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

A Chemical Relaxation Study of Human Prostatic Acid Phosphatase

Chemical relaxation methods and a dilution technique were applied to the study of the hydrolysis of p-nitrophenyl phosphate by human prostatic acid phosphatase. Although the reaction mechanism was not elucidated, rate constants and equilibrium constants were obtained for the reaction of enzyme and p-nitrophenol to form a complex. A slow, 2-sec relaxation effect which showed no concentration dependence was observed in various reaction mixtures, including some lacking the substrate and products of the hydrolytic reaction. The conclusion drawn is that there are two forms of the prostatic enzyme, which are normally in equilibrium with each other, but which undergo a relatively slow interconversion when this equilibrium is perturbed. A preliminary calculation indicates that these forms are present in the equilibrium ratio of 2:1

Magnetic Properties of Tunicate Blood Cells. I. Ascidia nigra

The magnetic properties of intact and freeze-dried blood cells of the tunicate Ascidia nigra and of model vanadium(III) and (IV) compounds as polycrystalline solids and in aqueous solution have been measured up to 50 kOe with a SQUID susceptometer. Corrections for the samples\u27 diamagnetism were extracted from the temperature dependence of the data without any further assumptions. For vanadium(IV), measured values of the magnetic moment at different values of the applied magnetic field over the temperature range 2–100 K obey a Brillouin function with spin 1/2. For vanadium(III), the magnetic moment data did not obey a Brillouin function and were analyzed in terms of a spin Hamiltonian with S = 1. Measurements on both whole and freeze-dried blood samples give consistent results with vanadium(III) the predominant species. These results are discussed in terms of the mechanisms of vanadium accumulation and the use of vanadium oxidation states as criteria of ascidian taxonomy

Systematic design of chemical oscillators. 86. Combined mechanism explaining nonlinear dynamics in bromine(III) and bromine(V) oxidations of iodide ion More About This Article Combined Mechanism Explaining Nonlinear Dynamics in Bromine(II1) and Bromine( V

A mechanism is presented that explains the full range of dynamics exhibited in the oxidations of iodide ion by both bromine(II1) (bromite) and bromine(V) (bromate) in closed and open reactors, including clock reactions and oscillations. This comprehensive model comprises 28 steps and 14 species, includes IBr as a reactive intermediate, and contains a reaction sequence autocatalytic in HOBr. Kinetics curves and phase diagrams simulated with this model show very good agreement with experiment. The combined model is based on a 20-step mechanism used to explain the bromine(II1)-iodide clock reaction over the pH range 6-8. With additional independent species and bromine(V)-driven steps, simulations of bromine(V)-iodide oscillations in concentrated sulfuric acid are improved by this model compared with the previous model