scholarly journals 3D Printed frames to enable reuse and improve the fit of N95 and KN95 respirators

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Malia McAvoy ◽  
Ai-Tram N. Bui ◽  
Christopher Hansen ◽  
Deborah Plana ◽  
Jordan T. Said ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Settings ◽  
Iterative Design ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative ◽  
Healthcare Settings ◽  
Fit Testing ◽  
Test Population ◽  
3D Printed ◽  
Single Use ◽  
Useful Life ◽  
Testing Criteria

Abstract Background In response to supply shortages caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, N95 filtering facepiece respirators (FFRs or “masks”), which are typically single-use devices in healthcare settings, are routinely being used for prolonged periods and in some cases decontaminated under “reuse” and “extended use” policies. However, the reusability of N95 masks is limited by degradation of fit. Possible substitutes, such as KN95 masks meeting Chinese standards, frequently fail fit testing even when new. The purpose of this study was to develop an inexpensive frame for damaged and poorly fitting masks using readily available materials and 3D printing. Results An iterative design process yielded a mask frame consisting of two 3D printed side pieces, malleable wire links that users press against their face, and cut lengths of elastic material that go around the head to hold the frame and mask in place. Volunteers (n = 45; average BMI = 25.4), underwent qualitative fit testing with and without mask frames wearing one or more of four different brands of FFRs conforming to US N95 or Chinese KN95 standards. Masks passed qualitative fit testing in the absence of a frame at rates varying from 48 to 94 % (depending on mask model). For individuals who underwent testing using respirators with broken or defective straps, 80–100 % (average 85 %) passed fit testing with mask frames. Among individuals who failed fit testing with a KN95, ~ 50 % passed testing by using a frame. Conclusions Our study suggests that mask frames can prolong the lifespan of N95 and KN95 masks by serving as a substitute for broken or defective bands without adversely affecting fit. Use of frames made it possible for ~ 73 % of the test population to achieve a good fit based on qualitative and quantitative testing criteria, approaching the 85–90 % success rate observed for intact N95 masks. Frames therefore represent a simple and inexpensive way of expanding access to PPE and extending their useful life. For clinicians and institutions interested in mask frames, designs and specifications are provided without restriction for use or modification. To ensure adequate performance in clinical settings, fit testing with user-specific masks and PanFab frames is required.

scholarly journals 3D Printed frames to enable reuse and improve the fit of N95 and KN95 respirators

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malia McAvoy ◽  
Ai-Tram N. Bui ◽  
Christopher Hansen ◽  
Deborah Plana ◽  
Jordan T. Said ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
3D Printing ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Clinical Settings ◽  
Short Supply ◽  
Iterative Design ◽  
Healthcare Settings ◽  
Fit Testing ◽  
3D Printed ◽  
Single Use ◽  
Repeated Use

Background: In response to supply shortages during the COVID-19 pandemic, N95 filtering facepiece respirators (FFRs or "masks"), which are typically single-use devices in healthcare settings, are routinely being used for prolonged periods and in some cases decontaminated under "reuse" and "extended use" policies. However, the reusability of N95 masks is often limited by degradation or breakage of elastic head bands and issues with mask fit after repeated use. The purpose of this study was to develop a frame for N95 masks, using readily available materials and 3D printing, which could replace defective or broken bands and improve fit. Results: An iterative design process yielded a mask frame consisting of two 3D-printed side pieces, malleable wire links that users press against their face, and cut lengths of elastic material that go around the head to hold the frame and mask in place. Volunteers (n= 41; average BMI= 25.5), of whom 31 were women, underwent qualitative fit with and without mask frames and one or more of four different brands of FFRs conforming to US N95 or Chinese KN95 standards. Masks passed qualitative fit testing in the absence of a frame at rates varying from 48-92% (depending on mask model and tester). For individuals for whom a mask passed testing, 75-100% (average = 86%) also passed testing with a frame holding the mask in place. Among users for whom a mask failed in initial fit testing, 41% passed using a frame. Success varied with mask model and across individuals. Conclusions: The use of mask frames can prolong the lifespan of N95 and KN95 masks by serving as a substitute for broken or defective bands without adversely affecting fit. Frames also have the potential to improve fit for some individuals who cannot fit existing masks. Frames therefore represent a simple and inexpensive way of extending the life and utility of PPE in short supply. For clinicians and institutions interested in mask frames, designs and specifications are provided without restriction for use or modification. To ensure adequate performance in clinical settings, qualitative fit testing with user-specific masks and frames is required.

