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Biosecurity in the Life Sciences
Published in Kezia Barker, Robert A. Francis, Routledge Handbook of Biosecurity and Invasive Species, 2021
Limor Samimian-Darash, Ori Lev
The policy thus places at the centre the worry that studies carried out in an academic setting might be misused by malevolent actors and represents a shift away from the notion that academic work should enjoy vast freedom. Indeed, the policy implies that third-party risks can override academic freedom even if researchers’ intentions are benign. Moreover, the policy closes a regulatory gap that had existed for many years with regard to biosecurity. The regulations in the US previously focused mainly on biosafety – for example, through the Federal Select Agent Program (E-CFR, 2005). Such regulations focused on protecting the public from accidental release of dangerous agents and the protection of lab workers and their immediate environments. However, the existing policies did not fully address the risk that work carried out under the best biosafety conditions could be misused by third parties not involved in those studies. The new regulation closes this biosecurity gap and at the same time enhances the biosafety conditions.
Bioresponsive Hydrogels for Controlled Drug Delivery
Published in Deepa H. Patel, Bioresponsive Polymers, 2020
Tamgue Serges William, Dipali Talele, Deepa H. Patel
Hydrogels fulfilled two important criteria which are biocompatibility and safety (non-toxic) gained great interest and pertinent in the biomedical field. Polymers must pass cytotoxicity and in vivo toxicity tests. Biocompatibility is the capability of a material to function with an appropriate host response in a specific application. Biocompatibility consists basically of two parameters namely biosafety and bio-functionality Biosafety: It is the adequate host response not only systemic but also local (i.e., surrounding tissue), the absence of cytotoxicity, mutagenesis, and carcinogenesis.Bio-Functionality: It is the capacity of a material to perform the specific task for which it is intended. This explanation is exceptionally applicable in tissue engineering since the nature of tissue construct is to constantly interact with the body through the healing and cellular regeneration process as well as during scaffold degradation. Moreover, initiators, organic solvents, stabilizers, emulsifiers, unreacted monomers, and crosslinkers utilized in polymerization and hydrogel synthesis may be toxic to host cells if they ooze out to tissues or encapsulated cells. To eradicate harmful chemicals from preformed gels, certain purification processes should be implemented such as solvent washing or dialysis [17, 20].
Safety in the Laboratory
Published in Niel T. Constantine, Johnny D. Callahan, Douglas M. Watts, Retroviral Testing, 2020
Niel T. Constantine, Johnny D. Callahan, Douglas M. Watts
Common sense safety practices are the principal means by which laboratory personnel can avoid infection from biohazards. Brown and Blackwell may have expressed the current biosafety situation most accurately by saying, “Gloves and skill are all that stand between laboratorians and the viral, bacterial, and infectious agents they handle all day.” A safe working environment in the laboratory can be maintained by instituting biosafety practices that also include careful measures for personal hygiene, for cleanliness in the work space, and for proper handling of biohazardous materials. An understanding of these necessities and an awareness of potential biohazards while performing laboratory duties will help to prevent accidents, injury, and infection.
A systematic analysis of and recommendations for public health events involving brucellosis from 2006 to 2019 in China
Published in Annals of Medicine, 2022
Zhiguo Liu, Miao Wang, Yaxin Tian, Zhongqiu Li, Liping Gao, Zhenjun Li
A total of 11 laboratory-acquired infection events were reported during the 2006–2016 period in China (Table 1). Two events were observed in Northern China (Beijing and Ningxia province), and the remaining nine events were found in Southern China (Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, and Anhui provinces). Nine of the patients were microbiological technicians and two were cleaners of a microbiology laboratory. The age range of the nine patients was 28–65 years old, and the mean age was 45 years old; two patients were men, seven were women and the remaining two were unknown. Seven patients were infected during the identification or handling of suspect Brucella strains, two by handling blood culture samples from patients with brucellosis, and the remaining individuals were infected while cleaning up the microbiology laboratory waste. All accidental infections occurred because of substandard laboratory safety conditions, manipulations outside biosafety cabinets (BSCs), or the use of inadequate personal protective equipment. All nine cases presented fever; sweating was observed in six cases, fatigue in five cases, and headache in two cases. Only one patient was suspected of brucellosis, seven cases were diagnosed with a fever of unknown origin, and one patient was diagnosed with inflammation of the psoas major muscle, reminding two cases were unknown. The ten patients were first diagnosed with brucellosis by bacteriology test, and a serology test (SAT titre ≥ 1:100) was used only in one case.
What if a major radiation incident happened during a pandemic? – Considerations of the impact on biodosimetry
Published in International Journal of Radiation Biology, 2022
Harold M. Swartz, Ruth C. Wilkins, Elizabeth Ainsbury, Matthias Port, Ann Barry Flood, François Trompier, Laurence Roy, Steven G. Swarts
Additional, externally imposed regulations or established laboratory specific precautions for handling potentially infected samples could impact biodosimetry at several levels, e.g. it may reduce the rate at which samples could be processed or, in some cases, prevent the sample from being analyzed. Particularly, during a radiological emergency, it is not practical to determine the infectious status a potentially radiation exposed individual prior to sampling and some laboratories would not be able to receive samples of unknown viral status even with COVID-19. This would be even more pronounced for possible infectious agents needing biosafety level three or four facilities. At the regulatory level, concerns over spreading the pandemic could severely impact the ability to ship samples to other sites in a network, especially across international boundaries, e.g. medical shipments may be required to be irradiated, thereby ruining the sample for dosimetry.
Musculoskeletal disorders and related factors in the Colombian orthodontists’ practice
Published in International Journal of Occupational Safety and Ergonomics, 2022
Karina Andrea Ramírez-Sepúlveda, Martha Yojana Gómez-Arias, Andrés A. Agudelo-Suárez, Diana Milena Ramírez-Ossa
This article was written following the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) guidelines for observational studies [17]. A cross-sectional study was conducted. A survey form was completed by orthodontists who graduated between 1993 and 2018 from the Faculty of Dentistry at the University of Antioquia (Medellín, Colombia). This institution has graduated an average of six orthodontists per year (the same number of general dentists who are admitted to the orthodontics program). This program serves people from different socioeconomic strata of the city and the orthodontics’ students carry out clinical activities according to the objectives of the curriculum, i.e., to set braces for patients to align their teeth. Clinics to offer care for patients have the necessary biosafety elements, but the presence of occupational risks related to the type of work they perform is not ruled out. The survey employed two strategies: answering in person, or using a form created in Google Forms. Data were provided by the Association of Orthodontists of the University of Antioquia (Asociación de Ortodoncistas de la Universidad de Antioquia: https://ortodoncistasudea.com/who.html).