Usos y limitaciones de la lámpara ultravioleta germicida portátil para la desinfección de superficies.

RESUMENLa morbimortalidad causada por infecciones vinculadas a la atención sanatoria ha llevado a cuestionar si los métodos de desinfección convencionales son inadecuados y se requieren métodos complementarios, como la fumigación de la habitación y la irradiación ultravioleta. Ello ha dado lugar a la preocupación por que estos métodos alternativos puedan poner en riesgo al personal sanitario y a los pacientes. (1) Determinar la eficacia de la lámpara ultravioleta C germicida portátil para la desinfección de superficies, (2) evaluar el cambio de la humedad relativa (HR) y las distintas distancias específicas en las tasas de letalidad bacteriana, y (3) evaluar los posibles problemas a que conlleva la exposición.

The uses and limitations of a hand-held germicidal ultraviolet wand for surface disinfection.

Unlabelled: The morbidity and mortality from healthcare associated infections has raised concern that conventional disinfection methods are inadequate and that other adjunct methods such as room fumigation and ultraviolet irradiation may be needed. There is also concern that these alternative methods may pose a risk to workers and patients.

Objectives: (1) Determine the efficacy of a germicidal UV-C wand for surface disinfection, (2) evaluate changing relative humidity (RH) and different target distances on bacteria kill rates, and (3) assess potential exposure concerns.

The risks and benefits of chemical fumigation in the health care environment.

Fumigation of hospital rooms with high concentrations of toxic chemicals has been proposed to reduce microbial agents on hospital surfaces and to control infections. Chemical fumigation has been used effectively in other areas, such as building decontamination after bioterrorism events, in agriculture, and in residential structures. However, even in these situations, there have been incidents where fumigants have escaped, causing illness and death to exposed workers and the public.

The Tabby cat locus maps to feline chromosome B1.

The Tabby markings of the domestic cat are unique coat patterns for which no causative candidate gene has been inferred from other mammals. In this study, a genome scan was performed on a large pedigree of cats that segregated for Tabby coat markings, specifically for the Abyssinian (Ta-) and blotched (tbtb) phenotypes. There was linkage between the Tabby locus and eight markers on cat chromosome B1.

Risk factors for work-related low back pain in registered nurses, and potential obstacles in using mechanical lifting devices.

Back pain disability is a serious and costly problem affecting the nursing profession. The purposes of this study were to determine risk factors for work-related low back pain (WRLBP) in registered nurses and to record the reported use or reasons for nonuse of mechanical lifts. Our hypothesis was that workers who attributed the cause of WRLBP to their own actions would be knowledgeable about back safety, would be more likely to use lifts, and would report less WRLBP.

A new direction in low-back pain research.

This article suggests reasons for the difficulty in understanding and preventing low-back pain (LBP), provides a framework for understanding the causes of reported LBP, and highlights an important new direction in research that could accelerate progress in reducing LBP. Fundamental to understanding LBP is the recognition that it is a symptom not an underlying condition. Worker reports of LBP depend not only on the extent and nature of underlying injury but also the worker's perceptions and the likelihood of reporting the symptoms.

The fate of xenobiotic organic compounds in wastewater treatment plants.

The effective operation of wastewater treatment plants plays an important role in minimising the release of xenobiotic compounds into the aquatic environment. Considerable effort has been expended in developing models to quantify the overall removal and fate of these compounds in biological treatment plants. A synthesis and modification of these approaches has been made and a generalised fate model for organic compounds in an activated sludge plant is presented.

Chemical hazards in radiology.

A variety of chemicals are used in medical imaging as developer and fixer ingredients, germicides, and cleaning agents. Glutaraldehyde, a potent sensitizer, may cause occupational skin and respiratory diseases in exposed individuals. Poor ventilation, unsafe practices, and lack of hazard recognition may contribute to occupational asthma and other respiratory disease in susceptible medical imaging personnel.

Validation of microsatellite markers for routine horse parentage testing.

A parallel testing of 4803 routine Quarter Horse parentage cases, using 15 loci of blood group and protein polymorphisms (blood typing) and 11 loci of dinucleotide repeat microsatellites (DNA typing), validated DNA markers for horse pedigree verification. For the 26 loci, taken together, the theoretical effectiveness of detecting incorrect parentage was 99.999%, making it extremely unlikely that false parentage would fail to be recognized.

Evidence for a single pedigree source of the hyperkalemic periodic paralysis susceptibility gene in quarter horses.

The pedigree origin of a base pair substitution in the horse muscle sodium channel gene that confers susceptibility to the muscle disease hyperkalemic periodic paralysis (HYPP) was investigated with a set of 978 Quarter Horses. The horses were chosen at random, based on a collection of blood samples taken between 1989 and 1991 to meet parentage testing requirements, primarily but not exclusively from breeding stallions. The frequency of Quarter Horses positive for the base pair substitution, all heterozygotes, was 4.

