A laboratory-based study examining the properties of silk fabric to evaluate its potential as a protective barrier for personal protective equipment and as a functional material for face coverings during the COVID-19 pandemic
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Abstract
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SciScore for 10.1101/2020.06.25.20136424: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Institutional Review Board Statement not detected. Randomization not detected. Blinding not detected. Power Analysis not detected. Sex as a biological variable not detected. Table 2: Resources
No key resources detected.
Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).
Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:A limitation of respirators and masks, but especially face coverings, is that normal breathing can be hampered when worn, and this difficulty increases with thickness. Prolonged use also exposes individuals to added risks, as …
SciScore for 10.1101/2020.06.25.20136424: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Institutional Review Board Statement not detected. Randomization not detected. Blinding not detected. Power Analysis not detected. Sex as a biological variable not detected. Table 2: Resources
No key resources detected.
Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).
Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:A limitation of respirators and masks, but especially face coverings, is that normal breathing can be hampered when worn, and this difficulty increases with thickness. Prolonged use also exposes individuals to added risks, as they increase the local humidity around the area upon which it is worn (>90% relative humidity) [35], thereby creating a potential pathway for the virus to travel due to the trapped moisture near the face that inadvertently increases wetness [5,36]. Increased humidity underneath these items, exacerbated when worn in hot and humid environments, significantly decreases their wearability because of higher friction and skin moisture [37]. This creates discomfort and can result in an individual unintentionally touching their face. Our results suggest that this limitation and its accompanying risks can be mitigated by silk, at least when it is used in the fabrication of face coverings. Currently, public health recommendations focus on cotton material for face coverings [14]. We found that cotton materials are hydrophilic, and readily allow droplets to rapidly penetrate and saturate the fabric like a sponge. Therefore, face coverings made out of these materials may quickly become reservoirs of virus and act as conduits for viral transmission when worn, even after a short time [5,6]. Face coverings made out of polyester face these same limitations, as it is hydrophilic like cotton. Therefore, cloth and polyester face coverings appear to be more suitable for brie...
Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.
Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.
Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.
Results from rtransparent:- Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
- Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
- No protocol registration statement was detected.
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