Improvement of durable properties of surgical textiles using plasma treatment

Nowadays one of the important plasmas used in textile industry is Corona discharge, which is applied in air at atmospheric pressure. Corona offers many advantages such as low production costs mainly due to effective energy utilization and minimum waste materials. In this study, the main focus is to use Corona plasma to produce reusable surgical fabrics with durable properties and using chemical agents at low concentrations. Therefore a new more economic production process of surgical fabric will be offered to textile industry. In order to evaluate the effect of Corona discharge on liquid repellent finishing durability, surface energy was determined by using dynamic contact angle measurement of fabrics treated and non-treated with Corona then finished with products based on fluorocarbons after successive washings. Results showed that Corona increases, significantly, durability of finishing on the fabric. After five washings at 60 ºC, samples pre-treated with Corona at low power levels and finished at lower concentrations preserved their water repellent properties while samples non-treated with Corona and finished with high concentrations lost their affects. To study water resistance, Impact Penetration Test was applied to determine water repellency before and after several washings. The fabrics pre-treated with Corona, after twenty washings, had better effect than samples non-treated after five washings. All results show that Corona improves performance and durability of finishing products. In addition, the fabrics treated and non-treated with Corona and finished by nano-size silver product were analysed before and after washings to determine the effect of Corona on durability of antibacterial finishing

Türkiye’de bulunan yoğun bakımlarda sabun, kağıt havlu ve alkol bazlı el dezenfektanı yeterli mi?: Phokai çalışması sonuçları

Introduction: Hand hygiene is one of the most effective infection control measures to prevent the spread of healthcare-associated infections (HCAI). Water, soap, paper towel and hand disinfectant must be available and adequate in terms of effective hand hygiene. The adequacy of hand hygiene products or keeping water-soap and paper towel is still a problem for many developing countries like Turkey. In this multicenter study, we analyzed the adequacy in number and availability of hand hygiene products.Materials and Methods: This study was performed in all intensive care units (ICUs) of 41 hospitals (27 tertiary-care educational, 10 state and four private hospitals) from 22 cities located in seven geographical regions of Turkey. We analyzed water, soap, paper towel and alcohol-based hand disinfectant adequacy on four different days, two of which were in summer during the vacation time (August, 27th and 31st 2016) and two in autumn (October, 12th and 15th 2016).Results: The total number of ICUs and intensive care beds in 41 participating centers were 214 and 2357, respectively. Overall, there was no soap in 3-11% of sinks and no paper towel in 10-18% of sinks while there was no alcohol-based hand disinfectant in 1-4.7% of hand disinfectant units on the observation days. When we compared the number of sinks with soap and/or paper towel on weekdays vs. weekends, there was no significant difference in summer. However, on autumn weekdays, the number of sinks with soap and paper towel was significantly lower on weekend days (p<0.0001, p<0.0001) while the number of hand disinfectant units with alcohol-based disinfectant was significantly higher (p<0.0001).Conclusion: There should be adequate and accessible hand hygiene materials for effective hand hygiene. In this study, we found that soap and paper towels were inadequate on the observation days in 3-11% and 10-18% of units, respectively. Attention should be paid on soap and paper towel supply at weekends as well

System-level factors influencing refugee women's access and utilization of sexual and reproductive health services: A qualitative study of providers’ perspectives

