(Press-News.org) WASHINGTON, January 26, 2021 -- As the pandemic has continued to spread globally, studies indicate the COVID-19 virus may be contained in aerosols that can be generated and spread through breathing, coughing, sneezing, or talking by infected individuals. Researchers are increasingly focused on developing tools and methods to assist in decontaminating surfaces and spaces.
While scientists have previously explored the use of electromagnetic energy to deactivate flu virus in bulk fluids, less work has been done to understand the role of nonionizing radiation, such as microwaves, in reducing the infectivity of viral pathogens in aerosols. The tools required to both safely contain contaminated aerosol streams and expose these aerosols to controlled, well-characterized microwave doses have not been readily available.
In Review of Scientific Instruments, by AIP Publishing, researchers from the Air Force Research Laboratory report development of a set of experimental tools capable of presenting electromagnetic waves to an aerosol mixture of biological media and virus with the capability to vary power, energy, and frequency of the electromagnetic exposure. The researchers seek to better characterize the threshold levels of microwave energy needed to inactivate aerosolized viral particles and, thus, reduce their ability to spread infection.
"In this way, we believe our experimental design is capable of a fundamental investigation of a wide variety of inactivation mechanisms. This range of capability is especially important given the range of potential interaction mechanisms found in the literature," said co-author John Luginsland.
The key portions of each system fit within standard biosafety cabinets, ensuring multiple layer containment of pathogens. Additionally, the systems are designed to prevent release of microwave radiation into the laboratory environment, which, at elevated levels, could potentially interfere with diagnostic equipment and other electronics.
During initial experiments, the AFRL researchers are exposing a human-safe coronavirus surrogate, bovine coronavirus, to a range of microwave waveforms at frequencies ranging from 2.8 GHz to 7.5 GHz.
"The bovine coronavirus is similar in size and configuration to human coronavirus but is safe to humans," said co-author Brad Hoff.
If exposure to microwaves is demonstrated to be sufficiently effective in reducing infectivity, experimental efforts could then proceed to use aerosols containing COVID-19 coronavirus or other human-infecting pathogens.
"If shown to be effective, the use of microwaves may enable the potential for rapid decontamination not currently addressed by ultraviolet light or chemical cleaning for highly cluttered areas, while potentially operating at levels safely compatible with human occupancy," said Hoff.
INFORMATION:
The article "Apparatus for controlled microwave exposure of aerosolized pathogens" is authored by Brad W. Hoff, Jeremy W. McConaha, Zane Cohick, Matthew A. Franzi, Daniel A. Enderich, David Revelli, Jason Cox, Hammad Irshad, Hugh Pohle, Andreas Schmitt-Sody, Samuel C. Schaub, Anthony E. Baros, Naomi C. Lewis, John W. Luginsland, Michael T. Lanagan, and Steven Perini. The article will appear in Review of Scientific Instruments on Jan. 26, 2021 (DOI: 10.1063/5.0032823). After that date, it can be accessed at https://aip.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/5.0032823.
ABOUT THE JOURNAL
Review of Scientific Instruments publishes novel advancements in scientific instrumentation, apparatuses, techniques of experimental measurement, and related mathematical analysis. Its content includes publication on instruments covering all areas of science including physics, chemistry, materials science, and biology. See https://aip.scitation.org/journal/rsi.
What The Study Did: Survey data from school-age children and adolescents in Guangdong province, China, were used to assess self-reported psychological distress associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Authors: Chichen Zhang, M.D., and Ruibin Zhang, Ph.D., of Southern Medical University in Guangzhou, and Xuefeng Yi, M.D., of the Health Publicity and Education Center of Guangdong Province, all in China, are the corresponding authors.
To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/
(doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.35487)
Editor's Note: The article includes funding/support disclosures. ...
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By contrast, the study showed significantly higher body mass index (BMI) in both boys and girls following antibiotic use after the neonatal period, and within the first six years of life.
The findings, published in the journal Nature Communications ...
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The study appears Jan. 26 in the journal Cell Reports.
Osteosarcoma is ...
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The Microbiology Society's report calls for increased access to research into soil health, promoting outreach activities in agricultural colleges and schools and showcasing work in non-academic outlets. This, say microbiologists, is the best way to collaborate with farmers to improve soil health and agricultural productivity.
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The first-of-its-kind study, by Durham University's Department of Psychology, looked at how children pick up on the emotions of a situation.
They found that whilst adults prioritised what they see, young children showed an auditory dominance and overwhelmingly prioritised what they could hear.
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Theories were introduced as far back as the 1960s about the possible existence of superheavy elements. Their most long-lived atomic nuclei could give rise to a so-called "island of stability" far beyond the element uranium. However, a new study, led by nuclear physicists at Lund University, shows that a 50-year-old nuclear physics manifesto must now be revised.
The heaviest element found in nature is uranium, with a nucleus containing 92 protons and 146 neutrons. The nuclei of heavier elements become more and more unstable due to the increased number of positively charged protons. They therefore decay faster and faster, usu-ally within a fraction of a second. ...
