Polylactic acid face masks: Are these the sustainable solutions in times of COVID-19 pandemic?

Soo, Xiang Yun Debbie; Wang, Suxi; Yeo, Chee Chuan; Li, Jiuwei; Ni, Xi; Jiang, Lu; Ke-min, Xue; Liu, Yupeng; Fei, Xunchang; Zhu, Qiang; Loh, Xian Jun

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.151084

Cited by 45 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…Injectable hydrogels are appealing for cancer treatment and precision medicine since they can be employed as implantable carriers for on-site delivery of therapeutics (e. g., drugs, genes, antibody) in a minimal invasive manner to reduce the risk of adverse effects by ensuring long-term release at target sites. [27][28][29][30][31] Since chemically cross-linked hydrogel suffer from unsatisfactory biocompatibility, biodegradability and long gelation periods, [32] the majority of research in this field has been focused on developing dynamically cross-linked hydrogels that display fluid behavior when subjected to shear stress and rapidly recover when the tension is removed. The host-guest interaction has been shown to greatly expedite healing compared to other physical crosslinkings, due to the high affinities between the two complimentary parts.…”

Section: On-site Drug Deliverymentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent Advances in Host‐Guest Supramolecular Hydrogels for Biomedical Applications

Wang

Ong

Liu

et al. 2022

Chemistry An Asian Journal

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The recognition-directed host-guest interaction is recognized as a valuable tool for creating supramolecular polymers. Functional hydrogels constructed through the dynamic and reversible host-guest complexation are endowed with a great many appealing features, such as superior self-healing, injectability, flexibility, stimuli-responsiveness and biocompatibility, which are crucial for biological and medicinal applications. With numerous topological structures and host-guest combinations established previously, recent breakthroughs in this area mostly focus on further improvement and fine-tuning of various properties for practical utilizations. The current contribution provides a comprehensive overview of the latest developments in hostguest supramolecular hydrogels, with a particular emphasis on the innovative molecular-level design strategies and hydrogel formation methodologies targeting at a wide range of active biomedical domains, including drug delivery, 3D printing, wound healing, tissue engineering, artificial actuators, biosensors, etc. Furthermore, a brief conclusion and discussion on the steps forward to bring these smart hydrogels to clinical practice is also presented.

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Section: On-site Drug Deliverymentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent Advances in Host‐Guest Supramolecular Hydrogels for Biomedical Applications

Wang

Ong

Liu

et al. 2022

Chemistry An Asian Journal

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“…It is estimated that approximately 3.4 billion disposable face masks are discarded globally every day, which cause complex environmental problems (Aragaw 2020 ; Benson et al 2021 ). Moreover, there is also growing interest in novel environmental friendly face masks, such as polylactic acid (PLA) biodegradable masks (Soo et al 2022 ). With the advantage of faster degradation rate, biodegradable fibers are also more likely to release additives.…”

Section: Release Of Additives From (Micro)plastic Fibersmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Overview of Chemical Additives on (Micro)Plastic Fibers: Occurrence, Release, and Health Risks

Chen

Zhang

et al. 2022

Reviews Env.Contamination (formerly:Residue Reviews)

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Plastic fibers are ubiquitous in daily life with additives incorporated to improve their performance. Only a few restrictions exist for a paucity of common additives, while most of the additives used in textile industry have not been clearly regulated with threshold limits. The production of synthetic fibers, which can shed fibrous microplastics easily (< 5 mm) through mechanical abrasion and weathering, is increasing annually. These fibrous microplastics have become the main composition of microplastics in the environment. This review focuses on additives on synthetic fibers; we summarized the detection methods of additives, compared concentrations of different additive types (plasticizers, flame retardants, antioxidants, and surfactants) on (micro)plastic fibers, and analyzed their release and exposure pathways to environment and human beings. Our prediction shows that the amounts of predominant additives (phthalates, organophosphate esters, bisphenols, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, and nonylphenol ethoxylates) released from clothing microplastic fibers (MFs) are estimated to reach 35, 10, 553, 0.4, and 568 ton/year to water worldwide, respectively; and 119, 35, 1911, 1.4, and 1965 ton/year to air, respectively. Human exposure to MF additives via inhalation is estimated to be up to 4.5–6440 µg/person annually for the above five additives, and via ingestion 0.1–204 µg/person. Notably, the release of additives from face masks is nonnegligible that annual human exposure to phthalates, organophosphate esters, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances from masks via inhalation is approximately 491–1820 µg/person. This review helps understand the environmental fate and potential risks of released additives from (micro)plastic fibers, with a view to providing a basis for future research and policy designation of textile additives. Graphical Abstract

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“…Donning of personal protective equipment such as surgical masks and N95 were also encouraged in increased risks areas such as hospitals and patient care facilities to contain the virus [ 11 , 12 ]. The pandemic has thrown up a lot of fresh research in different areas from the understanding of how masks serve to protect us and our surrounding people from viruses, to how sanitizing agents can help in preventing transmission through the fomite route, to the study of how aerosols facilitate the spread of the virus, to the design of a smart mask that can observe a patient's health conditions during infection [ [13] , [14] , [15] , [16] , [17] , [18] , [19] , [20] , [21] , [22] ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater: From detection to evaluation

Zhang

Duran

Lim

et al. 2022

Materials Today Advances

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SARS-CoV-2 presence in wastewater has been reported in several studies and has received widespread attention among the Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) community. Such studies can potentially be used as a proxy for early warning of potential COVID-19 outbreak, or as a mitigation measure for potential virus transmission via contaminated water. In this review, we summarized the latest understanding on the detection, concentration, and evaluation of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater. Importantly, we discuss factors affecting the quality of wastewater surveillance ranging from temperature, pH, starting concentration, as well as the presence of chemical pollutants. These factors greatly affect the reliability and comparability of studies reported by various communities across the world. Overall, this review provides a broadly encompassing guidance for epidemiological study using wastewater surveillance.

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Polylactic acid face masks: Are these the sustainable solutions in times of COVID-19 pandemic?

Cited by 45 publications

References 51 publications

Recent Advances in Host‐Guest Supramolecular Hydrogels for Biomedical Applications

Recent Advances in Host‐Guest Supramolecular Hydrogels for Biomedical Applications

An Overview of Chemical Additives on (Micro)Plastic Fibers: Occurrence, Release, and Health Risks

SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater: From detection to evaluation

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