Implementing a perioperative efficiency initiative for orthopedic surgery instrumentation at an academic center: A comparative before-and-after study.

Optimizing surgical instrumentation may contribute to value-based care, particularly in commonly performed procedures. We report our experience in implementing a perioperative efficiency program in 2 types of orthopedic surgery (primary total-knee arthroplasty, TKA, and total-hip arthroplasty, THA).A comparative before-and-after study with 2 participating surgeons, each performing both THA and TKA, was conducted. Our objective was to evaluate the effect of surgical tray optimization on operating and processing time, cost, and waste associated with preparation, delivery, and staging of sterile surgical instruments. The study was designed as a prospective quality improvement initiative with pre- and postimplementation operational measures and a provider satisfaction survey.A total of 96 procedures (38 preimplementation and 58 postimplementation) were assessed using time-stamped performance endpoints. The number and weight of trays and instruments processed were reduced substantially after the optimization intervention, particularly for TKA. Setup time was reduced by 23% (6 minutes, P = .01) for TKA procedures but did not differ for THA. The number of survey respondents was small, but satisfaction was high overall among personnel involved in implementation.Optimizing instrumentation trays for orthopedic procedures yielded reduction in processing time and cost. Future research should evaluate patient outcomes and incremental/additive impact on institutional quality measures

Mitochondrial genetics of alloplasmic male-sterile Brassica napus lines

Reliable and economical production of hybrid (F1) varieties requires efficient means to control pollination. The predominant system for pollination control of most field crops today is cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS). Since CMS is a consequence of disturbed nuclear-mitochondrial interactions, the CMS trait is maternally inherited. A common way to produce CMS plants is to combine the nuclear genome from one species with the mitochondria from another; plants of such origin are described as alloplasmic CMS. This thesis describes the production and molecular characterization of a novel alloplasmic CMS system produced from rapeseed (Brassica napus) (+) Arabidopsis thaliana somatic hybrids. A population of 170 B. napus (+) A. thaliana somatic hybrid lines was backcrossed to B. napus and 22 lines with male sterility and/or aberrant flower morphology were found. Nine of these were analysed for RFLP and found to contain nuclear and plastid DNA from B. napus, whilst the mitochondrial genomes were frequently recombined containing both B. napus and A. thaliana DNA. Besides the male-sterile trait, the majority of the lines displayed homeotic conversions of anthers to carpeloid organs. Vegetative growth was reduced to some extent in some of the lines. One CMS line segregated both fertile and sterile plants. Fertility co-segregated with molecular markers from A. thaliana chr III. By a dihaploidisation strategy we produced plants with a disomic addition of A. thaliana chr III, which had a stable inheritance of the fertile phenotype. Global mitochondrial mRNA expression was analysed in the fertility-restored line, the corresponding CMS line, B. napus and A. thaliana. Run-on experiments showed that transcriptional activities were highly variable between B. napus and A. thaliana and that in the CMS line transcriptional activity was reduced for several ribosomal protein genes and increased for orf139. Steady-state levels were more homogenous in comparison to transcriptional activities showing that RNA turnover is an important regulatory mechanism. Increased transcript abundance of several genes was observed in the CMS line, often correlated with presence of longer transcripts. Transcripts of three A. thaliana loci, orf139, orf240a and orf294 accumulated in the CMS line, but with reduced levels in the restored line. The orf139 and orf294 transcripts accumulated differentially in a tissue and genotype-specific manner, while orf240a was constitutively expressed throughout the plant. Both orf240a and orf294 transcripts can be polyadenylated, thus providing an explanation for their post-transcriptional regulation. Segregation analysis of sterile and fertile alloplasmic lines indicates that orf139 and orf240a are less likely candidates to be responsible for the male-sterile phenotype, whereas the orf294 can be CMS-associated. However, it is likely that more than one locus in the A. thaliana mt-DNA could encode CMS in the nuclear background of B. napus

First-Pass Meconium Samples from Healthy Term Vaginally-Delivered Neonates : An Analysis of the Microbiota

