The Use of Temperature and Pressure Data Loggers to Validate the Steam Sterilization of Category A Clinical Waste.

Introduction: Over the past decade, there have been outbreaks associated with high consequence infectious diseases such as Ebola virus disease, Lassa fever, and Monkeypox. The proper handling of clinical waste from patients infected with such pathogens is critical to ensure healthcare personnel and community safety.

Methods: Mock clinical waste bags were created to simulate four distinct waste streams: personal protective equipment (PPE), dry linens, wet linens, and solidified liquids.

Seeking Standardized Definitions for HLA-incompatible Kidney Transplants: A Systematic Review.

Background: There is no standard definition for "HLA incompatible" transplants. For the first time, we systematically assessed how HLA incompatibility was defined in contemporary peer-reviewed publications and its prognostic implication to transplant outcomes.

Methods: We combined 2 independent searches of MEDLINE, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library from 2015 to 2019.

Donor-Recipient Non-HLA Variants, Mismatches and Renal Allograft Outcomes: Evolving Paradigms.

Despite significant improvement in the rates of acute allograft rejection, proportionate improvements in kidney allograft longevity have not been realized, and are a source of intense research efforts. Emerging translational data and natural history studies suggest a role for anti-donor immune mechanisms in a majority of cases of allograft loss without patient death, even when overt evidence of acute rejection is not identified. At the level of the donor and recipient genome, differences in highly polymorphic HLA genes are routinely evaluated between donor and recipient pairs as part of organ allocation process, and utilized for patient-tailored induction and maintenance immunosuppression.

Management and Mitigation of Temperature and Humidity Events in the Perioperative Setting.

Temperature or relative humidity variations that fall outside the recommended parameters for the perioperative environment can have serious implications for patient safety and satisfaction as well as business continuity. Some pathogenic microbes can thrive in prolonged elevated humidity. Supplies and equipment in perioperative environments exposed to variations in temperature and humidity may become sources of infection or undergo alterations in function, putting patients at increased risk of harm.