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The coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) threatens people's health. During the COVID-19 outbreak, people are encouraged to wear masks to reduce the spread of the virus. With the strong demand for masks, it has come a boom in counterfeit production. Combating counterfeit masks is vital and urgent to reduce the risks for public health. Motivated by the actual practices during the COVID-19, we examine how quality inspection and blockchain adoption help combat counterfeit masks. We find that quality inspection may not be always effective, as the government will tolerate the presence of counterfeit masks if the presence of the counterfeits is not significant. Comparing quality inspection with blockchain adoption, when the spread of COVID-19 is mild, authentic mask sellers may be encouraged to use the blockchain technology, which can increase their profits and reduce the social health risk. Furthermore, we extend our model to investigate the impacts of endogenous quality. Both quality inspection and blockchain adoption can induce low-quality mask sellers to enhance thequality level. When the number of counterfeit masks is increasing, encouraging the high-quality mask sellers to adopt the blockchain technology is effective to reduce social health risk when the spread of the coronavirus is rapid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we focus on ripple effect mitigation capability of the Indian pharmaceutical distribution network during disruptions like COVID-19 pandemic. To study the mitigation capabilities, we conduct a multi-layer analysis (network, process, and control levels) using Bayesian network, mathematical optimisation, and discrete event simulation methodologies. This analysis revealed an associative relationship between ripple effect mitigation capabilities and network design characteristics of upstream supply chain entities. Using stochastic optimisation and Lagrangian relaxation, we then find ideal candidates for regional distribution centres at the downstream level. We then integrate these downstream locations with other supply chain entities for building the network optimisation and simulation model to analyse overall performance of the system. We demonstrate utility of our proposed methodology using a case study involving distribution of N95 masks to ‘Jan Aushadhi’ (peoples’ medicines) stores in India during COVID-19 pandemic. We find that supply chain reconfiguration improves service level to 95.7% and reduces order backlogs by 10.7%. We also find that regional distribution centres and backup supply sources provide overall flexibility and improve occupational health and safety. We further investigate alternate mitigation capabilities through fortification of suppliers’ workforce by vaccination. We offer recommendations for policymakers and managers and implications for academic research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coronavirus (COVID-19) is a highly infectious respiratory disease which spread can be effectively curbed by wearing facial masks, especially N95 and surgical masks. In this paper, we develop a stylised game-theoretical model to evaluate the impacts of producing and selling masks on supply chain profits, safety index and consumer and social welfare. Firstly, we find that as the infection probability without protection (IPWP) increases, both the retail price and demand for these masks will increase. When the IPWP is sufficiently low, those consumers who want to purchase masks are more likely to purchase N95 masks, but when the IPWP increases, surgical masks are more popular amongst consumers. Secondly, we develop a safety index that indicates the effectiveness of using masks in preventing respiratory disease infection. This index is especially crucial in cases where the IPWP is moderate; in other words, recommending to wear masks is particularly important when the IPWP is moderate. We also examine the impacts of government involvement in handling the outbreak of respiratory diseases. Providing consumer subsidies and promoting the social mask enterprise can effectively combat respiratory diseases under different conditions. Our results can be used for combating COVID-19 and preparing for future health crisess. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: Masks are one of the most important defenses against the virus. However, the impact of wearing masks during daily activities or sports on respiratory and circulatory function remains controversial. A comprehensive quantitative evaluation of the effects of mask-wearing on human heart rate, oxygen saturation and end-expiratory carbon dioxide by Meta-analysis was conducted. The effects of wearing different types of masks at different exercise intensities and time of exercise on the human respiratory and circulatory system were explored. METHODS: By February 2023, with “mask, face mask, N95, training, sports, running, walking, cycling” as the Chinese search terms and “masks, respiratory protective devices, N95 respirators, surgical face masks, exercise, resistance training, explosive training, muscle exercises” as English search terms, the experimental studies addressing the influence of exercise with a mask on hemodynamic indexes were retrieved from CNKI, Web of Science, PubMed, Cochrane Library and WanFang databases. The outcome indicators included three continuous variables - exercise center rate, blood oxygen saturation and end-expiratory carbon dioxide. Stata16.0 software was used to analyze the outcome indicators of the included literature. The PEDro scale was used as a quality assessment tool, and the funnel plot was used to analyze the impact of publication bias. RESULTS: Totally 25 articles involving 857 healthy children and adults were included in this Meta-analysis. The overall methodological quality was high, with 22 studies scoring 6 points on the PEDro scale, 2 studies scoring 7 points and 1 study scoring 8 points. The meta-analysis results showed that compared with the control group, exercise with masks had no significant effect on heart rate (SMD=0.02, 95%CI: -0.11 to 0.15, P=0.81), but increased end-expiratory carbon dioxide (SMD=0.60, 95%CI: 0.37 to 0.83, P=0.00), decreased oxygen saturation (SMD=-0.28, 95%CI: -0.47 to -0.09, P=0.03). Intensity and duration were the factors that affected the heterogeneity between studies. Wearing a mask during high-intensity exercise significantly increased heart rate (SMD=-0.20, 95%CI: -0.36 to -0.04, P=0.02). The effect of high-intensity and short-time exercise on blood oxygen saturation was significantly higher than that of other exercises (SMD=-0.40, 95%CI: -0.70 to -0.10; SMD=-0.25, 95%CI: -0.45 to -0.04). For end-expiratory carbon dioxide, maintaining a certain intensity and increasing the exercise time or increasing the intensity further increased the index significantly, reaching a moderate effect size (SMD=0.61, 95%CI: 0.06 to 1.15; SMD=0.58, 95%CI: 0.04 to 1.13). CONCLUSION: Existing evidence suggests that exercise with masks may have the adverse effect of increasing end-expiratory carbon dioxide and decreasing blood oxygen saturation. The influence of different exercise test time and intensities on the three outcome indexes was different. Wearing a mask during high-intensity exercise can significantly increase heart rate and decrease blood oxygen saturation. Maintaining moderate intensity for a long period or further increasing the intensity of exercise will lead to increased end-expiratory carbon dioxide levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Superspreading, under‐reporting, reporting delay, and confounding complicate statistical inference on determinants of disease transmission. A model that accounts for these factors within a Bayesian framework is estimated using German Covid‐19 surveillance data. Compartments based on date of symptom onset, location, and age group allow to identify age‐specific changes in transmission, adjusting for weather, reported prevalence, and testing and tracing. Several factors were associated with a reduction in transmission: public awareness rising, information on local prevalence, testing and tracing, high temperature, stay‐at‐home orders, and restaurant closures. However, substantial uncertainty remains for other interventions including school closures and mandatory face coverings. The challenge of disentangling the effects of different determinants is discussed and examined through a simulation study. On a broader perspective, the study illustrates the potential of surveillance data with demographic information and date of symptom onset to improve inference in the presence of under‐reporting and reporting delay. