Electromagnetic Field as Agent Moving Bioactive Cations. A New Antimicrobial System in Architecture Technology

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

In the present review titled “Electromagnetic field as agent moving bioactive cations. A new antimicrobial system in architecture technology” the authors present the information of a new method to inhibit fungal deterioration from the architectural buildings, namely GALVI technology, published earlier by the authors.

Firstly, the authors reported on the review papers that presented the possible deterioration of the buildings, and then data from their research.

In general, the data are strong and convincingly shows that the galvanic systems could be used in diverse areas, including in the construction of new buildings, in the paint industry, etc.

The authors need to address the below comments to strengthen quality of the manuscript:

1. The Abstract is poorly presenting the information and should be rewritten: e.g. start with the need to develop the GALVI technology, add a full name before abbreviation of the words in the text (e.g. SNA medium), do not include superscripts in the Abstract (grandiorite1, melabasanite2, sandstone3, marl4).
2. In my opinion, you could include a table with data from other studies that present the most frequent strains of fungi identified in diverse architectural buildings, with references, published that focus on the diverse climate of the Terra.
3. The phrase from the part: “GALVI technology

Rapid development of drug resistance in pathogenic fungi forced us to develop a new antifungal technology Fisher et al. 2018).” is not clear. Please rewrite.

4. All the Figures should include a reference, and could have a label as a, b, and not left, right, to be easier to identify.
5. In Figure 3 is written "Moreover, in such environment Cu electrodes work more effectively than those made of Zn! (Fig. 4). Q`1". Please correct.
6. Please correct the phrase: "Especially high concentration NaCl can provoke formation of complex Zn-Cl (ZnCl, ZnCl2, ZnCl3, ZnCl4) species with increased toxicity."
7. More comments and discussion should be added in the text: E.g. 1: “The huge number of publications concerning fungal deterioration are still on the rise.'” E.g. 2 ”The statement: “Nielsen (2002) noted 746 such publications in his own reference list. There are only some important articles: Braams…” E.g. 3 “The next method - system RNA interference or exogenous application of synthetic RNA are in preparation (Fisher et al. 2018).”
8. In the text appears: “The last system has stronger antibacterial activity than the first one (Fig. 2.). Unfortunately, this system is much more expensive.” Please add an approximation of the cost of the systems., if it is possible.
9. Please use the journals template and the rules to edit the references, and check the spelling.

 

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

I am working in wild mountain forest in the Carpathians with limited internet possibility. I try to use your suggestions.

Andrzej Chlebicki

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

Dear Authors,

the review "applsci-1332970" is very well structured and deserve to be considered for publication in the special issue. Please consider my comments as constructive to improve the quality of your review. 

Comments:

Please use in the whole review the impersonal form, avoiding  the use of "we suggest", "we recently started" "forced us" and other similar sentences

Please use the format of mdpi to write your paper and relative citation system (square brackets)

Title

The title well focuses the reviewed topics

Abstract

Please consider to insert an introductory statement

Keywords

add Galvic system

Introduction

- Second paragraph: please add some examples for less used rock types

- Avoid in the third page the list of mineral resources leaving only some references

- Add some examples for black yeasts and their relatives (middle third page)

- Last paragraph of third page: how to consider only some articles important?? Please specify

• Please consider to add a paragraph to introduce the mechanisms involved in biofilm formation both on natural and artificial substrates. You can take a cue from (De Leo, F., Marchetta, A., Capillo, G., Germanà, A., Primerano, P., Schiavo, S.L., Urzì, C. Surface active ionic liquids based coatings as subaerial anti‐biofilms for stone built cultural heritage (2021) Coatings, 11 (1), art. no. 26, pp. 1-22.) and (Savoca, S., Lo Giudice, A., Papale, M., Mangano, S., Caruso, C., Spanò, N., Michaud, L., Rizzo, C. Antarctic sponges from the Terra Nova Bay (Ross Sea) host a diversified bacterial community (2019) Scientific Reports, 9 (1), art. no. 16135).

All the best

The Reviewer

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

I try to use your suggestione. But time for it was very short.

Andrzej Chlebicki

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

The revised version of the manuscript could be accepted after the authors make small corrections, especially grammarly. This version is suitable to be published in Applied Sciences.

Table I. and II. Replace "Kind of substratum" by "Substratum".

In Table II. write the name of fungi in italic.