Refugee women have poor outcomes and low utilization of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services, which may be driven by access to and quality of SRH services at their resettled destinations. While healthcare providers offer valuable insights into these topics, little research has explored United States (U.S.) providers' experiences. To fill this literature gap, we investigate U.S. providers' perspectives of healthcare system-related factors influencing refugee women's access and utilization of SRH services. Between July and December 2019, we conducted in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 17 providers serving refugee women in metropolitan Atlanta in the state of Georgia (United States). We used convenience and snowball sampling for recruitment. We inquired about system-related resources, facilitators, and barriers influencing SRH services access and utilization. Two coders analyzed the data using a qualitative thematic approach. We found that transportation availability was crucial to refugee women's SRH services access. Providers noted a tension between refugee women's preferred usage of informal interpretation assistance (e.g., family and friends) and healthcare providers’ desire for more formal interpretation services. Providers reported a lack of funding and human resources to offer comprehensive SRH services as well as several challenges with using a referral system for women to get SRH care in other systems. Culturally and linguistically-concordant patient navigators were successful at helping refugee women navigate the healthcare system and addressing language barriers. We discussed implications for future research and practice to improve refugee women's SRH care access and utilization. In particular, our findings underscore multilevel constraints of clinics providing SRH care to refugee women and highlight the importance of transportation services and acceptable interpretation services. While understudied, the use of patient navigators holds potential for increasing refugee women's SRH care access and utilization. Patient navigation can both effectively address language-related challenges for refugee women and help them navigate the healthcare system for SRH. Future research should explore organizational and external factors that can facilitate or hinder the implementation of patient navigators for refugee women's SRH care

Understanding of sub-band gap absorption of femtosecond-laser sulfur hyperdoped silicon using synchrotron-based techniques

[[abstract]]The correlation between sub-band gap absorption and the chemical states and electronic and atomic structures of S-hyperdoped Si have been extensively studied, using synchrotron-based x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), x-ray absorption near-edge spectroscopy (XANES), extended x-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS), valence-band photoemission spectroscopy (VB-PES) and first-principles calculation. S 2p XPS spectra reveal that the S-hyperdoped Si with the greatest (~87%) sub-band gap absorption contains the highest concentration of S2− (monosulfide) species. Annealing S-hyperdoped Si reduces the sub-band gap absorptance and the concentration of S2− species, but significantly increases the concentration of larger S clusters [polysulfides (Sn2−, n &gt; 2)]. The Si K-edge XANES spectra show that S hyperdoping in Si increases (decreased) the occupied (unoccupied) electronic density of states at/above the conduction-band-minimum. VB-PES spectra evidently reveal that the S-dopants not only form an impurity band deep within the band gap, giving rise to the sub-band gap absorption, but also cause the insulator-to-metal transition in S-hyperdoped Si samples. Based on the experimental results and the calculations by density functional theory, the chemical state of the S species and the formation of the S-dopant states in the band gap of Si are critical in determining the sub-band gap absorptance of hyperdoped Si samples.[[notice]]補正完畢[[journaltype]]國外[[incitationindex]]SCI[[ispeerreviewed]]Y[[booktype]]電子版[[countrycodes]]GB

Manufacture Techniques of Chitosan-Based Microcapsules to Enhance Functional Properties of Textiles

In recent years, the textile industry has been moving to novel concepts of products, which could deliver to the user, improved performances. Such smart textiles have been proven to have the potential to integrate within a commodity garment advanced feature and functional properties of different kinds. Among those functionalities, considerable interest has been played in functionalizing commodity garments in order to make them positively interact with the human body and therefore being beneficial to the user health. This kind of functionalization generally exploits biopolymers, a class of materials that possess peculiar properties such as biocompatibility and biodegradability that make them suitable for bio-functional textile production. In the context of biopolymer chitosan has been proved to be an excellent potential candidate for this kind of application given its abundant availability and its chemical properties that it positively interacts with biological tissue. Notwithstanding the high potential of chitosan-based technologies in the textile sectors, several issues limit the large-scale production of such innovative garments. In facts the morphologies of chitosan structures should be optimized in order to make them better exploit the biological activity; moreover a suitable process for the application of chitosan structures to the textile must be designed. The application process should indeed not only allow an effective and durable fixation of chitosan to textile but also comply with environmental rules concerning pollution emission and utilization of harmful substances. This chapter reviews the use of microencapsulation technique as an approach to effectively apply chitosan to the textile material while overcoming the significant limitations of finishing processes. The assembly of chitosan macromolecules into microcapsules was proved to boost the biological properties of the polymer thanks to a considerable increase in the surface area available for interactions with the living tissues. Moreover, the incorporation of different active substances into chitosan shells allows the design of multifunctional materials that effectively combine core and shell properties. Based on the kind of substances to be incorporated, several encapsulation processes have been developed. The literature evidences how the proper choices concerning encapsulation technology, chemical formulations, and process parameter allow tuning the properties and the performances of the obtained microcapsules. Furthermore, the microcapsules based finishing process have been reviewed evidencing how the microcapsules morphology can positively interact with textile substrate allowing an improvement in the durability of the treatment. The application of the chitosan shelled microcapsules was proved to be capable of imparting different functionalities to textile substrates opening possibilities for a new generation of garments with improved performances and with the potential of protecting the user from multiple harms. Lastly, a continuous interest was observed in improving the process and formulation design in order to avoid the usage of toxic substances, therefore, complying with an environmentally friendly approach

