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Brown A, Harkin D, Tanczer LM. Safeguarding the "Internet of Things" for Victim-Survivors of Domestic and Family Violence: Anticipating Exploitative Use and Encouraging Safety-by-Design. Violence Against Women 2024:10778012231222486. [PMID: 38166524 DOI: 10.1177/10778012231222486] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/04/2024]
Abstract
Smart, Internet-connected devices-the so-called "Internet of Things" (IoT)-pose significant threats to victim-survivors of domestic and family violence (DFV). IoT systems have been used to abuse, harass, monitor, intimidate, and gaslight victim-survivors. We present findings from an abusability analysis that examined 13 IoT devices and allowed us to make several observations about common vulnerabilities to victim-survivors of DFV. We argue that IoT manufacturers must be encouraged to factor in the implications of DFV in the design of their products. Additionally, technology-facilitated abuse in DFV contexts must feature in industry and government safety-by-design approaches. Our results suggest ways IoT devices can be modified at low cost to alleviate opportunities for misuse, and we endorse IoT manufacturers to consider those risks early in the design stage.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andi Brown
- School of Social Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Diarmaid Harkin
- Centre for Cyber Resilience and Trust, Deakin University, Waurn Ponds, Australia
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Hemmingsen LM, Panzacchi V, Kangu LM, Giordani B, Luppi B, Škalko-Basnet N. Lecithin and Chitosan as Building Blocks in Anti- Candida Clotrimazole Nanoparticles. Pharmaceuticals (Basel) 2023; 16:790. [PMID: 37375738 DOI: 10.3390/ph16060790] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2023] [Revised: 05/19/2023] [Accepted: 05/23/2023] [Indexed: 06/29/2023] Open
Abstract
The main focus when considering treatment of non-healing and infected wounds is tied to the microbial, particularly bacterial, burden within the wound bed. However, as fungal contributions in these microbial communities become more recognized, the focus needs to be broadened, and the remaining participants in the complex wound microbiome need to be addressed in the development of new treatment strategies. In this study, lecithin/chitosan nanoparticles loaded with clotrimazole were tailored to eradicate one of the most abundant fungi in the wound environment, namely C. albicans. Moreover, this investigation was extended to the building blocks and their organization within the delivery system. In the evaluation of the novel nanoparticles, their compatibility with keratinocytes was confirmed. Furthermore, these biocompatible, biodegradable, and non-toxic carriers comprising clotrimazole (~189 nm, 24 mV) were evaluated for their antifungal activity through both disk diffusion and microdilution methods. It was found that the activity of clotrimazole was fully preserved upon its incorporation into this smart delivery system. These results indicate both that the novel carriers for clotrimazole could serve as a therapeutic alternative in the treatment of fungi-infected wounds and that the building blocks and their organization affect the performance of nanoparticles.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lisa Myrseth Hemmingsen
- Department of Pharmacy, University of Tromsø-The Arctic University of Norway, Universitetsvegen 57, 9037 Tromsø, Norway
| | - Virginia Panzacchi
- Department of Pharmacy, University of Tromsø-The Arctic University of Norway, Universitetsvegen 57, 9037 Tromsø, Norway
- Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology, University of Bologna, Via San Donato 19/2, 40127 Bologna, Italy
| | - Lloyd Mbugua Kangu
- Department of Pharmacy, University of Tromsø-The Arctic University of Norway, Universitetsvegen 57, 9037 Tromsø, Norway
| | - Barbara Giordani
- Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology, University of Bologna, Via San Donato 19/2, 40127 Bologna, Italy
| | - Barbara Luppi
- Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology, University of Bologna, Via San Donato 19/2, 40127 Bologna, Italy
| | - Nataša Škalko-Basnet
- Department of Pharmacy, University of Tromsø-The Arctic University of Norway, Universitetsvegen 57, 9037 Tromsø, Norway
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Trump B, Cummings C, Klasa K, Galaitsi S, Linkov I. Governing biotechnology to provide safety and security and address ethical, legal, and social implications. Front Genet 2023; 13:1052371. [PMID: 36712887 PMCID: PMC9873990 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2022.1052371] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/23/2022] [Accepted: 12/27/2022] [Indexed: 01/13/2023] Open
Abstract