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A copper oxide (CuO)-based nanocomposite with different concentrations of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) and curcumin was synthesized for antibacterial applications. An electrospinning method was utilized to synthesize PAN/CuO and PAN/CuO/curcumin nanofibers, which were incorporated into a face mask to confer it with antimicrobial activity. The analysis of the XRD pattern of CuO confirmed the crystalline monoclinic phase. The FTIR peaks at 3439 cm−1, 1369 cm−1, and 3720 cm−1 were attributed to the O–H stretching band of water, stretching vibrations due to C＝O, and C–H stretching vibrations of the CH2 group of bonding from acrylonitrile, respectively, confirming the formation of PAN nanofibers. The peak at 668 cm−1 assigned to Cu–O stretching indicated the presence of CuO. A 7 mm-diameter PAN/CuO nanofiber zone could inhibit about a 15 mm zone of E. coli, whereas just a 3 mm-diameter PAN/CuO/curcumin nanofiber zone could inhibit about a 19 mm zone of E. coli. This indicated that the PAN/CuO/curcumin nanofibers have excellent antibacterial properties compared to the PAN/CuO nanofibers against Escherichia coli (E. coli). In contact angle, the PAN nanofibers were hydrophilic, whereas the PAN/CuO and PAN/CuO/curcumin nanofibers showed a hydrophobic nature. Hence, the present study indicates that PAN/CuO/curcumin nanofiber–based materials can efficiently protect against bacteria, and this would be an outstanding improvement for low-cost surgical face masks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Commercial facemasks have become a common tool during the COVID-19 pandemic. They are cheap, simple to use and some are capable of filtering out most particles in the air, protecting the user. These qualities are usually employed in relation to hurtful viruses or contaminants, but they could also be used to prevent the radioactive dose due to radon, which is the second leading cause of lung cancer worldwide. For that reason, the main goal of this study is to verify if facemasks could prevent radon decay products from entering the potential user's lungs. Since these decay products are the main source of radioactive dose, several commercial facemasks were tested by exposing them to radon and then measuring the presence of radon daughters by gamma spectroscopy. Reusable facemasks made from materials such as cotton, polyester or neoprene appeared to be inefficient with only 40% filtering efficiency, Polypropylene woven masks being the only exception, with 80% efficiency. Surgical masks presented filtering efficiencies between 90 and 98%. FFP3 and FFP2 proved to be the most reliable, almost completely filtering out radon daughters with filtering efficiencies up to 98%. Results prove that the use of FFP3 and FFP2 facemasks could be a useful tool to reduce the radioactive dose due to radon in places where other techniques cannot be used or are not advisable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing upon the Integrative Model of Behavioral Prediction (IM) and the Bystander Intervention Model, this study investigates the impact of media health information on individuals' intentions to address violations of health norms, specifically noncompliance with mask-wearing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our survey results (n=1,426) indicate a positive correlation between seeking health information from the media and the intention to confront norm violators regarding mask-wearing. This correlation is mediated through three intermediary pathways: attitudes, normative beliefs, and perceived behavioral control. These discoveries address a previously unexplored area concerning pro-social health behaviors, bystander intervention, and contribute to the field of health communication by linking them to research on media influences. Combining media and peer interventions could lead to more effective health outcomes. The discussion covers both theoretical and practical implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to enhance the matting performance in multi-person dynamic scenarios, we introduce a robust, real-time, high-resolution, and controllable human video matting method that achieves state of the art on all metrics. Unlike most existing methods that perform video matting frame by frame as independent images, we design a unified architecture using a controllable generation model to solve the problem of the lack of overall semantic information in multi-person video. Our method, called ControlMatting, uses an independent recurrent architecture to exploit temporal information in videos and achieves significant improvements in temporal coherence and detailed matting quality. ControlMatting adopts a mixed training strategy comprised of matting and a semantic segmentation dataset, which effectively improves the semantic understanding ability of the model. Furthermore, we propose a novel deep learning-based image filter algorithm that enforces our detailed augmentation ability on both matting and segmentation objectives. Our experiments have proved that prior information about the human body from the image itself can effectively combat the defect masking problem caused by complex dynamic scenarios with multiple people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objectives Adopting preventive behaviors is crucial to avoiding coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection, and perceived anxiousness may influence such behaviors among older adults and their caregivers. This study investigated the relationships between perceived anxiousness about COVID-19 and preventive behaviors in older adult–caregiver dyads. Research Design and Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted using 1,565 older adult–caregiver dyads from the 2020 National Health and Aging Trend Study (NHATS)/National Study of Caregiving (NSOC) COVID-19 Supplements data. Actor–partner interdependence models were estimated to examine the associations between older adults' and family caregivers' perceived anxiousness about COVID-19 and their engagement in personal (e.g. wearing masks, washing hands) and social (e.g. avoiding contact with friends, limiting grocery shopping) preventive behaviors. Separate models were estimated based on older adults' dementia status. Results We found significant actor effects of anxiousness about COVID-19 on preventive behaviors of both older adults and caregivers in nondementia dyads. The anxiousness about COVID-19 of older adults had significant partner effects on both personal and social preventive behaviors of caregivers, whereas caregivers' anxiousness about COVID-19 only had a significant partner effect on social preventive behaviors of older adults. No significant partner effect was found in dementia dyads. Discussion and Implications Our findings highlight the critical role of caregivers in promoting older adults' health behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic and maintaining mental well-being of older adults. The study also implies future efforts to explore the dyadic relationship of dementia care dyads in promoting health behaviors and mental health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Speech recognition becomes increasingly important in the modern society, especially for human–machine interactions, but its deployment is still severely thwarted by the struggle of machines to recognize voiced commands in challenging real‐life settings: oftentimes, ambient noise drowns the acoustic sound signals, and walls, face masks or other obstacles hide the mouth motion from optical sensors. To address these formidable challenges, an experimental prototype of a microwave speech recognizer empowered by programmable metasurface is presented here that can remotely recognize human voice commands and speaker identities even in noisy environments and if the speaker's mouth is hidden behind a wall or face mask. The programmable metasurface is the pivotal hardware ingredient of the system because its large aperture and huge number of degrees of freedom allows the system to perform a complex sequence of sensing tasks, orchestrated by artificial‐intelligence tools. Relying solely on microwave data, the system avoids visual privacy infringements. The developed microwave speech recognizer can enable privacy‐respecting voice‐commanded human–machine interactions is experimentally demonstrated in many important but to‐date inaccessible application scenarios. The presented strategy will unlock new possibilities and have expectations for future smart homes, ambient‐assisted health monitoring, as well as intelligent surveillance and security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Intraoperative cholangiography (IOC) is a contrast-enhanced X-ray acquired during laparoscopic cholecystectomy. IOC images the biliary tree whereby filling defects, anatomical anomalies and duct injuries can be identified. In Australia, IOC are performed in over 81% of cholecystectomies compared with 20 to 30% internationally (Welfare AIoHa in Australian Atlas of Healthcare Variation, 2017). In this study, we aim to train artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to interpret anatomy and recognise abnormalities in IOC images. This has potential utility in (a) intraoperative safety mechanisms to limit the risk of missed ductal injury or stone, (b) surgical training and coaching, and (c) auditing of cholangiogram quality. Methodology: Semantic segmentation masks were applied to a dataset of 1000 cholangiograms with 10 classes. Classes corresponded to anatomy, filling defects and the cholangiogram catheter instrument. Segmentation masks were applied by a surgical trainee and reviewed by a radiologist. Two convolutional neural networks (CNNs), DeeplabV3+ and U-Net, were trained and validated using 900 (90%) labelled frames. Testing was conducted on 100 (10%) hold-out frames. CNN generated segmentation class masks were compared with ground truth segmentation masks to evaluate performance