Characterization of functional single jersey knitted fabrics using non-conventional yarns for sportswear

Eight functional single jersey plain knitted fabrics have been developed in order to assess a quantitative analysis of various comfort-related properties in terms of thermal control, air and water vapor permeability, wickability, coefficient of kinetic friction and antimicrobial efficiency, using eight different commercially available functional yarns: Polyester Craque and viscose Craque conventional yarns as controls; Finecool and Coolmax polyester yarns for moisture management and quick drying; Holofiber polyester yarns containing an optical responsive material that the producer claims to improve body oxygenation; Airclo polyester hollow yarns for efficient control of body temperature; and, finally, polyester Trevira and viscose Seacell for antimicrobial activity. According to the results, Coolmax for moisture management, Airclo for thermal control and Seacell for antimicrobial activity present the best performances as technical textiles for sportswear for the respective specific functional property.The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Jefferson M Souza acknowledges CAPES Foundation, Ministry of Education of Brazil (Proc. n 8976/13-9). Andrea Zille acknowledges FCT funding from Programa Compromisso para a Ciência 2008, Portugal, FEDER funding from the Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade-COMPETE and national funds through FCT – Foundation for Science and Technology within the scope of the projects POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007136 and UID/CTM/00264

New textile for personal protective equipment—plasma chitosan/silver nanoparticles nylon fabric

Fabric structures are prone to contamination with microorganisms, as their morphology and ability to retain moisture creates a proper environment for their growth. In this work, a novel, easily processed and cheap coating for a nylon fabric with antimicrobial characteristics was devel- oped. After plasma treatment, made to render the fabric surface more reactive sites, the fabric was impregnated with chitosan and silver nanoparticles by simply dipping it into a mixture of different concentrations of both components. Silver nanoparticles were previously synthesized using the Lee–Meisel method, and their successful obtention was proven by UV–Vis, showing the presence of the surface plasmon resonance band at 410 nm. Nanoparticles with 25 nm average diameter observed by STEM were stable, mainly in the presence of chitosan, which acted as a surfactant for silver nanoparticles, avoiding their aggregation. The impregnated fabric possessed bactericidal activ- ity higher for Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus than for Gram-negative Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria for all combinations. The percentage of live S. aureus and P. aeruginosa CFU was reduced to less than 20% and 60%, respectively, when exposed to each of the coating combinations. The effect was more pronounced when both chitosan and silver were present in the coating, suggesting an effective synergy between these components. After a washing process, the antimicrobial effect was highly reduced, suggesting that the coating is unstable after washing, being almost completely removed from the fabric. Nevertheless, the new-coated fabric can be successfully used in single-use face masks. To our knowledge, the coating of nylon fabrics intended for face-mask material with both agents has never been reported.This study was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), under the scope of the strategic funding of UIDB/04469/2020 unit, and BioTecNorte operation (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000004). funded by the European Regional Development, Fund under the scope of Norte2020—Programa Operacional Regional do Norte

Comfort and infection control of chitosan-impregnated cotton gauze as wound dressing

The aim of this study was to evaluate the thermo-physiological comfort properties of surgical cotton gauze coated with chitosan (CH) and its effectiveness for the prevention of bacterial colonization. Gauze was coated with CH at mass fractions of 0.50, 0.25, 0.125, 0.10, 0.063 wt% and the friction, flexibility, thermal, moisture management and mechanical properties were evaluated. The best performing gauze in terms of comfort (0.125 wt%) was further evaluated for its ability to inhibit the growth of microorganisms such as bacteria and yeast. Results indicate that the functionalized medical gauze could induce low friction on the wound bed allowing a good degree of moisture and high absorption capacity of wound exudates. Moreover, it shows antimicrobial properties against medical-relevant pathogens. This biofunctional medical gauze demonstrates to deliver an efficient antimicrobial coating and promote the best conditions for maintenance of the wound microenvironment.Z acknowledges funding from FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia within the scope of the project POCI- 01-0145-FEDER-007136 and UID/CTM/00264. A. Zille also acknowledges financial support of the FCT through an Investigator FCT Research contract (IF/00071/2015). JS acknowledge CAPES Foundation, Ministry of Education of Brazil, Proc. no 8976/13-9 and the Department of Textile Engineering of the University of Minho, Portugal. The work regarding the biological analysis was supported by the Programa Operacional, Fatores de competitividade - COMPETE and by national funds through FCT on the scope of the projects PTDC/SAU-MIC/119069/2010, RECI/EBB-EBI/ 0179/2012 and PEst-OE/EQB/LA0023/2013. PT acknowledges SFRH/BPD/86732/2012 grant. The authors thank the Project BioHealth - Biotechnology and Bioengineering approaches to improve health quality, Ref. NORTE-07-0124-FEDER- 000027, co-funded by the Programa Operacional Regional do Norte (ON.2 - O Novo Norte), QREN, FEDER.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Quantum discord determines the interferometric power of quantum states

