Superhydrophobic films were fabricated on a titanium substrate with or without anodizing by using a self-assembling method. Firstly, the pretreatments of mechanical polishing/anodizing or mechanical polishing only were conducted, respectively. Subsequently, the preparation of polydopamine film layer, deposition of nano-silver particles, and post modification of 1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluorodecanethiol ...

The application of silver nanowire films as transparent conductive electrodes has shown promising results recently. In this paper, we demonstrate the application of a simple spray coating technique to obtain large scale, highly uniform and conductive silver nanowire films on arbitrary substrates. We also integrated a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-assisted contact transfer technique with spray coa...

A silver nanoparticle solution was prepared in one step by mixing AgNO3 and a multi-amino compound (RSD-NH2) solution under ambient condition. RSD-NH2 was in-house synthesized by methacrylate and polyethylene polyamine in methanol, which has abundant amino and imino groups. However, the characterization of silver nanoparticles indicated that these nanoparticles are easy to agglomerate in soluti...

BACKGROUND Silver nanoparticles have proven to exert antiviral activity against HIV-1 at non-cytotoxic concentrations, but the mechanism underlying their HIV-inhibitory activity has not been not fully elucidated. In this study, silver nanoparticles are evaluated to elucidate their mode of antiviral action against HIV-1 using a panel of different in vitro assays. RESULTS Our data suggest that ...

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic inflammatory skin disease with increasing prevalence over the last few decades. Various factors are known to aggravate the disease. In particular, wool and synthetic fabrics with harsh textile fibres, aggressive detergents and climatic factors may exacerbate AD. Cutaneous superinfection, particularly with Staphylococcus aureus, is also recognized as an import...

Background The treatment of bacterial diseases has become an increase public health problem, since the conventional antimicrobial substances lose their effectiveness due to the microbial resistance phenomenon [1]. Silver is a metal with potential antibacterial activity, and showed significant efficacy against several species of bacteria. The silver activity to prevent microbial growth is enhanc...

Aerobic metabolism which is required for long swimming activities during the eel's spawning migration at depth, is a potential target for pressure effects due to its components located in the inner mitochondrial membrane (respiratory chain and oxidative phosphorylation). Previous studies have evidenced that eels are able to acclimatize to pressure through membrane fluidity adjustment. However t...

Bacteria have evolved various types of resistance mechanism to toxic soft metals and metalloids, including cadmium/zinc, copper/silver and arsenic/antimony. Active efflux of the metal is a frequently utilized stratagem to produce resistance by lowering the intracellular concentration to subtoxic levels. Reduction to a less-toxic form or to a form recognized by an efflux system also occurs. Pump...

BACKGROUND The first instance of Legionella infection in a Norwegian hospital was confirmed in 2005. We describe the best-known methods of eradicating Legionella in hospitals. MATERIALS AND METHOD The article is based on the authors' experience of measures to prevent Legionnaires' disease in hospitals and on a non-systematic search in PubMed. RESULTS There are several methods of combating L...

In 1885, Theodor Escherich first described the Bacillus coli commune, which was subsequently renamed Escherichia coli. We report the complete genome sequence of this original strain (NCTC 86). The 5 144 392 bp circular chromosome encodes the genes for 4805 proteins, which include antigens, virulence factors, antimicrobial-resistance factors and secretion systems, of a commensal organism from th...