news, journals and articles from all over the world.
The last year, which has been unlike any other in Rutgers’ 254-year history, has centered on keeping the Rutgers community safe, providing top-notch health care, developing the first saliva test for the coronavirus and helping society cope with the biggest global public health crisis since the 1918 influenza pandemic.
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To address PPE shortages during the pandemic, scientists at Berkeley Lab and UC Berkeley are developing a rechargeable, reusable, anti-COVID N95 mask and a 3D-printable silicon-cast mask mold.
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Personal protective equipment, like face masks and gowns, is generally made of polymers. But not much attention is typically given to the selection of polymers used beyond their physical properties. To help with the identification of materials that will bind to a virus and speed its inactivation for use in PPE, researchers have developed a high-throughput approach for analyzing the interactions between materials and viruslike particles. They report their method in the journal Biointerphases.
Read moreA panel of academic and military experts is calling for a more dynamic, flexible approach to emergency preparedness at the national level.
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The Robert Wood Johnson Medical School Alumni Association Board donated Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for third-and fourth-year medical students who are participating in clinical training in the hospital. Recognizing the importance of PPE in keeping students safe while providing care in a clinical setting, alumni board members ensured that our future physicians were protected and could focus on learning.
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Engineers have invented a way to spray extremely thin wires made of a plant-based material that could be used in N95 mask filters, devices that harvest energy for electricity, and potentially the creation of human organs. The method involves spraying methylcellulose, a renewable plastic material derived from plant cellulose, on 3D-printed and other objects ranging from electronics to plants, according to a Rutgers-led study in the journal Materials Horizons.
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Johns Hopkins Medicine biomedical engineering student Christopher Shallal developed an initiative to keep health care teams safe by galvanizing community members to use 3D printers to make face shields. His mentors on the project were Elizabeth Logsdon, Ph.D., and Warren Grayson, Ph.D.
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The American Academy of Dermatology has named board-certified dermatologist Iltefat H. Hamzavi, MD, FAAD, a Patient Care Hero for his innovative use of light therapy to sanitize masks needed by frontline health care workers.
Read moreNew Brunswick, N.J. (Sept. 16, 2020) – FDA guidelines for making 3D-printed masks, face shields and other personal protective equipment
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A new study by researchers at Notre Dame cautions that K-12 schools reopening to full capacity with little to no compliance of safety measures such as face masks could drive infections up to an estimated 2.49 million in Indiana alone, with more than 9,000 deaths by the end of 2020.
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The FDA just revoked their EUA for intubation boxes – plastic shields that supposedly protect health care workers from becoming infected with SARS-CoV-2 – due to concerns over aerosol leaks. This study describes a better box, with negative pressure and filtration, that contains airborne virus.
Read moreThe COVID-busting ‘Maya’ sticker developed by Technion researchers has gone into mass production. Comprised of a nanofiber sheet, the unique sticker can be easily adhered to a protective mask, significantly improving its effectiveness against the novel coronavirus.
Infection prevention experts at the UNC Medical Center set out to gather evidence on the fitted filtration efficiency of dozens of different types of masks and mask modifications, including masks sterilized for reuse, expired masks, novel masks sourced from domestic and overseas sources, and homemade masks.
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Portable disinfection chambers that use ultraviolet (UV) light to inactivate virus particles could allow emergency medical technicians, police officers, healthcare workers, pharmacy technicians, and others to quickly disinfect their personal protective equipment (PPE) as they need it.
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A media comprised of a sandwich of materials, tested by Sandia National Laboratories, is being manufactured into N95-like respirators that could be used in local medical facilities. The project originated from the urgent need for personal protective equipment when the COVID-19 outbreak began.
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Atrium Health’s tele-ICU quickly adjusted its patient-centered focus to include supporting and protecting bedside nurses caring for patients in isolation, as part of the system’s planning and preparations for the pandemic.
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It seems there will never be enough “thank-yous” for the incredible doctors, nurses, technicians and support staff members who are working around the clock to help patients who have COVID-19, the dangerous coronavirus disease. Their dedication, determination and spirit enable Johns Hopkins to deliver the promise of medicine.
