Best practice in healthcare environment decontamination

There is now strong evidence that surface contamination is linked to healthcare-associated infections (HCAIs). Cleaning and disinfection should be sufficient to decrease the microbial bioburden from surfaces in healthcare settings, and, overall, help in decreasing infections. It is, however, not necessarily the case. Evidence suggests that there is a link between educational interventions and a reduction in infections. To improve the overall efficacy and appropriate usage of disinfectants, manufacturers need to engage with the end users in providing clear claim information and product usage instructions. This review provides a clear analysis of the scientific evidence supporting the role of surfaces in HCAIs and the role of education in decreasing such infections. It also examines the debate opposing the use of cleaning versus disinfection in healthcare settings

Physical Chemistry of Milk Fat Globules

Many properties of milk and dairy products are determined by the behaviour and physical chemistry of milk fat globules. Allowed to stand, raw milk quickly separates into fat-enriched and fat-depleted phases, i.e. cream and skim milk, respectively. This is partly due to simple density differences between the emulsified fat globules and milk serum, but gravitational separation occurs at a rate ultimately determined by a complex series of colloidal interactions mediated by the milk fat globule membrane (MFGM) that lead to aggregation of fat globules, particularly at low temperatures (i.e. so-called cold agglutination). Creaming properties of milk differ between mammalian species, and processing of milk can profoundly alter the creaming properties of bovine milk, particularly homogenization and centrifugal separation, but also heat treatment. In this chapter, the principal physical properties of bovine milk fat globules are discussed, along with methods for their analysis and the impact of common dairy processes on their stability