The field of biotechnology has produced a wide variety of materials and products which are rapidly entering the commercial marketplace. While many developments promise revolutionary benefits, some of them pose uncertain or largely untested risks and may spur debate, consternation, and outrage from individuals and groups who may be affected by their development and use. In this paper we show that the success of any advanced genetic development and usage requires that the creators establish technical soundness, ensure safety and security, and transparently represent the product's ethical, legal, and social implications (ELSI). We further identify how failures to address ELSI can manifest as significant roadblocks to product acceptance and adoption and advocate for use of the "safety-by-design" governance philosophy. This approach requires addressing risk and ELSI needs early and often in the technology development process to support innovation while providing security and safety for workers, the public, and the broader environment. This paper identifies and evaluates major ELSI challenges and perspectives to suggest a methodology for implementing safety-by-design in a manner consistent with local institutions and politics. We anticipate the need for safety-by-design approach to grow and permeate biotechnology governance structures as the field expands in scientific and technological complexity, increases in public attention and prominence, and further impacts human health and the environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin Trump
- Engineering Research and Development Center, United States Army Corps of Engineers, Vicksburg, MS, United States
| | - Christopher Cummings
- Engineering Research and Development Center, United States Army Corps of Engineers, Vicksburg, MS, United States,Genetic Engineering and Society, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, United States,Gene Edited Foods Project, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, United States,*Correspondence: Christopher Cummings,
| | - Kasia Klasa
- Department of Healthcare Management and Policy, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI, United States
| | - Stephanie Galaitsi
- Engineering Research and Development Center, United States Army Corps of Engineers, Vicksburg, MS, United States
| | - Igor Linkov
- Engineering Research and Development Center, United States Army Corps of Engineers, Vicksburg, MS, United States,Department of Engineering and Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, United States
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Abstract
The characterization of physical hazards of substances is a key information to manage the risks associated to their use, storage and transport. With decades of work in this area, Ineris develops and implements cutting-edge experimental facilities allowing such characterizations at different scales and under various conditions to study all of the dreaded accident scenarios. This review presents the efforts engaged by Ineris more recently in the field of chemoinformatics to develop and use new predictive methods for the anticipation and management of industrials risks associated to energetic and reactive materials as a complement to experiments. An overview of the methods used for the development of Quantitative Structure-Property Relationships for physical hazards are presented and discussed regarding the specificities associated to this class of properties. A review of models developed at Ineris is also provided from the first tentative models on the explosivity of nitro compounds to the successful application to the flammability of organic mixtures. Then, a discussion is proposed on the use of QSPR models. Good practices for robust use for QSPR models are recalled with specific comments related to physical hazards, notably for regulatory purpose. Dissemination and training efforts engaged by Ineris are also presented. The potential offered by these predictive methods in terms of in silico design and for the development of new intrinsically safer technologies in safety-by-design strategies is finally discussed. At last, challenges and perspectives to extend the application of chemoinformatics in the field of safety and in particular for the physical hazards of energetic and reactive substances are proposed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guillaume Fayet
- Ineris, Accidental Risk Division, Parc Technologique Alata, 60550, Verneuil-en-Halatte, France
| | - Patricia Rotureau
- Ineris, Accidental Risk Division, Parc Technologique Alata, 60550, Verneuil-en-Halatte, France
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Asin-Garcia E, Kallergi A, Landeweerd L, Martins Dos Santos VAP. Genetic Safeguards for Safety-by-design: So Close Yet So Far. Trends Biotechnol 2020; 38:1308-1312. [PMID: 32402415 DOI: 10.1016/j.tibtech.2020.04.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/23/2020] [Revised: 04/01/2020] [Accepted: 04/13/2020] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Abstract
Safety-by-design (SbD) is paramount for risk management in synthetic biology, with genetic safeguards being a key technology for its implementation. While attractive in theory, the integration of genetic safeguards into SbD strategies is rarely exercised in practice, despite technological advances. Here we question why and what might be done about it.
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Affiliation(s)
- Enrique Asin-Garcia
- Laboratory of Systems and Synthetic Biology, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, 6708, WE, The Netherlands
| | - Amalia Kallergi
- Institute for Science in Society, Radboud University, Nijmegen, 6500, GL, The Netherlands
| | - Laurens Landeweerd
- Institute for Science in Society, Radboud University, Nijmegen, 6500, GL, The Netherlands
| | - Vitor A P Martins Dos Santos
- Laboratory of Systems and Synthetic Biology, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, 6708, WE, The Netherlands; LifeGlimmer GmbH, Berlin, Germany.