Female consumers\' evaluations of sponsorship and their response to sponsorship

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of female consumer attitudes towards a sports event, its sponsor, and their perception of the sponsor-event fit on their sponsorship response that includes factors interest, favor and the use of the sponsor\'s product. A total of 413 female undergraduate students aged between 18 and 26, participated in the study. Data were collected using a Sponsorship Evaluation Questionnaire (Alay, 2004). Multiple regression, zero-order and partial correlations were used to analyze the data. The results indicated that “sponsor-event fit”, the “sincerity of the sponsor” and “interaction of sponsor-event fit with the status of the event” were key factors in generating three levels of sponsorship response; interest, favor and use of the sponsor\'s product. In addition, factors such as “the image of the sponsor” and “liking the event” were the significant determinants of the sponsor\'s product use by female consumers. It is suggested that sponsorship decision makers should take into consideration these factors when deciding on any sponsorship agreement. Keywords: Sport sponsorship; Marketing; Consumer response; Attitudes; Sponsorship evaluation. South African Journal for Research in Sport, Physical Education and Recreation Vol. 30 (2) 2008: pp. 15-2

Posterior segment manifestations of human immunodeficiency virus/ acquired immune deficiency syndrome

Ocular manifestations can occur in up to 50% of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) patients and posterior segment involvement is the most common presentation. The posterior segment manifestations of AIDS can be divided into four categories: retinal vasculopathy, opportunistic infections, unusual malignancies and neuro-ophthalmologic abnormalities. Retinal microvasculopathy and cytomegalovirus (CMV) retinitis are the most common manifestations, even in the era of highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART). Highly active anti-retroviral therapy has been shown to cause regression of CMV retinitis, reduce the incidence of CMV-related retinal detachments, and prolong patient survival. Immune recovery uveitis is a new cause of vision loss in patients on HAART. Diagnosis and treatment are guided by the particular conditions and immune status of the patient

Fabrication of thermoresponsive cotton graft PNIPAA fabric

The aim of this study is to produce thermoresponsive cotton fabric. For this aim, poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAA) polymer was synthesized and grafted on the cotton fabric by free radical polymerization method. PNIPAA-grafted cotton fabric (PNIPAA-g-CF) was characterized chemically and morphologically and tested to investigate thermoresponsive property. Morphology and chemical structure of PNIPAA-g-CF were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectrophotometer analysis, respectively. The results of this study indicated that PNIPAA polymer synthesis and coating on to the cotton fabric surface was realized successfully. Thermoresponsive behaviour of PNIPAA-g-CF was determined by optical microscopy (OM) analysis, and wetting time, water uptake, water vapour permeability and contact angle measurements were performed at different temperature. The results indicated that hydrophilic characteristic of the fabric changed to the hydrophobic depending on increasing temperature. Besides, the pores of the fabric were getting bigger with increasing temperature. All results showed that the PNIPAA-g-CF exhibited thermoresponsive behaviour. © 2018, © 2018 The Textile Institute.4486-D2-16This work was financially supported by the Suleyman Demirel University (Project No. 4486-D2-16)