Team:JNFLS/Human Practices
1.Visiting factory of mask production
After several times of brainstorm, our project was decided to develop masks using bacterial cellulose. So, we visited Shandong Yongfang Sanitary Products Co., Ltd. which is a high-tech enterprise integrating professional production and sales of high technology sanitary products. Its products of sanitary products, including masks and tissue, are well-known throughout the country.
Leading by the head of workshop，before entering the dust-free workshop to visit the production of masks, our team members carried out rigorous dust-proof procedures such as dressing, air shower, dust removal, and disinfection.
When we firstly entered the workshop, we were shocked by the automatic machines. By listening to the explanation of the head, members began to understand the procedure of producing the face masks.
The regular disposable medical masks are made of two layers of non-woven fabrics and one layer of melt-blown fabric, which are stacked together by a fully automatic production machine. The main function of filtration is related to the melt-blown fabric, which component is not biodegradable polypropylene. The bendable metal wire on the upper part of the mask is conveyed along one side of the non-woven fabric, and then undergoes curling and stitching. The lamination structure of the main body of the mask is mechanically set with a small bevel angle and gradually narrowed from left to right, and then the surface of the mask is flattened with a pressing sheet. Finally, after the masks are integrated, they are disinfected and sterilized, and the masks can be sent to all of the world for sale.
Conclusion:
By understanding the production process of masks, we had known thoroughly that:
1.1 The main component of masks is polypropylene which is not biodegradable;
1.2 The principle of sterility is very important for the masks production.
These are the bases for our project. They can better help us design the biodegradable bacterial cellulose masks, which are required to meet the rigorous sterility in the production of masks.
2.Questionnaire
To make our project has solid foundation, we designed and handout a questionnaire regarding the mask. We finally collected 452 valid random results, which are convincing and universal, and can show the attitude of the people around them towards masks. We chose some important and noticeable questions to analyze that common fact of masks in society. The analysis is as follows:
The question means that the frequency of wearing masks
2.43% of people chose the option of not wearing; 26.55% of people chose the option of rarely wearing; 71.02% of folks would like to say that they wore masks frequently.
The question means that the different choices of masks that people would like to wear (multiple choice).
It is clear that people like to wear N95, Medical surgical masks, medical protective masks, ordinary protective masks, cotton masks, activated carbon masks to protect themselves.
The question means that the varying purposes to wear masks (multiple choice).
It is explicit that people wear masks in order to protect themselves from the haze and being infected by virus or not hoping others to be infected.
This question means that what the dissatisfaction of nowadays face masks are.
58.83% of people thought that the mask has poor air permeability; 34.96% of people thought that the masks are hard to degrade.
Conclusion:
The result of questionnaires clearly showed that:
2.1 Most people wear masks frequently, but there are still some people seldom or never wear masks in this virus epidemic time. It’s dangerous not only for themselves, but also for others.
2.2 Most people know the common knowledge of wearing mask, and they can choose the correct mask for their purpose.
2.3 People have some dissatisfaction for nowadays face masks, such as poor air permeability, poor antibacterial ability, poor appearance, etc. So the masks need some improvement.
3.Making a video for appealing the public to wear mask
Since there is still some people seldom or never wear masks in public, we made a video for appealing the public to wear mask. Here it is:
4.Virtual interview the doctor
Since doctors often wear masks, we want to interview and adopt some advices from doctors. We introduced our research project to Xu Hao, the associate chief physician of gynecology and obstetrics department of Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University, and gave an interview about the use of masks among doctors. We chose some meaningful dialogue showed as follows:
We: I know you doctors must wear masks when you work. Could you tell me how many masks do you doctors wear in your hospital everyday?
Mr. Xu:Actually I can’t make sure the exact number, maybe thousands, because there are hundreds of doctors and nurses in our hospital, and one person probably wears several masks every day.
We:Do you know how to deal with these discarded masks? Where did they go?
Mr. Xu:There are some special people who collect the medical waste. I don't know how to deal with them, burning or burying? I'm not sure.
We:What kind of features does the doctor want a mask to have?
Mr. Xu:Take the functions as the main consideration. Besides the filtration, antibacterial property may be another consideration, because it can give us more protection.
We:How wide is the application of bacterial cellulose in hospitals and the influence of this material?
Mr. Xu:There is no significant application of the bacterial cellulose.
We:How to advise people to wear masks?
Mr. Xu:Wearing masks is a health imperative. It is affected by living conditions, living standards and level of knowledge.
We:From the above introduction, what else do you think we should pay attention to in our research project?
Mr. Xu:I think you should consider about medical waste management regulations. Your project is pretty good and breaks out of the routine of a typical concept.
Conclusion:
From the interview, we realized that:
4.1 Doctors would like to consider firstly the functions of masks, such as filtration, or antibacterial property, when they wear masks.
4.2 The application of bacterial cellulose is rare, and Mr. Xu expressed approval to our research project.
5. Random interviews in the street or shops
In addition to the doctors, we also interviewed random passers-by who wears mask in public places. The interview questions were mainly about the innovation of masks. For example, what new features would you like your existing masks to have? Have you ever heard of bacterial cellulose? Would you accept a mask made of bacterial cellulose? And so on.
Then we summarized the results of the questions answered by passers-by as follows:
The first question is that “what feature you want to have with the new kind of face masks?” The statistical result showed that 88.94% of people chose the feature of anti-virus/bacteria which is consistent with doctors; 62.39% of people also chose the feature of recyclable; there is also 55.09% of people regarded the ability of degradable as an important feature; 44.04% of people would have more beautiful mask.
The second question is that “have you ever heard of bacteria cellulose?” We can see from the result that nearly 80% of individuals never heard of bacteria cellulose, indicating that it is really a new material which have a wide potential application. We still need to do some more publicity. So, we did some educations work (please see https://2020.igem.org/Team:JNFLS/Education).
The third question is that “will you accept the bacteria cellulose face masks?” From the result we can see that although most people never heard of the bacterial cellulose, 59.29% interviewer would like to accept the masks made of it; 38.94% of them want consideration; only 1.77% of people can’t accept it.
Conclusion:
5.1 Antivirus or antibacterial ability is also the first consideration for the passers-by interviewers.
5.2 The degradable and good appearance (more beautiful) are important too.
5.3 Most people would like to accept the bacterial cellulose mask.
6. Based the interview with doctor and passers-by, we modified our project
Based on the interview with the doctor and passers-by, we figured out that the antibacterial and good appearance properties are the most important things for the new masks. So we modified our project. When we culture the E. coli for production of bacterial cellulose, the spirooxazine is added to the medium, which make the bacterial cellulose can change color under the light condition. In addition, chitosan is also added to the medium, making the cellulose with antibacterial property (please see https://2020.igem.org/Team:JNFLS/Design)
And then, we did some education work for more publicity.
(please see https://2020.igem.org/Team:JNFLS/Education).