Increasing Freshwater Salinity Impacts Aerosolized Bacteria.

Increases in the salt concentration of freshwater result in detrimental impacts on water quality and ecosystem biodiversity. Biodiversity effects include freshwater microbiota, as increasing salinity can induce shifts in the structure of native freshwater bacterial communities, which could disturb their role in mediating basal ecosystem services. Moreover, salinity affects the wave breaking and bubble-bursting mechanisms via which water-to-air dispersal of bacteria occurs.

Additively manufactured respirators: quantifying particle transmission and identifying system-level challenges for improving filtration efficiency.

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the supply chain for personal protective equipment (PPE) for medical professionals, including N95-type respiratory protective masks. To address this shortage, many have looked to the agility and accessibility of additive manufacturing (AM) systems to provide a democratized, decentralized solution to producing respirators with equivalent protection for last-resort measures. However, there are concerns about the viability and safety in deploying this localized download, print, and wear strategy due to a lack of commensurate quality assurance processes.

N95 reprocessing by low temperature sterilization with 59% vaporized hydrogen peroxide during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: Response to the COVID-19 pandemic by hospital systems has been strained by severe shortages in personal protective equipment (PPE), particularly N95 respirators. Recently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention endorsed decontamination strategies to prolong the lifespan of single use respirators. Battelle and Duke University have validated hospital protocols to decontaminate respirators using vaporized hydrogen peroxide (VHP) at 30%-35% concentrations.