As the mother of a 2-year-old, with responsibilities that sometimes require escorting COVID-19 patients at Sibley Memorial Hospital, Safety and Security Officer, SPO, Lolita Moore says she takes the necessary steps to protect herself and her family against the virus and prays daily. “I like that I can still be out helping people during the pandemic,” she says.
Read moreJoe Stetter is an optimist, inventor, entrepreneur, and owner of two small businesses that stayed open through the lockdown. KWJ Engineering and Spec Sensors manufacture essential health and safety sensors with medical and industrial applications. In our series, The ECS Community Adapts and Advances, Joe shares the challenges of doing business “not as usual”, and reports on a research collaboration he mobilized to improve PPE sterilization for COVID-19 frontline workers.
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A new study shows that ozone gas, a highly reactive chemical composed of three oxygen atoms, could provide a safe means for disinfecting certain types of personal protective equipment that are in high demand for shielding health care personnel from Covid-19.
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It seems there will never be enough “thank you’s” for the incredible doctors, nurses, technicians and support staff members who are working around the clock to help patients with the dangerous coronavirus disease. Their dedication, determination and spirit enable Johns Hopkins to deliver the promise of medicine.
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Graham Peaslee’s team tested more than 30 samples of used and unused PPE from six specialty textile manufacturers in the United States and found them to be treated extensively with PFAS or constructed with fluoropolymers, a type of PFAS used to make textiles oil and water resistant.
Read moreNurses’ perspectives on the COVID-19 pandemic are unique and essential to informing decisions made by federal leaders, and they should be included in key decision-making groups, urges the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN)
Read moreOncology pharmacy practitioners around the globe are fighting to provide cancer patients high quality cancer care with increasingly limited and sometimes restricted personal protective equipment supply as well as impaired access to essential anticancer medication, according to University of California, Irvine-led study.
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he systematic review was conducted by a large, international collaborative of researchers, front-line and specialist clinicians, epidemiologists, patients, public health and health policy experts of published and unpublished literature in any language.
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In “A Tribute to Frontline Health Care Professionals During the COVID-19 Pandemic,” Annette Bourgault, editor of Critical Care Nurse, offers her personal and professional appreciation for the dedicated clinicians in acute and critical care.
Read moreTechnion researchers have developed a self-disinfecting, reusable protective face mask. The disinfection process occurs when a layer of carbon fibers in the mask is heated using a low current source, such as a mobile phone charger. A patent application for the invention has been submitted in the U.S.
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The international research team examined a century of evidence including recent data, and found strong evidence showing that cloth and cloth masks can reduce contamination of air and surfaces.
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The Manufacturing Advocacy and Growth Network (MAGNET), in collaboration with University Hospitals and The Ohio Manufacturing Alliance to Fight COVID-19, has developed a new, protective testing platform for health care workers assessing the spread of COVID-19. Health care experts at University Hospitals and UH Ventures, their innovation and commercialization division, believe these specially designed barriers could decrease the need for valuable Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), speed up the testing process, and better protect frontline health care workers.
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Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and its clinical-care partner, Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, announced today the organizations are receiving a $500,000 grant from Bank of America for COVID-19 relief.
Read moreUniversity of Texas at Dallas researchers have designed and 3D-printed a critical ventilator part and are working to manufacture testing swabs and personal protective equipment (PPE) in a campus lab mobilized to address potential supply shortages due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Read moreA New Nest Camera Console Enhances Safety of Patients and Staff; Reduces PPE Demands
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Despite PPE use, reports show that many health care workers contracted COVID-19. A novel training technique reinforces the importance of using proper procedures to put on and take off PPE when caring for patients during the pandemic. Researchers vividly demonstrate how aerosol-generating procedures can lead to exposure of the contagion with improper PPE use. The most common error made by the health care workers was contaminating the face or forearms during PPE removal.
Read moreAACI urges the federal government to take the lead in deploying personal protective equipment to hospitals, establishing a consistent national COVID-19 testing strategy, and managing the COVID-19 testing supply chain.