scholarly journals Injection Molded Autoclavable, Scalable, Conformable (iMASC) system for aerosol-based protection

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
James D. Byrne ◽  
Adam J. Wentworth ◽  
Peter R. Chai ◽  
Hen-Wei Huang ◽  
Sahab Babaee ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Healthcare Workers ◽  
Face Mask ◽  
Element Analysis ◽  
Healthcare Settings ◽  
Liquid Silicone Rubber ◽  
Fit Testing ◽  
Liquid Silicone ◽  
Reaction Forces ◽  
Single Use ◽  
Injection Molded

AbstractThere is a dire need for personal protective equipment (PPE) within healthcare settings during the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, single use disposable N95 face masks have been limited in supply. We have developed an Injection Molded Autoclavable, Scalable, Conformable (iMASC) system for aerosol-based protection. The iMASC system was designed as a reusable liquid silicone rubber mask with disposable N95 filter cartridges that can fit most face sizes and shapes. This system reduced the amount of N95 filter while preserving breathability and fit. Using finite element analysis, we demonstrated mask deformation and reaction forces from facial scans of twenty different wearers. In addition, we validated these findings by successful fit testing in twenty participants in a prospective clinical trial. The iMASC system has the potential to protect our healthcare workers with a reusable N95-comparable face mask that is rapidly scalable.

scholarly journals Flat-pack, rapid production powered air purifying respirators for Low-Resource Settings amid the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio De Grazia ◽  
Laura Diment ◽  
Constantinos Regas ◽  
Sebastian Rosini ◽  
Diana Garay Baquero ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Healthcare Workers ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Positive Pressure ◽  
Low Resource Settings ◽  
Low Resource ◽  
Airborne Infection ◽  
Healthcare Settings ◽  
Fit Testing ◽  
The Face ◽  
Single Use

Healthcare workers are at high risk of catching SARS-CoV-2 because of their regular interaction with patients with the disease. In low-resource settings, the ratio of healthcare workers to the whole population is lower than in high income countries, and there is often limited access to personal protective equipment (PPE). Illness or death of healthcare workers will, therefore, have a disproportionate impact in these settings, so it is particularly important to find ways to protect them.To protect against airborne infection in healthcare settings, PPE recommendations typically include filtering facemask respirators or powered air purifying respirators (PAPR). The former, passively filter inhaled air. They are small, noiseless and do not require a power supply, but they are single-use, presenting manufacturing and supply issues. Fit testing is crucial, and many users find them difficult to tolerate, due to breathing resistance and elevated humidity. There is also the potential for contamination due to the exposed face. PAPRs are re-usable devices that may last for months and provide airflow through a filter from a battery-powered blower unit to a hood or helmet which covers the face. This creates a positive pressure in the hood or helmet that enables the wearer to breathe filtered air easily, without requiring an air-tight fit needed for standard face masks. This is reported to be more comfortable and provides better protection for the face from droplets and splashes, and infection by self-contact with the hands. PAPRs have typically been expensive, bulky and not readily available or easy to ship to low-resource settings.Although the design presented here has not been through any form of regulatory approval, the aim of this paper is to share ideas and offer possible solutions to other groups around the World who may be thinking of manufacturing a low-cost, reusable PAPR. The design is novel because it uses readily available materials, scalable manufacturing processes, and it may be shipped flat-packed and easily assembled. This offers an option for manufacturing in low-resource settings and for shipping in bulk. This paper provides the CAD designs that can be fabricated using a laser cutter.

scholarly journals 3D Printing 18F Radioactive Phantoms for PET Imaging

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Gillett ◽  
Daniel Marsden ◽  
Safia Ballout ◽  
Bala Attili ◽  
Nick Bird ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Double Helix ◽  
Human Anatomy ◽  
Radioactive Material ◽  
Ct Scanner ◽  
Pet Ct ◽  
Radioactive Concentration ◽  
3D Printed ◽  
Single Use ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Cylinders And Spheres

