We are delighted to announce that the new open access journal FUNCTION has published its first articles, with an inaugural editorial by Editor-in-Chief Ole Petersen and a review led by Cardiff University’s Professor Val O’Donnell on a possible means of reducing Covid-19 transmission through the use of oral mouthwash.
In his inaugural editorial, Professor Petersen has announced that the American Physiological Society’s new peer-reviewed open access journal FUNCTION, published in partnership with Oxford University Press, is now operational and ready to receive submissions. The first to be published is a review into the potential of oral mouthwash to reduce Covid-19 transmission in the early stages of infection. The review has been conducted by researchers from Cardiff University’s School of Medicine led by Professor Val O’Donnell, along with the universities of Nottingham, Colorado, Ottawa, Barcelona and Cambridge’s Babraham Institute, and included virologists, lipid specialists, microbicide and healthcare experts.
The review shows previous studies where chemicals commonly found in mouthwashes, such as low amounts of ethanol, povidone-iodine and cetylpyridinium damage the lipid membranes of several enveloped viruses. More research is needed to show whether this could also be effective in reducing SARS-CoV-2 transmission in the early stages of infection.
Professor Valerie O’Donnell is co-director of the Systems Immunity Research Institute, School of Medicine at Cardiff University. Her research has led to the discovery and characterisation of many inflammatory bioactive lipids. She has recently been elected as a Fellow of The Academy of Medical Sciences.
In his inaugural editorial, Professor Petersen refers to several innovative features of the journal, including one drawn from the inspiration he has drawn from his work with SAPEA:
“In my current work for the EU Commission’s Scientific Advice Mechanism, I have overseen the generation of several expert evidence review reports by Science Advice for Policy by European Academies. The evidence review reports summarize the published evidence in a particular area of concern and assess the relative reliability of the key findings, but do not express opinions. These reports are then used as the basis for a report called “scientific opinion,” which is produced by a separate group of chief scientific advisors to the EU Commission. It occurred to me that such a clear separation of fact and opinion could also be helpful in scientific publications. FUNCTION will therefore introduce a new type of Evidence Review, in which there will be no references to other review articles but only to the original literature.”
About FUNCTION
FUNCTION seeks papers that contribute to defining the mechanistic basis of living systems in health and disease. FUNCTION aims to be a highly selective journal, publishing major advances that extend physiological understanding of biological function and the changes associated with disease states.
FUNCTION provides a high calibre and broad spectrum open-access platform for researchers to publish their major advances in basic, translational, and clinical sciences.
20th May 2020. For further information please contact AECardiffHub@cardiff.ac.uk
