Long-Term Effects of Postoperative Delirium in Patients Undergoing Cardiac Operation: A Systematic Review.

Delirium is an acute syndrome that involves fluctuating changes in attention and cognition. Although delirium is the most common neurologic complication after cardiac operation, data about its impact on long-term outcomes are lacking. The purpose of this systematic review was to examine the effect of postoperative delirium (PoD) on long-term outcomes, including morbidity, probability of death, cognitive decline, institutionalization, and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in patients undergoing cardiac operation.

Frailty and perioperative outcomes: a narrative review.

Background: Frailty has no single universally accepted definition or method for assessment. It is commonly defined from a physiological perspective as a disruption of homeostatic mechanisms ultimately leading to a vulnerable state. Numerous scoring indices and assessments exist to assist clinicians in determining the frailty status of a patient.

The impact of frailty on outcomes after cardiac surgery: a systematic review.

Objective: Current preoperative assessments for cardiac surgery, such as the European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation II and the Society of Thoracic Surgeons risk score, are limited in their ability to predict postoperative outcomes. This is thought to be due to the reliance on chronological age as a predictor of health. In geriatrics, frailty assessments have been developed as a tool in determining physiologic functioning capacity.

The use of an automated assay to assess phage survival after a biocidal treatment.

The coliphage K1-5 has been used in an automated assay to monitor the viricidal activity of various disinfectants. This indirect assay based on the spectrophotometric reading of the lysis of the host cell (Escherichia coli D837) produced encouraging results and was faster than the overlay counting method (previously studied) which relies on plaque formation. However, differences in sensitivity towards some disinfectants were observed between the two methods.

Damage to Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 bacteriophage F116 DNA by biocides.

The mechanism of action of biocides against viruses has not been widely studied, although two main targets are viral proteins (capsids, enzymes) and the viral genome. This study was undertaken in order to investigate the efficacy of several disinfectants against the nucleic acid of the Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO bacteriophage F116. Of all the biocides tested, only peracetic acid affected significantly the phage genome.

Electronmicroscopic investigation of the effects of biocides on Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO bacteriophage F116.

Electronmicroscopy was used to observe morphological changes of the Pseudomonas aeruginosa PA0 bacteriophage F116 when treated with various biocides commonly used as antibacterial and antifungal agents. Because of its large size (145 nm) and its organised structure (an isometric head and a tail), it was possible to classify structural damage into eight categories. The morphological changes induced depended on the type of biocide used and its concentration.

Energy dispersive analysis of X-rays study of the distribution of chlorhexidine diacetate and cetylpyridinium chloride on the Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteriophage F116.

Using an energy dispersive analyser of X-rays fitted to a scanning electron microscope, chlorhexidine was shown not to bind onto F116 bacteriophage, unlike cetylpyridinium chloride, which possibly penetrated the phage. This could explain the difference in viricidal activity between the two compounds.

Effect of Biocides on MS2 and K Coliphages.

Several biocides commonly used in disinfection processes as antibacterial and antifungal agents were tested for activity against MS2 and K coliphages. MS2 was resistant to most biocides; only glutaraldehyde (0.5%) and peracetic acid (1%) achieved a 4-log(10) titer reduction in 20 min.