Masks

Leveraging functional materials to develop advanced personal protective equipment is of significant importance for cutting off the propagation of infectious diseases, yet faces ongoing challenges owing to the unsatisfied antimicrobial efficiency. Herein a hierarchically porous cerium metal-organic framework (Ce-MOF) boosting the antimicrobial performance by intensifying catalytic reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and bacterial entrapment simultaneously is reported. This Ce-MOF presents dendritic surface topography and hierarchical pore channels where the Lewis acid Ce sites are dispersedly anchored. Attributing to this sophisticated nanoarchitecture rendering the catalytic Ce sites highly accessible, it shows a ca. 1800-fold activity enhancement for the catalytic conversion of atmospheric oxygen to highly toxic ROS compared to traditional CeO2. Additionally, the dendritic and negative-charged surface engineered in this Ce-MOF substantially enhances the binding affinity toward positive-charged bacteria, enabling the spatial proximity between the bacteria and the short-lived ROS and therefore maximizing the utilization of highly toxic ROS to inactivate bacteria. It is demonstrated that this Ce-MOF-integrated face mask displays almost 100% antimicrobial efficacy even in insufficient light and dark scenarios. This work provides important insights into the design of antibacterial MOF materials by a pore- and surface-engineering strategy and sheds new light on the development of advanced self-antimicrobial devices.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, personal protective equipment such as facial masks and coverings were mandated all over the globe to protect against the virus. Although the primary aim of wearing face masks is to protect against viral transmission, they pose a potential burden on communication. The purpose of this scoping review was to identify the state of the evidence of the effect of facial coverings on acoustic and perceptual speech outcomes. The scoping review followed the framework created by Arksey & O'Malley (2005) and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews guidelines (PRISMA-ScR; Tricco et al., 2018). The search was completed in May 2021 across the following databases: PubMed, EMBASE, PsycINFO, Web of Science, and Google Scholar. A total of 3,846 records were retrieved from the database search. Following the removal of duplicates, 3,479 remained for the title/abstract screen and 149 were selected for the full-text review. Of these, 52 were included in the final review and relevant data were extracted. The 52 articles included in the final review consisted of; 11 studied perceptual outcomes only, 16 studied acoustic outcomes only, and 14 studied both perceptual and acoustic outcomes. 13 of these investigated acoustic features that could be used for mask classification. Although the findings varied from article to article, many trends stood out. Many articles revealed that face masks act as a low pass filter, dampening sounds at higher frequencies; however, the frequency range and the degree of attenuation varied based on face mask type. All but five articles that reported on perceptual outcomes showed a common trend that wearing a face mask was associated with poorer speech intelligibility. The findings of the scoping review provided evidence that facial coverings negatively impacted speech intelligibility, which is likely due to a combination of auditory and visual cue degradation. Due to the continued prevalence of mask use, how facial coverings affect a wider variety of speaker populations, such as those with communication impairments, and strategies for overcoming communication challenges should be explored.

Emotional mimicry, the imitation of others' emotion expressions, is related to increased interpersonal closeness and better interaction quality. Yet, little research has focused on the effect of face masks on emotional mimicry and none on (masked) child faces. To address this gap, we conducted an online experiment (N = 235, German sample, adult perceivers). Masks reduced emotion recognition accuracy for all expressions, except in the case of anger in masked child faces, where perceived anger was even increased. Perceived interpersonal closeness was reduced for masked happy and sad faces. For both child and adult expressers, masks reduced facial mimicry of happy expressions, with no mask effects for sadness and anger expression. A stronger mask effect on facial happiness mimicry of child faces was mediated by the degree of emotion recognition accuracy. Smiles shown by masked children were not recognized well, likely due to the absence of wrinkles around the eyes in child faces. Independent of masks, sadness shown by children was mimicked even more strongly than when shown by adults. These results provide evidence for facial mimicry of child expressions by adult perceivers and show that the effects of face masks on emotion communication may vary when children wear them.

BackgroundThe efficacy of Laryngeal Mask Airway (LMA) epinephrine during neonatal resuscitation has not been studied. We hypothesize that LMA epinephrine is as effective as endotracheal tube (ETT) epinephrine.MethodsSixteen fetal lambs were randomized in ETT or LMA group for ventilation and airway epinephrine administration after cord occlusion to induce complete cardiac arrest. Lambs were delivered and instrumented to continuously record pulmonary and systemic hemodynamics. After 5 min of cardiac arrest, lambs were resuscitated per NRP guidelines. Blood gases and plasma epinephrine levels were regularly measured during resuscitation.ResultsBaseline characteristics were similar between the two groups. Incidence of return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) was 5/8 (62.5%) in both groups; p = 1.00. Mean time to ROSC was similar in both groups; 6 minutes and 42 ± 65 s in the LMA group, and 6 min and 46 ± 51 s in the ETT group; p = 0.92. There was no difference in plasma epinephrine levels at baseline (LMA 0.7 ± 0.5 vs. ETT 0.8 ± 0.2 ng/mL; p = 0.88) and post-airway epinephrine administration (LMA 8.0 ± 3.1 vs. ETT 7.8 ± 4.6 ng/mL; p = 0.85).ConclusionThe use of LMA epinephrine for neonatal resuscitation is a suitable alternative to ETT epinephrine.ImpactThe Neonatal Resuscitation Program (NRP) recommends a dose of airway epinephrine to be administered via the endotracheal tube (ETT) while intravenous access is being established. Endotracheal intubation is a highly skilled procedure. Laryngeal mask airway (LMA) is as effective in delivering positive pressure ventilation (PPV) and requires less training to achieve adequate competency to secure a stable airway. We show that LMA is a similar method to deliver epinephrine during neonatal resuscitation in the ovine model.