according to a pixel-wise comparison. Results: The trained CNNs recognised all classes.. U-Net and DeeplabV3+ achieved a mean F1 of 0.64 and 0.70 respectively in class segmentation, excluding the background class. The presence of individual classes was correctly recognised in over 80% of cases. Given the limited local dataset, these results provide proof of concept in the development of an accurate and clinically useful tool to aid in the interpretation and quality control of intraoperative cholangiograms. Conclusion: Our results demonstrate that a CNN can be trained to identify anatomical structures in IOC images. Future performance can be improved with the use of larger, more diverse training datasets. Implementation of this technology may provide cholangiogram quality control and improve intraoperative detection of ductal injuries or ductal injuries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The COVID‐19 pandemic brought about a new normal, necessitating the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) like face shields, surgical masks, gloves, and goggles. However, prolonged mask‐wearing introduced skin‐related issues due to changes in the skin's microenvironment, including increased humidity and temperature, as well as pressure on the skin. These factors led to skin deformation, vascular issues, edema, and inflammation, resulting in discomfort and cosmetic concerns. Clinical reports quickly highlighted the consequences of long‐term mask use, including increased cases of "maskne" (mask‐related acne) or mask‐wearing related disorders such as rosacea flare‐ups, skin‐barrier defects, itching, erythema, redness, hyperpigmentation, and lichenification. Some of these issues, like inflammation, oxidative stress, and poor wound healing, could be directly linked to acne‐related disorders or skin hypoxia. Aim: To address these problems, researchers turned to rutin, a well‐known flavonoid with antioxidant, vasoactive, and anti‐inflammatory properties. However, rutin's poor water solubility presented a challenge for cosmetic formulations. To overcome this limitation, a highly water‐soluble form of rutin was developed, making it suitable for use at higher concentrations. Methods: In vitro and ex vivo tests were conducted, as well as an innovative clinical trial including volunteers wearing surgical masks for at least 2 h, to evaluate the biological activity of this soluble rutin on the main skin concerns associated with mask‐wearing (inflammation, oxidative stress, skin repair, hyperpigmentation, and skin redness). Results: The in vitro results showed that the active ingredient significantly reduced oxidative stress, improved wound healing, and reduced inflammation. In dark skin explants, the active ingredient significantly reduced melanin content, indicating its lightening activity. This effect was confirmed in the clinical study, where brown spots decreased significantly after 4 days of application. Moreover, measurements on volunteers demonstrated a decrease in skin redness and vascularization after the active ingredient application, indicating inflammation and erythema reduction. Volunteers reported improved skin comfort. Conclusion: In summary, the COVID‐19 pandemic led to various skin issues associated with mask‐wearing. A highly soluble form of rutin was developed, which effectively addressed these concerns by reducing inflammation, oxidative stress, and hyperpigmentation while promoting wound healing. This soluble rutin offers a promising solution for the rapid treatment of maskne‐related disorders and other skin problems caused by prolonged mask use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Collagen, a critical structural protein found abundantly in animal skin and bones, has become increasingly recognized for its potential therapeutic role in skincare. Despite growing interest, the scientific evidence for the efficacy of collagen sheet masks remains limited. The principal objective of our study was to provide insights into the multifaceted role of collagen in skin health, with a specific focus on its application in collagen sheet masks. Methods: The effects of a collagen sheet mask consisting of >92% native bovine collagen were investigated. The soluble protein components of the collagen matrix were analyzed and the influence of soluble collagen components on fibroblast regulation was examined. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) analysis was performed for structural analysis and effect on irritated skin. Five different clinical studies were conducted, including a comparison of the diversity of the skin microbiome, the tolerance and local irritating reactions in atopic dermatitis, an evaluation of skin redness after UV radiation, wrinkle reduction, and hydration and skin roughness of the collagen mask in comparison to a pre‐soaked cellulose sheet mask. Results: The collagen mask contains soluble protein components, including small collagen peptides. The mask showed potential for promoting fibroblast activity. SEM analysis showed a native collagen structure similar to human dermis. The mask maintained the skin microbiome diversity and decreased skin pH levels. It demonstrated good tolerability on both intact and lesional skin and had a significant effect in reducing erythema caused by UV radiation compared to other skincare products. It showed significant improvements in skin hydration and the volume of eye wrinkles and was more effective than pre‐soaked cellulose sheet masks. Conclusion: Collagen sheet masks have the potential to positively impact skin health and appearance by increasing hydration, reducing erythema, minimizing wrinkles, and maintaining a healthy skin microbiome and skin barrier. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Background: Healthcare workers (HCWs) have shown increased adherence to infection control practices during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, there is a need to assess their adherence to and attitude toward COVID-19 guidelines after being vaccinated. The purpose of this pilot study is to assess the adherence to and attitudes toward the adherence to COVID-19 guidelines among HCWs who have been vaccinated. Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional design was employed. One hundred and eight participants were recruited via email from a medical center in the Midwest United States. The participants completed online surveys measuring the level of adherence to and attitudes toward the adherence to COVID-19 guidelines. The response rate was 5.4%. Findings: Most participants were female (73.1%) and white (82.4%). The participants adhered to COVID-19 guidelines 79.7% of the time. The most frequently followed guidelines were performing hand hygiene, wearing a respirator or well-fitting mask in areas where patients may be present, and wearing eye protection when entering the room for a patient with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 infection. The least performed precautions were performing COVID-19 testing after exposure to a suspected or confirmed COVID-19 case and maintaining social distancing. There was a significant decrease in the perceived importance of adherence to COVID-19 precautions post-vaccination (p <.001, 95% CI [−0.78, −0.35]). Conclusions: The increased perception of safety after receiving COVID-19 vaccination may negatively influence HCWs' adherence to COVID-19 precautionary guidelines. Continuous education and monitoring of HCWs' safety practices are important to influence HCWs' attitudes to adhere to COVID-19 precautions, particularly after vaccination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 outbreak has significantly raised the amount of single-use mask waste in Indonesia. This research intends to assess the effect of single-use mask waste on the quality of loamy soil. The investigation involved constructing a prototype using a 28-cm high column of 19 cm of loamy soil. The study utilized single-use masks in the soil, in which Chili plants were grown on the soil surface. Clean water was employed for the leaching process over 45 days. Soil samples from control, R1, R2, and R3 reactors were analyzed in the laboratory using X-ray fluorescence (XRF) testing and microplastic identification in groundwater. The research findings reveal a notable decline in macro and micronutrients, namely a 1.22% decrease in silicon minerals caused by microplastics interfering with plant metabolic processes. The increase in microplastics caused higher microorganism mortality, leading to a 10.18% decrease in organic carbon content and a 1.47% reduction in soil porosity. Microplastics were discovered in the loamy soil of an average size of 0.3 ± 1.34 mm. Changes in nutrient concentrations and physical properties of the soil indicate that introducing microplastics into loamy soil through mask waste can alter soil characteristics. Additional research is required to investigate the disposal of single-use mask waste due to the ongoing high utilization of disposable masks as personal safety equipment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mass gathering events have resumed with the availability of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. However, the pandemic is ongoing and such events potentially contribute to upsurges in COVID-19 cases. There is mounting evidence that public health mitigation strategies