•Saliva is an eligible matrix for SARS-CoV-2 molecular detection and IgA measurement.•Saliva collection offers several advantages: safe, non-invasive and self-collection.•Positive molecular testing ...results were associated with disease duration.•The presence of salivary IgA was associated with pneumonia and CRP values.
This study aims to verify whether standardized saliva collection is suitable for SARS-CoV-2 molecular detection and IgA measurement.
43 COVID-19 inpatients and 326 screening subjects underwent naso-pharyngeal (NP)-swab and saliva collection (Salivette). Inpatients also underwent repeated blood collections to evaluate inflammation and organs involvement. In all patients and subjects, SARS-CoV-2 (gene E) rRT-PCR was undertaken in saliva and NP-swabs. Salivary IgA and serum IgA, IgG, IgM were measured on inpatients’ samples.
NP-swabs and saliva were both SARS-CoV-2 positive in 7 (16%) or both negative in 35 (82%) out of 43 patients successfully included in the study. NP-swabs and saliva results did not perfectly match in one patient (saliva positive, NP-swab negative). Positive molecular results were significantly associated with disease duration (p = 0.0049). 326/326 screening subjects were SARS-CoV-2 negative on both NP-swabs and saliva. Among the 27 saliva samples tested for IgA, 18 were IgA positive. Salivary IgA positivity was associated with pneumonia (p = 0.002) and CRP values (p = 0.0183), not with other clinical and molecular data, or with serum immunoglubulins.
A standardized saliva collection can be adopted to detect SARS-CoV-2 infection in alternative to NP-swabs. Preliminary data on salivary IgA support the use of saliva also for patient monitoring.
The objective of this paper is to study the morphology, structure, and composition, as well as the thermal-induced morphological, structural, and chemical changes of copper(Cu)/ titanium nitride(TiN) ...bilayers versus Cu single layers, deposited on silicon substrates for microelectronic applications. These characterizations aimed to assess the reliability of Cu metallization for local interconnect and to investigate the barrier capability of TiN against Cu diffusion into the silicon (Si) substrate. Moreover, this paper provides a fundamental study of the temperature-induced interactions between Cu and Si, intermediated by the presence of a thin TiN layer. Cu thin films were sputtered onto Si substrates, with and without the interposition of thin TiN layers, and were successively annealed at temperature as high as 600 °C. Different nitrogen flux percentages in the sputtering mixture (Ar + N 2 ) were used for the deposition of the barriers. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses were carried out in order to study the structural evolution of the layers, before and after the annealing. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observations gave information about the surface and cross section morphology, and spatially resolved energy dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS) profiles provided chemical information about the cross-sectional distribution of the atomic species and their possible interdiffusion. The barrier efficacy has been demonstrated by comparing the morphological and chemical modifications of the annealed Cu layers, with and without the presence of the TiN layer, and their effects on the electrical properties of the Cu films.
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