Quantum metrology exploits quantum mechanical laws to improve the precision in estimating technologically relevant parameters such as phase, frequency, or magnetic fields. Probe states are usually tailored to the particular dynamics whose parameters are being estimated. Here we consider a novel framework where quantum estimation is performed in an interferometric configuration, using bipartite probe states prepared when only the spectrum of the generating Hamiltonian is known. We introduce a figure of merit for the scheme, given by the worst-case precision over all suitable Hamiltonians, and prove that it amounts exactly to a computable measure of discord-type quantum correlations for the input probe. We complement our theoretical results with a metrology experiment, realized in a highly controllable room-temperature nuclear magnetic resonance setup, which provides a proof-of-concept demonstration for the usefulness of discord in sensing applications. Discordant probes are shown to guarantee a nonzero phase sensitivity for all the chosen generating Hamiltonians, while classically correlated probes are unable to accomplish the estimation in a worst-case setting. This work establishes a rigorous and direct operational interpretation for general quantum correlations, shedding light on their potential for quantum technology

Alpinia

Species of the genus Alpinia are widely used by the population and have many described biological activities, including activity against insects. In this paper, we describe the bioactivity of the essential oil of two species of Alpinia genus, A. zerumbet and A. vittata, against Rhodnius nasutus, a vector of Chagas disease. The essential oils of these two species were obtained by hydrodistillation and analyzed by GC-MS. The main constituent of A. zerumbet essential oil (OLALPZER) was terpinen-4-ol, which represented 19.7% of the total components identified. In the essential oil of A. vittata (OLALPVIT) the monoterpene β-pinene (35.3%) was the main constituent. The essential oils and their main constituents were topically applied on R. nasutus fifth-instar nymphs. In the first 10 min of application, OLALPVIT and OLALPZER at 125 μg/mL provoked 73.3% and 83.3% of mortality, respectively. Terpinen-4-ol at 25 μg/mL and β-pinene at 44 μg/mL provoked 100% of mortality. The monitoring of resistant insects showed that both essential oils exhibited antifeedant activity. These results suggest the potential use of A. zerumbet and A. vittata essential oils and their major constituents to control R. nasutus population

Avaliação da capacidade preditiva da circunferência da cintura para obesidade global e hipertensão arterial em mulheres residentes na Região Metropolitana de Belo Horizonte, Brasil

Avaliou-se a capacidade que a Circunferência da Cintura (CC) tem em identificar valores de IMC ≥25 (sobrepeso) e ≥30 (obesidade) a partir de níveis de ação recomendados internacionalmente. Setecentas e noventa e uma mulheres entre 15-59 anos foram recrutadas. Foram calculadas a sensibilidade e a especificidade no diagnóstico de sobrepeso e obesidade e a sensibilidade e especificidade na predição da hipertensão, a partir de valores de CC. As associações foram testadas por análise de regressão linear e regressão logística controlando para o efeito de fatores de confusão. A CC ≥80 e ≥88cm discriminou corretamente 89,8% de mulheres com IMC ≥25 e 88,5% com IMC ≥30. A obesidade abdominal (CC ≥88cm) esteve associada significativamente com a hipertensão na análise multivariada (OR = 2,88, IC 95%: 1,77-4,67). A hipertensão foi identificada com sensibilidade de 63,8 e 42,8% e especificidade de 68,0 e 83,3% para CC ≥80 e ≥88, respectivamente. A obesidade abdominal nos pontos de corte propostos pode discriminar adequadamente indivíduos em risco de se tornarem obesos, no entanto, apresenta um poder apenas moderado para discriminar indivíduos com níveis pressóricos altos. _______________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACTThis study examined the capacity of waist circumference (WC) to identify subjects with overweight (BMI ≥25) and obesity (BMI ≥30), in agreement with internationally recommended levels of action. Data were obtained from 791 women, 15-59 years old. After identifying overweight and obesity according to WC values, sensitivity and specificity were calculated to verify whether WC could be a good risk predictor for hypertension. Associations were tested by linear regression and logistic regression, controlling for confounding.WC cut-off points of 80cm and 88cm correctly identified 89.8% and 88.5% of women with overweight and obesity, respectively. Abdominal obesity (WC ≥88cm) was statistically associated with hypertension in the multivariate analysis (OR = 2.88; 95% CI: 1.77-4.67). Hypertension was identified with a sensitivity of 63.8% and 42.8%, and with a specificity of 68.0% and 83.3%, for WC ≥80 and ≥88, respectively. The proposed cut-off points for abdominal obesity can potentially distinguish individuals at risk for future obesity, but has only moderate power to predict individuals with high blood pressure

Análise das propriedades mecânicas em concreto para pavimento rígido com a inserção de resíduo de garrafão de água como agente de reforço da matriz / Analysis of mechanical properties in concrete for rigid pavement with water bottle waste as a reinforcement agent in the matrix

No presente estudo, compósitos com matriz cimentícia destinados a pavimento rígido foram produzidos, com fibras produzidas a partir do rejeito de garrafão de água de polipropileno geradas após a extrusão do mesmo em uma fábrica de reciclagem. A partir de um traço padrão foram elaborados concretos com adições de 0%, 0,5%, 1,0% e 2,0% de resíduo de GA, e outro para efeito comparativo com a inserção de 0,5% (orientação do fabricante) de microfibras comerciais de polipropileno). Avaliou-se as características mecânicas do concreto na compressão simples, tração por compressão diametral e módulo de elasticidade nas idades de 28, 56 e 84 dias. Ainda, foram realizadas análises de microscopia eletrônica por varredura (MEV) para as mesmas idades. De forma geral, os resultados apresentados demonstraram que o concreto reforçado com fibra de GA obteve um bom desempenho dentro das características analisadas, indicando a aplicabilidade e a demanda de novas investigações.