such as mask requirements, capacity restrictions, and physical distancing reduce transmission risk. However, evidence suggests imperfect compliance with these strategies. This study aimed to quantify spectators' masking behaviors and identify correlates of mask-wearing during a major sporting event. This study used a repeated cross-sectional design, in which trained observers used a web-based application to record counts of mask-wearing. Overall, 74% of spectators observed correctly wore masks. Mask-wearing behavior was associated with presumed sex, location of the spectator, game competitiveness, and whether the teams playing originated from a state with an active mask mandate. Understanding the factors associated with masking behavior may help venues prepare for future events and identify innovative and targeted strategies to promote compliance with public health mitigation measures. This study makes contributions to understanding how to manage public health risks during a high-profile sporting event, specifically by identifying spectator-, game-, venue-, and state-level factors associated with mask-wearing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 (1 March to 10 May 2021) with an attack rate of 26.5% among approximately 1150 workers at a storage and distribution centre in England prompted a multidisciplinary outbreak investigation (5 May to 6 August 2021), with the aim of better understanding worker- and workplace-related risk factors for viral transmission in the warehousing sector. Overall, environmental factors (e.g., ventilation, humidity and temperature) were assessed to be appropriate at the facility. Nevertheless, 39 (51.3%) surface samples from across the site tested positive for low/ very low levels of SARS-CoV-2 RNA (Ct value ≥ 32.0 for all). Among the study participants, of whom 35.6% were confirmed or suspected cases, 95.5% reported having received COVID-19 prevention training, 100.0% reported handwashing, and 80.0% reported use of face coverings at work. Notably, 43.9% and 19.0% reported working with a symptomatic and a positive contact respectively. Furthermore, 80.5% and 46.3% had concerns regarding reduction in their income and future unemployment, respectively, due to self-isolation. The findings of this study suggest that, in addition to targeted workplace infection control measures and tailored work area specific risk assessments, an enhanced and equitable sick leave policy may help limit presenteeism and viral transmission in large workplaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of face coverings can make communication more difficult by removing access to visual cues as well as affecting the physical transmission of speech sounds. This study aimed to assess the independent and combined contributions of visual and auditory cues to impaired communication when using face coverings. In an online task, 150 participants rated videos of natural conversation along three dimensions: (1) how much they could follow, (2) how much effort was required, and (3) the clarity of the speech. Visual and audio variables were independently manipulated in each video, so that the same video could be presented with or without a superimposed surgical-style mask, accompanied by one of four audio conditions (either unfiltered audio, or audio-filtered to simulate the attenuation associated with a surgical mask, an FFP3 mask, or a visor). Hypotheses and analyses were pre-registered. Both the audio and visual variables had a statistically significant negative impact across all three dimensions. Whether or not talkers' faces were visible made the largest contribution to participants' ratings. The study identifies a degree of attenuation whose negative effects can be overcome by the restoration of visual cues. The significant effects observed in this nominally low-demand task (speech in quiet) highlight the importance of the visual and audio cues in everyday life and that their consideration should be included in future face mask designs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Face masks are essential in reducing the transmission of respiratory infections and bacterial filtration efficiency, a key parameter of mask performances, requires the use of Staphylococcus aureus and specialised staff. This study aims to develop a novel method for a preliminary screening of masks or materials filtration efficiency by a green, easy and rapid setup based on the use of a riboflavin solution, a safe autofluorescent biomolecule. The proposed setup is composed of a commercial aerosol generator commonly used for aerosol therapy, custom 3D printed aerosol chamber and sample holder, a filter for downstream riboflavin detection and a vacuum pump. The filtration efficiency of four different masks was assessed using the riboflavin-based setup and the bacterial filtration efficiency (BFE). The averaged filtration efficiency values, measured with both methods, were similar but were higher for the riboflavin-based setup (about 2% for all tested samples) than bacterial filtration efficiency. Considering the good correlation, the riboflavin-based setup can be considered validated as an alternative method to bacterial filtration efficiency for masks and related materials fabrics filtration efficiency screening but This study aims to develop a novel method for a preliminary screening of masks or materials filtration efficiency by a green, easy and rapid setup based on the use of a riboflavin solution, a safe autofluorescent biomolecule, but not to replace regulation approaches. The proposed setup can be easily implemented at low price, is more rapid and eco-friendly and can be performed in chemical-physical laboratories without the needing of biosafety laboratory and specialised operators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The widespread use of surgical masks during the COVID-19 pandemic has posed challenges in interpreting facial emotions. As the mouth is known to play a crucial role in decoding emotional expressions, its covering is likely to affect this process. Recent evidence suggests that facial expressions impact behavioral responses only when their emotional content is relevant to subjects' goals. Thus, this study investigates whether and how masked emotional faces alter such a phenomenon. Methods: Forty participants completed two reaching versions of the Go/No-go task in a counterbalanced fashion. In the Emotional Discrimination Task (EDT), participants were required to respond to angry, fearful, or happy expressions by performing a reaching movement and withholding it when a neutral face was presented. In the Gender Discrimination Task (GDT), the same images were shown, but participants had to respond according to the poser's gender. The face stimuli were presented in two conditions: covered by a surgical mask (masked) or without any covering (unmasked). Results: Consistent with previous studies, valence influenced behavioral control in the EDT but not in the GDT. Nevertheless, responses to facial emotions in the EDT exhibited significant differences between unmasked and masked conditions. In the former, angry expressions led to a slowdown in participants' responses. Conversely, in the masked condition, behavioral reactions were impacted by fearful and, to a greater extent, by happy expressions. Responses to fearful faces were slower, and those to happy faces exhibited increased variability in the masked condition compared to the unmasked condition. Furthermore, response accuracy to masked happy faces dramatically declined compared to the unmasked condition and other masked emotions. Discussion: In sum, our findings indicate that surgical masks disrupt reactions to emotional expressions, leading people to react less accurately and with heightened variability to happy expressions, provided that the emotional dimension is relevant to people's goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the design and research of a sensor-based personal air-quality monitoring device are presented, which is retrofitted into different personal protective face masks. Due to its small size and low power consumption, the device can be integrated into and applied in practical urban usage. We present our research and the development of the sensor node based on a BME680-type environmental sensor cluster with a wireless IoT (Internet of Things)-capable central unit and overall low power consumption. The integration of the sensor node was investigated with traditional medical masks and a professional FFP2-type mask. The filtering efficiency after embedding was validated with a head model and a particle counter. We found that the professional mask withstood the embedding without losing the protective filtering aspect. We compared the inner and outer sensor data and investigated the temperature, pressure, humidity, and AQI (Air Quality Index) relations with possible sensor data-fusion options. The novelty is increased with the dual-sensor layout (inward and outward). It was found that efficient respiration monitoring is achievable with the device. With the analysis of the recorded data, characteristic signals were identified in an urban environment, enabling urban altimetry and urban zone detection. The results promote smart city concepts and help in endeavors related to SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) 3 and 11. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Automatic speech recognition (ASR) has been widely used to realize daily human–machine interactions. Face masks have become everyday wear in our post-pandemic life, and speech through masks may have impaired the ASR. This study explored the effects of different kinds of face masks (e.g., surgical mask, KN95 mask, and cloth mask) on the Mandarin word accuracy of two ASR systems with or without noises. A mouth simulator was used to play speech audio with or without wearing a mask. Acoustic signals were recorded at distances of 0.2 m and 0.6 m. Recordings were mixed with two noises at a signal-to-noise ratio of +3 dB: restaurant noise and speech-shaped noise. Results showed that masks did not affect ASR accuracy without noise. Under noises, masks did not significantly influence ASR accuracy at 0.2 m but had significant effects at 0.6 m. The activated-carbon mask had the most significant impact on ASR accuracy at 0.6 m, reducing the accuracy by 18.5 percentage points compared to that without a mask, whereas the cloth mask had the least effect on ASR accuracy at 0.6 m, reducing the accuracy by 0.9 percentage points. The acoustic attenuation of masks on the high-frequency band at around 3.15 kHz of the speech signal attributed to the effects of masks on ASR accuracy. When training ASR models, it may be important to consider mask robustness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The substantial increase in discarded face masks since the onset of the COVID‐19 pandemic has resulted in extensive environmental pollution from plastic waste. This study presents a novel upcycling method to repurpose disposable face masks into a carbon‐based nanomaterial for use in supercapacitors. The upcycled sample, CSDFM@800, demonstrates very good supercapacitor properties, boasting a high specific capacitance of 234 F g−1 at a current density of 0.5 A g−1. Additionally, the symmetric coin cell supercapacitor constructed from this material exhibits excellent performance, achieving a high energy density of 8.54 Wh kg−1 at a low current density of 0.5 A g−1, and maintaining superior capacitance retention of 96.8 % after 15,000 charge/discharge cycles at a current density of 10 A g−1. Materials characterisation results and electrochemical analysis reveal that this upcycling process not only preserves the carbon nanofiber structure but also introduces highly reactive sulfur as a heteroatom doping element. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, concerns were raised that face covering use may elicit risk compensation; a false sense of security resulting in reduced adherence to other protective behaviours such as physical distancing. This systematic review aimed to investigate the effect of face covering use on adherence to other COVID-19 related protective behaviours. Medline, Embase, PsychInfo, EmCare, medRxiv preprints, Research Square and WHO COVID-19 Research Database were searched for all primary research studies published from 1st January 2020 to 17th May 2022 that investigated the effect of face covering use on adherence to other protective behaviours in public settings during the COVID-19 pandemic. Papers were selected and screened in accordance with the PRISMA framework. Backwards and forwards citation searches of included papers were also conducted on 16th September 2022, with eligible papers published between 1st January 2020 and that date being included. A quality appraisal including risk of bias was assessed using the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics' Quality Criteria Checklist. This review is registered on PROSPERO, number CRD42022331961. 47 papers were included, with quality ranging from low to high. These papers investigated the effects of face covering use and face covering policies on adherence to six categories of behaviour: physical distancing; mobility; face-touching; hand hygiene; close contacts; and generalised protective behaviour. Results reveal no consistent evidence for or against risk compensation, with findings varying according to behaviour and across study types, and therefore confident conclusions cannot be made. Any policy decisions related to face coverings must consider the inconsistencies and caveats in this evidence base. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anxiety among nursing students documented during the COVID-19 pandemic reflected their fear of contracting infections, adhering to the mandatory use of masks in public, engaging in the new experience of distance learning, having financial problems, and so on. The purpose of this study was to examine the mediating role of emotional intelligence (EI) on nursing students' coping strategies and anxiety during the pandemic. This cross-sectional correlational study was conducted in a university in Jordan. An online survey was used to obtain data from a sample of 282 nursing students who had returned to on-campus learning during the summer semester of 2019/2020. The survey held four parts: (a) questions about sociodemographics, (b) the General Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) scale, (c) the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire-Short Form (TEIQue-SF), and (d) the Brief-Coping Behavior Questionnaire (Brief-COPE). The results showed that EI had a fully mediating role in the relationship between problem-focused coping strategies and anxiety, and it partially mediated the emotion-focused and avoidant/dysfunctional coping strategies and anxiety relationships. Nursing students who used the problem-focused coping strategies had high levels of EI, and with increasing levels of EI, anxiety levels decreased. Promoting the development of EI among nursing students would enable them to manage their emotions effectively and control their anxiety, particularly in new circumstances such as those that occurred during the COVID 19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The Government of Tamil Nadu, India, mandated wearing face masks in public places to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. We established face mask surveillance and estimated the prevalence of appropriate mask use (covering the nose, mouth, and chin) in the slums and non-slums of Chennai at different time points in 2021. Methods: We conducted three serial cross-sectional surveys in the outdoors and indoors of Chennai in March, July, and October 2021. We observed the mask wearing among 3200 individuals in the outdoors and 1280 in the indoors. We divided the outdoor and indoor locations into slums and non-slums. In October 2021, we also surveyed 150 individuals from each of the 11 shopping malls in the city. We calculated the proportions and 95% confidence interval (95%CI) for the appropriate mask use in the outdoor, indoor, and malls by age, gender, region, and setting (slum and non-slum). Results: We observed 3200 individuals in the outdoor and 1280 individuals in the indoor setting, each from a slum and non-slum, during the three rounds of the study. In outdoor and indoors, males comprised three-fourths and middle-aged individuals were half the study population. Mask compliance changed significantly with time (p-value <0.001). Males consistently demonstrated better compliance in all rounds. The south region had the highest mask compliance in slums indoors and outdoors in rounds 4 and 5. Young adults had the highest mask compliance in both outdoor slums and non-slums in all rounds. Overall mask compliance in shopping malls was 57% (95% CI: 48–65). Conclusion: The mask compliance in Chennai outdoors during the COVID-19 pandemic was less than 50%, with variations across time points by gender, age groups, and geographical locations. We must develop more effective communication strategies for older age groups and crowded indoor settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has left no one untouched. Resident trainees have been driven to reconsider virtually every component of their daily lives. The purpose of this pilot study is to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Obstetrics and Gynecology (OBGYN) residency training and education. Methods: A cross-sectional pilot study was conducted between 2/2022 and 5/2022. A survey was created and distributed to OBGYN residents. The survey queried the effects of the pandemic on OBGYN residents' procedure skills training and mental health. Results: A total of 95 OBGYN residents across programs affiliated with each American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) district participated in the survey. Among them, just over half (n = 52, 55%) self-identified as under-represented minorities. A significant majority, 80% (n = 81), felt their gynecological training was inadequate, with 70% of fourth-year residents expressing a lack of confidence in their ability to independently practice gynecology after graduation. This lack of confidence among fourth-year residents suggests a notable disparity in readiness for independent gynecological practice, linked to meeting ACGME requirements before completing their residency (p = 0.013). Among the residents who reported a negative impact of the pandemic on their mental health (n = 76, 80%), about 40% (n = 31) had contemplated self-harm or knew a colleague who considered or attempted suicide (p < 0.001). This issue was especially pronounced in residents experiencing burnout (n = 44, 