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Feng Y, Chang Y, Xu K, Zheng R, Wu X, Cheng Y, Zhang H. Safety-by-Design of Metal Oxide Nanoparticles Based on the Regulation of their Energy Edges. Small 2020; 16:e1907643. [PMID: 32187839 DOI: 10.1002/smll.201907643] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/30/2019] [Revised: 02/22/2020] [Accepted: 02/24/2020] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
The safety of metal oxide (MOx) nanoparticles (NPs) has been highly concerned because of their wide application and potential toxicological injury. The safe-by-design strategy is usually developed to make safer MOx NPs based on regulation of their physicochemical properties. In the present study, manganese oxide (Mn3 O4 ) NPs, as a representative of insoluble toxic MOx NPs, are doped with a series of transition metal to regulate their conduction band energy (Ec ) out of biological redox potential range (BRPR) or Fermi energy (Ef ) far away from valence band energy (Ev ), aiming at completely eliminating the toxicity or significantly reducing the toxicity. It is found that all these M-doping cannot move Ec of Mn3 O4 NPs out of the BRPR but zinc (Zn)-, copper (Cu)-, and chromium (Cr)-doping do move Ef far away from Ev , where Zn-doping results in the largest |Ef - Ev | value. Various abiotic, in vitro and in vivo assessments reveal that Zn-, Cu-, and Cr-doped Mn3 O4 NPs can generate lower amount of •OH and trigger weaker injury than Mn3 O4 NPs, where Zn-doped Mn3 O4 NPs show the lowest toxicity. Regulating Ef far away from Ev becomes a feasible safe-by-design approach to achieve safe MOx NPs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yanlin Feng
- Laboratory of Chemical Biology, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, Jilin, 130022, P. R. China
- University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, 230026, P. R. China
| | - Yun Chang
- Laboratory of Chemical Biology, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, Jilin, 130022, P. R. China
| | - Keqiang Xu
- Laboratory of Chemical Biology, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, Jilin, 130022, P. R. China
- University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, 230026, P. R. China
| | - Runxiao Zheng
- Laboratory of Chemical Biology, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, Jilin, 130022, P. R. China
- University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, 230026, P. R. China
| | - Xiaqing Wu
- Laboratory of Chemical Biology, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, Jilin, 130022, P. R. China
- University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, 230026, P. R. China
| | - Yan Cheng
- Laboratory of Chemical Biology, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, Jilin, 130022, P. R. China
| | - Haiyuan Zhang
- Laboratory of Chemical Biology, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, Jilin, 130022, P. R. China
- University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, 230026, P. R. China
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Bianchi MG, Campagnolo L, Allegri M, Ortelli S, Blosi M, Chiu M, Taurino G, Lacconi V, Pietroiusti A, Costa AL, Poland CA, Baird D, Duffin R, Bussolati O, Bergamaschi E. Length-dependent toxicity of TiO 2 nanofibers: mitigation via shortening. Nanotoxicology 2019; 14:433-452. [PMID: 31726913 DOI: 10.1080/17435390.2019.1687775] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Abstract
Length and aspect ratio represent important toxicity determinants of fibrous nanomaterials. We have previously shown that anatase TiO2 nanofibers (TiO2 NF) cause a dose-dependent decrease of cell viability as well as the loss of epithelial barrier integrity in polarized airway cell monolayers. Herein we have investigated the impact of fiber shortening, obtained by ball-milling, on the biological effects of TiO2 NF of industrial origin. Long TiO2 NF (L-TiO2 NF) were more cytotoxic than their shortened counterparts (S-TiO2 NF) toward alveolar A549 cells and bronchial 16HBE cells. Moreover, L-TiO2 NF increased the permeability of 16HBE monolayers and perturbed the distribution of tight-junction proteins, an effect also mitigated by fiber shortening. Raw264.7 macrophages efficiently internalized shortened but not long NF, which caused cell stretching and deformation. Compared with L-TiO2 NF, S-TiO2 NF triggered a more evident macrophage activation, an effect suppressed by the phagocytosis inhibitor cytochalasin B. Conversely, a significant increase of inflammatory markers was detected in either the lungs or the peritoneal cavity of mice exposed to L-TiO2 NF but not to S-TiO2 NF, suggesting that short-term macrophage activation in vitro may not be always a reliable indicator of persistent inflammation in vivo. It is concluded that fiber shortening mitigates NF detrimental effects on cell viability and epithelial barrier competence in vitro as well as inflammation development in vivo. These data suggest that fiber shortening may represent an effective safe-by-design strategy for mitigating TiO2 NF toxic effects.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Luisa Campagnolo
- Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy
| | - Manfredi Allegri
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, Parma, Italy
| | - Simona Ortelli
- ISTEC-CNR, Institute of Science and Technology for Ceramics - National Research Council of Italy, Faenza, Italy
| | - Magda Blosi
- ISTEC-CNR, Institute of Science and Technology for Ceramics - National Research Council of Italy, Faenza, Italy
| | - Martina Chiu
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, Parma, Italy
| | - Giuseppe Taurino
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, Parma, Italy
| | - Valentina Lacconi
- Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy
| | - Antonio Pietroiusti
- Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy
| | - Anna L Costa
- ISTEC-CNR, Institute of Science and Technology for Ceramics - National Research Council of Italy, Faenza, Italy
| | - Craig A Poland
- Centre for Inflammation Research, Queen's Medical Research Institute, the University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Daniel Baird
- Centre for Inflammation Research, Queen's Medical Research Institute, the University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Rodger Duffin
- Centre for Inflammation Research, Queen's Medical Research Institute, the University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Ovidio Bussolati
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, Parma, Italy
| | - Enrico Bergamaschi
- Department of Public Health Science and Pediatrics, University of Turin, Turin
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