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    Oral SARS-CoV-2 reduction by local treatment: A plasma technology application?
    (Weinheim : Wiley-VCH, 2022) von Woedtke, Thomas; Gabriel, Gülsah; Schaible, Ulrich E.; Bekeschus, Sander
    The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic reemphasized the importance of and need for efficient hygiene and disinfection measures. The coronavirus' efficient spread capitalizes on its airborne transmission routes via virus aerosol release from human oral and nasopharyngeal cavities. Besides the upper respiratory tract, efficient viral replication has been described in the epithelium of these two body cavities. To this end, the idea emerged to employ plasma technology to locally reduce mucosal viral loads as an additional measure to reduce patient infectivity. We here outline conceptual ideas of such treatment concepts within what is known in the antiviral actions of plasma treatment so far.
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    Surface modification of the laser sintering standard powder polyamide 12 by plasma treatments
    (Weinheim : Wiley-VCH, 2018-6-7) Almansoori, Alaa; Masters, Robert; Abrams, Kerry; Schäfer, Jan; Gerling, Torsten; Majewski, Candice; Rodenburg, Cornelia
    Polyamide 12 (PA12) powder was exposed for up to 3 h to low pressure air plasma treatment (LP-PT) and several minutes by two different atmospheric pressure plasma jets (APPJ) i.e., kINPen (K-APPJ) and Hairline (H-APPJ). The chemical and physical changes resulting from LP-PT were observed by a combination of Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Hot Stage Microscopy (HSM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), which demonstrated significant changes between the plasma treated and untreated PA12 powders. PA12 exposed to LP-PT showed an increase in wettability, was relatively porous, and possessed a higher density, which resulted from the surface functionalization and materials removal during the plasma exposure. However, it showed poor melt behavior under heating conditions typical for Laser Sintering. In contrast, brief PJ treatments demonstrated similar changes in porosity, but crucially, retained the favorable melt characteristics of PA12 powder.
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    Supercritical fluid extraction-supercritical fluid chromatography of saliva: Single-quadrupole mass spectrometry monitoring of caffeine for gastric emptying studies†
    (Weinheim : Wiley-VCH, 2021) Hofstetter, Robert K.; Schulig, Lukas; Bethmann, Jonas; Grimm, Michael; Sager, Maximilian; Aude, Philipp; Keßler, Rebecca; Kim, Simon; Weitschies, Werner; Link, Andreas
    Saliva is an attractive sampling matrix for measuring various endogenous and exogeneous substances but requires sample treatment prior to chromatographic analysis. Exploiting supercritical CO2 for both extraction and chromatography simplifies sample preparation, reduces organic solvent consumption, and minimizes exposure to potentially infectious samples, but has not yet been applied to oral fluid. Here, we demonstrate the feasibility and benefits of online supercritical fluid extraction coupled to supercritical fluid chromatography and single-quadrupole mass spectrometry for monitoring the model salivary tracer caffeine. A comparison of 13C- and 32S-labeled internal standards with external standard calibration confirmed the superiority of stable isotope-labeled caffeine over nonanalogous internal standards. As proof of concept, the validated method was applied to saliva from a magnetic resonance imaging study of gastric emptying. After administration of 35 mg caffeine via ice capsule, salivary levels correlated with magnetic resonance imaging data, corroborating caffeine's usefulness as tracer of gastric emptying (R2 = 0.945). In contrast to off-line methods, online quantification required only minute amounts of organic solvents and a single manual operation prior to online bioanalysis of saliva, thus demonstrating the usefulness of CO2-based extraction and separation techniques for potentially infective biomatrices.
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    From patent to product? 50 years of low-pressure plasma sterilization
    (Weinheim : Wiley-VCH, 2018-10-18) Fiebrandt, Marcel; Lackmann, Jan-Wilm; Stapelmann, Katharina
    The development of new sterilization methods is still a major topic. The need for new techniques arises from the development of new instruments and the usage of different materials. Especially in the case of plastics with their beneficial properties, for example, in the field of implantology, plasma sterilization is seen as a promising alternative to the standard methods. However, 50 years after the first patent and although low-pressure plasmas show excellent inactivation performance (>log 6 reduction), only one commercial system is available on the market for a distinct application. We will give a short review about known plasma sterilization mechanisms, the different plasma sterilization systems in use, analyze possible challenges for an industrial process and comment on possible solutions for a broader acceptance and utilization of low-pressure plasma sterilization.