46%), as nearly half (n = 19, 43%) reported suicidal thoughts or knew someone in their program who had such thoughts or engaged in self-harm (p = 0.048). Conclusions: Residents expressed concerns about reduced hands-on gynecological training and doubts about their readiness for independent practice post-residency, highlighting the need for enhanced support through mentorship and revised training curriculums. Additionally, despite the availability of mental health resources to address pandemic-induced burnout, their underuse suggests a need for more accessible time for residents to use at their discretion and flexible training schedules that encourage mental health support resource utilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Face masks were undoubtedly one of the most visible and (at least in some countries of the Global North) most controversial markers of the Covid-19 pandemic. Contrary to the white-German majority society in Berlin, Vietnamese migrants in the city were aware of the essential role of wearing masks in public right from the beginning of this health crisis. In March 2020, when the German government agency for disease control was still advising the general public against donning masks, former Vietnamese contract workers were already producing thousands of fabric masks for donation to ill-prepared hospitals and care facilities. Vietnamese students in Berlin, as well as children of Vietnamese migrants born and/or raised in Germany, also initiated various mask-related campaigns to tackle the health crisis and support local Vietnamese communities. Based on digital ethnography in the spring of 2020, as well as later offline ethnographic exploration, we tracked the emergence of Vietnamese care networks trying to cope with the then-evolving pandemic. Looking through the analytical lens of face masks, we aim to highlight people's emic understandings of care as materialized in self-sewn masks. Besides showing the processual character of those care responses, we also aim to work out distinct differences between the migrant generation and post-migration actors regarding their motivations for organizing their respective campaigns. While our interlocutors from the latter group were much more vocal about anti-Asian racism and thus focused on community care projects, the Vietnamese migrants we talked to framed their care response in terms of a narrative of giving back to their second home country at a time of need. In addition, we will show how these care responses were differently shaped by media discourses from Vietnam and/or the global Vietnamese diaspora. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alexithymia is a clinically relevant personality construct characterized by difficulties identifying and communicating one's emotions and externally oriented thinking. Alexithymia has been found to be related to poor emotion decoding and diminished attention to the eyes. The present eye tracking study investigated whether high levels of alexithymia are related to impairments in recognizing emotions in masked faces and reduced attentional preference for the eyes. An emotion recognition task with happy, fearful, disgusted, and neutral faces with face masks was administered to high-alexithymic and non-alexithymic individuals. Hit rates, latencies of correct responses, and fixation duration on eyes and face mask were analyzed as a function of group and sex. Alexithymia had no effects on accuracy and speed of emotion recognition. However, alexithymic men showed less attentional preference for the eyes relative to the mask than non-alexithymic men, which was due to their increased attention to face masks. No fixation duration differences were observed between alexithymic and non-alexithymic women. Our data indicate that high levels of alexithymia might not have adverse effects on the efficiency of emotion recognition from faces wearing masks. Future research on gaze behavior during facial emotion recognition in high alexithymia should consider sex as a moderating variable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, mask-wearing has become a widespread phenomenon. Even after the pandemic, people continue to maintain the habit of wearing masks in their daily lives. While existing research has explored how mask-wearing can influence wearers' behavior in everyday life, its effects in the workplace have received less attention. Drawing on self-perception theory, this study examined the positive effect of mask-wearing in the workplace on wearers' voice behavior via psychological safety. An online experiment (N = 291) using a within-subject manipulation of wearing masks supported our hypotheses. This study uncovered the positive psychological and behavioral consequences of mask-wearing beyond its benefits in people's health conditions and everyday life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The COVID‐19 pandemic prompted the use of face masks as a social distancing measure. Although evidence supports their effectiveness in preventing infection, it remains unclear why some adolescents choose to continue wearing them postpandemic, even when it is no longer mandatory. This study aims to explore adolescents' experiences of wearing face masks during the COVID‐19 pandemic when their use was no longer mandatory. Method: In this exploratory qualitative study, data were collected from 16 adolescents through face‐to‐face semistructured interviews. The participants were asked about the reasons and feelings associated with continuing to wear masks, as well as the contexts in which they felt safe without a mask. The collected data were analysed using Braun and Clarke's thematic analysis. Results: Three main themes were identified: (1) Navigating complex decision‐making: balancing safety and self‐image, (2) peer influence dynamics and (3) managing the future: weather dynamics and pandemic evolution. Discussion: The potential implications of withdrawing COVID‐19 preventive measures, such as mask‐wearing, beyond the pandemic remain understudied. It is crucial to further investigate the perceptions related to wearing masks and its cessation, especially amongst vulnerable individuals. Patient or Public Contribution: Due to methodological constraints associated with participants' age, they were not engaged in the design, data analysis, data interpretation or manuscript preparation phases of the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic created an unprecedented increase in the usage of personal protective equipment (PPE) in the healthcare industry, especially in the form of face coverings. Subsequently, guidelines related to breathability and wear comfort were published by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) as an influx of various new materials entered the PPE market. This study evaluated a proprietary, novel, zinc-ion embedded fiber with the ability to deactivate bacteria and viruses, including SARS-COV-2, for its wear comfort in a nonwoven disposable mask in comparison to a commercially available surgical face mask which served as the control. Ten healthy, full-time, career, firefighters participated in this study wearing both masks in a randomized fashion. A medical task simulation (MTS) protocol was developed to replicate nursing task metabolic rates, per the compendium of physical activities, via a graded treadmill walking exercise. Participant ratings including ease of mask fit, overall mask comfort, facial comfort, breathability, and facial temperature sensation were recorded before, during, and after the 50-minute protocol in a controlled environmental chamber. The 100% nylon, zinc ion mask was rated as slightly cooler at the beginning of the trial (at 0.8 vs. 1.3), than the commercially available polypropylene mask. The polypropylene mask also reached a perceived mask facial comfort (MFC) rating of 1.6 just 35 min into the protocol whereas the zinc ion mask did not reach a rating of slight discomfort until the end of the exercise. Findings indicate the novel zinc-ion embedded mask was as comfortable, if not more so, than the commercially available nonwoven mask with more favorable ratings for longer durations. Not only do the zinc properties provide enhanced protection, but they maintain, if not improve, wearer comfort. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The production of personal protective equipment (PPE) has increased dramatically in recent years, not only because of the pandemic, but also because of stricter legislation in the field of Employee Protection. The increasing use of PPE, including disposable surgical masks (DSMs), is putting additional pressure on waste collectors. For this reason, it is necessary to find high-quality solutions for this type of waste. Mechanical recycling is still the most common type of recycling, but the recyclates are often classified as low-grade materials. For this reason, a detailed analysis of the recyclates is necessary. These data will help us to improve the properties and find the right end application that will increase the value of the materials. This work represents an extended analysis of the recyclates obtained from DSMs, manufactured from different polymers. Using surface and morphology tests, we have gained insights into the distribution of different polymers in polymer blends and their effects on mechanical and surface properties. It was found that the addition of ear loop material to the PP melt makes the material tougher. In the polymer blends obtained, PP and PA 6 form the surface (affects surface properties), while PU and PET are distributed mainly inside the injection-molded samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The circular economy model is based on the 4R framework—reduce, reuse, recycle, and recover. While recycling was the primary focus in the past, the shortage of raw materials and the desire to reduce carbon footprints have led to a change in focus: end-of-life materials are now considered resources rather than waste. When discharged, end-of-life materials still possess properties that can be exploited. For this reason, a comprehensive characterization of reusable materials is mandatory to reduce waste and increase material availability. The reuse of waste materials, such as surgical masks, is of particular interest in giving people in disadvantaged contexts the opportunity to self-produce and self-install panels within their homes, with the dual result of improving indoor comfort and increasing human capital. This paper focuses on the identification of a possible second application for surgical face masks through experimental characterization. Panels made of masks were tested for water vapor permeability, thermal conductivity, and fire resistance and their use as insulating material in the building sector was discussed. Based on the results, surgical face masks are suitable as thermal insulating materials, do not pose safety concerns, and can reduce energy consumption and improve thermal comfort when installed indoors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The multifunctional development in the field of face masks and the growing demand for scalable manufacturing have become increasingly prominent. In this study, we utilized high-vacuum magnetron sputtering technology to deposit a 5 nm ultra-thin Ag–Cu film on non-woven fabric and fabricated ultra-thin Ag–Cu film face masks. The antibacterial rates against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus were 99.996% and 99.978%, respectively, while the antiviral activity against influenza A virus H1N1 was 99.02%. Furthermore, the mask's ability to monitor respiratory system diseases was achieved through color change (from brownish-yellow to grey-white). The low cost and scalability potential of ultra-thin silver–copper film masks offer new possibilities for practical applications of multifunctional masks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of anti‐pandemic measures, including wearing a face mask and receiving vaccinations, on interpersonal distance (IPD) during the normalization stage of the COVID‐19 pandemic. Virtual reality (VR) technology was used to simulate the experimental environment and a confederate in different conditions. Thirty‐one participants were asked to approach the virtual confederate, who could exhibit three vaccination states and two mask‐wearing conditions, actively and passively in both indoor and outdoor environments. ANOVA results showed that the participants kept a smaller IPD from the confederate wearing a face mask (IPD = 125.6 cm) than from the one without a face mask (IPD = 154.2 cm). The effects of vaccination states were significant, with the largest distance for an unvaccinated confederate (IPD = 182.3 cm) and the smallest distance for the confederate who had received a booster vaccine (IPD = 111.5 cm). Significant effects of environment were also found, with the participants maintaining a larger IPD in an outdoor environment (IPD = 143.4 cm) than in an indoor room (IPD = 136.4 cm). Additionally, the IPD collected when the participants were passively approached (IPD = 149.6 cm) was significantly larger than that obtained when they actively approached the confederate (IPD = 130.3 cm). Moreover, when the participants faced a confederate who had received a booster vaccine and wore a mask, the IPD was not significantly different from that collected before the COVID‐19 pandemic in both the active and passive patterns. These findings help us to better understand the nature of IPD and human behaviors during the normalization stage of the pandemic and provide scientific suggestions for policymakers to develop pandemic‐prevention measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, myriad factors contributed to disagreements around the use of masks to curb the public health crisis. Against this backdrop, this study spotlights how interactional processes predict masking compliance following an interpersonal discussion. The sample included 345 U.S. adults who were requested to put on a face mask in a conversation. The results showed control variables, such as gender, political orientation, and attitude toward masking, are associated with post-interaction masking compliance. Controlling for these factors, involvement and reactance both reduced compliance; involvement amplified the negative impact of reactance on compliance, supporting the general intensifier hypothesis in relational framing theory. The discussion advocates for a close examination of interpersonal conversations as a result of health campaigns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To assess the impact of wearing masks (KN95, surgical, cloth mask) due to COVID-19 pandemic on interpersonal communication among health care workers and with patients. The present observational study was conducted in tertiary care centre and also included participants from various other health care facilities from all over India over a period of one year from March 2022 to March 2023. 203 health care workers consented to participate in the study. The study was done as an online survey using the questionnaire which was adapted into a Google form consisting of a 15 closed set questions. Participants rated the question using a binary forced choice as either YES or NO. The mean age of participants consenting to the study was 30.9 ± 6.3 SD years,with male predominance (%). Among the choice of use of face mask, 76.35% used surgical mask, 14.77% used KN95 and 8.86% used cloth masks. 15 questions were divided in 5 categories; analysis showed that majority of questions had an affirmative "yes" response. This results of this study indicated that the sudden change in the existing communication situation due to use of face masks in the clinical setup affected interpersonal communication among healthcare workers and with patients, which may also have a bearing on both patient and clinician well being and could have a significant economic impact on health care systems globally. These results provide information about the clinical strain introduced from use of face masks in healthcare settings. Overall, results showed that in healthcare settings, there is increased cognitive load and listening effort for patients and health care providers, as well as changes in clinical efficiency for providers when utilizing masks. These effects are often greater with hearing loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There are many post‐procedural treatments touted to improve comfort and decrease downtime, but very few prospective randomized studies. Aims: To analyze the safety and efficacy of a post‐procedural biotech cellulose mask. Patients/Method: Fifteen patients undergoing either a microneedling with radiofrequency (n = 5), non‐ablative fractional (n = 5), or full erbium:YAG resurfacing (n = 5) treatment were randomized to receive a biotech cellulose mask on one side of the face for 30 min after the procedure and for 2 h a day until healed. Standardized photos and thermal images were taken 30 min after the procedure and daily until healed. The investigator and blind evaluators reviewed the photos, and subjects answered daily questionnaires. Results: An analysis of the thermal images showed a significant reduction in facial temperature on the biotech cellulose mask side as compared to the control side in all groups with an average of 2.2 (range 0.2–6.5) degree Celsius reduction across all 15 subjects. All subjects reported less pain and heat immediately upon application of the mask. Thirty minutes after application, 13/15 continued to report less pain and heat, and 11/15 reported less erythema and swelling on the mask side while blind evaluators were able to choose which side had the mask 80% of the time. On average, subjects also reported significantly less swelling on Day 1 and Day 2. Conclusion: The biotech cellulose mask decreased patient's facial temperature, feelings of heat and pain, as well as downtime without any side effects for the subjects in this study undergoing a variety of treatments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The bacterial inactivation using near-infrared (NIR) light irradiation with spatiotemporal control is advantageous to deal with the emerging microbial infection and the drug resistance in the environment and health-care facilities. Here, nanoflower-like MoS2 prepared by electrolysis synthesis was functionalized with α-lipoic acid and chitosan oligosaccharide (MoS2-LA-COS) resulting in a highly biocompatible, well dispersive, and NIR photo-responsive composite. The produced nanocomposite of MoS2-LA-COS retained the nanoflower-like morphological feature, of which the hexagonal structure (2H phase) was similar with that of MoS2 according to the X-ray diffraction