Evaluation of the sterilization efficacy of domestic electric drills used in orthopaedic surgeries.

It is estimated that electric drills (ED) have been used in orthopaedic surgeries for bone drilling for more than 50 years in Brazilian hospitals. It is an electric, thermosensitive equipment, not indicated for surgical use, which has not been previously evaluated regarding the sterilization efficacy, being suspect of infection risk. This study evaluated the efficacy of sterilization by ethylene oxide (EtO) of new drills that were intentionally contaminated with Bacillus atrophaeus spores.

Intracellular release of recombinant green fluorescent protein (gfp(uv)) from Escherichia coli.

The recombinant green fluorescent protein (gfp(uv)) was expressed by Escherichia coli DH5-alpha cells transformed with the plasmid pGFPuv. The gfp(uv) was selectively permeabilized from the cells in buffer solution (25 mM Tris-HCl, pH 8.0), after freezing (-70 degrees C for 15 h), by four freeze (-20 degrees C)/thaw cycles interlaid by sonication.

The effect of bioindicator preparation and storage on thermal resistance of Bacillus stearothermophilus spores.

Paper strips inoculated with spores of Bacillus stearothermophilus ATCC 7953 were conventionally dried (lot 1) and lyophilized (lot 2); stored in defined environments of 32 and 86% relative humidity at 10, 25 and 33 degrees C for 210 d; and submitted to moist heat treatments at 121 degrees C. A significant decrease in thermal resistance from initial starting levels was found for lyophilized bioindicators stored at 86% relative humidity. The respective average D121 degrees C values were 1.