These results demonstrate that exposure to ZnO-NPs can impair innate immune responses and attenuate macrophage responses to bacterial infection.

Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pneumoniae, and Haemophilus influenzae are the common pathogens that colonize in the nasopharynx of children. Polymicrobial interactions are thought to play an important role in different sites throughout the human body. However, there are currently very few studies that investigate the interactions between S. aureus, S. pneumoniae, and H. influenzae in the nasopharynx. We retrospectively analyzed the adenoid tissue culture from 269 children who received adenoidectomy. S. aureus, S. pneumoniae, and H. influenzae constituted the major microorganisms which were cultured from these adenoidectomies, at 23.4%, 21.6%, and 18.2%, respectively. S. pneumoniae and H. influenzae were the most prevalent in the preschool-aged children (3 < age ≤ 6), whereas S. aureus was more prevalent in infants and toddlers (age ≤ 3) and school-aged children (age > 6). Bacterial interference was found between S. aureus and S. pneumoniae and between S. aureus and H. influenzae, whereas there was an association found between S. pneumoniae and H. influenzae. The synergism and antagonism among these three species are investigated in the following paper, with the possible mechanisms involved in these interactions also discussed.

In this study, we report the fabrication and characterization of a novel nanohetero junction structure (NHJ) UV photodetectors (PDs) on flexible polyethylene terephthalate (PET). The ZnO nanowires (NWs) were grown by 2-step hydrothermal growth (HTG) onto p-type nickel oxide (p-NiO) film deposited PET flexible substrate. For enhancing the quality and reliability of the fabricated UV PDs, the PET substrate was treated with a beforehand thermosetting process to refine its toughness and flatness. By switching the illumination UV light “on” and “off”, the fabricated UV PDs biased under-5 V have an on-off current ratio of 16. After over 100 times 90obend, the transient measurement almost has the same reversibility but on-off current ratio reducing to 10. These results suggest that the proposed n-ZnO-NWs/p-NiO NHJs on PET flexible PET substrate not only have a fairly good response to UV light but also have good endurance within suitable bend. The present optoelectronic UV sensor would provide an effective and simple way for future developments of flexible optoelectronic devices.