Polymorphism of bovine MHC class II genes. Joint report of the Fifth International Bovine Lymphocyte Antigen (BoLA) Workshop, Interlaken, Switzerland, 1 August 1992.

Polymorphism of the bovine DRB, DQA, DQB, DYA, DOB and DIB genes was investigated using restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis, isoelectric focusing (IEF), class II serology and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based typing techniques. The simultaneous application of multiple typing techniques and the characterization of multiple genes resulted in a greatly enhanced picture of the bovine class II regions. Thirty-eight class IIa (DR-DQ) and 5 class IIb (DYA-DOB-DIB) haplotypes were defined.

Genetic study of hyperkalemic periodic paralysis in horses.

Four Quarter Horses (1 stallion, 3 mares) with hyperkalemic periodic paralysis were mated to unaffected horses to determine the genetic basis of the disease. The affected stallion was bred to 11 unaffected mares (4 Quarter Horses, 1 Arabian, 2 Standardbreds, and 4 Thoroughbreds). The 3 affected mares were bred to an unaffected Quarter Horse stallion.

Periodic paralysis in quarter horses: a sodium channel mutation disseminated by selective breeding.

We recently reported on a linkage study within a Quarter Horse lineage segregating hyperkalaemic periodic paralysis (HYPP), an autosomal dominant condition showing potassium-induced attacks of skeletal muscle paralysis. HYPP co-segregated with the equine adult skeletal muscle sodium channel alpha subunit gene, the same gene that causes human HYPP. We now describe the Phe to Leu mutation in transmembrane domain IVS3 which courses the horse disease.

Linkage of hyperkalaemic periodic paralysis in quarter horses to the horse adult skeletal muscle sodium channel gene.

A genetic disease observed in certain Quarter horses is hyperkalaemic periodic paralysis (HYPP). This disease causes attacks of paralysis which can be induced by ingestion of potassium. Recent studies have shown that HYPP in humans is due to single base changes within the adult skeletal muscle sodium channel gene.

Joint Report of the Fourth International Bovine Lymphocyte Antigen (BoLA) Workshop, East Lansing, Michigan, USA, 25 August 1990.

Blood samples from 54 animals were exchanged between 15 laboratories in nine countries to improve and expand BoLA class I and class II typing. A total of 27 out of 33 (82%) of previously accepted BoLA-w specificities were represented within the cell panel. Seventeen new serum-defined BoLA specificities were accepted by the workshop participants, thus expanding the number of internationally recognized BoLA specificities to 50.

Joint Report of the Fifth International Workshop on Lymphocyte Alloantigens of the Horse, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 31 October-1 November 1987.

Six laboratories participated in the Fifth International Workshop on Lymphocyte Alloantigens of the Horse, testing 132 alloantisera against lymphocytes of 880 horses chosen to represent different families and breeds. Most of the alloantisera were produced by lymphocyte immunization between horses matched at the ELA-A locus. All horses were also tested with antisera contributed to the workshop by participating laboratories which identified ELA specificities A1-A10 and W12-W21.

The ELY-1 locus controls a di-allelic alloantigenic system on equine lymphocytes.

The ELY-1 locus controls the expression of a polymorphic cell surface antigen of equine lymphocytes which was detected using antibodies generated by alloimmunization with peripheral blood lymphocytes. The ELY-1 antigens were not detected on erythrocytes or platelets by absorption experiments. The two alleles, which have been designated ELY-1.

Evidence of a second polymorphic ELA class I (ELA-B) locus and gene order for three loci of the equine major histocompatibility complex.

Two antisera, B-442 and R-2046, were produced by immunizing offspring with purified peripheral blood lymphocytes from a parent matched for the ELA-A specificity carried on the unshared haplotype. Absorption analysis demonstrated that these antisera contained at least two families of cytotoxic antibodies, one directed against antigens present on T and B cells, and a second directed preferentially against antigens present on surface Ig positive cells. Immunoprecipitation studies using these antisera demonstrated that both antisera contain antibodies specific for glycoproteins with molecular weights characteristic of class I and class II MHC antigens.

Environmental health impact in the hospital laundry.

The task of surveying the hospital laundry is often dismissed by public health officials as unnecessary because the laundry cycle is generally considered to be capable of destroying all pathogens. Even though a properly operated laundry can produce a relatively bacteria free product, there are a number of variables that have an impact on the bacterial quality of the linen before it reaches the patient. It is vital that surveillance personnel understand these factors during processing, transporting, or sorting linen so that the final product is aesthetically, chemically, and bacteriologically acceptable for patient use.