The David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA is leading a project in collaboration with the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine to study ways to reduce the risk for COVID-19 infection among emergency department workers.
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From a variety of locations in the Capital Region, and throughout the country, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute faculty, students, and staff are pressing their knowledge and machinery to work making personal protective equipment for those on the front lines of the pandemic.
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A team of FAU nurses is addressing the dire needs of a low income neighborhood in West Palm Beach by spearheading programs to provide lifesaving PPE such as face masks for those in need during the COVID-19 pandemic. People living in poverty as well as homeless individuals and those struggling with social determinants of health are at a higher risk of contracting COVID-19 and dying from it.
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Necessity being the mother of invention, Houston Methodist clinicians, researchers and staff have collaborated on a number of clinical device and research innovations in response to COVID-19. Houston Methodist Academic Institute leadership has continually emphasized translational research in new technologies.
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Amid shortages of personal protective equipment due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a St. Louis health care system has implemented a process to disinfect disposable N95 respirator masks that allows health care workers to reuse their own mask for up to 20 cycles.
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The COVID-19 pandemic demands action on many fronts, from prevention to testing to treatment. Not content to focus its research efforts on just one, the laboratory of George Church in the Blavatnik Institute at Harvard Medical School and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University is tackling the problem from seven different angles.
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Over the last month, FAU elementary and high schools students ages 5 to 18, along with two faculty members, have worked tirelessly to create 3D printed face shields, intubation chambers and ear savers for several local hospitals in Palm Beach County. So far, they have produced more than 650 face shields, more than 500 ear savers and 36 intubation chambers and expect to collect another 350 face shields by the end of the week.
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During the coronavirus pandemic, health care professionals worldwide are facing shortages of personal protection equipment (PPE). But faculty, students and staff from across Rutgers are coming together to produce face shields and intubation boxes themselves with off-the-shelf materials to help relieve the PPE shortage at area hospitals.
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Joe Tsai, co-founder of Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba, and his wife Clara, have donated nearly half a million pieces of personal protective equipment (PPE) to be distributed by UC San Diego to health care providers in the San Diego region.
Read moreWith shortages of test components and swabs, labs still face huge obstacles to COVID-19 testing. With new White House guidelines reliant on more testing, AACC is urging the administration to find and coordinate resources so lab experts can do their jobs.
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Engineers at Binghamton University, State University of New York have designed sterilization stations that use ultraviolet light to kill the coronavirus on any contaminated personal protective equipment (PPE) such as N95 masks and face shields.
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Health care providers across the Las Vegas Valley were facing an unprecedented challenge, worsened by a lack of supplies to protect themselves. A local medical community group reached out: Could the UNLV College of Engineering help fill the gap for personal protection equipment, such as face shields? The college put together a task force.
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A Virginia Tech researcher and teacher who has spent decades studying the psychology of safety says it’s more important than ever for
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The FDA has granted emergency use authorization (EUA) to Rutgers’ RUCDR Infinite Biologics and its collaborators for a new collection approach that utilizes saliva as the primary test biomaterial for the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, the first such approval granted by the federal agency. The new saliva collection method, which RUCDR developed in partnership with Spectrum Solutions and Accurate Diagnostic Labs (ADL), will allow for broader population screening than the current method of nose and throat swabs.
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A new data visualization tool examines how and why COVID-19 impacts regions differently. Using daily updated data, COVIDMinder compares community risks, mediation tools, and outcomes related to COVID-19 by state across the United States, and by county within New York state.
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The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, with other healthcare organizations, has released a statement calling upon the government, private sector and all other Americans to “uphold their moral obligation by joining us in fighting the battle against coronavirus and the resulting COVID-19 disease.”
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A Rutgers researcher is testing modified sleep apnea machines intended to help relieve the shortage of mechanical ventilators for COVID-19 patients and is testing a prototype for a second system called the NYU Tandon AirVENT. It is a portable, personal, negative pressure hood that sucks virus particles exhaled by the wearer into a filter and traps them.
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