measurement. Moreover, the produced MoS2-LA-COS was efficiently loaded into the electrospun nanofiber membranes (ENFs) endowing the fibrous scaffold with outstanding photothermal performance. The antibacterial studies indicated a superior bactericidal effect of the formed membranes under NIR irradiation towards the inactivation of model G−Staphylococcus aureus and G+Escherichia coli strains, which was originated from the uniform distribution of MoS2-LA-COS on the fibrous scaffold. The produced MoS2-LA-COS nanofibrous membranes of good water vapor transmission rate and improved photothermal performance possess enormous potential for the development as well as the disposal of personal protective equipment such as medical masks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SARS-CoV-2 serology may be helpful to retrospectively understand infection dynamics in specific settings including kindergartens. We assessed SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence in individuals connected to kindergartens in Berlin, Germany in September 2021. Children, staff, and household members from 12 randomly selected kindergartens were interviewed on COVID-19 history and sociodemographic parameters. Blood samples were collected on filter paper. SARS-CoV-2 anti-S and anti-N antibodies were assessed using Roche Elecsys. We assessed seroprevalence and the proportion of so far unrecognized SARS-CoV-2 infections. We included 277 participants, comprising 48 (17.3%) kindergarten children, 37 (13.4%) staff, and 192 (69.3%) household members. SARS-CoV-2 antibodies were present in 65.0%, and 52.7% of all participants were vaccinated. Evidence of previous infection was observed in 16.7% of kindergarten children, 16.2% of staff, and 10.4% of household members. Undiagnosed infections were observed in 12.5%, 5.4%, and 3.6%, respectively. Preceding infections were associated with facemask neglect. In conclusion, two-thirds of our cohort were SARS-CoV-2 seroreactive in September 2021, largely as a result of vaccination in adults. Kindergarten children showed the highest proportion of non-vaccine-induced seropositivity and an increased proportion of previously unrecognized SARS-CoV-2 infection. Silent infections in pre-school children need to be considered when interpreting SARS-CoV-2 infections in the kindergarten context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the late 2010-s and early 2020s, people around the world have not only encountered the pandemic crisis, but also in some places, they have had to deal with serious levels of air pollution. Personal protective equipment is essential to protect from microorganisms or fine particulate matter. Consequently, this study aimed to develop a silk face covering that could meet the international requirements with the addition of having an antibacterial property. The developed silk face covering consisted of three layers; the outer layer was water-repellent mulberry silk, the inner layer was oil-repellent eri silk, while the middle layer was cotton fabric coated with biosynthesized silver nanoparticles from mangosteen peels mixed with Andrographis paniculata extract. A biodegradable bacterial cellulose filter made of nata de coco waste was also prepared to improve filtration efficiency. It was found that the silver nanoparticles extracted from mangosteen peel and Andrographis paniculata inhibited S. aureus and E. coli by more than 99.9%, even after 20 washing cycles. The performance properties of the silk barrier face covering met Level I of the ASTM F3502-2021 standard, as well as being comfortable for public use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Incorporating masks into building materials offers a potential solution to the environmental threat of disposable masks with promising material performance. However, research on their dynamic properties is lacking to further determine the application range of the new composite. This study addresses this gap by shredding face masks into strips and incorporating them into mortars at varying volume ratios. The integrity and compactness of the mortar was measured and characterized by P-wave velocity, while dynamic compression properties were explored using a split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) system. Subsequently, sieve analysis was conducted on the fractured specimens. The results indicate that incorporating masks generally improves the mortar integrity and the fragmentation after impacting. The dynamic uniaxial compression strength (DUCS) decreased for all mixing designs compared to plain ones under a constant loading rate. Meanwhile, the dissipated energy density showed a similar trend to the P-wave velocity, exhibiting less pronounced enhancement at higher loading rates. According to the dynamic characteristics, a dynamic constitutive model based on the Lemaitre principle and Weibull distribution of damage is developed and validated. The test results are further understood through the perspective of the mechanism of mask inclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The world has lived an exceptional time period caused by the Coronavirus pandemic. To limit Covid-19 propagation, governments required people to wear a facial mask outside. In facial data analysis, maskwearing on the human face creates predominant occlusion hiding the important oral region and causing more challenges for human face recognition and categorisation. The appropriation of existing solutions by taking into consideration the masked context is indispensable for researchers. In this paper, we propose an approach for mask-wearing prediction and adaptive facial human-gender classification. The proposed approach is based on convolutional neural networks (CNNs). Both mask-wearing and gender information are crucial for various possible applications. Experimentation shows that mask-wearing is very well detectable by using CNNs and justifies its use as a prepossessing step. It also shows that retraining with masked faces is indispensable to keep up gender classification performances. In addition, experimentation proclaims that in a controlled facepose with acceptable image quality' context, the gender attribute remains well detectable. Finally, we show empirically that the adaptive proposed approach improves global performance for gender prediction in a mixed context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic proved how face masks became necessary to stop the spread of infection. Due to this, effective identification of people wearing face mask became challenging. Masked facial recognition has significantly increased in accuracy because of developments in convolutional neural networks (CNNs). Small size of the dataset of masked facial images has been a problem in earlier research. As would be expected, this results in poorer accuracy when the model tries to identify faces. In this study, a novel model is proposed with textural feature extraction using greylevel co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) and an ensemble of two pre-trained CNNs DenseNet-121 and VGG-16. Using the minimum redundancy and maximum relevance, the model has improved accuracy by choosing the most important features of the image. The model was trained using in-house dataset that included 38,290 photos of 2,500 people with approximately equal distribution of properly masked, partially masked, and unmasked images. In this, we evaluated the performance of the model on different classifiers multi-class logistic regression (LR) and support vector machine (SVM) with one-vs-rest (OvR) classification and artificial neural network (ANN) and applied a soft voting scheme. The model achieved the highest accuracy of 98.56% at a learning rate of 0.001 on the ANN classifier. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The current quasi-experimental study aimed to develop and evaluate a virtual staff training on age-related hearing loss at a care organization for older adults. Method: Training included the use of affordable headset amplifiers and a hands-on activity in which hearing loss was simulated. Staff were encouraged to offer amplifiers to assist in communication given the high prevalence of untreated hearing loss among older adults and the increased communication difficulty that results from mask-wearing. Results: Quantitative results (N = 51) from the pre/post questionnaire suggest that staff members gained knowledge about hearing loss and communication through the training session. Qualitative data over the 6-month post training suggest that some older adults had not only improved speech understanding but also improved quality of interactions with staff. The main reasons for not using the amplifiers were that staff would forget they had access to the amplifiers or the older adult would refuse to use the device. Conclusion: This article highlights successes of the training as well as ideas for future trainings suggested by staff members. A key finding was the need to identify a core group of staff members who would be charged with facilitating use of personal amplification for older adults in the organization. In addition, providing multiple brief trainings over time was suggested to improve adoption of good communication practices among staff. [Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 50(4), 48–56.] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]