Recovery of Viable Microorganisms from Solids. I - Model Systems

Solidification process for recovering viable microorganisms to aid spacecraft sterilization procedure

Comparative levels and survival of naturally occurring microorganisms deposited on surfaces through handling and aerial fallout a preliminary report

Death rates of microorganisms deposited on surfaces of stainless steel and electronic components by handling and aerial fallout - Decontamination technique

Author Correction: Noninvasive sub-organ ultrasound stimulation for targeted neuromodulation (Nature Communications, (2019), 10, 1, (952), 10.1038/s41467-019-08750-9)

© 2020, The Author(s). This article contained an error in the ordinate axis in Fig. 2d, where the units were reported as nmol/L. The unit should have been reported as pg/ml. This has now been corrected in both the PDF and HTML versions of the Article

Surface topography of hydroxyapatite affects ROS17/2.8 cells response

Hydroxyapatite (HA) has been used in orthopedic, dental, and maxillofacial surgery as a bone substitute. The aim of this investigation was to study the effect of surface topography produced by the presence of microporosity on cell response, evaluating: cell attachment, cell morphology, cell proliferation, total protein content, and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity. HA discs with different percentages of microporosity (< 5%, 15%, and 30%) were confected by means of the combination of uniaxial powder pressing and different sintering conditions. ROS17/2.8 cells were cultured on HA discs. For the evaluation of attachment, cells were cultured for two hours. Cell morphology was evaluated after seven days. After seven and fourteen days, cell proliferation, total protein content, and ALP activity were measured. Data were compared by means of ANOVA and Duncan’s multiple range test, when appropriate. Cell attachment (p = 0.11) and total protein content (p = 0.31) were not affected by surface topography. Proliferation after 7 and 14 days (p = 0.0007 and p = 0.003, respectively), and ALP activity (p = 0.0007) were both significantly decreased by the most irregular surface (HA30). These results suggest that initial cell events were not affected by surface topography, while surfaces with more regular topography, as those present in HA with 15% or less of microporosity, favored intermediary and final events such as cell proliferation and ALP activity

Fatigue Life of a NiCr-Coated Powder Metallurgy Disk Superalloy After Varied Processing and Exposures

No abstract availabl

Applying human factors principles to alert design increases efficiency and reduces prescribing errors in a scenario-based simulation

OBJECTIVE: To apply human factors engineering principles to improve alert interface design. We hypothesized that incorporating human factors principles into alerts would improve usability, reduce workload for prescribers, and reduce prescribing errors. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We performed a scenario-based simulation study using a counterbalanced, crossover design with 20 Veterans Affairs prescribers to compare original versus redesigned alerts. We redesigned drug-allergy, drug-drug interaction, and drug-disease alerts based upon human factors principles. We assessed usability (learnability of redesign, efficiency, satisfaction, and usability errors), perceived workload, and prescribing errors. RESULTS: Although prescribers received no training on the design changes, prescribers were able to resolve redesigned alerts more efficiently (median (IQR): 56 (47) s) compared to the original alerts (85 (71) s; p=0.015). In addition, prescribers rated redesigned alerts significantly higher than original alerts across several dimensions of satisfaction. Redesigned alerts led to a modest but significant reduction in workload (p=0.042) and significantly reduced the number of prescribing errors per prescriber (median (range): 2 (1-5) compared to original alerts: 4 (1-7); p=0.024). DISCUSSION: Aspects of the redesigned alerts that likely contributed to better prescribing include design modifications that reduced usability-related errors, providing clinical data closer to the point of decision, and displaying alert text in a tabular format. Displaying alert text in a tabular format may help prescribers extract information quickly and thereby increase responsiveness to alerts. CONCLUSIONS: This simulation study provides evidence that applying human factors design principles to medication alerts can improve usability and prescribing outcomes

Advanced Environmental Barrier Coating Development for SiC-SiC Ceramic Matrix Composite Components

This presentation reviews the NASA advanced environmental barrier coating (EBC) system development for SiC-SiC Ceramic Matrix Composite (CMC) combustors particularly under the NASA Environmentally Responsible Aviation, Fundamental Aeronautics and Transformative Aeronautics Concepts Programs. The emphases have been placed on the current design challenges of the 2700-3000F capable environmental barrier coatings for low NOX emission combustors for next generation turbine engines by using advanced plasma spray based processes, and the coating processing and integration with SiC-SiC CMCs and component systems. The developments also have included candidate coating composition system designs, degradation mechanisms, performance evaluation and down-selects; the processing optimizations using TriplexPro Air Plasma Spray Low Pressure Plasma Spray (LPPS), Plasma Spray Physical Vapor Deposition and demonstration of EBC-CMC systems. This presentation also highlights the EBC-CMC system temperature capability and durability improvements under the NASA development programs, as demonstrated in the simulated engine high heat flux, combustion environments, in conjunction with high heat flux, mechanical creep and fatigue loading testing conditions

Quantifying the efficiency of hydroxyapatite mineralising peptides

We present a non-destructive analytical calibration tool to allow quantitative assessment of individual calcium phosphates such as hydroxyapatite (HAP) from mixtures including brushite. Many experimental approaches are used to evaluate the mineralising capabilities of biomolecules including peptides. However, it is difficult to quantitatively compare the efficacy of peptides in the promotion of mineralisation when inseparable mixtures of different minerals are produced. To address this challenge, a series of hydroxyapatite and brushite mixtures were produced as a percent/weight (0–100%) from pure components and multiple (N=10) XRD patterns were collected for each mixture. A linear relationship between the ratio of selected peak heights and the molar ratio was found. Using this method, the mineralising capabilities of three known hydroxyapatite binding peptides, CaP(S) STLPIPHEFSRE, CaP(V) VTKHLNQISQSY and CaP(H) SVSVGMKPSPRP, was compared. All three directed mineralisation towards hydroxyapatite in a peptide concentration dependent manner. CaP(V) was most effective at inducing hydroxyapatite formation at higher reagent levels (Ca2+ = 200mM), as also seen with peptide-silk chimeric materials, whereas CaP(S) was most effective when lower concentrations of calcium (20mM) and phosphate were used. The approach can be extended to investigate HAP mineralisation in the presence of any number of mineralisation promoters or inhibitors