Innospec (United States)

Handwashing is an effective and low-cost practice that offers protection against a host of infectious diseases, both respiratory and gastrointestinal—but only when it is done at the appropriate time, with proper technique, and consistently when indicated. Public health efforts that emphasized access to clean water, soap, and towels, were combined with public messaging through flyers, posters, and videos with prompts to wash hands. Yet despite these efforts to raise awareness, the public health achievement gap has remained intractably wide. One problem is technique: teachers and parents are not commonly taught proper handwashing skills, which translates into imperfect technique being transferred to children in their care. Another is healthy habit formation: despite years of pandemic, heightened awareness, and sincere efforts by adults and children alike, durable handwashing practices have not taken hold. To address this unmet public health need, we developed an interactive digital trainer for touchscreen devices commonly found in schools and at home. Teacher co-developers, domain experts, students, and parents participated throughout the project, through rapid and frequent cycles of design, build, test, and refine. The trainer 1) conveys proper technique with accurate hand anatomy for high-fidelity learning; 2) provides critical visual feedback of germs remaining, so that players learn to use the appropriate scrub motion to address specific areas on each hand; 3) simulates infection transmission schoolwide, for experiential learning on when handwashing is indicated; 4) fosters habit formation, over several sessions, for lifelong gains in hand hygiene. This approach to game design, development, and evaluation was critical to the success of this project and is broadly applicable to many other learning domains.

Achieving high luminous efficacy and spectral uniformity in full-spectrum white LEDs (FS-WLEDs) remains challenging due to phosphor sedimentation during encapsulant curing. This study introduces an SiO2 aerogel-doped composite that provides direct evidence of sedimentation suppression via Ce-line scan EPMA. Incorporating 1.0wt% SiO2 aerogel into a four-phosphor InGaN-based FS-WLED package not only mitigated phosphor precipitation but also enhanced light conversion efficiency, leading to a 7.8% increase in luminous efficacy (110lm/W), an average color rendering index improvement from 91 to 95, and a 194K reduction in angular color temperature deviation. Long-term tests (1008h at 150°C) confirmed its stability. This scalable, low-cost approach combines sedimentation control, material savings, and proven reliability for next-generation solid-state lighting.

Biofilms based on bacteria Pseudomonas veronii (Ps. veronii) and Escherichia coli (E. coli) and yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae (S. cerevisiae) were used for novel biosensor creation for rapid biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) monitoring. Based on the electrochemical measurement results, it was shown that the endogenous mediator in the matrix of E. coli and Ps. veronii biofilms and ferrocene form a two-mediator system that improves electron transport in the system. Biofilms based on Ps. veronii and E. coli had a high biotechnological potential for BOD assessment; bioreceptors based on such biofilms had high sensitivity (the lower limits of detectable BOD5 concentrations were 0.61 (Ps. veronii) and 0.87 (E. coli) mg/dm3) and high efficiency of analysis (a measurement time 5-10 min). The maximum biosensor response based on bacterial biofilms has been observed in the pH range of 6.6-7.2. The greatest protective effect was found for biofilms based on E. coli, which has high long-term stability (151 days for Ps. veronii and 163 days for E. coli). The results of the BOD5 analysis of water samples obtained using the developed biosensors had a high correlation with the results of the standard 5-day method (R2 = 0.9820, number of tested samples is 10 for Ps. veronii, and R2 = 0.9862, number of tested samples is 10 for E. coli). Thus, biosensors based on Ps. veronii biofilms and E. coli biofilms could be a novel analytical system to give early warnings of pollution.

Fibrosis of the filtering bleb is one of the main causes of failure after bleb-forming glaucoma surgery. Intraoperative application of mitomycin C (MMC) is the current gold standard to reduce the fibrotic response. However, MMC is cytotoxic and one-time application is often insufficient. A sustained-release drug delivery system (DDS), loaded with MMC, may be less cytotoxic and equally or more effective. Two degradable (polycaprolactone (PCL) and polylactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA)) MMC-loaded DDSs are developed. Release kinetics are first assessed in vitro followed by rabbit implants in conjunction with the PRESERFLO MicroShunt. As a control, the MicroShunt is implanted with adjunctive use of a MMC solution. Rabbits are euthanized at postoperative day (POD) 28 and 90. The PLGA and PCL DDSs release (on average) 99% and 75% of MMC, respectively. All groups show functioning blebs until POD 90. Rabbits implanted with a DDS show more inflammation with avascular thin-walled blebs when compared to the control. However, collagen is more loosely arranged. The PLGA DDS shows less inflammation, less foreign body response (FBR), and more complete degradation at POD 90 when compared to the PCL DDS. Further optimization with regard to dosage is required to reduce side effects to the conjunctiva.

An unsuccessful prenatal diagnosis is a traumatic experience for parents expecting the birth of a child. Hospice Perinatal Care is aimed at families who are experiencing an unsuccessful prenatal diagnosis. It is a form of help and support by providing individualised care to the woman and her loved ones, tailored to their needs and expectations. One member of the hospice perinatal care team is the midwife. The aim of this article is to present the role of the midwife and the tasks of individual specialists in the therapeutic management of a pregnant woman with a prenatally diagnosed lethal defect in the fetus. The role and tasks of the midwife as a member of the team taking care of a pregnant patient with a diagnosed fetal lethal defect is primarily to accompany the woman during this difficult period, provide emotional support and prepare parents for the birth of a sick child and focus activities on the real needs of parents and adapt to their expectations.

<div class="section abstract"><div class="htmlview paragraph">Developed by Rudolph Diesel in the 1890s, the diesel powertrain is used in many applications worldwide. For significant time the engine fuel source for these engines was petroleum diesel, until new legislation regarding emission reduction and smog mitigation saw the introduction of petroleum diesel and biodiesel (Fatty acid methyl ester; FAME) blends in the early 2000s. Since then there have been many instances of filters in diesel powertrains across heavy, light and off-road platforms becoming blocked with unidentified material, for example in the United States, Northern Europe and Scandinavia. Filters are designed to remove contaminants from the fuel system and as the filter becomes plugged it restricts the fuel flow resulting in loss of engine power and eventual breakdown. Understanding The nature of the material responsible for such blockages is clearly important to the industry and has been the subject of many studies. However, it is also clear from such work that not all the materials responsible for filter blocking have been identified. This work will describe the application of a variety of mass spectrometry techniques such as Fourier Transforms Ion Cyclotron Mass Spectrometry (FT-ICR-MS); Ultrahigh Performance Supercritical Fluid Mass Spectrometry. (UHPSFC-MS) to further identify the filter blocking materials in conjunction with more traditional analytical techniques for example Scanning Electron Microscopy, (SEM), X-ray Fluorescence Spectroscopy (EDS) and Fourier Transform Infra-red Microscopy (FTIRM).</div></div>