Abstract Purpose: Phantoms are routinely used in molecular imaging to assess scanner performance. However, traditional phantoms with fillable shapes do not replicate human anatomy. 3D printed phantoms have overcome this by creating phantoms which replicate human anatomy which can be filled with radioactive material. The problem with these is that small objects suffer from boundary effects and therefore boundary-free objects are desirable. The purpose of this study was to explore the feasibility of creating resin-based 3D printed phantoms using 18 F-FDG. Methods: Radioactive resin was created using an emulsion of printer resin and 18 F-FDG. A series of test objects were printed including twenty identical cylinders, ten spheres with increasing diameters (2 mm to 20 mm) and a double helix. Radioactive concentration uniformity, printing accuracy and the amount of leaching were assessed. Results: Creating radioactive resin was simple and effective. The radioactivity remained bound to the resin for the duration that it was radioactive. The radioactive concentration was uniform among identical objects; the CoV of the mean, max and total signal were 3.6%, 3.8% and 2.6%, respectively. The printed cylinders and spheres were found to be within 4% of the model dimensions. A double helix was successfully printed as a test for the printer and appeared as expected on the PET scanner. The amount of radioactivity leached into the water was measurable (0.72%) but not visible above background on the imaging. Conclusions: Creating an 18F-FDG radioactive resin emulsion is a simple and effective way to create boundary-free, accurate, complex 3D phantoms that can be imaged using a PET/CT scanner. This technique could be used to print clinically realistic phantoms, however, they are single use, and cannot be made hollow without an exit hole. Also, there is a small amount of leaching of the radioactivity to take into consideration.

scholarly journals Nanopore sequencing provides rapid and reliable insight into microbial profiles of Intensive Care Units

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guilherme Marcelino Viana de Siqueira ◽  
Felipe Marcelo Pereira-dos-Santos ◽  
Rafael Silva-Rocha ◽  
Maria-Eugenia Guazzaroni
Keyword(s):  
Intensive Care ◽  
Intensive Care Units ◽  
Nanopore Sequencing ◽  
Accurate Identification ◽  
Complex Samples ◽  
Healthcare Settings ◽  
Long Read ◽  
Single Use ◽  
Sequencing Platforms ◽  
Insight Into

Fast and accurate identification of pathogens is an essential task in healthcare settings. Next generation sequencing platforms such as Illumina have greatly expanded the capacity with which different organisms can be detected in hospital samples, and third-generation nanopore-driven sequencing devices such as Oxford Nanopore's minION have recently emerged as ideal sequencing platforms for routine healthcare surveillance due to their long-read capacity and high portability. Despite its great potential, protocols and analysis pipelines for nanopore sequencing are still being extensively validated. In this work, we assess the ability of nanopore sequencing to provide reliable community profiles based on 16S rRNA sequencing in comparison to traditional Illumina platforms using samples collected from Intensive Care Units from a hospital in Brazil. While our results point that lower throughputs may be a shortcoming of the method in more complex samples, we show that the use of single-use Flongle flowcells in nanopore sequencing runs can provide insightful information on the community composition in healthcare settings.

scholarly journals Management of Instrument Sterilization Workflow in Endodontics: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mario Dioguardi ◽  
Diego Sovereto ◽  
Gaetano Illuzzi ◽  
Enrica Laneve ◽  
Bruna Raddato ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative Analysis ◽  
Pulp Chamber ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative ◽  
Operating Field ◽  
Gutta Percha ◽  
Single Use ◽  
Dental Burs

Endodontic treatment consists of different working procedures, such as the isolation of the operating field, pulp chamber access, and cleaning and shaping phases with at last the need of a three-dimensional filling of the canals. Each step requires a series of single-use or sterilizable instruments. We have performed a systematic review of different sterilization and disinfection procedures aiming at drawing up a disinfection and sterilization procedure to be used on endodontic instruments. A search on PubMed and Scopus was carried out using the following keywords: “endodontic sterilization,” “endodontic autoclave,” “decontamination dental bur,” “sterilization dental burs,” and “gutta-percha points sterilization.” Eligible articles were included in the qualitative and quantitative analysis. Results of the meta-analysis showed that the most effective method in sterilization is autoclaving. The qualitative analysis showed that the use of single-use or first-use instruments requires presterilization or sterilization procedures, and for reusable tools, attention must be paid to the removal of debris deposited on the blades, not easy to remove manually.

