecules obtained by non-sustainable petroleum based sources that do not allow controlled light-driven switching between colors. To overcome these limitations, our project explores the development of new eco-sustainable bio-inks that take advantage of unique and photo-tunable properties of selected reversibly switchable fluorescent biomolecules (RSFMs), and their application to relevant substrates using conventional and advanced coating methodologies. Besides the appeal of the wide range of promising applications, these biomolecules have the added advantage of being produced by low-cost, eco-sustainable biotechnological methods. The resulting bio-inks were produced by the nanoencapsulation of RSFMs in biocompatible matrices, such as silica, which improves their long-term stability and functionalization potential. RSFMs biologically fused to tags that improve their binding to silica or cotton fibres were also used. In the scope of this work, non-covalent and covalent entrapment strategies were optimized, and their corresponding yields were compared. The fluorescent characteristics of the produced inks were evaluated by spectrofluorimetry and their photoswitching performance was accessed with an equipment developed in-house for such purpose. Their application potential was further investigated by the functionalization of cotton-based textiles via methodologies conventionally used in textile fabrication, with promising results.FEDER (Compete2020 and Portugal2020) and FCT: Project EcoBioInks4SmartTextiles, refs. POCI-01-0145-FEDER-030298 and PTDC/CTM-TEX/30298/2017.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Sustainable identity through switchable fluorescence: smart textiles with reversibly fluorescent and photocontrolable bio-inks

[Excerpt] Colour-changing materials with con - trollable properties obtained by low cost and biotechnological means are highly desirable for smart innovative products and applications such as anti-counterfeiting and security printing. Protein-based nanotechno - logy is an ever-growing research field due to the versatility and adap - tability of these biomolecule building blocks and the innovative functiona - lities and applications that can be achieved. [1, 2 ] This work explores the development of a new generation of eco-sustainable inks that take ad - vantage of the unique optical properties of selected reversibly switchab - le fluorescent molecules (RSFMs) for the fabrication of innovative textiles with photocontrolable and photoswitching fluorescent properties.This work was developed in the framework of EcoBioInks4SMartTextiles project (refs. POCI-01-0145-FEDER-030298 and PTDC/CTM-TEX/30298/2017), co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), through the Operational Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalization (COMPETE 2020), under Portugal 2020, and by national funds through FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P..info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Smart textile fabrication with photocontrolable, reversibly photoswitchable and eco-sustainable fluorescent bio-inks

Color-changing materials with controllable photoswitching properties are highly desirable for technical and smart textile products. In the quest for innovative light-responsive textiles, many efforts have been made to develop materials that can be easily incorporated into fibers and/or fabrics by conventional dyeing, printing or coating processes. Current developments commonly incorporate photochromic inks that undergo a color change upon irradiation with light of a specific wavelength and revert to the original color when the light source is removed. However, these inks are based on substances obtained by non-sustainable petroleum-based organic synthesis and do not allow controlled light-driven switching between colors. In this context, biomolecules which can be easily obtained by biotechnological means and that combine fast and easily tunable fluorescent properties, appear as a more eco-sustainable and highly appealing alternative with a wide range of promising applications. Therefore, this work explores the development of a new generation of eco-sustainable inks that take advantage of the unique optical properties of selected reversibly switchable fluorescent molecules (RSFMs) for the fabrication of innovative textiles with photocontrolable photoswitching fluorescent properties (Figure 1).This work was developed in the framework of EcoBioInks4SMartTextiles project (refs. POCI-01-0145- FEDER-030298 and PTDC/CTM-TEX/30298/2017), co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), through the Operational Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalization (COMPETE 2020), under Portugal 2020, and by national funds through FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P..info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Antiviral properties of flame retardant bacterial nanocellulose modified with mordenite

[Excerpt] Bacterial nanocellulose (BNC) is a 100 % cellulose nano-nonwoven textile synthesized by bacteria, comprising impressive mechanical properties. Cellulosic materials require flame retardant finishing, thus to reduce flammability of BNC a zeolite mordenite (MOR) was incorporated in its nano structure, without any additives.The authors acknowledge the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), FEDER funds by means of Portugal 2020 Competitive Factors Operational Program (POCI) and the project UID/CTM/00264/2021 of Centre for Textile Science and Technology (2C2T). PTDC/CTM-TEX/28295/2017, PTDC/CTM-TEX/1213/2020, and ARCHKNIT POCI-01-0247- FEDER-039733, funded by FCT, FEDER, COMPETE, and MCTES. Liliana Melro and Rui D. V. Fernandes acknowledge their PhD grants 2020.04919.BD and SFRH/BD/145269/2019