Acknowledgments The authors would like to thank the parents who consented to provide samples with limited notice at an emotional and stressful time. This work was supported entirely from personal donations to the neonatal endowments fund at Aberdeen Maternity Hospital and we thank families for their continued generosity, year-on-year. The Rowett Institute of Nutrition and Health receives funding from the Scottish Government (SG-RESAS). Funding: This work was funded from NHS Grampian Neonatal Endowments. The Rowett Institute receives funding from the Rural and Environmental Science and Analytical Services programme of the Scottish Government. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Investigation of the Influence of Antioxidant Compositions on Development of Microbiological Spoilage in Storage of Fruits

The studies are devoted to the scientific grounding of expedience of after-harvest processing by antioxidant compositions for preventing the development of pathogenic microflora on fruit surfaces during a long storage. For the studies were used apple fruits of the varieties Aidared, Golden Dushesse, Renet Simirenka, pear fruits of the varieties Victoria, Crimea Raisin and Cure, plum fruits of the varieties Voloshka, Stanley and Italian Ugorka. Fruits were processed by immersion in the following antioxidant compositions: ACM is a mixture of dimethyl sulfoxide, ionol and polyethylene glycols; AARL – mixture of ascorbic acid, routin and lecithin; DL – mixture of dimethyl sulfoxide, ionol and lecithin. Fruits, processed by water, were used as a control. Exposition - 10 seconds. Storage was carried out at the temperature 0±1 ºС, relative air humidity 90–95 %. It was established that in the period of fruits laying for storage, the mean amount of epiphyte microflora was fixed on surfaces of plump and pear fruits of the mean ripening term. In the variety composition of epiphyte microflora prevailed spores of mesophyl aerobic and facultative-anaerobic microorganisms. Their mean number on apple fruits surface was 9,6·103 CCU/g, pear fruits – 10,6 103 CCU/g, plump fruits – 18·103CCCU/g. AOC processing of all types of fruits essentially decreased the speed of both MAFAnM and micromycetes growth. It was demonstrated that the used compositions in 2…3,5 times decreased the level of day losses from microbiological spoilage during the whole storage period. The most positive effect was received at using compositions, based on dystinol and lecithin. Multifactor analysis determined that the level of day losses from microbiological spoilage was mainly influenced by factors of raw material variety features (factor A) and antioxidant compositions processing (factor D). The shares of influence are 24 and 21 % respectively

How endo- is endo-?: surface sterilization of delicate samples: a Bryopsis (Bryopsidales, Chlorophyta) case study

In the search for endosymbiotic bacteria, elimination of ectosymbionts is a key point of attention. Commonly, the surface of the host itself or the symbiotic structures are sterilized with aggressive substances such as chlorine or mercury derivatives. Although these disinfectants are adequate to treat many species, they are not suitable for surface sterilization of delicate samples. In order to study the bacterial endosymbionts in the marine green alga Bryopsis, the host plant's cell wall was mechanically, chemically and enzymatically cleaned. Merely a chemical and enzymatical approach proved to be highly effective. Bryopsis thalli treated with cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) lysis buffer, proteinase K and bactericidal cleanser Umonium Master showed no bacterial growth on agar plates or bacterial fluorescence when stained with a DNA fluorochrome. Moreover, the algal cells were intact after sterilization, suggesting endophytic DNA is still present within these algae. This new surface sterilization procedure opens the way to explore endosymbiotic microbial communities of other, even difficult to handle, samples

