Renal autoregulation and passive pressure-flow relationships in diabetes and hypertension.

We investigated renal hemodynamics in isolated, perfused kidneys from rat models of diabetes and hypertension. Autoregulation and passive vascular responses were measured using stepped pressure ramps in the presence of angiotensin II (pEC50) or papaverine (0.1 mM), respectively.

Differential contribution of diabetes and the Ren2 gene to glomerular pathology in diabetic (mREN-2)27 rats.

The effect of diabetes mellitus vs the effect of the Ren2 gene on the glomerular pathology of (mREN-2)27 heterozygous male rats is controversial. As discrete diabetes-induced glomerular lesions may have been overlooked, we performed a detailed morphometric analysis of glomeruli in diabetic and non-diabetic heterozygous male (mREN-2)27 rats and their normotensive (non-diabetic and diabetic Sprague-Dawley) controls. Glomeruli were scored by light microscopy for nine discrete histological parameters, some of which were graded for extent and/or severity.

Touch contamination levels during anaesthetic procedures and their relationship to hand hygiene procedures: a clinical audit.

After different methods of hand preparation, volunteers rolled segments of sterile central venous catheter between their fingertips, and bacterial transfer was evaluated by standardized quantitative culture. The number of bacteria transferred differed between methods (P<0.001).

Touch contamination of connection devices in peritoneal dialysis--a quantitative microbiologic analysis.

Objective: To determine the level of bacterial contamination associated with touch contact of a connector set during peritoneal dialysis (PD).

Design: The experiment utilized a laboratory-based simulation of a bag exchange procedure. Deliberate touch contamination of the connector set spike was followed by quantitative recovery of micro-organisms from the connector and, in some cases, the dialysis bag.

Residual moisture determines the level of touch-contact-associated bacterial transfer following hand washing.

We report here a new and critical determinant of the effectiveness of hand hygiene procedures, namely the amount of residual moisture left on the hands after washing and drying. When samples of skin, food and utilities were touched with wet, undried hands, microbial numbers in the order of 68000, 31000 and 1900 respectively translocated to these representative surfaces. Bacterial numbers translocating on touch contact decreased progressively as drying with an air or cloth towel system removed residual moisture from the hands.