Antiviral properties of flame retardant bacterial nanocellulose modified with mordenite

Current COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the requirement of antiviral properties in a plethora of textile applications. These include textiles used in home areas prone to fire such as kitchens, windows and electronic panel areas, but also in the automotive industry such interior textiles and hood insulation pad covers. Therefore, this work describes the characterization of a fully sustainable textile: bacterial nanocellulose, functionalized to achieve an impressive flame retardancy

Distinct antimicrobial analysis to evaluate multi-component wound dressing performance

Wound infection hinders adequate healing, being particularly grievous and prevalent in burn wounds and chronic wounds. Wound infection extends inflammation, preventing epithelialization and angiogenesis. Therefore, infection prolongs healing time, steeply increases treatment costs and degrades patients wellbeing. One successful strategy to control wound infection is to apply an active wound dressing, able to eliminate or significantly reduce the microbial population present at the infection site. Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are a multipurpose antimicrobial agent with a wide scope of applications which include wound dressings. Nevertheless, several studies denote AgNPs dose-dependent cytotoxicity, and their capability to bypass the blood-brain barrier and induce a neurotoxic effect. Hence, we propose to adopt two different strategies to attempt the simultaneously immobilize and increase the load of AgNPs within the wound dressing fabric. Thus, the envisaged objective is to prevent potential systemic cytotoxicity /through immobilization and to improve its antimicrobial capability due to the higher concentration of AgNPs. Two different approaches were used: i. AgNPs were suspended in an alginate (ALG) solution, ii. AgNPs were embedded in Mordenite (MOR) zeolite, followed by the addition of an ALG solution. Both suspensions were incorporated into polyester fabric assisted by its surface activation by dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma treatment. The bactericidal and virucidal effectiveness of each composite was tested against bacteria species known to induce nosocomial infections and a bacteriophage that is a potential surrogate of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Two distinct antimicrobial analyses were used to provide insights on the antimicrobial effectiveness of the obtained composites and to indirectly assess the release of AgNPs

Distinct antimicrobial analysis to evaluate multi-component wound dressing performance

Wound infection hinders adequate healing, being particularly grievous and prevalent in burn wounds and chronic wounds. Wound infection extends inflammation, preventing epithelialization and angiogenesis. Therefore, infection prolongs healing time, steeply increases treatment costs and degrades patients wellbeing. One successful strategy to control wound infection is to apply an active wound dressing, able to eliminate or significantly reduce the microbial population present at the infection site. Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are a multipurpose antimicrobial agent with a wide scope of applications which include wound dressings. Nevertheless, several studies denote AgNPs dose-dependent cytotoxicity, and their capability to bypass the blood-brain barrier and induce a neurotoxic effect. Hence, we propose to adopt two different strategies to attempt the simultaneously immobilize and increase the load of AgNPs within the wound dressing fabric. Thus, the envisaged objective is to prevent potential systemic cytotoxicity /through immobilization and to improve its antimicrobial capability due to the higher concentration of AgNPs. Two different approaches were used: i. AgNPs were suspended in an alginate (ALG) solution, ii. AgNPs were embedded in Mordenite (MOR) zeolite, followed by the addition of an ALG solution. Both suspensions were incorporated into polyester fabric assisted by its surface activation by dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma treatment. The bactericidal and virucidal effectiveness of each composite was tested against bacteria species known to induce nosocomial infections and a bacteriophage that is a potential surrogate of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Two distinct antimicrobial analyses were used to provide insights on the antimicrobial effectiveness of the obtained composites and to indirectly assess the release of AgNPs

Multicomponent wound dressing

This works describes the antimicrobial (antibacterial and antiviral) performance of a multicomponent fabric for wound dressing. The fabric comprises a scaffold of plasma activated polyester (PES), enveloped in a matrix of chitosan (CH) containing silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and the zeolite mordenite (MOR). The antimicrobial efficacy of the cumulative addition of each of these components was evaluated.The authors would like to acknowledge the project PLASMAMED - PTDC/CTM-TEX/28295/2017 financed by FCT, FEDER and POCI in the frame of the Portugal 2020 program, the project UID/CTM/00264/2019 of 2C2T under the COMPETE and FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC) co-fnanced by FEDER through the PT2020 program