scholarly journals Evaluating the Psychosocial Impact of Indoor Public Spaces in Complex Healthcare Settings

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 11-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giuseppe Lacanna ◽  
Cor Wagenaar ◽  
Tom Avermaete ◽  
Viren Swami
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Space Environment ◽  
Factual Knowledge ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative ◽  
Healthcare Settings ◽  
A Value ◽  
Quantitative Analyses ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Impact

Objective: This article describes an approach to a metrics-based evaluation of public space in hospitals using cross-disciplinary qualitative and quantitative analyses. The method, Indoor Public Space Measurement (IPSM), is well suited to researchers and designers who intend to evaluate user-centered spatial solutions in hospitals and similar facilities. Background: Healthcare is transiting toward a value-based policy at all levels. Choosing the right set of qualitative and quantitative analyses to support value-based design solutions is not always an easy journey for healthcare design consultants. This article seeks to pull together the key analyses to evaluate the impact of the hospital indoor public space on the psychosocial well-being of the hospital users. Method: A step-by step guide to performing key analyses to evaluate the impact of hospital indoor public space environment on the users’ psychosocial well-being is provided. A case study from the authors’ research is utilized to illustrate the application of the method. Results: Interpolating the results of all the analyses, the reader can identify where in the layout most of interactions among users occur, identify their typology and evaluate the contribution to the general psychosocial well-being, and know which group of users is more exposed to a specific typology of interaction. Conclusions: The IPSM method can help design consultants to measure the impact of the built environment of hospital public space on its occupants’ psychosocial well-being: factual knowledge about the users’ behavioral response with respect to wayfinding and social interaction. The application of the method is not limited to healthcare settings only.

scholarly journals A Tomograph Prototype for Quantitative Microwave Imaging: Preliminary Experimental Results

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (12) ◽  
pp. 139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandro Fedeli ◽  
Manuela Maffongelli ◽  
Ricardo Monleone ◽  
Claudio Pagnamenta ◽  
Matteo Pastorino ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Microwave Imaging ◽  
Experimental Results ◽  
Network Analyzer ◽  
Reconstruction Algorithms ◽  
Quantitative Reconstruction ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative ◽  
Switching Matrix ◽  
3D Printed ◽  
Transmission Measurements

A new prototype of a tomographic system for microwave imaging is presented in this paper. The target being tested is surrounded by an ad-hoc 3D-printed structure, which supports sixteen custom antenna elements. The transmission measurements between each pair of antennas are acquired through a vector network analyzer connected to a modular switching matrix. The collected data are inverted by a hybrid nonlinear procedure combining qualitative and quantitative reconstruction algorithms. Preliminary experimental results, showing the capabilities of the developed system, are reported.

scholarly journals 3D Printing to Support the Shortage in Personal Protective Equipment Caused by COVID-19 Pandemic

Materials ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 3339 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mostapha Tarfaoui ◽  
Mourad Nachtane ◽  
Ibrahim Goda ◽  
Yumna Qureshi ◽  
Hamza Benyahia
Keyword(s):  
3D Printing ◽  
Medical Devices ◽  
Personal Protective Equipment ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
Protective Equipment ◽  
Global Public Health ◽  
Comprehensive Overview ◽  
3D Printed ◽  
Single Use ◽  
Tract Infections

Currently, the emergence of a novel human coronavirus disease, named COVID-19, has become a great global public health concern causing severe respiratory tract infections in humans. Yet, there is no specific vaccine or treatment for this COVID-19 where anti-disease measures rely on preventing or slowing the transmission of infection from one person to another. In particularly, there is a growing effort to prevent or reduce transmission to frontline healthcare professionals. However, it is becoming an increasingly international concern respecting the shortage in the supply chain of critical single-use personal protective equipment (PPE). To that scope, we aim in the present work to provide a comprehensive overview of the latest 3D printing efforts against COVID-19, including professional additive manufacturing (AM) providers, makers and designers in the 3D printing community. Through this review paper, the response to several questions and inquiries regarding the following issues are addressed: technical factors connected with AM processes; recommendations for testing and characterizing medical devices that additively manufactured; AM materials that can be used for medical devices; biological concerns of final 3D printed medical parts, comprising biocompatibility, cleaning and sterility; and limitations of AM technology.

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