Decrease Of Repeated Contamination Of Packed Deli-cious Meat Products

The study considers a problem of repeated contamination of delicious products, ready for consumption. The aim of the work is to study the repeated thermal processing of a ready vacuum-packed whole-muscular meat product for inhibiting a surface microbiota.Today it is urgent for the meat industry, because it influences safety and quality, and also limits a storage term of a product.After bringing a meat product to culinary readiness by thermal processing, it has an unessential amount of microbiota. Microorganisms, including pathogenic and conventionally pathogenic ones, fall on a product after its cooking at cutting, preparation to package and at the package stage itself. Microbiological contamination of a ready meat product results in fast spoilage and is a serious problem for producers, because the microbiota growth shortens its storage life. In its turn, it results in a refuse of a consumer to buy this product and great economic losses for producers.The study is directed on a possibility of solving a problem of contamination of a whole-muscular delicious meat product. The solution is in package of a ready product under vacuum and short-term heating at a high temperature.The work is devoted to the complex study of an influence of repeated pasteurization on safety and quality of a product. There was studied an influence of the repeated thermal processing (post-pasteurization) on microbiological, physical-chemical and also organoleptic parameters of a delicious meat product.The special attention is paid to an influence of post-pasteurization regimes on a microbiological condition of studied samples. Studies of a total amount of microbiota and also the presence of sanitary-representative microorganisms were conducted.It has been proven, that the use of post-pasteurization essentially inhibits a number of microorganisms, and also doesn't influence physical-chemical parameters outlook of a product and organoleptic characteristics.Based on studying an influence of post-pasteurization, it has been established, that inhibition of a microbiota essentially influences safety and prolongs the storage term of a product

Continuous detection of viable micro-organisms by chemiluminescence

System monitors quality of reclaimed water continuously and automatically. Incubated samples are compared with unincubated ones by measuring their respective chemiluminescence

Investigating Virus Clearance via pH Inactivation During Biomanufacturing

In the processing of biopharmaceuticals, viral clearance and viral safety are important for the development of monoclonal antibodies. Murine xenotropic leukemia virus (XMuLV) is one of the retroviruses, recommended by Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a model virus for viral clearance via inactivation from therapeutics derived from Chinese hamster ovary cells (CHO). A robust and effective method was investigated to clear or inactivate endogenous viruses by low pH inactivation. The effects of different conductivity and inactivated time on XMuLV clearance was determined. Acetate buffer was prepared with different conductivity, and 2% XMuLV was spiked into acetate buffer. XMuLV virus particles could be effectively inactivated in acetate buffer at pH 3.6. According to TICD50 assay, the inactivation time of around 60 minutes was enough to clear all the viruses with more than 4 logs reduction value (LRV). Also, 50 mM acetate buffer has the most rapid inactivation process. TICD50 assays were able to determine the XMuLV virus titer within 95% confidence level, by using 8 replicates and 10-fold series dilution factor

Dark matter line emission constraints from NuSTAR observations of the Bullet Cluster

Line emission from dark matter is well motivated for some candidates e.g. sterile neutrinos. We present the first search for dark matter line emission in the 3-80keV range in a pointed observation of the Bullet Cluster with NuSTAR. We do not detect any significant line emission and instead we derive upper limits (95% CL) on the flux, and interpret these constraints in the context of sterile neutrinos and more generic dark matter candidates. NuSTAR does not have the sensitivity to constrain the recently claimed line detection at 3.5keV, but improves on the constraints for energies of 10-25keV.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Ap

A new lab-on-chip transmitter for the detection of proteins using RNA aptamers

A new RNA aptamer based affinity biosensor for CReactive Protein (CRP), a risk marker for cardiovascular disease was developed using interdigitated capacitor (IDC), integrated in Voltage Controlled Oscillator (VCO) and output signal is amplified using Single Stage Power Amplifier (PA) for transmitting signal to receiver at Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) band. The Lab-on-Chip transmitter design includes IDC, VCO and PA. The design was implemented in IHP 0.25μm SiGe BiCMOS process; post-CMOS process was utilized to increase the sensitivity of biosensor. The CRP was incubated between or on interdigitated electrodes and the changes in capacitance of IDC occurred. In blank measurements, the oscillation frequency was 2.464GHz whereas after RNA aptamers were immobilized on open aluminum areas of IDC and followed by binding reaction processed with 500pg/ml CRP solution, the capacitance shifted to 2.428GHz. Phase noise is changed from -114.3dBc/Hz to -116.5dBc/Hz