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Browsing by Issue Date, starting with "2021-07-01"

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  • Auto-Disinfectant Acrylic Paints Functionalised with Triclosan and Isoborneol - Antibacterial Assessment
    Publication . Machado Querido, Micaela; Paulo, Ivo; Hariharakrishnan, Sriram; Rocha, Daniel; Pereira, Cristiana Costa; Barbosa, Nuno; Bordado, João Moura; Teixeira, João Paulo; Galhano dos Santos, Rui
    Environmental surface contamination with microorganisms is a serious concern worldwide. Triclosan and isoborneol present good antimicrobial activity. Their immobilisation to paint substrates allows for development of a material that stays effective over a longer time. In this work, we disclosed the preliminary studies to evaluate the antimicrobial activity of the active molecule after being functionalised with isocyanates for further immobilisation on the paint substrate. Overall, the newly developed non-release antimicrobial coating provides an effective way of preventing the spread of diseases and has been proven to inhibit bacterial growth and with a considerable antimicrobial activity towards S. aureus, E. coli, and K. variicola at the tested concentrations.
    2021-07-01Journal article Open access Show more
  • Effects of Hot Nights on Mortality in Southern Europe
    Publication . Royé, Dominic; Sera, Francesco; Tobías, Aurelio; Lowe, Rachel; Gasparrini, Antonio; Pascal, Mathilde; de’Donato, Francesca; Nunes, Baltazar; Teixeira, João Paulo
    Background: There is strong evidence concerning the impact of heat stress on mortality, particularly from high temperatures. However, few studies to our knowledge emphasize the importance of hot nights, which may prevent necessary nocturnal rest. Objectives: In this study, we use hot-night duration and excess to predict daily cause-specific mortality in summer, using multiple cities across Southern Europe. Methods: We fitted time series regression models to summer cause-specific mortality, including natural, respiratory, and cardiovascular causes, in 11 cities across four countries. We included a distributed lag nonlinear model with lags up to 7 days for hot night duration and excess adjusted by daily mean temperature. We summarized city-specific associations as overall-cumulative exposure-response curves at the country level using meta-analysis. Results: We found positive but generally nonlinear associations between relative risk (RR) of cause-specific mortality and duration and excess of hot nights. RR of duration associated with nonaccidental mortality in Portugal was 1.29 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.07, 1.54); other associations were imprecise, but we also found positive city-specific estimates for Rome and Madrid. Risk of hot-night excess ranged from 1.12 (95% CI = 1.05, 1.20) for France to 1.37 (95% CI = 1.26, 1.48) for Portugal. Risk estimates for excess were consistently higher than for duration. Conclusions: This study provides new evidence that, over a wider range of locations, hot night indices are strongly associated with cause-specific deaths. Modeling the impact of thermal characteristics during summer nights on mortality could improve decisionmaking for preventive public health strategies.
    2021-07-01Journal article Restricted access Show more