Fighting Ebola with novel spore decontamination technologies for the military

AbstractRecently, global public health organizations such as Doctors without Borders (MSF), the World Health Organization (WHO), Public Health Canada, National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the U.S. government developed and deployed Field Decontamination Kits (FDKs), a novel, lightweight, compact, reusable decontamination technology to sterilize Ebola-contaminated medical devices at remote clinical sites lacking infra-structure in crisis-stricken regions of West Africa (medical waste materials are placed in bags and burned). The basis for effectuating sterilization with FDKs is chlorine dioxide (ClO2) produced from a patented invention developed by researchers at the US Army – Natick Soldier RD&E Center (NSRDEC) and commercialized as a dry mixed-chemical for bacterial spore decontamination. In fact, the NSRDEC research scientists developed an ensemble of ClO2 technologies designed for different applications in decontaminating fresh produce; food contact and handling surfaces; personal protective equipment; textiles used in clothing, uniforms, tents, and shelters; graywater recycling; airplanes; surgical instruments; and hard surfaces in latrines, laundries, and deployable medical facilities. These examples demonstrate the far-reaching impact, adaptability, and versatility of these innovative technologies. We present herein the unique attributes of NSRDEC’s novel decontamination technologies and a Case Study of the development of FDKs that were deployed in West Africa by international public health organizations to sterilize Ebola-contaminated medical equipment. FDKs use bacterial spores as indicators of sterility. We review the properties and structures of spores and the mechanisms of bacterial spore inactivation by ClO2. We also review mechanisms of bacterial spore inactivation by novel, emerging, and established nonthermal technologies for food preservation, such as high pressure processing, irradiation, cold plasma, and chemical sanitizers, using an array of

Prominent members of the human gut microbiota express endo-acting O-glycanases to initiate mucin breakdown

Epithelial cells that line the gut secrete complex glycoproteins that form a mucus layer to protect the gut wall from enteric pathogens. Here, the authors provide a comprehensive characterisation of endo-acting glycoside hydrolases expressed by mucin-degrading members of the microbiome that are able to cleave the O-glycan chains of a range of different animal and human mucins

Dyeing Para-Aramid Textiles Pretreated with Soybean Oil and Nonthermal Plasma Using Cationic Dye

The increasing use of functional aramids in a wide array of applications and the inert nature of aramids against conventional dye and print methods requires developing new dyeing methods. This study aims to use environmentally friendly method with a cationic dye as an alternative for dyeing para-aramid fabrics. Experiments used a multi-factorial design with functions of pretreatment, dye solvent (water and/or glycerol) and auxiliary chemical additives (swelling agent and surfactant) and a sequential experimentation methodology. The most effective dyeing procedures involved the following steps: (i) pretreatments of the fabrics with soybean oil and nonthermal plasma (NTP), (ii) using water at T = 100 °C as the dye solvent, and (iii) omitting other chemical additives. With a commercial cationic dye, these conditions achieved a color strength in K/S value of 2.28, compared to ~1 for untreated samples. FTIR analysis revealed that a functional network formed on the fibers and yarns of the fabrics by chemical reactions of excited plasma species with double bonds in the soybean oil molecules was responsible for significantly improving the color strength. These results extend the potential uses of a renewable material (soybean oil) and an environmentally friendly technology (NTP) to improve the dyeing of para-aramid textiles and reduce the use of harsh dye chemicals.Department of Agriculture HATCH project (No. TEN00521

Soybean Oil-Based Biopolymers Induced by Nonthermal Plasma to Enhance the Dyeing of Para-Aramids with a Cationic Dye

To overcome the recalcitrance of para-aramid textiles against dyeing, this study demonstrated that increasing the functionalities of soybean oil applied to the surface of para-aramids followed by a nonthermal plasma (NTP) treatment improved the dyeing color strength compared with the use of soybean oil alone, and that dyeing occurred through covalent bonding. Particularly, compared with the pretreatment using soybean oil that obtained the highest color strength of 3.89 (as K/S value determined from spectral analysis of the sample reflectance in the visible range), the present pretreatments with either acrylated epoxidized soybean oil (AESO) or a mixture of acrylic acid and soybean oil (AA/Soy) achieved K/S values higher than nine (>9.00). The NTP treatment, after the AESO or AA/Soy pretreatment, was essential in inducing the formation of a polymerized network on the surface of para-aramids that bonded the dye molecules and generating covalent bonds that anchored the polymerized network to the para-aramids, which is difficult to achieve given the high crystallinity and chemical inertness of para-aramids. As an important economic consideration, the sequential experimentation method demonstrated that a simple mixture of AA/Soy could replace the expensive AESO reagent and render a comparable performance in dyeing para-aramids. Among the auxiliary additives tested with the AESO and AA/Soy pretreatments followed by NPT treatment in this study, Polysorbate 80 as a surfactant negatively affected the dyeing, benzyl alcohol as a swelling agent had minimal effect, and NaCl as an electrolyte showed a positive effect. The dyeing method developed in this study did not compromise the strength of para-aramids